The Winchell’s building, which has been serving as storage area for the Rancho Bravo taco truck and its sister site, Pinky’s BBQ across the street, has been something of a visual blight since the donut shop closed in late 2009. The windows still show the peeling, sun-faded donut advertisements, and the interior is cluttered with a haphazard collection of taco and bbq miscellany. Hardly what we would hope for as a “Gateway to Wallingford”, welcoming the flow from the east.
Hope is on the horizon! We’ve been pestering Freddy Rivas, the taco truck magnate, to prettify the place (perhaps hanging art in the windows) for years now. We’ve always been told that he’s working on plans for to use the space, and it’s coming soon. After a comment from DOUG. in the Wallingford CVS Project Takes A Tumble reminded us of this long ago promise, we checked in with Freddy to see how things were coming along.
His response:
We’re almost in full swing now. Pinky’s is moving into Rancho Bravo’s spot before the end of the year and RB is moving into the building. I will keep you up to speed on our progress in the coming weeks.
Well, that will be an improvement!
Fingers crossed.
Sorry charley, pigs will fly before this happens. each day I drive by there is NO cleaning up done.. there is NO change. I appreciate that he thinks responding to you makes a difference. Consider that he’s said these words year after year.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but one of the annoying things about the food truck movement is that they get a better deal from our city than brick and mortar stores. They are not stupid. Why have a brick and mortar when you have to worry about all those additional food prep regulations? And your rent is cheaper.
If the city is making it more profitable to have one of these places, then the fault lies with the city.
Does anyone know if Freddy Rivas is the same guy who owned the donut store? I am assuming that it has to be. I used to get coffee at this place every morning and consequently got to the staff very well. From them I learned that this owner hired illegal immigrants and did not pay them according to the law….to say the least They were afraid to report him for fear the usual reasons. Not a nice man.
Color me as cautiously optimistic. If this happens, I wonder what will happen with the Winchell’s signage? I can spell my last name with those letters, so would like to have first dibs.
The owner couldn’t even be bothered to put on a new door after they got robbed and the glass was broken out at least 6 months or so ago. It was so long ago I forget when it was exactly.
I think the community should boycott Pinky’s and Rancho Bravo until this eyesore is fixed.
they have Yelp review pages probably a FB group or page and calls to health dept can happen.
@Concerned, no, Freddy was not involved with the donut shop. He leased a spot in their parking lot, that’s all.
If Freddie is merely a tenant then we should put pressure on the land lord. While the Winchell’s space is a serious eye sore, I think the area around Taco Bravo is disgusting also. I can’t believe it is even legal to have dumpsters in the FRONT of ones business. That whole corner is gross and while I like Bravos food, I am boycotting as well. If I had more time, I would circulate a petition.
Taco Bravo is one of my son’s favorite spots. He says the food is outstanding. Hopefully they’ll repaint the outside (maybe we could offer to help.) Given the era of the building it’s not very attractive in white. Something in cheerful would be nice. Colors something like Taqueria Guaymas on Leary Way in Fremont would be a relief. The white is a total eyesore!
Any chance that there’s also an update on Kitaro Sushi?
well, uppity I was going to ask that also. I seem to remember they asked for a couple more weeks and our patience to get it together.. its been 3 more months.
Whatever your complaints are about food trucks, they don’t really apply here. These two food trucks are on private land, not parked on the street. Heck, they have offstreet parking for their customers. We’re big fans of Pinky’s food.
I just did a search of current building permits* and found this info:
A permit was issued on Aug. 116, 2013. The description reads:
“Replace portion of storefront with interior alterations to existing restaurant. Repair and restripe parking lot and occupy as “Rancho Bravo Taco”, per plans”
Here’s the page for the permit info: http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/PermitStatus/Project.aspx?id=6330780
So it looks like steps are happening on that front.
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* = Did you know you can search through many of the city’s databases? “Open Data Seattle” is the effort to provide citizens with access to City of Seattle Data: http://www.seattle.gov/html/citizen/opendata.htm explains it, and https://data.seattle.gov/ is the data.
I went to the “Buildings Permits – current” dataset, searched for “45th” in the Address field, and was able to find the entry quickly.
oops — the permit was issued on August 16 (“August 116” is an exercise left for the reader and/or anyone who wants to spend a few moments doing some date arithmetic.)
soo 3 months ago they got the permit.. 90 days….
A permit shows they are serious about Rancho Bravo moving into the buildng and Pinky’s into the truck. That will save them money as well. Call me optimistic on that one.
when they do move in don’t expect anything flashy. They didn’t do much to the old KFC on Pine Street when they moved in there.
Freddy Rivas never ran the Donut Shop, but he leased the building after Winchell’s went out of business.
Reading the DPD Building Permit @LoWo linked to, it says the application date was 20 December of 2012, so the Rancho Bravo owner *has* been working on this for awhile. The permit date was a speedy 9 months later on 16 August 2013, and it is valid until 16 February 2015. Let’s hope they don’t wait that long!
If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas!
just do it, tear down the signs and throw some paint…. YOU ARE A SLUM LORD Freddy Rivas and its why many Wallingford residents have boycotted your taco truck and moved on to Pecado Bueno and TNT for our Mexican fix.
If you want to earn local business, contribute to the local economy instead of just taking from it. Clean up the place and stop making excuses….. I could have that place respectable in 48 hours. You have NO excuse.
I would Love to see Winchell’s back or a donut shop!
Merry, we do have a fantastic donut shop…it’s called Mighty-O on 56th (which is considered Wallingford). They even won the donut challenge on the Food Network (beat the pants off of Top Pot).
I am once again struck by the mamby pamby comments of people of Wallingford. If you want pretty — move to Bellevue. This is the city. I like it a little rough around the edges myself. Reminds me that I’m not living amongst the vapid.
Or am I?
Right on Eric! Come talk to the landlord in Wallingford who just raised rent pretty high % –
Honestly, it confuses me the number of trolls who show up any chance they get to slam Rancho Bravo. In this case, it’s actually good news & what most people have wanted, but still the whining continues. Just as a counter point, @18
“YOU ARE A SLUM LORD Freddy Rivas” – uncalled for and untrue
“many Wallingford residents have boycotted your taco truck and moved on to Pecado Bueno and TNT for our Mexican fix.” Given the number of people I see at the truck likely untrue, as well. Anecdotal stories of you and Sara @8 doesn’t count as “many”. I regularly go to both Rancho Bravo and TNT, so by your own standards of evidence the boycott hasn’t happened.
“If you want to earn local business, contribute to the local economy instead of just taking from it.” Actually, they are contributing, by being open. As long as I get decent customer service & the food is good, the rest is disappointing but not worth this level of venom.
“I could have that place respectable in 48 hours.” I’m hopeful that the building will be cleaned up soon, but this is just a silly exaggeration.
Eric, okay rant but needs either more reality or more hyperbole to be effective.
I also boycotted it.
Jason… I am not a troll, just a Wallingford resident who is sick of driving past the Winchell’s eyesore.
There is no loyalty in the restaurant business and with any restaurant… the first taste is with the eyes.
I’m less concerned with Winchell’s looking like an eye sore, as I am about how dirty the place looks around the building. That’s food mess which I means it has to be crawling with rats at night. That alone will keep me from eating at an establishment. It’s about food safety for me. Pinkys on the other hand looks clean, and I am happy to eat there.
The areas around Rancho Bravo do resemble health code violations. I love the food, but quit going until the owner funnels some of his receipts into cleaning up the grounds and building. It is also a bit disconcerting to realize that the somkehouse for Pinky’s sits in the middle of that oozing pile of refuse next to Rancho Bravo.
Finally, it was my understanding that Freddy undercut the former Winchells manager to snag the property on the pretext of moving Rancho Bravo into the space. That was, what, 6 years ago? Not holding my breath for Freddy to turn good neighbor.