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Dalia Is Closing After One Year In Downtown Eugene

Dalia on Broadway

After a year, a Eugene restaurateur is closing his Lebanese restaurant downtown. Daliacould close as soon as Friday or by the end of May.

Ibrahim Hamide took over Zenon Café at the corner of East Broadway and Pearl in 2009. He decided to bring the food of his native Lebanon to the site and opened Dalia there a year ago. He says it's been a difficult year for a new restaurant, with rough winter weather and construction. Then the landlord raised the rent--effective June 1st.

Hamide: "The numbers were getting better and things were getting healthier.  We just couldn’t really continue operating with the increase in rent that we're about to get."

Hamide still runs café Soriah, which he says is doing well. He says it's not out of the question that he will try again with a Lebanese restaurant in the future. Dalia is currently on the auction block and Hamide says if he gets a good offer, he'll turn over the keys right away. Otherwise, he'll keep Dalia open until the end of the month.
 

Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.