Hours into the new year, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ lost its first restaurant of 2021 when the owners of Fronimo’s Greek Café announced on Facebook that they were closing their 25-year-old East Speedway restaurant.
The announcement came months after the owners, Tracy and George Fronimakis, were unable to work out a new lease with the owner of their building at 3242 E. Speedway.
“I was just like gut-punched,†Tracy Fronimakis said Monday, Jan. 4, of the failed negotiations as news of the closing spread on social media and attracted hundreds of comments from longtime diners.
After 25 years, Fronimo's Greek Cafe is set to close on Jan. 14. The closure comes as the result of an upcoming rent hike on their current location if they were to renew their lease. The Franimakis family, who own the local restaurant, hope to re-open at a new location. Read more here. (Josh Galemore / ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥)
Fronimo’s joins several longtime ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ restaurants that have closed since the beginning of the pandemic last March including Café Poca Cosa and Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails downtown, Bianchi’s Italian in Marana, El Indio Mexican restaurant on the south side and Athens on 4th Greek restaurant.
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Jan. 14 will be the last day that diners can enjoy Fronimo’s tart tzatziki drizzled over freshly shaved lamb or beef in the popular gyros or the irresistible Athenian chicken bursting with bright lemon and authentic Greek spices.

The Fronimo’s Greek Cafe owners are hoping to find a smaller venue to sell their gyros and other assorted Greek dishes.
Fronimo’s has been only doing takeout since restaurants were ordered to close their dining rooms last March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Even after the state allowed restaurants to resume dine-in with limited capacities in May, the Fronimakises decided to continue takeout only as they watched the state’s COVID-19 numbers continue to rise.
The couple has run the popular Greek restaurant at the East Speedway location since 1995 and had hoped to exercise a five-year extension to their lease last fall. But talks in the summer with their landlord, Scott Kivel, broke down when he proposed increasing the rent by $3 a square foot, a rate that the couple said they couldn’t afford in the middle of a pandemic.
Kivel said the increased rate reflects what is being paid by his newer tenants Sprint and Athletico Physical Therapy.

Since 1995, George and Tracy Fronimakis have run Fronimo’s Greek Cafe, which has offered dishes like gyros with tart tzatziki drizzled over freshly shaved lamb or beef, or Athenian chicken bursting with bright lemon and Greek spices.
Last spring, Kivel gave his tenants including Fronimo’s rent relief — excusing the April rent altogether and reducing rates by 20% for the months of May through July, according to a letter he sent to tenants that he provided to the Star.
“I think that I was one of the most generous landlords in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to recognize the impact of COVID on small businesses,†he said.
Tracy Fronimakis said that during lease negotiations, she and her husband asked Kivel to keep their rent at its current rate until the pandemic ended, but he refused. So the couple found a new location on East Tanque Verde and Kivel agreed to extend the lease beyond its September deadline to give them time to renovate the new space.
When lease talks broke down on the new space, the couple turned once again to Kivel for time and he agreed to extend the lease through Jan. 15.
Fronimakis said she and her husband are still looking for a new location, one that will likely be much smaller.
“We don’t need that big of space,†said Tracy Fronimakis, 64. “We have that big dining room and that big space, but we don’t need it. I don’t see filling it any time soon. My husband is 72; he doesn’t want to have a big restaurant. We’re just looking for something smaller with takeout and catering, maybe a few tables.â€
We said farewell to these ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ restaurants and bars in 2020:
We said farewell to these ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ restaurants and bars in 2020
The Independent Distillery

Choose your own smash from liquors and fruits at The Independent Distillery.
The 5-year-old downtown cocktail bar, 30 S. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Ave.,Ìýannounced its closureÌýin early November, saying that eight months without revenue was the dealbreaker.
El Indio Mexican Restaurant

El Indio Mexican Restaurant was known for its albondigas and caldo de queso soups, as well as its topopo salads.
El Indio Mexican Restaurant, 3355 S. Sixth Ave., closed in March, when many restaurants closed because of the pandemic. Now the owner, Pedro Estrella, has decided to retire and the restaurant will not reopen.
Rigo's on Oracle Road

Rigo's Oracle location,Ìý5851 N. Oracle Road, closed in 2020.
Rigo's closed its second location,Ìý5851 N. Oracle Road,Ìýafter 10 years.
Mestizos

Mestizos, 1118 W. St. Mary's Road, announced it was closing in April, 2020.
Mestizos, 1118 W. St. Mary's Road, opened in November 2019, but announced in April it wouldn't be able to continue.
Gee's Garden

Gee's Garden closed in June, 2020.
Gee's Garden, 1145 N. Alvernon Way, opened in 1975, but the new owner fell behind on rent and it closed in June.
Chicago Bar

The owners of , a fixture for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ blues fans and musicians alike since 1978, announced the closure on Facebook, saying the financial burden of being mostly closed since March 17 took an irreversible toll.
Chicago Bar, 5954 E. Speedway, opened in 1978. The owners announced it would be closed because of the pandemic in late June.
Athens on 4th

Ìýat 5951 E. SpeedwayÌýLast June, the owner of Athens on 4th at North Fourth Avenue and East University Boulevard threw in the towel. Owner Andreas Delfakis said it was impossible to continue under the strict COVID restrictions that limited capacity at his 27-year-old restaurant.Ìý
Athens on 4th had served up Greek food for 27 years when it closed in late June.
Alibaba Mediterranean

Alibaba Mediterranean was a casual spot for falafel plates and more atÌý2545 E. Speedway.Ìý
Alibaba Mediterranean, 2545 E. Speedway, closed in late June. This sign was gone and the doors locked.
Rincon Market

Rincon Market, 2513 E. Sixth St. in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, closed for good.
Rincon Market, 2513 E. Sixth St., closed in June after the owner was unable to pay rent.
Public Brewhouse

Public Brewhouse, 209 N. Hoff Ave., closed its doors after a five-year run because of the pandemic.
Public Brewhouse, 209 N. Hoff Ave., closed for good in October. The nanobrewery was losing moneyÌý doing takeout only.
Meet Rack

Jim Anderson, owner of the Meet Rack, 210 W. Drachman St., in 2007 with his trademark staff and vehicle license plate, which reads “GOD.â€
Meet Rack, known for branding its customers and an owner who called himself God, closed in October.
Green Feet Brewing

Green Feet Brewing, 3669 E. 44th St., opened in 2016, announced in August that it would close "when the beer ran out."
Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails

Chef Janos Wilder has closed Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, which had been open for 10 years. He temporarily closed the restaurant in March because of the pandemic and decided to shutter it for good on Thursday. He said he has no plans to start another restaurant.
Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails had closed temporarily because of the pandemic, but Chef Janos Wilder announced in October that the restaurant would close for good.
·¡±ô±¹¾±°ù²¹â€™s

Rubén Monroy Jr. has permanently closed his downtown restaurant ·¡±ô±¹¾±°ù²¹â€™s Tequila, Cocina & Vino due to COVID-19. He and his crew were cleaning out the restaurant on East Congress Street on Wednesday.
·¡±ô±¹¾±°ù²¹â€™s Tequila, Cocina & Vino, 256 E. Congress St., closed permanently after months of closure during the pandemic.
Cafe Poca Cosa

Café Poca Cosa, closed for months because of the pandemic, will not reopen. Other local restaurants are limping along.
After months of a pandemic closure,ÌýCafe Poca Cosa, 110 E. Pennington St., closed its doors for good.
Perfecto's Express

Perfecto Leon’s second family restaurant, in a former Sonic Drive-In at 1055 E. Irvington Road, is gone, but his restaurant on South 12th Avenue is still going strong.
Perfecto's Mexican Grill Express, 1055 E. Irvington, is another casualty of the pandemic. It was a spinoff of Perfecto's on South 12th Avenue.
Bianchi’s Italian in Marana

Bianchi’s owner Vincent Bianchi said the Marana restaurant, above, was picking up steam after years of struggle, but “we cannot overcome COVID-19.â€
Bianchi’s Italian in Marana, 3620 W. Tangerine Road, is the second Bianchi's location, and is now closed.
Irene’s Holy Donuts

Irene’s Holy Donuts, 340 N. Fourth Ave., will be unable to satisfy the sweet tooth of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans because it closed in February.