Timur Leno has been waiting five months to get his life back.
“I feel so obligated to get this thing going not only for myself…but for the community to be built here,” he said. “It’s just not me, it’s all of us and we are a critical part of Greenwood.”
On Nov. 9, 2009, Leno lost his restaurant, Olive You at 8516 Greenwood Ave. N., to arson. The fire was started behind the restaurant, causing an estimated $20,000 in damages. Damage was minimized by early detection from a fire patrol.
After the blaze Leno expected his restaurant to be closed for no more than 10 days. But, an insurance inspection found significant smoke damage. The restaurant was stripped of everything inside and spray sealed.
The removal of all furniture and kitchen equipment has left Leno to rebuild his restaurant almost entirely. Dealing with the insurance company for five months has left Leno feeling “lost in the process.”
“It is not easy, we just need to get this thing going…to get this place open very soon,” Leno said.
Since the arson, Leno and his loyal customers have been waiting. Leno receives calls almost every day from customers giving encouraging words and asking when the restaurant will reopen. He created an Olive You Facebook page, which has gathered over 250 fans. He uses the social media network to stay in touch with his customers.
Laura Vess, an Olive You customer of four years, said through an e-mail: “Seriously, you can’t have the food from Olive You without developing serious cravings for it. We’re terribly impatient for them to open again and plan to be among their first customers!” She added that she and her partner, Chris Witwer, “miss our Friday night lamb chops!”
Community support has helped Leno during the closing of Olive You. Leno was one of 11 business owners who received assistance from the Greenwood Fire Relief Fund after last year’s arson spree.
Steve Giliberto, president of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce and member of the Greenwood Fire Relief Fund Board, said, “The community was clearly intent on showing their support not only of the businesses (but also) support of the neighborhood. The message goes forth that it’s a tight-knit community that isn’t just going to sit by and let people be hurt.”
Leno added, “It was symbolic. It reinforces your trust that you have friends out there. It’s not just the amount of it, but the gesture of it is just really significant.”
Leno also owns the 85th Street Café and Deli, which is less than a block away from Olive You at the corner of North 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue North. The deli serves Slum City Hot Dogs, which received the name from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Timur Leno, owner of Olive You, at his second restaurant, 85th Street Café and Deli, just a half block away.
Even with a second business Leno has felt the effects of losing Olive You, which was his primary source of income. Once the insurance process is complete Leno must rewire, paint and reinstall equipment and furniture in the restaurant. He hopes to reopen Olive You by mid-May.
“Of course I miss it, that’s my hangout, that’s my friends,” Leno said. “The people who work for me are my family. The people that come there are my family.”
(STEVEN BYEON is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.)
40 responses so far ↓
1 heh // Apr 22, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Man, I never cared to even visit Olive You. But the 85th st cafe sucks. Didn’t it used to be called Sweet on You? Is he the new owner or did they change names?
2 iheartgreenwood // Apr 22, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I’ll admit, I’m confused by the deli myself. It was an ice cream/sorbet parlor and juice bar, then a creperie, now hot dogs? The hot dog “scuplture” on the street is tacky and an eyesore. And I don’t like the Slum City nickname. Greenwood isn’t a slum. The place just looks cheap — like a Gray’s Papaya in New York.
3 iheartgreenwood // Apr 22, 2010 at 7:37 pm
But good job on the article! Nice to see a student writer!
4 outside the box // Apr 22, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I concur with those above. My take….don’t bother. Olive you was crummy, and we tried it 3 times thinking maybe we just got them on a bad day. We even ordered a catered plate for an event and IT was lame. Sweet on you/85th st cafe is HORRIBLE…I thought the decor/concept was a joke, but when I found it had same owner as Olive You that explained alot. I’m sure there are many people who love the place, and I have sympathy for his smoke damaged business, but…..maybe I’ll give them 1 more try out of pity, but unless he has an epiphany prior to reopening, my hopes are NOT high….Best of luck!
5 Emily // Apr 23, 2010 at 6:22 am
I kinda like the hot dog sculpture.
6 AMC // Apr 23, 2010 at 6:42 am
That hotdog sculpture needs to go. And I also resent the slum city name. I concur, Greenwood isn’t a slum. If it got the name from “Slum Dog Millionaire” (not that that makes any sense at all either, was there a hotdog anywhere in that movie?), it could at least be called “Slum Dogs” not “Slum City”.
Furthermore, who on earth would eat a hotdog named after a slum???
7 anon // Apr 23, 2010 at 7:28 am
Glad I’m not the only one who resents the center of “downtown” Greenwood being named “Slum City”
8 Kelly Jean Davis // Apr 23, 2010 at 8:58 am
In Defense of the Hot Dog a.k.a. “Uncle Slum”: I love that hot dog on the street as it adds to the Greenwood “look” — kinda of wacky, kinda offbeat. It was a wonderful addition to what is otherwise a very ugly and unnoticeable corner. Frankly, Greenwood is not the most attractive place and making it a little odder just adds charm. And for those who thing “Slum” refers to a movie or whatever, it is the brand of a freaking hot dog.
Instead of complaining about the neighborhood and things you don’t feel add to it — DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Plant flowers in your traffic circle, pick up trash on your street, smile at pedestrianss. Quit whining.
9 CJ // Apr 23, 2010 at 9:12 am
Kelly, not sure putting a tacky hot dog outside of your store and calling it “Slum City” is doing something about it. I agree it’s incredibly tacky, and a complete waste of what could be a great corner for a cafe/deli.
10 Tiktok // Apr 23, 2010 at 9:39 am
Yeah, thumbs down on the 85th Street cafe. Eyesore, poor service the two times I went there.
11 Kelly Jean Davis // Apr 23, 2010 at 10:08 am
I like the hot dog and there are far, far tackier things in Greenwood. And, fyi, I always see little kids excited to see, play with , and such with that “tacky” hot dog.
12 Iron City Mike // Apr 23, 2010 at 10:35 am
No problems with the hot dog per se (and kids do seem to like it) but calling the shop “Slum City” is like a slap in the face – perhaps because it his hitting a bit close to home in post-arson “Greenhood” with all the vacant storefronts, trash on the streets, etc.
13 Mrs. Murphey // Apr 23, 2010 at 10:42 am
I don’t know how many times I have apologized to that hot dog thing for almost stepping on it’s feet – it seems to sneak up on me and seems larger than it is.. I guess I just get too bedazzled by how cool Greenwood is – lots of people walking around.
14 Eric // Apr 23, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I love this place (pun intended). Can’t wait for you to reopen!!
15 JLW // Apr 23, 2010 at 1:19 pm
it was sweet on you, then it changed names. i have been there as well HORRIBLE, not worth your money. olive you was decent but nothing special. the place on 85th is run by kids that spit in the food. i guess parents like bringing their kids there and that’s why it’s still even there.
16 R // Apr 23, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Olive You may not have been perfect,
but, based on actual customer attendance,
seemed to have been one of the most popular places around.
Customers with cash keep businesses open.
The 85th Street Sweet On You Café Deli seems to have had less success.
It may seem like a rudderless experimentation station,
but even on its worst day,
it seems to have had more customers than its predecessor.
Please feel free to post on this site that you would patronize this business if it changed its name or logo.
17 Red Dawn // Apr 23, 2010 at 1:49 pm
That “Slumdog Millionaire” story is bunk. He named it “Slum City” because that’s what he thinks of the neighborhood. I’ll never eat at either place again.
18 Fatality // Apr 23, 2010 at 2:28 pm
YOU MY BOY!!!
19 MM // Apr 23, 2010 at 3:04 pm
That guy always struck me as a pervy creep; he seems to leer at all his women customers, and his waitresses as well.
20 Kelly Jean Davis // Apr 23, 2010 at 6:12 pm
MM: That is personal and not cool.
21 Fred // Apr 23, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Wow – nasty comments! Way to support your neighborhood, folks. I’ve been there several times, yep, with my kids. I generally don’t like hot dogs, but theirs are really good! So are the panini, and the gelato – especially the pear. Yum.
22 OfBallard // Apr 23, 2010 at 11:27 pm
What is going on here? PhinneyWood is usually pretty dead in the comments section, and this upbeat story about an arson-plagued business finally getting back on track gets savaged by nearly twenty of you?
I had great experiences the few times I stopped by Olive You. The food was above average, especially for a place that serves past 10, the staff was jovial, and pleasant open-air seating on a busy pedestrian thoroughfare is almost non-existent in Seattle. I’ve been waiting with bated breath for the re-opening, and unlike all of you, I’m coming from two neighborhoods away.
(There are many things I adore about Greenwood, but there was a shocking “at least it didn’t happen to me” nonchalance among many during the first months of the arson spree that I’m convinced contributed to the slow-ass police response and the months they took to catch the guy. You’re a lovely neighborhood, but I’m not sure how community-minded you really are.)
23 david stoesz // Apr 24, 2010 at 7:21 am
The giant hot dog is a treasure. A welcome note of surrealism on an otherwise gray and featureless corner. And being offended by the name of a hot dog brand is just silly. Some people are apparently a little too genteel for their own good.
I’m honestly not a huge fan of either the deli or Olive You, but I agree with those who said we need successful businesses in the neighborhood. It’s not like we have new ones lining up to move in. How many vacant store fronts are there between 85th and 87th?
I also agree that community spirit is pretty low here. I walk in the neighborhood almost every day and hardly ever get more than a grimace in response to a friendly hello.
24 Kate Martin // Apr 24, 2010 at 4:24 pm
I like Timur and I like Olive You. The drinks are very good and I don’t think I’ve ever had any food there that I didn’t like.
When I’m having a party, sometimes I drop off a tray / platter earlier in the day and pick it up later. It’s always beautiful and delicious.
My kids like the 85th St Cafe. Inexpensive hot dogs that taste good and fill them up. They miss Mickey D’s. That’s understandable. It’s cool that there’s someplace that they can pop into and afford once in awhile.
25 Orlando Severns // Apr 25, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I’ve had good food at Olive You and good, but not reasonably-priced, ice cream at Sweet On You. I do not like the name “Slum City Hotdogs” because I think it makes light of real slums. I have walked through Nairobi’s largest slum and it is not a happy place. Those people are really suffering and I have seen what they eat. I saw piles of small fish covered with flies. I saw emaciated people laying on cots made of sticks laying next to these piles of decay. I saw them cooking meat in the streets with muddy streams filled with raw sewage passings under their feet. It is not a life any of us would want and it is a life that many of those who live in slums only know. I think that to name a hotdog after a slum is insensitive and just plain poor judgement.
I do not know where the “Slum City” hotdogs are made or who makes them. If Timur is in favor of these sausages and thinks they are good a good product, but cannot change the name, perhaps he could find an alternative. If nothing else, he could donate a percentage of proceeds to helping those who live in these slums.
26 bobson // Apr 26, 2010 at 2:17 am
cool story orlando…
27 AMC // Apr 26, 2010 at 7:02 am
Thanks Orlando. I agree, I will not go there because “Slum City” is posted prominently in at least four places. That name is just wrong.
And, “OfBallard” from “two neighborhoods away”, you didn’t have to listen to sirens nightly with dread for weeks on end like the actual people living in this neighborhood.
So please save your commentary on neighborhood spirit for you own neighborhood.
Greenwood is a great place to live and your comment about “oh, at least it didn’t happen to me” attitude is wrong, offensive, off base, and off topic.
28 ballardite // Apr 26, 2010 at 7:27 am
I love the food at Olive You! Had superb service and food via delivery and in the restaurant. My parents love it too when they visit from the boonies. I can’t wait for them to reopen!
All you haters should chill and tone down the nasty.
29 Philbert // Apr 26, 2010 at 9:18 am
Nice article, Steven. Please keep ‘em coming!
I’ll be glad to see Olive You open again. That being said, the prominent “Slum City” signs at the hot-dog shop are really quite _profoundly_ offensive. I would implore the owner to consider removing them. I’m certainly not going to buy anything from him until he does.
30 a.out // Apr 26, 2010 at 10:02 am
I got salmonella at Olive You.
31 Hungry // Apr 26, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Also glad OY’s re-opening. I like its atmosphere, menu, and very hard-working staff. Definitely a net gain to the strip.
Unfortunately, the owner’s attitude problem prevents me from ever patronizing them.
I would love to see him hire enough staff for the busy hours, or help out himself when one poor wait-person is trying to cover the whole place.
Finally, that hot dog is not surreal. It’s just nasty!
32 Charp // Apr 26, 2010 at 1:27 pm
As a former resident of Greenwood (I moved a month before the big fire), I’ve long heard Greenwood called Ghettowood and cringed each time I heard it. I wasn’t fond of Olive You – I far prefer Mr. Gyros – but there is no way I would consider eating at a place named “Slum Dog”.
It’s one thing for the product to be inexpensive and to market it as such, but the name “Slum Dog” gives the store and the neighborhood an image that they just don’t need, not with how things have been at that corner for the last several years.
Keep the pricing at “Slum Dog” but, for the love of God, change the name before you live ‘up’ to it, Timur!
33 Fritz // Apr 26, 2010 at 2:10 pm
It’s not even Slum Dog which at least has character. It’s Slum City. Bad idea for a name. Whether intentional or not, it insults a lot of locals, be mad at the talk backs all you want but folks don’t like their neighborhood’s main intersection sporting a shop that suggests their home is a slum.
It was a bad choice. The name has changed 3 times, why not once more to something that isn’t more often than not going to be taken as a dig at your customers neighborhood?
34 AMC // Apr 26, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Bravo! Timor should hold a re-naming contest.
PS I liked Olive You and I’m glad it will be re-opening. Good for late night wine & snacks.
35 another neighbor // Apr 29, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Just to make it clear: the name of the establishment was once Sweet on You and is now 85th Street Cafe & Deli. They sell Slum City hot dogs, among other things.
I personally dislike the name and logo of the hot dogs, and abhor that statue. I think that 85th St Cafe & Deli made a poor choice by dominating their cafe exterior with signs (and statue) for the dogs. But it is NOT the name of the cafe.
36 Fritz // Apr 30, 2010 at 12:37 pm
OK, so then they display several signs that needlessly offend & don’t accurately display the name of the business.
If it’s not Slum City, then take down the frickin’ signs & just advertise hotdogs & call them hotdogs on the menu. Problem solved.
A lot of poeple have commented that the word slum displayed in their neighborhood center is offensive. Friends of mine have commented & folks in my building. Poor choice in name & poor way to advertise your store front IMO.
37 Jamei June // May 2, 2010 at 3:38 pm
I love Olive You and wish Timur the best of luck. All of us at Fuzion Mobile support Olive You and the Greenwood Community. We hope to have a company dinner at Olive You when the time is right!
38 PCK // Jun 7, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I love OLIVE YOU and the 85th Cafe and Deli, The Panini is GREAT!! One of the best I had for a long time. Especially the Veggie one. The Gelato is my sons favorite. Great Flavor. Very nice and kind staff. I am surprised to read all the other comments. We had a very pleasent time while we were there.
39 MonkeyPilot // Jun 12, 2010 at 10:14 am
I was going past the 85th St Cafe last week and noticed a guy re-painting the hotdog signs on the building. Not only was he adding hot dog offerings to the sign, but the NAME had changed to “Greenwood Dogs”. Yay! No more Slum City name!
(although apparently a slum dog is still on the menu).
40 RRL // Aug 3, 2011 at 12:34 pm
NEW POST! Hey what if someone took over the “Hot Dog” joint and made it BETTER! NO slum dog naming:) Clean it up, great hospitality from a new owner who treated women and men along with children the same. Is this something that the Greenwood Family/Tenants would go to and be more accepting of? LMK
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