We got a note that King Falafel had closed. Stopped by this morning and saw that the signs were gone and the furniture and equipment was stacked up for moving.

Came by a couple hours later and met Lorenzo, the owner of Aloha Ramen, who was cleaning out the old equipment. He says King Falafel’s owner decided to move back to his home country of Egypt, opening up the space.

Lorenzo, who was born in Hawaii and raised in Okinawa, Japan, has been in the restaurant business for 30 years, including a long stint as a sous chef at the Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach in Oahu. He says he’ll be serving many types of ramen, as well as beef curry.

He’s hoping to open in the beginning of May, but it’s a bit early to nail down a date at this point, he said.

Thanks, Coral, for tipping us on this.

That’s the word from JJ, one of the partners involved in the new bar where The Northside Grill recently closed. Here’s a “before” picture of the space at 8550 Greenwood Ave. N.:

In a previous post about the new bar, Hannah Levin, a KEXP DJ and author of Seattle Weekly’s Rocket Queen music column, gave more details about their plans, saying it will be, “a relaxed neighborhood bar and bistro that occasionally has low-key shows. We will definitely have a carefully curated jukebox and weekly DJs.”