After 25 years in East Sacramento, 33rd Street Bistro is closing. Here’s why

33rd Street Bistro’s silver anniversary has tarnished.

The East Sacramento restaurant, which has been celebrating its upcoming 25th anniversary with throwback specials for the last few months, will close Sunday after its new landlord opted for another tenant, co-owner Matt Haines said Wednesday.

Gary and Linda Nibbling leased the building at 3301 Folsom Blvd. to Haines and his brother/business partner Fred for 24 years before selling it to Davis-based Dowling Properties in early January. Matt Haines said he and his brother asked in late January to pay rent on the 15th of each month for cash flow reasons, but were told Dowling preferred payments on the 1st.

33rd Street Bistro paid its rent on Feb. 1, Haines said. However, the brothers were told five days later Dowling wanted to “go a different direction” and their month-to-month lease would not be renewed, he said.

Dowling Properties principal Dan Dowling said he received three or four inquiries from possible tenants while the building sale was in escrow, and opted for an upscale Italian-American restaurant which will open in a few months. It’ll be owned by Frank Albenese, a veteran Bay Area restaurateur who lives in El Dorado Hills.

“I reviewed all the information from present tenants and future tenants and made a prudent decision,” Dowling said.

At Dowling’s request, the new tenants approached the Haines brothers and discussed a transition from one business to the other. Matt Haines said that meant offering to pay them $125,000 to retain 33rd Street Bistro’s name, recipes and staff and transfer the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control license.

“If they were going to tear it down, I could understand that. If they had a hot new national tenant, that’d be understandable,” Haines said. “But all they wanted was the name.”

A counter-offer of $200,000 for the ABC license, staff and an ownership transfer sometime in May — no use of 33rd Street Bistro’s name or recipes — was rejected, Haines said, and Sunday was set as the restaurant’s last day of service.

The Haines brothers founded 33rd Street Bistro in 1995 and now own Suzie Burger, Wildwood Kitchen & Bar in the Pavilions Shopping Center and Bistro 33 in Davis. A 25th anniversary party had been scheduled for Nov. 14; that date now serves as a benchmark of when the Haines brothers would like to open another 33rd Street Bistro in East Sacramento, Matt Haines said.

“We’re devastated. It’s family and friends and bigger than business with us,” Matt Haines said. “We started from scratch and built a name for ourselves here. It’s our identity.”

33rd Street Bistro’s 50 employees were informed of the closure around 9 p.m. Wednesday. About 10 to 15 will be absorbed into the Haines brothers’ other restaurants; Matt Haines was trying to find others jobs at local competitors, he said.

This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 6:00 AM.