Swami’s Cafe headed to Vista Village

Swami’s Cafe, a popular San Diego County restaurant chain, is opening a location in downtown Vista in a spot left vacant two years ago by El Callejon Mexican restaurant.

Swami’s — a breakfast and lunch favorite in several communities — will add dinner to the menu at its Vista Village site, which is set to open within four to six months, according to Andrew Peterson, who brokered the deal.

“Swami’s has a lot of buzz in North County, and they will bring a healthy, fresh, vibrant fare,” said Peterson, the director of the retail division at Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate brokerage firm.

The family-owned restaurant is known for its natural menu items, from breakfast burritos to salads and smoothies. In January, SpoonUniversity.com listed it among “10 Clean-Eating Restaurants SoCal Can Be Proud Of.”

Swami’s owner Jaime Osuna could not be reached for comment on the expansion. Peterson said the Vista restaurant will follow the format of the relatively new Oceanside location — larger seating areas, outdoor patios and open from breakfast through dinner.

The deal to bring Swami’s to Vista is great news, said Kevin Ham, Vista’s director of economic development. Vista Village, with its prime location off state Route 78, is one of the city’s most high-profile eating and entertainment complexes.

“I think their food offerings are something that the community will appreciate and enjoy,” Ham said.

While much of downtown has been growing in recent years, the Vista Village center — the city’s centerpiece downtown redevelopment project — has struggled with several vacancies. The nearly 4,900-square-foot site where Swami’s will open has been empty for two years.

Other restaurants in the complex have come and gone, including California Pizza Kitchen, which has since become Rosati’s. The vacant restaurant that formerly housed Famous Dave’s will soon be torn down and replaced by a drive-thru chicken fingers joint called Raising Cane’s.

A Subway sandwich shop across from the movie theater closed last year, replaced by Poke Poke restaurant, which opened last week.

Peterson said there isn’t a large pool of national chains interested in opening new sites. Regional restaurants are filling those vacancies.

It was the same sentiment from the Famous Dave’s property owner, who earlier this year told the City Council that he’d reached out to more than 40 sit-down restaurants to fill his vacant site — but could find no takers.

The difficulty in finding tenants led the city to change some of its land-use policies for Vista Village, including tweaking rules to allow a drive-thru restaurant and some residential units.

More than a dozen years ago, the city envisioned only upscale restaurants along the creek in the middle of the shopping and entertainment complex. A dirt lot in that area — which for years has been used for overflow parking — will become home to a 41-unit apartment complex.

Across the street from Vista Village sits the city’s historic downtown core, which has been able to draw new restaurants, including plans to open Dog Haus. The eatery, which specializes in gourmet hot dogs, will open in a spec restaurant built on the site of an old shoe repair shop.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT