Anokha Closes Shop, New Tenant Eying Space

If you’ve strolled on Grant Avenue over the past couple of days, you may have noticed a letter posted on the front door of what used to be Anokha, a popular Indian restaurant.

The notice, posted July 5, is a letter of abandonment telling owner Savio Mascarenhas to pay up. Mascarenhas, a Novato resident who is originally from the island of Goa, apparently closed up the restaurant and left town without paying three months worth of rent to the building owner.

He allegedly also owes numerous employees back pay as well as money to vendors and business associates, according to Surinder “Paul” Sroa, the former owner of Lotus in Novato who sold the restaurant to Mascarenhas a year ago. (Sroa now runs the Lotus in downtown San Rafael.)

“I think something happened and he couldn’t control the restaurant,” Sroa said. “He just disappeared and no one knows how to reach him.”

While Patch was at the store investigating, we ran into Jack Chai, who wants to open a Thai restaurant at the location. Chai declined to elaborate, but said he’d share more once he was officially the new tenant. He is expected to move in by the end of July.

Will you miss Anokha? Excited about a new Thai restaurant coming to downtown Novato? What other kind of restaurant or business does Grant Avenue need?