With Deli King Closure, Will One of Two Previous New Restaurants Reemerge?

Mike’s on Main? Yujo sushi? Something completely different?

Most residents were aware that Arthur Agganis and Dimitrios Gomatos, owners of Deli King, were looking to sell and retire. That closure will come on Tuesday, according to Channel 5 reporting.

The property has been for sale for some time, and common victualler licenses and liquor license transfers were granted to new operators twice.

In September, attorney John Gallant and Steven Lin, owner of the Dracut-based Yujo sushi and Asian cuisine restaurant, applied for a common victualler license and transfer of liquor license from Deli King. 

Lin and his co-owner, Chow Yeng Ng, had agreed to pay $650,000 for the 230-seat, 3,928-square-foot restaurant and an additional $100,000 for Deli King’s business assets. The Dracut Yujo location has a full liquor license and has been in business for 10 years with no violations. Gallant told the board that there would be significant renovations, including the back bar area, with the cafeteria line being removed. There was no timeline for opening.

The liquor license transfer was approved, with the common victualler license to be considered at a later date, once Lin provides more information on the layout of the new restaurant. He never came back before the Select Board with that information.

Previously, in October 2021, the Select Board had approved a liquor license transfer request from Deli King to Michael Liu, who also owns other area restaurants, including Stelios, Jade Pacific and Chung King Rick’s Cafe in Billerica. Liu had plans to perform renovations and, with co-petitioner Yanping Zhan, rename the long-time Tewksbury eatery “Mike’s on Main.” 

The plan was to offer traditional American cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with alcohol service a competitive differentiator over other breakfast restaurants in town. That project never came to fruition.

Agganis and Gomatos offered no hint of what might come next at the 885 Main St. location, and Community/Economic Development Planner Alex Lowder said she had no concrete plans in hand.