Sushi bar moving into former Joe Mango's space

A sign has been hanging on the door of the now-closed Joe Mango's Cafe, 319 N. Carson St., for the past week.

"Coming Soon!!!" the sign says. "The Maple Leaf. Northern Nevada's only Canadian sports bar and fine food establishment."

The actual new lessee of the space, however, said he doesn't know what the sign is doing there and has never heard of that business.

"I don't know what the story is with that," said Tony Pastini, owner of Sushi & Teri Kim Lee's Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar. "It's kind of weird, isn't it?"

The restaurant is currently leasing a space around the corner at 111 E. Telegraph St. Pastini said he excited to move into the Carson Street location, though, because it is a historical building on a main road and he will be able to expand his business there.

He said he plans to remodel the space over the next few months and open there beginning of next year.

The man who sold Pastini the lease, Jody Valente, said he doesn't know why the sign advertising the Canadian pub is on the door, either.

"I have no idea what's going on with the Maple Leaf," said Valente, who ran Joe Mango's. "I don't know who they are."

Besides that confusion, Valente said he's happy with the sale. Though he just opened the coffee shop in March, he said he always planned to resell the lease for a profit.

"I bought it as a real estate investment and flipped it ... I did great. To be honest with you," Valente said. "I'm totally stoked about the whole deal."

Pastini, who's been running his restaurant for almost 20 years, said he was happy with the deal, too. He said he's been thinking about the space for years.

Valente said Pastini, unlike him, bought the space to operate a long-term business.

"I mean, obviously, that's what I needed to portray ... but that's not what the game was," he said. "It was to purchase a really, really fabulous lease on an extremely excellent location in downtown Carson."

John Davis, who owns the Carson Street building, said he also doesn't know why the sign for the Canadian bar is up. Besides being the owner, Davis ran a coffee shop, Java Joe's, for almost 13 years in the space Pastini now leases.

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.