Deedee’s booted from Middlefield location

The owners of Deedee’s Food Inc. say it’s not just an Indian restaurant, grocery store and video store, but also an Indian community center, regularly hosting and sponsoring cultural events.

Nonetheless, the site where it currently sits, at 2551 W. Middlefield Road, has been approved for a 75-unit apartment complex, and the store will have to move by the end of the month.

That’s a shame, says Suketu Desai, who owns and operates the store along with his wife Daksha, because Deedee’s is at the heart of Mountain View’s Indian community. “People are calling this a community center,” he said.

The Desai family has already leased a new site at 2218 Old Middlefield Road and hopes to move in by mid-December. But if the store isn’t allowed to move to its new site, “we’re going to have problems,” Desai said. Those problems include the possibility of having to leave Mountain View, and its customer base, behind.

The new site is in the heart of an industrialized area on Old Middlefield Road in what looks like a commercial building, which would require a conditional use permit. Apparently it’s affordable, but the city has objections. Desai said there is a disagreement about a lack of parking, which he said could be resolved with additional spaces rented from the building next door.

A recent zoning administration hearing was rescheduled for Dec. 12. City officials did not comment by press time.

Deedee’s opened in 1998 after the Desai family came here from India in 1991. Daksha found that her cooking was extremely popular among young Indian bachelors, and the family realized that “we have to have a restaurant,” her husband said.

The restaurant soon became a destination for Indians, including some executives at Hewlett Packard. Performances from local Indian musicians and speakers were also a draw, and provided a unique forum for the local Indian community.

Until a new location is found, Desai said, the family will continue the catering business it has built up over the years.

For more information about Deedee’s, including menu and other offerings, see www.mydeedees.com.