When the Dibabus first began cooking Ethiopian food on North Williams Avenue, the blocks around their restaurant were empty.



Dalo's Kitchen was an island 12 years ago. But the North Williams skyline has moved up six stories. Last week, dozens of construction workers ate sack lunches from the beds of pickup trucks.



And this fall, crews plan to tear Dalo's down.



In its place, developers plan to build 268 apartments with more than 25,000 square feet of commercial space.



"It's bittersweet for us," said Mimi Dibabu, the 31-year-old cook and daughter in the family. "We made so many memories there, met so many people. The development helps the neighborhood, which is great. Sometimes it just marginalizes certain groups of people. It's sad that the mom and pop places have to close up."



The Dibabu family moved to Portland two decades ago so the patriarch Dibabu Gurmu could work as a flight engineer.



He did inspections for a few small companies here, then retired to help his wife Dalo realize her dream of owning a family restaurant. Daughter Mimi Dibabu wanted to be an archaeologist but agreed to help mom in the kitchen as soon as she graduated high school. Gurmu and their son Yohannes Dibabu worked the front of the house.





Lentil sambusa's with a green chile lime sauce from Dalo's Ethiopian Cuisine. Brittany Greeson/ The Oregonian

They opened first in a small spot on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard but quickly outgrew the space. The Dibabus moved to North Portland in 2002 because they needed something big.



The North Williams complex with space for rent didn't scream potential then. The closest restaurant was Tropicana Barbecue eight blocks away. And depending on who was doing the describing, the building at the intersection of North Skidmore Street was either quirky or shady. The outside was gray cinderblock. The inside was fluorescent.



But the Dibabus are positive people -- even now, as they're being forced to leave the street they helped populate, they voice only hope -- and they saw opportunity.



There was no "Dalo's" sign at first, only word of mouth that sent people in search of $5 platters offering generous helpings of split peas, greens, lentils and cabbage. A $10 buffet included vegan options and several kinds of meat.



The food was good, people said then, but the service was an experience. Dibabu Gurmu told jokes or old stories while Yohannes Dibabu, now 35, brought out endless baskets of injera. The $5 platter might come out quickly, but Gurmu kept customers in the restaurant for hours.



Hippies dined next to African immigrants in those early days, and as the Dibabu's reputation spread, families from nearby Irvington gave it a try, too. Pix Patisserie opened in 2005, and the Dibabus noticed their customers started walking the three empty blocks south for dessert.



Years went by without any other new developments on North Williams. But by 2012, there were rarely weeks without construction. Apartments replaced the empty lots. As new restaurants came in, too, some of the old guard left. Pix moved to a bigger spot on East Burnside. Tropicana closed shop entirely.



The Dibabu's landlord wanted to cash in on the boom, and put the site up for sale two years ago. Last year, Seattle-based Security Properties paid $4.2 million for the block that includes Dalo's.





The upcoming Security Properties building will stretch to six stories on North Williams Avenue.

The Dibabus tried renting the old Tropicana space, but the realtor said he might already have a tenant. They asked about renting in new Williams buildings, Mimi Dibabu said, but developers said they weren't looking for restaurants. Other developers said they didn't want the smell of Ethiopian simmering in their new spot.



"We'd love to have them," Security's director of multifamily development Michael Nanney told the Boise Neighborhood Association last fall. "But new construction is expensive, and they may not be able to afford the rent."



The Dibabus, who pay more than $3,000 a month on North Williams now, started looking for a new space. They have to leave the old cinderblock building -- now painted a dull beige -- by August.



When they open elsewhere, it will be without one of their greatest charms; Dibabu Gurmu was diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer. The 67-year-old is too weak to wait tables now.



His kids are eager to stay in North or Northeast Portland and have a particular interest in St. Johns. But they're open to Southeast Portland, too, Mimi Dibabu said -- "anywhere we can share our food."



"It's been a blessing," she said. "We had no idea we would survive this long. It's not going to end. We just have to hope."

-- Casey Parks