The Nuthouse Grill in Lynden following closure—Photo taken in 2023 by Fernando Gonzalez of Bellingham Metro News
LYNDEN, WA (Bellingham Metro News) — A new restaurant is preparing to move into one of Lynden’s long-vacant commercial spaces, as Sahara Pizza appears set to open a location at Bender Plaza in the former Nuthouse Grill suite.
According to a newly created social media page for “Sahara Pizza – Lynden,” the business is listing its address as 8874 Bender Road, Suite 109A—the same location previously occupied by The Nuthouse Grill, which has remained vacant since closing a few years ago. The page indicates the restaurant will offer delivery, takeout, and dine-in service, along with a menu featuring gourmet pizzas, pastas, salads, and more.
If confirmed, this would mark the second Sahara Pizza location in Whatcom County, joining the existing Blaine location on Birch Bay Lynden Road that serves Birch Bay, Custer, and surrounding areas.
Sahara Pizza is a regional franchise with multiple locations across Washington, as well as Oregon, Idaho, and international markets. The brand is known for a wide range of specialty pizzas, along with build-your-own options, pasta dishes, wings, grinders, and desserts. Menu offerings can vary slightly by location, but the concept typically centers around made-from-scratch dough, house recipes, and a broad selection of toppings.
The upcoming Lynden location would bring new activity to Bender Plaza, a well-trafficked commercial area that is home to a variety of local businesses. The plaza includes tenants such as Woods Coffee’s original Lynden location, Cancun Mexican restaurant, Lynden Fray, Ginger Fusion Bar & Grill, Bender Market and Sinclair gas station, Tienda Guatemalteca, a massage business, and several other shops and services that serve the surrounding community.
It is also worth noting that this will mark the fourth pizza-related concept to operate within Bender Plaza in recent memory, though not in the same suite as previous businesses. New York Pizza Bar & Grill once operated in the plaza before closing as part of a broader regional shutdown within the past decade. That space later saw a brief run as a Mexican restaurant under the name Mom’s Bar & Grill, before transitioning into All Time Pizza.
All Time Pizza operated for a couple of years and was uniquely connected to Tandoori Bites, functioning as a shared space with two distinct concepts. That location has since become Ginger Fusion Bar & Grill, which remains the current tenant and continues to serve a mix of Indian dishes, bar-style food, and pizza offerings.
Unlike those earlier businesses, Sahara Pizza is set to occupy a different unit within the plaza—the former Nuthouse Grill space. This makes it the first pizza-focused restaurant in recent years to open in that specific suite, while also entering a plaza that already has an existing business offering pizza on its menu.
It will definitely be interesting how competition influences this plaza, and the western-lynden regional area—an urban and suburban area which has seen large housing development in recent years, essentially adding several new neighborhoods from Line Road at Aaron Drive—all the way to Northwood Market, and area once full of nature and cornfields.
The space itself has remained vacant since the closure of The Nuthouse Grill, a longtime local establishment that was widely recognized in Lynden. If confirmed, this would be the first new business to occupy that unit in several years.
At this time, an official opening date has not been publicly announced, and it remains unclear what level of interior renovation or updates may be planned for the space. Additional details, including ownership, hiring, and timeline, have not yet been released.
Bellingham Metro News reached out to the official social media account for more details regarding the upcoming location, but nobody responded to our inquiry—once we get an update then we will be sure to publish a follow up article to this one.
Bellingham Metro News will continue working to confirm more information as it becomes available. — Bellingham Metro News was the first news outlet to report on this story.
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