John Vink may be the best friend a slab of brisket ever had.

The engineer-turned-entrepreneur who reopened Sunnyvale’s closed Armadillo Willy’s in September, renaming it Empire Armadillo, has announced that he will reopen a closed South San Jose location.

Look for a late November opening at 878 Blossom Hill Road, near Westfield Oakridge mall.

“We always had the plan from the start to have two locations. It just took a lot longer to negotiate with the landlord for the second one,” Vink said. “We feel confident that we’ll have success there. It’s a busy area. We’re definitely more visible from the street.”

The abrupt closure of three Armadillo Willy’s in late June set Vink in motion. “I had to buy it,” he said, or lose his favorite sandwich, pit-smoked chicken — which he’d eaten for year

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