We recently noticed a TABC notice for an application to sell liquor in the window of an empty spot in Cityville off Lemon, and it carried a familiar restaurant name: Kathleen's Sky Diner, a staple on Lovers Lane near the Tollway. We figured they were looking to expand their pie-and-diner-food empire.
Which they are, but co-owner Robert Ellington told City of Ate today that that particular spot was old news. The space was going to require more work than they wanted, Ellington said, so he and his co-owner and wife, Kathleen, have moved on to other potential locations. You'll never guess where. (Actually you probably will, because I bet my editor put it in the headline. He did, didn't he? Ugh. There goes the element of surprise. Anyway ...)
"We've been working on it for six months," Ellington said of the search for a new spot. "We're thinking maybe Oak Cliff and the Bishop Arts area."
The new place wouldn't be a carbon copy of the original Sky Diner.
"We want to simplify what we're doing," said Ellington. "Over here, the menu is a monster. So, the new place would be a seafood house with a simpler menu. We would be looking at high quality stuff and what's available -- what we can get our hands on. And we really want to try to keep our pricing inexpensive to moderate."
Ellington says a new place would have desserts on the menu, but not a bakery like the one at the Sky Diner now. "You ever hear the story about the bumblebee?" Ellington asked when I brought up the bakery.
"Well, it's not supposed to fly. It only does so because it doesn't know any better."
Evidently when Kathleen started baking a few innocent brownies to sell out of the storefront about 20 years ago, they had no idea things would take off as they have. And while Ellington said they're still passionate about food, even after 30 years in the business, a new place would have a less-is-more concept.
