An otherwise quiet, rainy Sunday took on a somber tone for those in the Dallas dining industry when two restaurants run by prominent local chefs shuttered on the same day.
In Deep Ellum, chef Matt McCallister's Filament closed after dinner service last night. The upscale Southern food spot opened last year.
“It just doesn’t do enough business for a full-service restaurant,” McCallister told D Magazine. “It’s Deep Ellum. We weren’t a small bar and didn’t cater to the Deep Ellum crowd (big mistake). You can’t make it on a business that only really does business on Thursdays through Saturdays.”
The same day, chef Tim Byres' barbecue restaurant Smoke announced on Facebook that its Plano location would close after brunch service Sunday.
Smoke's West Dallas location will remain open, as will other concepts (Bolsa, The Theodore, Chicken Scratch) owned by the same company.
Members of the Dallas restaurant community took to social media yesterday to express sadness over the closures.
"The restaurant scene has been getting kicked in the teeth lately," Sam Wynne, owner of Braindead Brewing and Bowls and Tacos, posted on Facebook. "If there is a restaurant that you love, take your friends to it. Introduce them to your favorite server. Go eat lunch there. Bring a friend from work. Pay that $2 for daytime parking. Post a picture in Instagram, brag about how great it is on Facebook, leave a good review on Yelp or Google. Look around. This is our city, and this is our food scene. No one gets to decide how great it is besides us."