Love and War in Texas' Grapevine Location Has Closed

The owner of the restaurant and live music venues Love and War in Texas closed his Grapevine location this week as he prepares to open a new venue in East Texas.

The original Plano location remains open.

Owner Tye Phelps told the Observer that the decision came down to lease negotiations and, in a Facebook post on the closing indicated that the employees would be welcome at the Plano location as well as the new location in Lindale, opening in October.

“When God closes a door, nobody can open it. When God opens a door, nobody can close it,” posts on Love and War in Texas and his personal page read. “My Grapevine location has closed as we make way for an awesome entertainment destination in Lindale, Texas. The Love and War family, employees and guests, always stick together, and you'll notice those same faces at our other two venues. I'm blessed to have the greatest family in the world ... not the end, only the beginning.”
The new location in the small East Texas town, halfway between Dallas and Shreveport off Interstate 20, will be one of the cornerstones in a massive downtown revitalization effort in Lindale.

For the project, Phelps has partnered with the city of Lindale and the family of country superstar Miranda Lambert, who grew up in Lindale and whose parents still live there.

After her divorce with fellow country music star Blake Shelton, Lambert sold her businesses in Oklahoma to Shelton and said she was concentrating her efforts on her Texas hometown. 

Her Pink Pistol boutique in downtown moved last week to an expanded location next door to where Phelps' new Love and War will be located. Phelps and the Lamberts have been friends for years, after he helped give Lambert her start as a teenager playing her songs at his Plano venue years ago.

The venue and the boutique will serve as the anchor businesses for the new development, known as The Cannery Lindale. Phelps moved to Lindale in January and is helping coordinate the city’s special events.

The Cannery Lindale will include restaurants, lofts, shopping, a city park and a junior college extension as well as six stages for live music performances.

The closing of the Grapevine store elicited an outpouring of support for Phelps and the new venue on social media, with employees posting memories, customers expressing sadness that they’ll no longer be able to enjoy the wild boar quesadillas in Grapevine, and Lindale residents welcoming the venue to their town.

“Thanks for the memories, Tye!” one post read. “Excited to make new ones in Lindale.”

Another poster wrote: “Each of my 3 children worked there. My oldest daughter met her husband there. My youngest daughter her boyfriend. My son his true love... So many good times and friends made.. Friends who have become family.”