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The Grape, one of the city’s most iconic breakfast-with-booze destinations, is officially getting out of the brunch game.
Chef and owner Brian Luscher announced on Monday that he’ll open his 47-year-old restaurant for brunch service for the final time this month. The Grape has been a Lower Greenville staple for decades, and since Luscher purchased the eatery in 2007, the neighborhood has seen incredible change. “The Dallas dining public is fortunate to have an incredibly large number of choices for dining experiences,” Luscher said in a statement. “There are more restaurants offering brunch options than in the history of our vibrant, amazing and ever-growing city. We are smack-dab in the heady days of an unprecedented period of growth in the restaurant industry.”
According to Luscher, the once-dense weekend crowds just aren’t generating enough revenue to justify buying the ingredients and paying staff to show up for brunch service. “Quite simply, we do not have the number of guests visiting us to make the work and products necessary to execute the Sunday Brunch shift result in a profit,” Luscher continues. “I am not doing this to ‘keep busy.’ I am running a business. And, generally speaking, in order for a business to be viable, it must generate a reasonable net profit.”
Luscher is insistent that the restaurant isn’t in any financial trouble or immediate danger of shuttering, though, and says that he’s currently in the process of updating the the Grape’s menu. That said, the Grape will continue to serve its famed “Best Burger in Texas” during dinner service on Sundays and Mondays, and there’s no doubt that the beloved cream of mushroom soup will stick around regardless of whatever changes are coming next.
For brunch enthusiasts who need to say farewell, the Grape will open its doors for brunch one last time on Sunday, February 24.