Dallas foodie temple Lucia to relocate, sibling cafe shutters

A significant-profile restaurant in Dallas’ Bishop Arts is closing: Macellaio, the everyday, butcher-pushed spot from restaurateurs David and Jennifer Uygur, will near at the conclusion of 2020.

But the room, positioned at 287 N. Bishop Ave., will become the new household to Lucia, their nationally acclaimed Italian restaurant.

Lucia will leave its latest site at 408 W. 8th St., where by it has been for a 10 years, on December 31.

The Uygurs shared the information in a Facebook publish, contacting the go “a new commencing.”

“We’ve put in the final 9 months attempting to figure out how to maintain our a few restaurants—Lucia, Macellaio, and Salaryman—while holding our team and guests safe. For us, that has intended keeping our dining rooms closed for dine-in and providing only To Go possibilities.”

The post acknowledges that the pair nervous how prolonged they could hold up: “Turns out we could maintain it up about 9 months,” their submit says.

“Retaining our eating rooms closed as extended as we have seems to have succeeded in retaining our workforce Covid-19 free so significantly,” it states. “But very little could guard our mate and Salaryman company partner, Justin Holt, from a devastating cancer prognosis in October. There’s no Salaryman without the need of him. The restaurant closed forever that same month. Justin responding to remedy and getting out of the hospital has been the best news we’ve gotten all yr.”

The few say that, all through the pandemic, they struggled to find the proper area of interest for Macellaio, where by profits held dropping, regardless of many pivots.

“With greatly diminished product sales and no Salaryman to help share expenditures, there merely is not a path forward for Macellaio,” they say. “So, David and I made the decision to near it forever. Which was a terrifying decision to make, considering the fact that there are several a long time remaining on the lease at Macellaio’s house at 287 N. Bishop Ave.”

Nonetheless, their lease at Lucia’s site expires at the stop of the year. Following what they get in touch with “numerous heart-wrenching conversations,” they determined not to renew, given the wonderful quantity of unknowns in the world of Covid-19, and will shift Lucia into the Macellaio area rather, which they simply call their “most effective probability to not just survive, but prosper in the coming a long time.”

“This transfer means we’ll nonetheless be capable to honor our lease commitments to our landlord at Macellaio’s previous place. It implies we can even now function in the neighborhood we like. It implies we’ll have a significant, coated patio with propane heaters and enthusiasts where by we can seat guests at a safe length from each and every other.”

“It implies we’ll have a more substantial dining area with adequate room to each socially length our tables and be in a position to feed enough visitors to permit us to pay out our staff members and our charges. It implies we have hope for the 1st time in months.”

Considering the fact that opening in 2010, Lucia has earned national focus and numerous awards for its thoughtful interpretation of Italian food items with salumi, cheese boards, risotto, and pastas, as properly as its stellar wine checklist. With loads of excitement and a dining room with only 36 seats, it remained a scorching reservation to snag throughout its lifespan.

They followed it up with Macellaio, which they opened with house-cured meats and a whole bar, in 2018.

Immediately after a short term closure induced by COVID-19, the Uygurs instituted consider-out only at the two Lucia and Macellaio in May well 2020. Even though their offerings normally bought out, it was seemingly nonetheless not enough.

Salaryman’s former space will come to be a Lucia To Go place. Lucia will re-open in the spring.

“We’re unhappy to go away our beloved tiny place in the Bishop Arts Constructing,” their write-up states. “There’s so substantially history right here. But we’re so grateful that we have a way to construct a potential for Lucia. Even if it is someplace else.”
