A trend, or just coincidence? Two of Dallas' most unusual new restaurants are open only three nights per week - Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
"The nights most people want to go out are those nights," says David Anthony Temple. Also known as Chef DAT, Temple has been hosting underground dinners for the past five years, many of them in Deep Ellum. That's where he has recently opened a permanent spot, Twenty Seven, offering fixed-price dinners at two seatings to a maximum of 27 diners. "I just don't see any business down there on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday," he says.
"I think it's better as a business to expand than to start off going, 'We're open every day, lunch and dinner,'" says Temple.
The new downtown nonprofit Cafe Momentum, which provides cooking and front-of-the-house experience to nonviolent juvenile offenders, is also open three nights, but for different reasons.
Executive chef Chad Houser explains that there are challenges opening any restaurant, and even more so with one staffed by kids who have never worked in one. "You've got to walk before you can run," he says. The goal of the project is to train the kids for restaurant careers, and limiting the nights they work is about "setting them up for success."
But as it turns out, it's working so well that Houser is leaning toward keeping the short week. That's because the nights the restaurant is closed, Cafe Momentum hosts private events, where the kids get banquet-style service experience. And that's been great for them. "It allows us to give our kids more exposure to other avenues within our industry," says Houser.
More power to 'em.
