Closure News
West Dallas restaurant incubator Trinity Groves terminates the tapas
Another restaurant has closed at Trinity Groves, the West Dallas incubator concept from Phil Romano: Tapas Castile, the modern take on the traditional Spanish tapas bar at Trinity Groves, closed after dinner service on August 25.
In a release, Romano said that the restaurant wasn't doing sufficient business.
"In spite of the positive reviews of the food and wine program at Tapas Castile, the restaurant has not performed well enough for us financially to continue with the concept," Romano said.
Tapas Castile opened in January, not even a year, in the former Casa Rubia space. Owner-partners Jessica Kate-Martinez and Kendra Valentine both worked at Design District restaurant FT33. Kate-Martinez managed the front of the house; Valentine served as executive chef.
"As the only restaurant incubator in North Texas, we take pride on taking risks and giving life to unique concepts to see how customers react to them," Romano said. "We've had huge successes, and unfortunately concepts that don’t work in this competitive market. We’ve seen from customer response that the tapas-style dining concept is not a good fit for Trinity Groves."
Are tapas a bad thing? I've heard some restaurateurs who basically do tapas nonetheless beg not to be called a tapas place.
"We continue to learn with every new concept we bring into Trinity Groves," Romano said. "Jessica has been a great partner. She has a true passion for serving good food and good wine and I wish her the best of luck as she continues to pursue that passion."
Kate Martinez was not available for comment, and a replacement for the restaurant has not been finalized at this time.