Dallas, TX
8 decades-old restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth that closed recently
I don’t want to scare you, but if you add up the timelines of eight recently-deceased Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants, they total nearly 350 years of service.
That’s — wow.
That’s institutional knowledge, gone. That’s decades of recipes, closed into the cookbook. That’s generations of art, knick-knacks and other decor, outdated. That’s family businesses, defunct.
As we strive to keep a living list of the oldest restaurants in North Texas still chuggin’, we also pause to remember the long-time, iconic Tex-Mex restaurants, sub shops, steakhouses and more that didn’t live through early 2025.
Restaurants listed in alphabetical order.
Blue Fish in East Dallas
about 27 years old
After over a quarter-century selling Japanese food on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, the original Blue Fish has closed. Two Blue Fish restaurants remain: in the Dallas suburb of Allen and in Breckenridge, Colo.
The restaurant was once the coolest kid on the block. It was known for its stainless steel interior and neon lights, a look called “techno-razzle” in a 2004 Dallas Morning News story. It’s now 2025, and we live in the land of omakase restaurants, where pricey dinners cost $185 per person and have become the flashiest part of Japanese dining in Dallas. Blue Fish, it seems, lost its flash.
Blue Fish was at 3519 Greenville Ave., Dallas.
Campo Verde in Arlington
about 42 years old
It was always Christmas at Campo Verde in Arlington. More than a few strings of lights spreading Christmas cheer, the place was truly covered, ceiling to floor, in twinkling lights, glowing Santas and ornament-covered trees.
Campo Verde has been open since 1983, reports our Imelda García. It closed in early January after one more Tex-Mex Christmas.
According to García, Campo Verde’s founder James “Smiley” Williams sold the restaurant to Thomas Ray Stewart Jr. Williams died in 2023.
We’ll miss this strange, jovial place.
Campo Verde was at 2918 W. Pioneer Parkway, Arlington.
El Taquito Cafe in Old East Dallas
about 50 years old
An East Dallas institution, El Taquito Cafe has served a menu of enchiladas, flautas, burritos and more since the 1970s. A regular told The Dallas Morning News breakfast was “terrific” and the green salsa — good on most anything — was hot as heck.
El Taquito was famously cash only, which was a source of frustration for some online reviewers. But prices were very reasonable: less than $8 for a lunch special. They also charged less than $8 for Wednesday specials that, generously, included three enchiladas.
The restaurant was founded by Victoriano Martinez, who died in 2010, and Josephine Martinez, who died in 2017. It isn’t clear why the restaurant closed.
El Taquito Cafe was at 5427 E. Grand Ave., Dallas.
The Great Outdoors in Addison
about 44 years old
When the Great Outdoors opened on Belt Line Road in Addison in 1981, it was the first business in the shopping center. Prestonwood mall was all the rage. New Jersey native Jerry Oliverie found himself in the middle of a sandwich boom: Dallasites seemed to love submarine sandwiches, once they figured out what they were.
Nearly 45 years later, the retail center at Belt Line Road and Montford Drive is still hot, but it’s full of new-to-Dallas businesses like sandwich and salad shop Mendocino Farms, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream and Postino wine cafe.
Rent went up and the Great Outdoors bowed out.
Not to worry, Oliverie is still selling subs in six other D-FW neighborhoods.
The Great Outdoors was at 5290 Belt Line Road, Dallas. The restaurant group has six remaining restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth. Find one here.
Hutch’s Pie and Sandwich Shop in Weatherford
about 90 years old
No more “life of pie,” wrote the family behind 90-year-old Hutch’s on Facebook. The late Raymond “Hutch” Hutchens started his eponymous fried pie company in 1935, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’. Hutchens was then 22 years old.
For decades, Hutch’s was mostly a delivery-only fried pie business. Some 50 years later, in 1985, Texas Highways reports that Hutch’s son and daughter-in-law opened the lunch spot in Weatherford where they added sandwiches and soups — alongside, of course, pie.
The social media announcement of the closure drew nearly 500 comments in just three days. “Thank you, Weatherford, for the support since 1935,” it reads.
Hutch’s Pie and Sandwich Shop was at 145 College Park Drive, Weatherford.
La Madeleine in Dallas’ NorthPark Center
about 35 years old
La Madeleine Country French Cafe closed in Dallas’ NorthPark Center on New Year’s Eve. It had sold Caesar salads and that delicious tomato-basil soup at two locations inside the shopping center since 1989.
La Madeleine still has 90 restaurants nationwide, with more than half of those in Texas. It was founded in Dallas, near Southern Methodist University.
Mendocino Farms, a California-based fast-casual restaurant, is expected to open in La Madeleine’s spot inside NorthPark.
La Madeleine was at 628 NorthPark Center, Dallas.
Closing soon: Meddlesome Moth in the Dallas Design District
about 15 years old
Forgive us for putting a teen-aged restaurant on this list. Although the Meddlesome Moth has been around “just” 15 years, its history in the Dallas Design District tells an interesting story about how our restaurant scene is changing. The restaurant owner and the landlord couldn’t come to an agreement on rent. The restaurateur hoped he could get a break, because the restaurant was the first eatery that took a chance on the then-growing neighborhood. The landlord offered market rate, which was too much for the Moth to make money.
What will become of the stained-glass windows in the restaurant? They’re for sale.
What will the restaurant become? No telling — yet. The Moth stays open until mid-2025. After that, we expect a restaurant with higher prices and more glitz.
The Meddlesome Moth is at 1621 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas. It’s expected to stay open until May 20, 2025.
Morton’s The Steakhouse in Uptown Dallas
about 37 years old
Quite possibly the most provocative restaurant closure on this list, according to DMN readers’ reactions, was Morton’s The Steakhouse on Dallas’ McKinney Avenue. It started in the West End, then moved to Uptown, for a total of nearly 40 years serving steaks for special occasions.
During its run, Dallas became a bonafide steak town. Morton’s held its own and was once one of our priciest restaurants in 2010.
The restaurant closed because the lease was up, the COO told us. They’re looking for a new location.
Morton’s The Steakhouse was at 2222 McKinney Ave., Dallas.
For sale: The Malt Shop in Weatherford
about 67 years old
The Malt Shop is not yet closed, but owner Janie Alice Harrison is looking to sell it. She’s dealing with health issues, reports the Star-T’s Bud Kennedy.
The drive-in, open since 1958, is a “is a precious keepsake of genuine Americana,” Kennedy said when Harrison bought it in 2017. It’s the kind of place “waiting to be discovered by some TV food show.”
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, do you want to send Guy Fieri over?
Williams worked at the shop for more than 30 years, Kennedy wrote, before becoming its second owner. Menu items include cheeseburgers, Frito pies, bologna sandwiches, and a plethora of milkshakes and malts.
The Malt Shop is at 2038 Fort Worth Highway (U.S. 180), Weatherford. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
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Each spring, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson brings some of the biggest names in golf, and millions of dollars in proceeds, to North Texas.
But that money doesn’t stay on the course. It’s quietly helping fund a Dallas nonprofit.
For more than 50 years, the Momentous Institute has been the tournament’s beneficiary.
The nonprofit provides mental health care, education, and family resources to support children and communities across Dallas.
“Over the years, the tournament has raised more than $185 million for the Momentous Institute, which directly supports the services we provide to the community,” said Dr. Jessica Gomez with the organization. “We’re really focused on helping the whole child and the whole family system heal from whatever mental health challenges they’re going through.”
This year, those efforts are taking shape in a new citywide campaign tied to Mental Health Awareness Month. Called “Squeeze the Day,” the campaign is meant to encourage North Texans to tap into the power of nature to support their well-being.
Billboards and installations have popped up across the city, from the Dallas Zoo to Klyde Warren Park to the Dallas Arboretum, urging people to pause, get outside, and find simple ways to care for their mental health.
“Having these reminders throughout the zoo that encourage people to take a moment and take in their surroundings, it’s really important,” said Kari Streiber with the Dallas Zoo. “You have to save those natural places and appreciating them is the first step.”
For the Momentous Institute, it’s all part of the mission of reaching people where they are and showing them that caring for their mental health can start with something as small as taking a deep breath outdoors.
So, next time you’re enjoying a walk or a visit to one of Dallas’ green spaces, don’t be surprised if you see a reminder to Squeeze the Day, and know that the CJ Cup Byron Nelson helped make it happen.
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