“There isn’t a better place to sit in the city when you’re there. You’re sitting better than anyone around: The lights behind the bar twinkle, refracting through bottles. The blue-and-white checkered tile is smooth and perfectly accepting of a solo diner…. In October, the Grape will close for good. There are memories to grieve over. We’ll miss the simplest things: warmed bread with marble-white butter, unbelievably creamy, with a light snow of Maldon sea salt, the cheeseburger. It’s the end of a landmark because of its tried-and-true focus on the good, warming stuff. The real old dishes, unblemished by time and age, were championed at the Grape. Mussels and garlic kept us sane. Pommes frites didn’t care what it looked like in portrait mode. Through the evolution of Lower Greenville, the Grape has been a mainstay. There was a sense of intimacy and comfort in the dining space. It’s almost by the nature of tables being so close together, but the atmosphere of companionship while dining here is nearly as important as the food, and a unique, endearing trait of the Grape. It’s a model that isn’t readily available in our restaurant-dense city…” Read More
The Grape Is, and Should Be, a Landmark
