Beloved Henderson Avenue Restaurant The Porch Closes After 15 Years

Beloved Dallas restaurant The Porch has closed after 15 years on Henderson Avenue. It was first announced on their Instagram page less than 24 hours ago.

When I lived in the neighborhood a few years ago, I’d frequent The Porch for its well-known grilled cheese & tomato soup, as well as its gooey butter cake dessert. I often think about these two dishes and am saddened that the restaurant abruptly closed. No last visits.

After a brief closure to revamp the space and menu, Headington Companies (whose portfolio includes The Joule hotel, Midnight Rambler, Tango Room, and more) reopened The Porch in 2023. They brought on Black Swan Saloon‘s Gabe Sanchez to craft the cocktail menu and added some favorite bites from their former concept, Wheelhouse, which closed in 2020.

“We’re all saddened to see it close, but the restaurant simply couldn’t sustain long-term operations in today’s challenging financial climate,” CMO of Headington Companies Jeny Bania tells PaperCity. “A few bright spots are that we were able to relocate a handful of team members into other roles within our portfolio at either Commissary or Mirador. And for those not reassigned, Tim Headington [CEO] insisted they receive severance to help ease their transition.”

She notes that Headington Companies is still busy with new concepts on the horizon. Forty Five Ten, along with Café Mirador, is expanding to Fort Worth, and their new hi-fi bar, Shyboy, is set to open this fall. Renovations are also underway at the temporarily closed CBD Provisions at The Joule hotel.

The closure comes at a time when Henderson Avenue is undergoing a “renaissance” with a new mixed-use development breaking ground and several other new dining concepts popping up. The neighborhood is quickly changing. For better or worse? We’re not sure yet. But we hate to see great local restaurants go, especially when we didn’t get to have our last piece of butter cake.