Star chef Mashama Bailey, known for her James Beard Award-winning culinary skills, is set to close her dining establishments Diner Bar and the Grey Market in Austin, Texas. Both located within the Thompson Austin hotel, these spots served their last dishes on Sunday. A shift in operations by the hotel’s parent company Hyatt Hotels, to bring food and beverage services in-house, has prompted the closures, as revealed in statements by both the restaurant's general manager and the hotel's revenue manager to Eater Austin.
Despite the recent growth, both Diner Bar and the Grey Market, which opened their doors in 2022, will close. "The Thompson Hotel’s ownership is continuing to internalize all [food & beverage] operations," Bobby Hernandez, the general manager of the establishments, told Eater Austin in an email. The date of the final service was confirmed by the hotel’s revenue and reservations manager, Melina Indrasena.
As Eater Austin underscored similar shutters like Wax Myrtle’s, which was replaced by Mexican restaurant Arriba Abajo earlier this year. Bailey and her business partner Johno Morisano had launched these ventures following their reputable establishment, the Grey, in Savannah, Georgia. Renowned for touching patrons with Port City Southern cooking, Bailey's trajectory has been marked by profound accolades including the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef award in 2022, after first clinching the Best Chef: Southeast in 2019.
Having established a significant presence with their Savannah outpost and brief tenure in Austin, Bailey, and Morisano are not pausing in their culinary journey, plotting a new restaurant launch in Paris slated for the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. In addition to her restaurants, Bailey has shared her food philosophies through a personal episode on Chef's Table and guides budding cooks in a master on Southern cuisine, as highlighted by Robb Report. The enthusiasm surrounding their French venture offers some solace for Austin’s food scene, as it bids adieu to Bailey's savory chapters at the Thompson Austin Hotel.
