Land Park restaurant Taylor’s Kitchen closes permanently, citing staffing shortage

Taylor’s Kitchen has shut down permanently, the Land Park restaurant announced on social media Thursday.

The restaurant opened at 2924 Freeport Blvd. in 2009 as an offshoot of Taylor’s Market, a neighborhood institution since 1962. The market will remain open.

A date-night destination for Land Park couples thanks to its New American fare and strong wine selection, Taylor’s Kitchen made significant efforts to adapt to pandemic-era dining. Before vaccines were widely distributed, the high-end restaurant owned by Danny and Kathy Johnson switched to selling diner-style smash burgers.

Chef Rob Lind, formerly of Ella Dining Room & Bar, provided a lift earlier this year by adding dishes like pappardelle with braised suckling pig ragout and porcini mushrooms to the menu. But the industry-wide staffing shortage was too much to overcome, the restaurant wrote on social media.

“It is with a heavy heart that we are informing you that Taylor’s Kitchen is shuttering operations effective immediately,” Taylor’s Kitchen wrote in an Instagram post. “We have struggled to staff the restaurant over the past few years. This has caused us to reconsider the business model and we have concluded the best course of action is closure.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 2:44 PM.