February 23, 2004
Grange Hall closing tonight
With some family in town, we had to pick a restaurant which we liked, but that they hadn't been to yet. Something relaxed, yet cool. We had been talking about the village and how nice it was to walk around, which led me to suggest Grange Hall. Little did I know that we were just in under the wire on that decision.
They thought the menu looked ok and the room was appealing, so we went in and were seated right away. The room was mostly full, so we crowded five into a booth.
Our first sign of trouble was when we ordered drinks, they only had two of the eight beers on the menu. That's fine, a soda will do.
The second sign of trouble was when we ordered our food. There were out of the chicken dishes and the steak, almost 1/2 of their menu. I must have made a face, since the waiter quickly realized we had no idea what was about to happen and corrected our lack of knowledge. So, pork chops it was.
Apparently, while business was good, the lease was up and the rent was going to go sky high. Their last meal will be dinner on Monday night. The staff had some advance notice, so they've been making plans. We wound up tipping more than we normally do. The famous painting will be going with one of the owners. Checking Chowhounds, it appears we weren't the first people to find this out. [Update: The Observer has a Good Article on the closing.
All restaurants fade and eventually go away. I'm sad to see this little jewel go though. Something about the way the street turns outside led many to think it was one of the most romantic and beautiful locations for a restaurant. It was always a great place to grab a drink at the end of a walk through the west village. It's also the place many years ago where I finally realized I needed to have a cell phone.
Farewell and thanks for the memories.
