Audio By Carbonatix
I heard over the weekend that Kenny & Ziggy’s, the beloved Houston deli, ain’t coming to town after all. At least, not yet and not for the foreseeable future.
A few months ago, Ziggy Gruber confirmed to Unfair Park that he did indeed have a letter of intent to take over an empty restaurant space (Popolos in Preston Royal, the worst-kept secret in town). But we spoke again this morning, and Gruber breaks the bad news: The deal “did not make economic sense,” and the letter’s been tossed in the trash.
“We would love to come to Dallas,” he told Unfair Park while on his way to Austin, “but it has to make the proper economic sense to us. People approach us all the time, but we haven’t had anything yet that’s concrete. Soon as we do, I’ll call you. But we would love to do something.”
Gruber’s been trying to get to Dallas for years — and, as he told us back in March, his family could have opened a deli in Dallas in 1950, if only Stanley Marcus had convinced Gruber’s grandfather Max to not to head back to Manhattan. But he’s also in no hurry. Says he has no interest in becoming a “flash in the pan.” So he’ll wait. What’s the rush?
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“I want to be there, I want to be a success, I want to be an asset to the Dallas community,” he says. “But we only want to do it if it makes sense. Dallas has been through so much when it comes to delis, and we want a fighting chance. So one day we’ll get that fighting chance and get a deal that works, and we’ll come. Tell your readers if anyone has that chance and would like to approach us, let me know — our door is always open.”
