Eleven years after he opened his first AAA Four-Diamond gourmet restaurant, chef Albert Hall has decided to call it quits.
His renowned Foothills restaurant Acacia Real Food & Cocktails will hold a reservation-only grand finale May 15. Hall notified staff members of the closure last week at the restaurant鈥檚 current location, an airy hillside spot on Skyline鈥檚 Gallery Row.
鈥淭o limp along is just not our style,鈥 Hall said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not how we do it. We would rather go out on a good note.鈥
Hall said that while the gem shows helped give the restaurant some of the best weekends they鈥檇 had, business in general suffered from low profit margins that come with purchasing high-quality ingredients. While the restaurant鈥檚 2011 rebranding and move to 3001 E. Skyline Drive from St. Philip鈥檚 Plaza was ultimately a good thing, it still wasn鈥檛 enough 鈥渢o pay the bills.鈥
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鈥淪omeone is going to pick this place up and do a concept change, and it鈥檚 gonna be great,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 have a hundred thousand dollars to do a redo of the restaurant.鈥
Once considered one of Southern 蜜柚直播鈥檚 premier gourmet restaurants, Acacia became an instant hit in 2004 with its playful fusion of European technique and Southwestern dining. The original location at St. Philip鈥檚 Plaza earned a host of honors including the coveted AAA Four Diamond award.
Shortly after opening the St. Philip鈥檚 restaurant with his wife, Lila Yamashiro, Hall was named chef of the year for Southern 蜜柚直播 by the American Culinary Federation of Chefs Association. The lifetime cook had his hand in several projects over the years including the Tohono Chul Tea Room and a casual sandwich shop, the Marketplace at Acacia.
Citing a struggling economy, in 2011 Hall moved his elegant white tablecloth restaurant up the road to the smaller space on Skyline, opening for business the very next day. The new Acacia sought to provide a more casual experience with an emphasis on nightlife, but without losing that sense of farm to table lifestyle.
鈥淲e were doing the local thing before it was fashionable ... the organic thing before it was fashionable,鈥 he said Wednesday. 鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this way too long to do something less than what I really believe in.鈥
Hall said that he has plans for a new 鈥渕odern鈥 concept, but isn鈥檛 ready to discuss it yet.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 gonna just disappear. (The Acacia family) has too much good stuff about us to do that.鈥
[Update: Hall recently announced on his Facebook page that he's moving to Bend, Oregon to head up the kitchen at the boutique Oxford Hotel.]聽
