Pillar, chef Peja Krstic’s bistro in the Bishop Arts District, is gone after less than two years. It closed on September 30, the same day its landlord locked the doors.
Krstic opened Pillar on December 8, 2024, at 408 N. Bishop Ave., in the space long occupied by Boulevardier, one of the neighborhood’s defining restaurants. He called it an American bistro, but the menu followed his own path from Serbia to Texas, and it wandered in all the best directions. The fried chicken, served in a century-old building, became the dish people talked about.
How it ended is a little complicated. According to the Dallas Morning News, a lockout notice showed the restaurant owed more than $26,000 in rent and operating expenses. Krstic told the paper he had already planned to close on September 30, the same day the lockout happened, and landlord Jim Lake of Jim Lake Companies confirmed the two had agreed on that date. Krstic will now have to dispute the charges, which Lake characterizes as the balance still owed.
Krstic described the closing as a smart business decision and said that “a weight has lifted off my shoulders.” He was candid about his frustrations, too. He told the paper the area had changed a great deal in the two years he was there and that many customers there seemed to want a younger, louder scene than Pillar offered. He also said the restaurant went through five general managers, and he believes Dallas simply has too many restaurants right now. Lake sees the neighborhood differently. He told the paper his company addresses problems when they come up, and that while Pillar struggled to perform, neighbors such as Oddfellows continue to do well.
CraveDFW reached out to Krstic for comment and did not hear back before publication. We recently paid a visit to Pillar and the experience was excellent.
The story does not end entirely here. Krstic has said he hopes to bring Pillar back in another Dallas neighborhood someday, though nothing is set. And his other restaurant is doing just fine. Một Hai Ba, his small French-Vietnamese spot on Lewis Street in Lakewood, kept its Michelin Bib Gourmand for the third straight year on October 8, barely a week after Pillar went dark. If you miss his cooking, that is where to find it.
Restaurants close for a hundred reasons, and few of them are simple. Pillar was a personal place run by a chef with a real point of view, and Bishop Arts is a little quieter without it.
