The restaurant was imagined long before its opening, in late 1980s when Jim and Cindy Hughes were young newlyweds in Omaha, Nebraska a friend of theirs owned a restaurant that was closing called Bread Winners. Before the couple moved to Dallas they bought the name for $1.00 with the intent of someday opening their own location. The Hughes settled into their apartment in Uptown (way before it was known as “Uptown”) and noticed a restaurant called Verlaine’s on the corner of McKinney and Hall, whose quirky charm and proximity to downtown sparked their interest.
Verlaine’s was in the process of closing, so the Hughes purchased it, made some renovations, and opened for business on July 22, 1994. The Hughes family lived on the second floor of the Uptown location for the first several years with their young children before moving into a larger space and converting the second floor to office space. All four of their children and both sets of parents worked at the restaurant in some capacity over the last 28 years.
Continue reading
