The booth was on the right as you walked in, along the far back wall, past the tables lining the patio, tucked into the corner. Back then, I was just another wine writer in a town that had lots of them, but eating lunch in The Booth at Sevy’s with Gallo’s Carmen Castorina and whoever he brought for a wine tasting that day made me feel like a whole lot more.
Sevy’s was that kind of place, a Park Cities hangout where even someone who writes about cheap wine felt welcome. I thought about those lunches again when the news broke that Sevy’s new landlord was throwing the restaurant out after almost 30 years in business. These days, even though long-time Dallas restaurants are closing so quickly that it’s hard to keep track, Sevy’s seemed the exception. It had survived the tech crash at the beginning of the century, the 2008 recession, chef-owner Jim Severson’s health problems, and the pandemic. Surely it was immune.
But surely not, given the landlord boom scooping up some of the city’s most desirable restaurant real estate. So I called Carmen, retired for several years, and said, “Let’s have lunch at Sevy’s one last time.”
The Booth
Not much had changed since we had eaten there a couple of years ago. It was still packed (“Just one empty table,” said Carmen after scanning the room at noon); the service was still impeccable; and the duck flautas with black bean pico was still a required appetizer…