One of my favorite foodie restaurants in town, Tabu Grill permanently closed its doors on Monday, July 6th.
When Tabu opened 11 years ago, it immediately met with great fanfare. At that time, Laguna Beach didn’t have a great deal to offer by way of chief-inspired restaurants (particularly in South Laguna Beach) and Tabu was a huge hit. Foodie fans trekked from neighboring cities and states to enjoy dinner at the tiny, tiny place and reservations booked out weeks and months in advance.
All of Laguna’s restaurants felt the pinch when the 2008 recession slid down on our heads, and although Tabu Grill wobbled its way through the debacle, it seemed that life had changed on the other side. With a recovering economy showing itself around 2012, a number of new Laguna Beach-based restaurants began to show themselves shortly thereafter. While Tabu Grill still continued to produce stellar, prime food, it was faced with a great deal more competition. That, combined with any other number of factors that go into running a successful restaurant these days, and we’re faced with the sad reality – a grand dame of Laguna Beach has retired from the public eye.