Tom's Tabooley Closes Its Doors After Nearly 40 Years In Business

AUSTIN, TX -- Tom's Tabooley, a longstanding restaurant and grocery along Guadalupe Street -- a diner-dotted corridor known as "the Drag" catering largely to University of Texas at Austin students -- has closed its doors after nearly 40 years in business.

In its place will be yet another pizza shop in a cluster of the city near the University of Texas at Austin campus where there is a glut for the tasty pies.

According to Austin360, an Austin American-Statesman blog, the store closed its doors for good on Halloween. Owner J.D. Torian told the blog the establishment was closed due to low sales.

Tom's Tabooley was something of a standout on the restaurant-lined corridor referred to as "the Drag," offering healthful Mediterranean options heavy on tabbouleh, hummus, falafel, baba ganoush and salads in a corridor surrounded by all manner of food take-out options.

According to a makeshift sign outside the shuttered site at 2928 Guadalupe St., the restaurant had been in business locally for 39 years. "Tom's has closed for good," read one sign. "Thanks for 39 years." Even in the midst of the closure, staff retained a sense of humor, managing a play on words on another sign: "We feel fal-awful!"

In its place will be an Austin's Pizza location expected to be opened in time for next year's Super Bowl, the owner told the blog. The other Austin Pizza locations along the Drag -- including one at 2324 Guadalupe St. not far away -- will remain open, Torian noted. The proprietor noted that employees of Tom's Tabooley were all offered positions at his other restaurant to avert layoffs.

The strategic opening will accommodate bolstered delivery service in East Austin -- a key sector for food delivery -- and add important oven capacity to Torian's pizza empire.

In fortifying his pizza presence, Torian expands in an area where one could throw a stone in virtually every direction and hit a pizza store. In near proximity to the shuttered Tom's Tabooley are: The Varsity Pizza & Pints at 3000 Duval St.; Via 313 Pizza at 3016 Guadalupe St.; Pizzeria Vetri, 2421 San Antonio St.; Salvation Pizza, 624 W 34th St.; Milto's, 2909 Guadalupe St.; Wild Wood Bake House, 3016 Guadalupe St.; and Niki's Pizza, 2025 Guadalupe St.

An Austin Business Journal article from 2013 may have yielded a precursor of things to come, detailing Torian's purchase of the landmark building on Guadalupe Street that once house Tom's Tabooley. It was in that same year that Torian purchased the restaurant and food wholesaler that doubled as a cafe and commercial kitchen on the north end of the Drag, catering to a clientele largely composed of UT Austin student.

>>> Photos by Tony Cantu