Epicure evolves

They may have closed their dining room doors, but Epicure fans need not worry, as Owners Jerry Gray and Julio Llop say they’re not going anywhere. “We’re still here to bring great food and wine to Dripping Springs. We’re just changing with the changing needs,” Gray said.

Prior to the pandemic, Gray and Llop were running operations at two Dripping Springs locations that were not far apart —the main restaurant, located in the shopping strip behind the former Five Star ER and Somm, their wine and cheese shop located next to TCBY. Somm was actually the original location of Epicure which opened in April of 2016. On June 7, 2018, they expanded and moved Epicure to the location behind the former Five Star ER, but kept the original space and turned it into Somm.

When the pandemic struck, Epicure, like many restaurants, took a hit. “March 18, 2020 was our last day of service over there,” Gray said. “That last week we were open, revenue was down about 30% on Monday. It was down 70% on Tuesday and we might as well not have even opened on Wednesday. I think we did a whopping $200 that day.”

That’s when Gray and Llop made the decision to reinvent their business model by letting go of one of their spaces—the restaurant. That meant moving all operations to the cheese shop. “We’ve been doing tons of these larger custom charcuterie and cheese boards and those are being very well embraced by our community,” Gray said. “For the foreseeable future, the future of restaurants is going to be in takeout and delivery.” So, that is the direction they’re headed, with a few other ideas in mind.

Gray says they conduct wholesale business with a number of area wineries for items like the cheese trays and other foods that are in demand for tasting rooms. They plan on expanding this area of business. They’ve also established a small gourmet grocery section. “It’s like running three businesses out of one very small space and the utilization of space becomes incredible,” Gray said.

Other innovative efforts include offering virtual wine tastings which they say is growing. “People are getting to know each other during the meeting and they’re establishing friendships and it’s a lot of fun,” Llop said. Plans are also in the works for firing up the kitchen in the coming weeks to offer hot foods to go. Thinking long term, the two even shared their vision for starting a supper club. “Reservation only,” Llop said. “Very small.”

Llop says they’ve received an outpouring of support from patrons and are grateful. “We care about everybody,” Llop said. “The support of our community is our fuel. The amount of friendships that we have established because of this business is immeasurable. It’s overwhelmingly a beautiful thing.”

Gray says as some people learned of the restaurant closing, they would say ‘I’m sorry.’ “I don’t even think of it that way,” he said. “I think of this as I’m still moving forward. We’re still doing our thing, it’s just a different thing,” he continued. “I don’t see it as an end. I see it as an evolution.”