Dune Grass Cafe to close doors in Bay Head this weekend

BAY HEAD — The Dune Grass Cafe will be closing its doors in Bay Head this Sunday, and is moving to share a space with Used To Be’s on Route 35.

The restaurant announced last month that it would close its doors at the Bay Head location this spring.

Thomas Walls, co-owner of the Dune Grass Cafe, with his wife Mary, said the lease officially ends at the end of the month. However, the restaurant and its employees have to remove several large pieces of equipment from the existing building.

The Dune Grass Cafe has existed at this location since 2015, serving breakfast, lunch and ice cream both inside and outside the establishment. Prior to this, the building housed a similar restaurant called Dorcas, which existed in that building for over 50 years.

When one door closes, another one opens as the restaurant will be moving to the Used To Be’s location, 287 Route 35, Mantoloking near Brick Beach 1. The restaurant will keep the same name and will be serving breakfast and lunch at the establishment, while Used To Be’s will be serving dinner.

“One of my son’s friends was talking to the owner of Used To Be’s about our situation and with that he called us where we set up a meeting, where we sat down and see if we could work something out,” said Walls. “They never did breakfast before, they only did lunch and dinner. So we are going to come in and do breakfast and lunch and they are going to do dinner. Hopefully it will work out to be a great marriage.”

Walls confirmed the restaurant is expected to relaunch at this new location by late April or early May. He also said the restaurant needs to move because of a rent increase.

In its vacancy, Taylor Sam’s, a breakfast-and-lunch restaurant with one location in Brick, will be filling the spot by Memorial Day, as announced on the restaurant’s Facebook. 

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