Iconic Dallas Restaurant Abacus Will Close Next Month | Eater Dallas

"Opened in 1999 and credited with putting Dallas chef Kent Rathbun on the culinary map, this long-running Asian-fusion restaurant earned Rathbun multiple James Beard Award nominations but struggled in recent years amid legal battles between its founders. Owner Bill Hyde announced the decision to retire the brand, citing changing times and palates and promising to maintain the same attention to detail and service as the team transitions to a new concept; a new restaurant from the Jasper’s Restaurant Group is slated to open this summer. The restaurant will close at the end of the month and will serve its last lobster shooters on June 1. Its decline accelerated after Rathbun parted ways in 2016 and sued H2R Restaurant Holdings to void a 2009 agreement that gave the group exclusive use of his name and image—an arrangement that briefly forced him to describe himself as “The Chef With No Name” until a 2017 ruling restored his ability to use his own name under certain conditions, after which he opened another Asian-fusion spot, Imoto, in the Dallas Arts District." - Amy McCarthy