Border Grill to Shutter Santa Monica Location After 26 Years

Sad news out of Santa Monica this afternoon, as it seems that Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken will shutter their long-running Border Grill restaurant next month.

The famous Border Grill has sat on 4th Street for more than a quarter-century, and served as a backbone for the celebrity chefs’ growing empire as they expanded the brand over the past few decades. As the LA Times points out, the Santa Monica Border Grill is also where Feniger and Milliken taped countless episodes of their Food Network show Too Hot Tamales.

Come mid-October, the restaurant will be no more. In a message sent around by the pair, there are plans for a few big send-offs between now and then, including throwback menu items and other creative dishes. They also had some kind words for their staff and customers:

With a sentimental and nostalgic nod, we are deeply grateful to all of our employees – without whom we never could have operated for so long, the many guests we have had the pleasure of serving through the years and of course, the forward-thinking city of Santa Monica.

That doesn’t mean the duo is leaving the Westside altogether. They’ve apparently got plans to retool with a new concept somewhere else in Santa Monica down the line, and continue to run the other outlets of their Border Grill empire as usual. That includes food trucks, two iterations in Las Vegas, one in Downtown, and another at LAX.