At The End Of Old Taylor Road, Taylor's Dinner Lineup Has Changed This Fall

"A boutique hotel has been on our radar for a number of years," Plein Air co-founder Campbell McCool told The Oxford Eagle in September. "We host almost 40 weddings a year at Plein Air, plus lots of corporate events, and people are constantly asking about a place to stay."

That hotel is open now. In the same few weeks, the restaurant many people thought of first for a nice dinner in Taylor stopped serving regular dinner. For anyone at Tailored, whose street runs right down to Taylor, the evening out has a new first step. Each dinner door in Taylor now fills its seats its own way, so you need to settle how you'll get a seat before you pick a night.

GRIT's dining room now opens by ticket

The Oxford Eagle reported in August that GRIT, after a decade of serving the Oxford community, would end regular restaurant service. In its place came The Gathering Table by GRIT, a reservation-only format built around communal dinners, private events, chef collaborations, pop-up meals and holiday gatherings. The owners also kept A&N Catering running for off-site events.

The October 8 dinner on GRIT's website shows how the format works. It was a Mediterranean family-style pop-up: doors at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30, $45 per person, wine and cocktails for purchase, limited seating, and reservations required through Resy. That date has passed. Holiday gatherings were part of the plan GRIT announced, and its website and Resy are where new dates will show up. Private-event requests go through a form on the same site.

So a GRIT dinner is something you plan around a date GRIT announces. You choose from the dinners it sets, buy your seat ahead, and show up when the doors open.

Lusco's carries most of the week

Lusco's has picked up much of the steady evening service in Plein Air. The restaurant spent decades in Greenwood before moving. In 2025, The Oxford Eagle reported that the relocation to a new building on Town Square Lane had been underway since September 2023, led by partners Rhyine Long and Thomas Long, a blood relative of the Lusco family, along with limited partner John Miller.

The schedule on its reservations page is the one to plan around:

• Wednesday: dinner at 5:30 p.m., walk-in only
• Thursday and Friday: dinner at 5:30 p.m.
• Saturday: dinner at 5:30 p.m., with the bar opening at 4 p.m.
• Sunday: brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Thursday through Sunday reservations go through a request form on the site, not an instant booking system. You can also call 662-550-4483 after 4:30 p.m. to check same-day availability. Lusco's has its ABC permit and a full bar, and outside alcohol isn't allowed.

For current hours, check the restaurant's own page. Plein Air's business directory still shows an earlier Friday and Saturday schedule for Lusco's.

Taylor Grocery keeps its own rules

Down the street at 4A Depot Street, Taylor Grocery works the way it always has. Its contact page says it is open Thursday through Sunday evenings, 5 to 9 p.m. "for sure." It doesn't take reservations, but it does have a party room you can reserve. It doesn't serve alcohol. To check the crowd, call 662-236-1716 before you leave.

Taylor Grocery and Lusco's both serve dinner Thursday through Saturday, and on Sunday Lusco's serves brunch while Taylor Grocery serves dinner. The two seat people in nearly opposite ways. At Lusco's you send a request and the restaurant gets ready for you. At Taylor Grocery you call to see how long the line is and then get in it. Lusco's pours from a full bar. Taylor Grocery doesn't serve alcohol at all. If the Lusco's form hasn't been answered on a Friday afternoon, Taylor Grocery still works because it never needed one, and Lusco's is there on a Wednesday, a night Taylor Grocery is closed.

The new place to wait is a hotel bar

Hotel Leighton gives Taylor a place to spend the hour before dinner. The Hotel Leighton website describes 23 rooms in Plein Air with online booking. Its bar page calls the bar a cocktail lounge with indoor and outdoor space. It invites people to stop in before dinner at Plein Air's restaurants or before heading to the Grove. The hotel doesn't list a restaurant of its own, and the bar page sends guests to the neighborhood for dinner.

When it was being built, The Daily Mississippian wrote that the bar was expected to become a gathering place for people in Taylor. The hotel doesn't post bar hours or say whether non-guests can come in, so call ahead before you plan a drink there.

The bar lines up most easily with Lusco's. On Saturdays, Lusco's opens its own bar at 4 p.m., so a 5:30 dinner gives you an hour and a half to have a drink at either bar first.

Matching the door to the night

Put the schedules side by side and the night of the week decides most of the plan. You'll be reading this on a Thursday, the first night of the week when every regular dinner option in Taylor is open.

Monday and Tuesday nights aren't on the table because none of these restaurants lists dinner service then. GRIT's dinners fall wherever GRIT puts them on the calendar.

The rest of the day in Plein Air

The schedule gets simpler during the day. According to Plein Air's directory, Lost Dog Coffee is open every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It serves espresso, teas, locally sourced baked goods and oatmeal, with seating inside and out and indoor and outdoor games. The shop also hosts evening concerts, literature events, calligraphy classes and beginner painting classes. It's at 4 Town Square Lane.

Off Beat In General and The Blind Pig Deli does double duty. It's a neighborhood grocery and deli with produce, deli meats, cheeses and bread, plus sandwiches, salads and BBQ. On its own website, Off Beat says it now makes pizza to order Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. It recommends ordering ahead at 415-412-8610 unless you plan to eat there. On a night when Taylor Grocery is busy and Lusco's is full, that gives you a third option with its own way of getting a meal: a phone order you pick up.

The holidays bring one more event to Plein Air. Visit Oxford lists a Plein Air Christmas Market at The Mill at Plein Air, with handmade gifts, local art and seasonal treats. The 2026 date isn't on the listing yet, so check back as December gets closer, and keep an eye on GRIT's calendar for its holiday dinners too.

If you'd like help figuring out which Taylor table fits your Thursday, or you want an Oxford-area tip from someone who drives Old Taylor Road too, Matthews Real Estate is glad to share what we know. Talk with a local real estate expert who keeps up with what's open just down the road.