These are the closed restaurants Austinites say they miss

Look, grief is a process. We all mourn at our own pace. 

That being said, R.I.P. the chicken fried steak sandwich from Players. 

Like many Austin restaurants before it, and the many, many that followed, the longtime burger and shake joint closed in 2014. It was acquired by the University of Texas in a $4 million deal that did not include the famed fried mushrooms.

The downside to an active and competitive food scene is all the goodbyes you have to say. A recent Reddit thread asked “Which closed Austin restaurants do you miss?” and there was no shortage of answers.

Here are some of the joints Austinites say were gone too soon:

• Fran’s Hamburgers The saga that is Fran’s/Dan’s. Fran’s Hamburgers was originally opened as Dan’s Hamburgers by the married Fran and Dan Juke. Following a divorce Dan’s became Fran’s and several separate Dan’s were opened in the Austin area. Despite the tie, one Reddit user swears there’s no comparison. 
• G-M Steakhouse You know that scene in Richard Linklater’s “Slacker”? That was reportedly shot at what used to be G-M Steakhouse, but you might now know it as the long, narrow dining room of Counter Cafe. 
• Holiday House The lure of this joint wasn’t so much the burgers (”really, really peppery,” according to one Reddit user), but the oversized fish tank, ostriches and... alligator pond?
• EZ’s You’ll only find a Rudy’s Bar-B-Q where the North Lamar staple used to be. The friendly diner failed to reopen after closing due to fire damage in 2016. You’ll always have those scenes from “Friday Night Lights,” though.
• Freddie’s Place You can now find Fresa’s second location where Freddie’s Place once was. The mushroom burger is gone, but the “patio haven” remains.
• Gumby’s Pizza Nothing like a West Campus delivery.
• Ruby’s BBQ After nearly 30 years of that delicious-smelling corner, this one was hard to take. Read one local’s take on this loss of “old Austin” here.
• Castle Hill Cafe This longtime Austin eatery closed in 2015 after it was converted to Corazon at Castle Hill. The Southwestern food regularly made “best of” lists in the ’80s and ’90s.
• Paggi House The beautiful American plates of Paggi House were reportedly forfeited for a condo development in 2014. But at least one Reddit user remembers what was behind a good beet risotto. 
• Kin & Comfort Not so much a restaurant as it was “a food-counter stall at the Hana World Market on Parmer Lane,” Kin & Comfort’s owner hinted at a reopen after a 2016 closure, but here we wait still.
• House Pizzeria There were potatoes on the pizza! But that wasn’t enough for you was it, Austin? This restaurant made food critic Matthew Odam’s list of “best pizza in Austin.” Turntable Eatery has since opened in its place. 

Check out the full thread of what once was here and is now missed, and let us know which closures you cried over that didn’t get mentioned.

We’ll get through this together.