Former Miss Ireland and bestselling novelist Amanda Brunker was in excellent form as she reunited with former staff from Captain Americas in the Grafton Street restaurant on Sunday. After almost 55 years as Dublin’s hip diner, credited with introducing iceberg lettuce and sesame seeds to Irish diners, Captain Americas will close its doors for the last time on Monday. Brunker, one of a large number of former staff who turned up for a last hurrah, singled out former colleague and manager Joan Kelly: “I had left about a year when I went out one Christmas for a few drinks with Joan and the next morning Joan was to open up, but she slept in, so I took the keys and went and opened the restaurant. I did up all the rosters and got things going. I still knew what I had to do, although my head was probably still buzzing.” Rida Addar Moustaoui, front-of-house manager at Captain Americas. Photograph: The Irish Times Anne-Marie Underwood with her family at Captain Americas. Photograph: The Irish Times John Norton, former barman at Captain Americas, Sash King, one of the restaurant’s first barwomen and Joan Kelly (right), former manager. Photograph: The Irish Times Former barman John Norton recalls “Brad Pitt sitting over there, smoking, it was that long ago, and everybody gathered up his butts so they could say they smoked his cigarettes. I mixed the best Sex on the Beach [cocktail].” “And he made good cocktails as well,” said Kelly to a roar of laughter. “I spent 25 years of my life working at Captain Americas,” said Aimée Ferguson, who had returned with her seven-year-old daughter Dali Ferguson Boyer for the gathering of old comrades. Ferguson wore red and black clothes for the occasion in keeping with the decor of the restaurant. “We had wonderful times, we met wonderful people – Dali is a Captain Americas baby, I met her dad while working in Captain Americas,” she said. From December 1971, a who’s who of Ireland’s celebrity, acting, writing and music worlds ate “new” American diner-style food at the restaurant. Patrons included Pat Kenny, Bob Geldof and Ulick O’Connor, the band Boyzone and its manager Louis Walsh, Adele King (aka Twink) and her family, among many others. Head chef Darren McQuarrie with kitchen staff at work in Captain Americas. Photograph: The Irish Times End of an era at Captain Americas, Grafton Street, Dublin. Photograph: The Irish Times Captain Americas is set to close on Monday. Photograph: The Irish Times In the early days, a 4oz burger with fries and a garnish was an extortionate 38p. It was a place for birthdays and special occasions, as Chris de Burgh famously played guitar in the corner “for a fiver and a glass of wine”. Anne-Marie Underwood started going to the restaurant when she was a student. Later, she and her husband kept up the tradition, later again bringing their three boys, Kai now aged 12, Sawyer (10) and Cole (9). “We felt we had to come in here for a last time,” she said. Dara O’Brien, a student at Trinity College in the 2010s, said the restaurant was incredibly popular as it showed American football on a Sunday evening, “and students were probably all in town on Sunday night”. In the kitchen head chef Darren McQuarrie was in a happy mood despite the imminent closure. “I will take a break. It has been a good place to work, [current owners] the McKillen family have been good to work for,” he said. Captain Americas was the brainchild of Mark Kavanagh, who would go on to develop much of the Irish Financial Services Centre. In an interview with The Irish Times in 2011, Kavanagh said the venue was inspired by a Sunday magazine photograph of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor sitting in the back of a car eating burgers from Great American Disaster – a chic chain of neighbourhood burger joints in 1970s London.The bonhomie was probably inspired by Kavanagh’s manager, Johnny McCormack, who, after 15 years in Captain Americas, managed restaurants in London and Dublin including Solomon Grundy’s on Suffolk Street and Judge Roy Beans. He and his wife Sylvia opened QV2 Restaurant on Andrew Street in 1991. Kavanagh sold Captain Americas to developer Paddy McKillen snr in the early 1990s.[ Captain FantasticOpens in new window ][ 100 great restaurants, cafes and places to eat around Ireland for summer 2026Opens in new window ]After Covid and the cost-of-living crisis led to changed consumer behaviour, owners Press Up took loans from London-based Cheyne Capital. In a debt-to-equity swap, Cheyne took over the group and renamed it to Eclective, but Captain Americas was not included in the deal.The company behind Captain Americas, Crawley Limited, entered examinership in mid-2025. A €300,000 investment by the McKillen family saved the company and some 30 jobs in a rescue plan. There are now plans to rebrand the restaurant and it will reopen later in 2026 as The Grafton Tavern, a New York-style brasserie and pub. The Blanchardstown branch of Captain Americas, which is not connected to the Grafton Street outlet, remains unaffected. “All good things come to an end. You have got to move on”, said Brunker.