Photos: Tucson restaurants closed in 2013

The brothers behind Fatdogs, the hot dog stand known for its two-pound, 18-inch Sonoran hot dog, closed shop in the Tucson Mall Sunday a dispute with mall management over their menu.

Omar Quijada said mall management insisted he and his brother Jose eliminate grilled chicken and carne asada from their menu because it conflicted with the menu at Chipotle Mexican Grill, also located in the mall food court. Fatdogs added the grilled beef and chicken items three months ago to boost lagging sales.

“We were making good money, but once we changed the menu we started doing really good,” he said. Removing the items would have devastated their bottom line, he added.

Fatdogs opened at the Tucson Mall in September 2012, two years after the Quijada brothers rolled out their Fatdogs Sonoran hot dog truck to overwhelming support on the northwest side. The pair sold the truck after opening the mall location.

Quijada said the brothers left the mall owing two months rent. Mall officials were not available for comment.

Quijada said he and his brother are looking for a new location, preferably on the north side of town near the mall, to relaunch Fatdogs.

See the full story in Tuesday's Arizona Daily Star.

Mr. K’s Barbecue at North Stone Avenue and East River Road closed on Sunday, making the 2-year-old eatery the latest casualty along a stretch of retail road that has been particularly unkind to restaurants in recent years.

Over the past decade, the Stone Avenue retail corridor between East River and East Wetmore roads has swallowed eight restaurants, including outposts of four national chains — Ruby Tuesday, Chili’s Bar and Grill, Black-eyed Pea and On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina. Several of those restaurants have remained closed for several years, skeletons in a once-bustling entertainment area on the backside of Tucson Mall.

But before you label the area a business jinx, longtime retail and restaurant real estate broker Craig Finfrock said some of those restaurants “were doomed for failure.”

“Sometimes it’s not just the location: It’s the tenant,” said Finfrock, pointing to On the Border, Ruby Tuesday and Chili’s, which closed as part of their parent companies’ nationwide downsizing.

But he said several businesses have left the River and Stone corridor for locations closer to Tucson Mall.

Mr. K’s closed on Sunday after two years of struggling to make ends meet, said Richard Yellott, whose Ironwood Dining company operated the restaurant.

“We just couldn’t make enough money to stay in business,” said Yellott, who joined the venture in 2011 as a silent investor then took a leadership role when one of the partners left early on. “That’s such a big building there. Our overhead was really high. Our fixed costs were really high. September was the worst month we ever had and at the end of the month we just couldn’t make it work.”

Yellott said he made the decision to close the restaurant Sunday and shut the doors at 3 p.m. Fifteen employees, most of them part-timers, lost their jobs.

Mr. K’s was started by Charles Kendrick and his daughter Ronda. The Kendricks own the name and concept, but not the restaurant, said Ronda Kendrick.

“We represent the brand,” she said, adding that the idea behind Mr. K’s was to honor her father, a pioneer in Tucson barbecue. Charles Kendrick, who turns 82 on Friday, had a small barbecue restaurant on South Park Avenue for 13 years before opening the Stone Avenue restaurant.

The Original Mr. K’s, run by Kendrick’s son Ray, is now at 6302 S. Park Ave.

Ronda Kendrick would not comment on the closing, citing pending legal issues, but Charles Kendrick blamed poor management.

“The management hadn’t lived up to expectations, and a lot of things that should have been taken care of didn’t get taken care of,” said Kendrick, who hopes to one day open another Mr. K’s in a smaller location. “The business was good, but let’s face the facts: The bills weren’t paid that should have been paid.”

Yellott said he was a couple months behind in the lease but had been working with the landlord.

“Essentially, everything was getting behind on us,” he said. “Our business was somewhat unpredictable, and we had a really bad month (in September). We have been living paycheck to paycheck over there for two years because it cost a lot to build the business. We started out paying all of our development debt, and we just never got ahead enough to be profitable.”

Finfrock said River and Stone draws plenty of traffic to the area, but the stronger retail draw is closer to Tucson Mall near Oracle Road.

“The best retailers are locating at Oracle and Wetmore because it’s a better location,” he said, noting that one of his clients, Men’s Wearhouse at 90 W. River Road, across from Mr. K’s, will move to that area next spring.

El Mezon del Cobre will close its doors on Sept. 30 — 23 years after Consuelo Medina served her first Mexican seafood dinner in the nondescript adobe building on North First Avenue and East Fort Lowell Road.

Medina made the announcement in a Facebook posting late Monday afternoon.

Medina decided to close her restaurant after losing her building last month to the bank, said her son Octavio Castaños

Medina’s health also played a role in the decision. Last April, she was involved in a car accident on the city’s south side that left her with serious injuries to her shoulder and knee that will require surgeries beginning next month. She said it has become difficult to keep up with the physical demands of running the restaurant.

“The doctors told me when I get my surgery I will have to be off my feet,” she said. “I’m alone. I don’t have anybody.”

Medina has run the restaurant for years with some help from Castaños, 24. But her son has no interest in taking over the business. Instead, he is considering going to graduate school and pursuing teaching, he said.

Medina was a single mother of three — Castaños was just 6 months old at the time — when she opened El Mezon, which was little more than a hole in the wall.

“When I first opened, I was the only” Mexican restaurant on North First Avenue, Medina said Monday night after the last customer had left. “I had 11 tables when I opened in 1990. I was leasing the place. It was me and only a few employees. I worked in the kitchen, I worked the register, busing tables. I did everything.”

Over the years, Medina bought the building at 2960 N. First Ave.  and expanded the restaurant to 100 seats. She added the bar and rolled out an extensive tequila menu that includes Milagro, Blanco, Patrón, Sauza, Don Julio and El Tesoro that are mixed in margaritas, dunked in icy Mexican beer or enjoyed by the shot. Medina’s menu is a mix of classic Mexican fare — burritos, tacos and enchiladas — with an ocean’s bounty of seafood dishes.

The restaurant has been a neighborhood fixture since those early days, a place where families gathered for anniversaries, birthdays and baby showers.

But in recent years, the economy took its toll. Castaños said his mother had been negotiating with the bank for months to keep her building, but last month the building was sold from under her at auction.

“My God, it is so hard for me” to close, Medina said.

Medina said she might consider opening a restaurant in the future, once her shoulder and knee heal.

One of Tucson’s pre-eminent fine-dining restaurants closed on Tuesday, capping a 25-year run that was punctuated by a string of prestigious awards for its extensive wine collection.

Anthony’s In the Catalinas announced its closing on Facebook just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, a time that should have been the height of Anthony’s weekday lunch service.

“We are very proud of all we have done and glad to have served all of you. Thank you for all your support,” the post said.

Anthony’s Web page was taken down Tuesday, and owner Anthony Martino  could not be reached for additional comment.

Martino opened Anthony’s in the Catalinas at 6440 N. Campbell Ave. on Jan. 20, 1989. The restaurant, surrounded by majestic views of the Catalina Mountains, served up a continental menu heavily influenced by Mediterranean cuisine.

But it was the depth of its wine stores — rare and vintage bottles numbering in the thousands and selling for as much as $13,000 a bottle — that established Anthony’s as a destination, particularly with travelers.

“The restaurant was originally designed to cater to the resort guests who are looking for those rare bottles of wine,” said longtime sommelier Joseph Mascari, who had been at Anthony’s since 1992. He was working on the day in March 2008 when a tourist plunked down $25,000 for two of the restaurant’s rarest bottles — a 1900 Chateau Margaux and 1900 Chateau Lafite Rothschild. It was among the largest single customer sales in the restaurant’s history, Mascari said.

Anthony’s won its first Wine Spectator Grand Award — Mascari equates it to an athlete landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated — in 1993. The award, given to a handful of restaurants annually, is based on the number of bottles and varieties of wine a restaurant has on hand.

The magazine continued to award Anthony’s top honors every year since, Mascari said, including this summer, when it singled out Anthony’s California, Bordeaux, Tuscany and Piedmont wines as its strengths. The magazine put the restaurant’s inventory at 19,000 bottles and reported it had 1,850 selections on hand, numbers that Mascari could not confirm Tuesday as he boxed up crates of wine.

“There is a lot of wine,” he said, adding that he had no idea what would become of it.

In addition to attracting tourists, Anthony’s was a go-to destination restaurant for Tucsonans to celebrate life’s milestones — from anniversaries to birthdays, retirements and reunions, including the Tucson High School class of 1950, which had planned a luncheon on Oct. 12.

Organizers had sent out invitations in August and already had 15 people make reservations, said Barbara Baldwin Salyer, who heads the organizing committee.

“Who knows where we will end up. It surely complicates things,” Salyer said. The committee put down a $200 deposit and anticipated about 100 people would attend the luncheon.

“I have a hunch we will be out that money,” she said.

Mascari said business has been steadily falling at Anthony’s since the market crashed in 2008.

“I thought we would have closed down years ago,” he said. “When the market crashed, people didn’t have expendable income any more. … It’s such a difficult task to try to come back.”

Martino’s business woes were further complicated in 2011 when his wife and business partner Mary Brooke Martino pleaded guilty to charges that she filed false returns for the couple’s personal and business taxes from 2002 to 2006. The IRS estimated that the false returns resulted in a tax loss of $200,000 to $400,000, according to Arizona Daily Star archives.

Mascari said Martino notified staff members on Sunday that he was closing the restaurant. Mascari said he and the other employees were assured that they would be paid next week.

“It was a great restaurant, and we loved it, and we loved Mr. Anthony,” Mascari said. “He treated us like family.”

Walk through the doors of El Parador Restaurant and you felt like you had escaped the desert.

Enormous rubber trees, hanging plants and sunny skylights gave the dining room at 2744 E. Broadway the feel of a sun-splashed Mexican beach.

The picture was complete when you sipped a house margarita during happy hour and nibbled on treats from El Parador's generous Mexican buffet.

That all came to an end on Thursday when the 40-year-old family-owned restaurant announced it was closing.

In a news release posted on Facebook just after 2 p.m., owner Loretta Jacob Carlson thanked longtime customers and employees alike for sticking with her family through the years.

"The marvelous thing is we have these great memories," Carlson added in a rushed phone interview an hour after announcing the closure. "It's time for us to move on and get out of full service and find something else to do, and care for our folks and be on our way."

happy-hour spot

Carlson, 62, ran El Parador with her brothers Donald and Daniel Jacob. The siblings were carrying on the legacy of their father, John Jacob, who launched his restaurant career on Miracle Mile in 1946 with Club 21, according to Carlson's news release.

El Parador had been a popular happy-hour destination throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, with patrons attracted to the restaurant's ample free buffets.

A couple of years ago, the family branched out and began bottling the elder Jacob's salsa and sold it in area stores to diversify their income. But the effort was not enough to save the family from a tough economy that led them in early 2012 to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for El Parador.

The restaurant emerged from bankruptcy in January.

Carlson said the restaurant served its last diners Saturday with the thought that it would close for remodeling. The family decided on Thursday to make the closure permanent, she said.

"We've been here 40 years, so it's time to move on," she said. "Hopefully in the next couple, three weeks we will be announcing our wonderful new adventures that are on our doorstep."

She would not elaborate except to say that those won't take place in the restaurant's building, which the family owns.

couple "Out in the cold"

Betty and Dave Duffy were stunned to hear about the sudden closure because their 50th anniversary party was scheduled for Aug. 3 at El Parador.

After hearing that the closure news was posted online, Betty Duffy called the phone number listed on the $200 deposit receipt she has from the restaurant, and it was disconnected Thursday. "So I'm out in the cold," she said.

Planning for the party started in December or January, and they picked El Parador because it had been in business for so many years. They've already paid for the invitations, stamps, centerpieces and decorations, "and I've got 55 RSVPs in hand," Duffy added.

The party was to be held 50 years to the day after their wedding, "so I don't want some other day. I'm not sure if we'll even have a party now. Right now I'm not a very trusting person," she said. "We're sick over it."

Carlson couldn't be reached by phone or Facebook for a response later Thursday to the Duffys' concerns, and the restaurant said nothing in its Facebook posting about whether deposits will be returned to customers. The family's online posting did thank customers for holding their special events at the restaurant over the years.

Business Editor Norma Coile contributed to this report. Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.

The Garland Bistro, one of Tucson's earliest vegetarian-leaning restaurants, closed after nearly four decades in business.

The restaurant at 119 E. Speedway shut its doors in early June after the owners sold the building to Tucson restaurateur Amanuel Gebremariam.

Gebremariam plans to open a second location of his longtime Zemams Ethiopian Cuisine on July 15, once he finishes giving the building a deep cleaning that included replacing the carpet with tile.

The Garland Bistro opened in 1974 in a nondescript house on East Speedway. The menu leaned heavily toward vegetarian and health foods including meal-sized salads, vegetarian lasagna and liberal uses of tofu as a meat substitute.

The vegetarian philosophy continued as the restaurant, which can seat 65, changed hands over the years. The last owners, Susan and Cuong Nguyen, introduced several Vietnamese dishes to the menu soon after taking over the restaurant in 2005.

Zemams' menu also leans heavily toward vegetarian. Dishes inspired by recipes from Gebremariam's mother are anchored by split peas, collard greens and mixed vegetables. Meat dishes - employing beef, chicken, fish and lamb - round out the offerings.

Gebremariam opened Zemams - named for his late mother - in 1996 at 2731 E. Broadway not long after graduating from the University of Arizona. The Ethiopia native came to the U.S. as a refugee of his country's civil war 33 years ago and arrived in Tucson to attend college.

He decided to open a second location to get ahead of plans by the city to widen Broadway to six lanes, which could wipe out businesses in the process, he said.

Construction is not likely to begin until 2016 at the earliest, according to a plan posted on the city's website by the Tucson Department of Transportation.

"I just don't want to wait sleeping there and get kicked out. I just wanted to get a head start and open the restaurant," he said.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.

Published: July 3, 2013

A longtime Tucson Mexican restaurant that had weathered expansions, contractions and seemingly endless road construction interferences closed this week.

Las Cazuelitas de Tucson locked its doors after serving lunch on Tuesday, ending a nine-year run at the Grant Inn, 1365 W. Grant Road, on the eastbound side of Interstate 10.

But owner and founder Abelardo Frisby posted on the restaurant's website that he is scouting a new location. He could not be reached Friday to comment.

Grant Inn owner Kevin Park said the restaurant's closing came a day after Park temporarily closed the hotel. Park said he stopped accepting guests Monday and did not reopen until Friday to give himself a few days to sort out the business's finances.

Las Cazuelitas started on Tucson's south side in 1998 and had grown to three locations by 2010. The Grant Road restaurant was the lone survivor after the other locations closed within months of one another in 2011.

In addition to the restaurant space, Frisby ran the adjacent 15,000-square-foot events center used for weddings, graduation parties and quinceañeras. Park said he and Frisby have agreed to work together to honor events booked into the center.

Park said he is looking for new tenants for the restaurant and bar.

In an interview in April, Frisby acknowledged his restaurant had fallen on hard times since road construction on Interstate 10 closed the highway from 2007 to 2009.

"We dropped almost 70 percent of our business," he said.

The restaurant was never able to catch its breath, he said, pointing to the follow-up highway project at the Prince Road exit that has been ongoing since fall 2011.

Las Cazuelitas also faced trouble with the county Health Department in summer 2011 when it failed six consecutive inspections. The county threatened to close the restaurant and put it on a provisional license until it finally passed muster in October 2011.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.

A once-popular downtown restaurant has closed its doors.

Enoteca Pizzeria and Wine Bar, 58 W. Congress St., struggled for months with a flagging customer base as streetcar construction dragged on, before finally pulling the plug Friday.

"We were under a lot of financial distress during construction," said Rick Sabbagh, who has owned the restaurant for a year.

He said the ongoing streetcar construction downtown has taken a toll on business, causing him to take additional loans and fall further into debt.

He estimates the additional loans and unpaid bills have cost $100,000.

"We lost pretty much all November, December and January," Sabbagh said.

Business began to pick up again by February, he said, but not enough to keep the restaurant afloat.

"The construction absolutely has had an impact," said Britton Dornquast, program manager for the Regional Transportation Authority MainStreet Business Assistance Program.

Dornquast said construction of the streetcar line through downtown has seen some unexpected delays, in part because of aged, underground infrastructure.

"That construction in that section of Congress was very difficult and took a lot of time," Dornquast said.

Sabbagh said the work originally was scheduled for three months but ran closer to seven months.

Even with construction downtown, which at times closed Congress Street completely, Sabbagh said lunch business was consistent. Nights and weekends were a different story, though.

"Dinner business was dead," he said.

Added to the problems of road construction, Dornquast said many businesses, especially restaurants and bars in the downtown area, have a new level of competition they hadn't before had to contend with.

"I think one of the biggest challenges that businesses face downtown, unlike other areas and corridors, is an increase in competition," he said, noting the influx of new eateries and bars downtown.

The final blow for Enoteca, however, came recently when an explosion in an underground electrical vault right outside its doors killed the power to several downtown businesses.

The explosion happened June 14. Enoteca lost much of its inventory as a result, Sabbagh said, and the restaurant hasn't reopened since then.

The property owner, BC Limited LLC, and its management company, Chapman Management Group, locked Enoteca out of the premises and placed a lien on the contents of the restaurant on Thursday.

Sabbagh said he understands why the landlord took the action.

"In the end, the guy's gotta get paid," he said. "They've put up with a lot of stuff."

The restaurant owed months' of back rent, Sabbagh said.

Enoteca had 12 employees at the time of closure. "That's what hurt the most," Sabbagh said.

He said he's been in discussion with a real estate agent and wants to sell the restaurant business as soon as possible, perhaps in a short sale.

Contact reporter Patrick McNamara at pmcnamara@azstarnet.com or 573-4241.

Mary and Jack Weger closed their Venice Restaurant & Pizzeria on May 25, ending a 36-year run as one of Tucson’s longest-operating Italian restaurants.

Mary Weger this week said the couple made the decision around Mother’s Day. She said the economy had gotten the best of their family-style eatery, where fans raved about the authentic New York-style pizza and pastas.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” she said. “We were open 36 years, and a lot of our customers were older (and were losing their spouses), and people didn’t want to come in without their spouse. It got difficult.”

Venice Restaurant, at 7848 E. Wrightstown Road in the Catalina Village, at Pantano Road, had 14 employees at the time it closed, Weger said.

See more restaurant news in Thursday's Caliente.

A year after opening Bella D'Auria Restaurant & Bar on East Broadway, chef-owner Lorenzo D'Auria shut the doors last week.

In a posting on the restaurant's Facebook page, D'Auria cited "the tough economy" as the driving force that led him to close.

"Our operating expenses (were) just too high to continue the business." He signed the posting "Management."

D'Auria could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Both the restaurant's phone and his cellphone were disconnected.

Early last month, D'Auria was optimistic that a new lunch campaign that focused on speedy delivery and prices that didn't top $8 would give him a financial boost as the restaurant entered Tucson's notoriously slow summer months. It was the second time since he opened at 4445 E. Broadway in May 2012 that he had attempted lunch service.

On his Facebook posting, D'Auria said he will continue catering and doing "private cooking with the chef." Details: www.facebook.com/pages/Bella-DAuria-Restaurant-Bar/153426794735200

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.

Chad's Steakhouse & Saloon, a fixture in Tucson's cowboy steakhouse community for more than two decades, closed Saturday.

Owners Shaun and Sandi Herrington announced the closure on Facebook Sunday, saying they had "possible new ownership in place" to take it over. A message on the restaurant's phone backed that up, saying that Chad's was closed for remodeling and hoped to reopen May 1.

On Tuesday, Shaun Herrington said there was no buyer, although they have had serious discussions to sell the restaurant, building and land at 3001 N. Swan Road. He and his wife have owned Chad's 10 years.

"It's time for us to move on out of the restaurant business," said Herrington, the father of two sons, ages 8 and 14. "It's been a good run. ... But now it's time to focus on (the kids)."

Chad's opened in 1991 and quickly earned a following for being a "cowboy steakhouse and then some," in the words of former Star restaurant critic Colette M. Bancroft. She called the restaurant a red meat lover's paradise serving "the kind of beef that's so good by itself that it would seem sort of sacrilegious to douse it with some gooey steak sauce."

That was a sentiment echoed over the years by critics and diners alike. Readers of Tucson Lifestyle magazine recently rated Chad's the area's third-most-popular steakhouse.

The Herringtons bought Chad's when both were in their mid-20s. "Even through the difficult times, we did remarkably well," he said.

But a kitchen fire last July that resulted in extensive water damage - a sprinkler ran for hours because it was not connected to the alarm, Herrington said - set the couple back.

"Just fighting through all that and after doing everything the city wanted we just kind of looked at each other and said, 'It's time,' " Herrington said. "We obviously were looking down the barrel of another summer. ... It's our biggest dogfight. We decided to go out on a high note."

He said he and his wife have helped many of Chad's 30 employees find new jobs.

Tucson broker Kevin Kramber said the couple listed the land and building for $850,000. They also are willing to lease the building to a restaurant operator, who would have to buy all Chad's assets - kitchen equipment, dining room furnishings, tableware - for $58,000.

Tucson Originals Executive Director Colette Landeen said the location is prime. "You've got Plaza Palomino that's renovated, and you've got new blood. It's also a corridor to the Foothills and Swan. It's a good location," said Landeen, calling the closing a big loss. "Twenty-two years is a long time."

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.

The Bamboo Club Asian Bistro will end its 10-plus-year run at Park Place mall on Sunday after failing to negotiate a lease deal with the mall.

Owner Paul Lakers said Park Place terminated his lease as part of Lakers' bankruptcy filing in September. The restaurant and mall had renewed the lease in July, and Lakers said he had been current with his payments since. But he acknowledged he had been in arrears before July, although he would not say by how many months.

Brighid Brown, marketing manager for the Tucson and Park Place malls, said she could not comment on Tuesday.

Bamboo Club, 5870 E. Broadway, opened at Park Place in 2002, part of the Phoenix-based Mainstreet Restaurant Group that included nearly 60 TGI Friday locations. Mainstreet, which no longer exists, spun off Bamboo Club, and Lakers acquired the Tucson location through a licensing agreement in 2008.

"We were able to keep it going for the last 4 1/2 years," Lakers said. "Had I not entered into the agreement, I am sure it would have closed."

Lakers said he and his 50 employees will be out of work once Bamboo Club closes Sunday night.

"If I can find the right opportunity, I would love to continue the Bamboo Club tradition in Tucson," he said. "I don't know the likelihood that I'm going to be able to do that, but it is something that we're exploring."

Bamboo Club will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, it is open from noon to 8 p.m. and will be serving a buffet ($15 per person).

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.

After a couple years in business, the northwest side neighborhood pizza shop Bella Vita Pizzeria has apparently called it quits.

No one from the restaurant has confirmed the closing, but the restaurant's phone is disconnected and there's a "For Lease" sign on the building.

The small mom-and-pop pizza shop that prided itself on its deep Italian roots and traditions was opened a couple short years at 4229 W. Ina Road at North Oldfather Road. It was in the small storefront space that once housed Picurro’s Pizzeria.

Bella Vita, helmed by chef Lorenzo Iacopelli from Palermo, Italy, won rave fan reviews posted on Yelp for friendly service and authentic Italian pastas, pizzas and calzones. Prices ran from $8 to $9 for sandwiches to $17.95 for large specialty pizzas and $10 to $14 for pastas.

See more restaurant news in next Thursday's Caliente.

The owners of the Latin fusion restaurant Rio Cafe have called it quits.

Partners Richard Epling and Eduardo Huerta left a note on the door of the restaurant, 2526 E. Grant Road, thanking friends and loyal foodies for their patronage over the last six years.

“We have had great times and tremendous challenges, but the love you have shared has made it remarkable,” the letter read.

Rio filled the void left behind by the Cajun restaurant Nonie.

Redline Sports Grill and RPM Nightclub on North Oracle and West Wetmore roads reportedly has closed.

The restaurant and sports bar, owned by Luke Cusack, apparently closed early last week. The business phone has been disconnected and its Facebook page eliminated.

  The restaurant was opened in early 2011 by Cusack and partners, who initially included Fourth Avenue burger baron Lindy Reilly. Reilly pulled out of the restaurant last spring and threatened to sue Cusack to retain the intellectual property of his food. Reilly wanted to make sure his wild burger combinations first made popular at his namesake Lindy's on 4th restaurant were taken off Redline's menu.

It’s so long to Big Juan’s tacos y burros in Tucson.

The short-lived Mexican chain announced on Facebook Wednesday that it has shut its doors at both locations, 4352 E. Speedway and 4470 N. First Ave.

The post cited “unforeseen circumstances” for the closure and thanked patrons for their support.

Big Juan’s opened on East Speedway in April and on North First in June.

Greek Taverna, the eastside sister restaurant of the UA area’s Fat Greek, will close at the end of business Friday.

It is the latest blow for owner George Markou, who has been working since last summer to reopen Fat Greek after flooding shuttered the restaurant and caused more than $300,000 in damage.

“When you lose one and you don’t have income coming in ... then you put the other one in jeopardy,” Markou said.

The three-year-old Greek Taverna on North Swan Road has been hampered by the economy, Markou said, but he said he was able to balance it out when Fat Greek was doing well during the school year.

He said he decided to close the restaurant after his lease went up beginning this month.

Meanwhile, Markou had hoped to reopen Fat Greek, 994 E. University Blvd., as Pelio Grill Greek Taverna & Catering as early as last month. The opening is now on hold as he negotiates a settlement with his insurance company for the flood damage. Markou said he is seeking $350,000 from the insurance company and already has spent $35,000 on contractors and architects.

Pelio Grill will offer a number of seafood and sausage dishes native to Pelio, Greece, with most prices remaining under $10; only three dishes will top $10, Markou said.

Greek Taverna, 3225 North Swan Road, will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday.

Holiday lights are still strung above the bar and artwork adorns the walls of Ric's Cafe in the River Center plaza. But the whiteboard, normally filled with the day's dining specials, is clean, a sign that business is not as usual at the longtime Foothills eatery.

A legal notice posted on the front door tells the full story: Ric's has been "lawfully locked" by the landlord and all assets in the premises seized as part of a lien for unpaid debts.

Don Baker, whose firm Larsen-Baker owns the River Center shopping center at East River and North Craycroft roads, said the restaurant was in arrears. He would not elaborate except to say that rent checks had bounced.

Ric's owner, Jack Ahern, also would not comment on Wednesday. But in a recording left on the business's phone, Ahern said Ric's closed because of ongoing construction at River Center. The message said to leave your name and number if you were interested in catering services.

Ric's, 5605 E. River Road, has been enduring construction woes for years. First came a Pima County roads project that snarled the corner of East River and North Craycroft roads and dragged on for years.

Construction encroached even closer last year, when work began in the summer on a new Whole Foods grocery store. Baker said that store is expected to open Jan. 16.

The Whole Foods project has made parking in River Center difficult; much of the lot has been blocked off, forcing customers to park in the dirt lot across North Craycroft Road.

River Center has five restaurants, including Skybox Restaurant & Bar. Other tenants include the Dusenberry-River Branch of Pima County library.

Ric's had been open at River Center since the 1990s. Ahern cooked at the restaurant for several years before buying it 11 years ago.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.