That was fast: Absinthe Bistro & Lounge suddenly closed over the weekend of October 12, only weeks after its grand opening party on September 29, according to a post on Yelp by Absinthe chef Esperidion Dean Vasquez. It had four stars on Yelp and pictures on the food-review site looked appetizing. Alas, I never got to try its fine-looking French food or its Absinthe Suissese cocktail.

Below is the text of a Yelp post (one-star, natch) by chef Vasquez from October 18, announcing the closure. As detailed in the post—which has now been removed—there may be hope for Vasquez in a future venture, so stay tuned for news on that. 

To all my friends and family that supported me through the last four months I truly want to thank you for all the support. Unfortunately the new restaurant venture known as Absinthe has closed its doors as of last Sunday night due to funding issues. I am sad to say that all I did and created for that restaurant will no longer be available at that establishment. Seeing how the Beverage manager and I were let go in one of the worst ways possible. A phone call, a day after the doors closed. So if it does reopen and tries to do the same food it won’t be mine. Even though the web page has my name on it.

The upside is that in the 7 weeks we were open The Food and Drinks got nothing but Rave reviews and we were lucky enough to get some investors that are interested in staking us in a new venture in the future, so keep your eyes open. 

Thank You All,

Chef Dean Vasquez

And yesterday, the Facebook page for the French eatery made this post:

Just so everyone knows Absinthe Bistro & Lounge is closed. Without warning the doors were closed on a staff of more than 30 people. No notice no anything. An email was sent apologizing for the “temporary” shutdown 3 days later. I hope that by reading this post everyone will see what kind of people are running this business. People who have outstanding debt with all of their purveyors, people that don’t have experience in this business, and people that don’t take into consideration anything but the fantasy of owning a restaurant. The restaurant business is tough and if you don’t have a clue what you’re doing you will be shut down in under 60 days too. Let this be a warning to anyone out there that has a fantasy of owning a restaurant. It’s not a game. People depended on the ownership team to take responsibility and they were let down. So please after you read this. Don’t be a part of this horribly run business.

Zut.