The owners of Restaurant Thir13en announced to their staff over the weekend that the establishment would be closing at the end of the month. Here's the official announcement, via Facebook.
With heavy hearts we say goodbye. Restaurant Thir13en will be closing effective February 1. Its been a whirlwind 2 and a half years and we'd like to thank all of you who have supported us most especially our employees without whom, none of this would have been possible. We plan to rock it til the end with Baconfest and other specials through the end of the month so make sure to come visit, say goodbye and have one last Capital Burger!
But the question remains, why did the second restaurant of Chef Adam Pechal, who had been on ABC reality cooking show The Taste fail? Sac Bee's Chris Macias gets comment straight from the chef.
“To make a long story short, we never made money there,” said Pechal. “It’s been a challenge from the beginning. What I thought was not that bad of a location was worse than one would expect ... it’s so frustrating, and got me thinking about fine dining in this town and if there’s enough people to support it....
“Catering was the main reason we went over there in the first place, for the ballroom and for the kitchen to do our dessert production and get the charcuterie and pasta program going,” said Pechal. “We’ve got some hard choices to make here soon, like what exactly we’ll be able to do with the space. We would like to keep pushing the catering because we’ve had some success with it.”
Macias also reports that the chef may have a new restaurant in the works. Read the entire story in the Sac Bee.
I've eaten at Restaurant Thir13en several times, and the one thing I never saw there was a line of people waiting to be seated. My guess is that it's the location. Nobody wanted to go to a restaurant in a, um, dated hotel with no parking in a quieter part of town. Personally, I prefer Tuli Bistro for both their food, ambiance and price point. But I believe Pechal is a talented chef and I certainly hope he gives fine dining another try.
More News:
Ready to cheer? - Boulevard Park just might be celebrating a new neighborhood eatery on Super Bowl weekend. It’s Mark and Carol Hoyt’s Easy on I at 1725 I St. “We’ve put in a nice custom bar,” Carol Hoyt told me, “and we’re going to have a couple TVs in here. It’s not really going to be a sports bar, but if someone wants to watch a football game, if they want to watch ‘Downton Abbey’ on Sunday nights, we’re just gonna go with it in that respect.” Cathie Anderson in the Sac Bee.
Enotria owner: 'Everybody was treated fairly' after closure - The owner of Enotria Restaurant & Wine Bar says employees were treated fairly after learning Wednesday that the Sacramento restaurant would close immediately. "Everybody was treated fairly," said owner David Hardie, who declined to say whether Enotria's 21 employees were given extra pay. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.