Tuli Bistro closed, at least temporarily, on Monday night.

As of Tuesday evening, a sign was taped to their door saying:

Dear Tuli Fans: Tuli Bistro has closed pending transfer of ownership. We hope to re-open very soon. Thank you so much for your years of support and we look forward to serving you again. Sincerely, The Tuli Family

As I took that picture, three people were inside the restaurant, sitting at the bar area. I tried to clandestinely look, but I didn't see Chef Adam Pechal, one of Tuli's owners, inside.

In an interview with the Sac Bee today, Chef Pechal blamed finances for causing the restaurant's demise.

Pechal said the money problems from Restaurant Thir13en bled into Tuli Bistro, which opened at 21st and S streets in 2007. According to Pechal, Tuli Bistro remained popular and recorded $1 million in sales annually. But overall financial woes led Pechal and his business partners, Karl Petersen and wife Ulrike Lesk Petersen, to ultimately separate. Petersen is the father of Pechal’s former girlfriend, Jessica Petersen. Pechal is now bent on reopening Tuli under his control and with a new set of partners, an idea Pechal had been mulling for some time.

Read the entire story in the Sac Bee.

The Bee's Chris Macias also reports that Chef Pechal will also be taking over the kitchen at Pour House by early March. This coincides with the scheduled opening of Crawdads River Cantina, where Pechal and Pour House's owner Trevor Shults are partners.

Check out the first Cowtown Eats post about the closure of Tuli Bistro.

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