

Many people were panicked when brunch-time favorite Dottie's True Blue Café abruptly, temporarily closed back in February  it turned out to be due to one of the employees suffering a severe burn and there not being enough staff to open without him. But now, as Inside Scoop reports, the news is a little more grave: Chef-owner Kurt Abney, who's been running something of a one-man show in that bustling kitchen for 22 years, sounds tired.

As he tells the Scoop, "I’m in my mid-50s. It’s just me who owns it, and I’ve had it for 22 years. I need to think if I want to die by the grill, or have some freedom." Thus, he's listed the restaurant and its assets on Craigslist for $479,000. A buyer would assume the restaurant's lease, on which 16 years remain, for a fairly reasonable $12,360/month. It's a 5,400 square-foot space with 60 seats (plus 20 on a roof deck), and Abney says he does a crazy 350 covers a day, on average.

Abney says he may want to reopen somewhere on a smaller scale, perhaps more the size of Dottie's original Tenderloin location on Jones, from which he had to move back in 2012 to its current Sixth Street location.

But it seems likely that a savvy new owner might want to retain the Dottie's name and brand, given its consistent popularity and tourist guidebook seal of approval. Abney says he'd be open to that too, for a price.

Previously: 'Personal Reasons' Close Dottie's True Blue Cafe

