A popular downtown Buffalo restaurant has announced it is closing for the second time in less than a week.
Toutant, located at 437 Ellicott St., will close on Feb. 15th, ending a decade-long run that attracted diners for its Southern-themed brunch, lunch, and dinner menu offerings.
Owner James Roberts, a noted local chef, said the closing was a bittersweet decision.
“It is unfortunately time for us to move on,” Roberts posted on Jan. 13 on various social media outlets. “We have done everything we ever wanted to do and fulfilled all our restaurant dreams and for that, we are forever grateful.”
Roberts, the former Park Country Club executive chef, opened Toutant in 2015 with a menu that came from his Louisiana bayou roots.
In 2017, Roberts opened Dobutsu in the 500 Seneca Building near the city’s Larkin District and then rebranded it as Compass Run. Compass Run closed three years ago and it is now the site of the Andale Tequila Bar.
Toutant’s pending closing, which took many by surprise, comes one week after the Dinosaur-Bar-B-Que announced plans to leave its Franklin Street location and move later this year to Hamburg.
Roberts has listed the Toutant restaurant operations for sale. The building, owned by an affiliate of developer Rocco Termini, is not for sale.
