After shutting down in May over the COVID-19 pandemic, K Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen will not re-open its doors — ever.

The restaurant made the announcement Monday (July, 13), saying, “With gratitude for many happy and successful years, the management team of K-Paul’s is regretfully announcing permanent closure of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen.”

K-Paul’s, has been a staple and icon of New Orleans’ culinary genius since Paul Prudhomme and his wife, Kay Hinrichs Prudhomme, opened the Chartres Street restaurant in 1979.

Prudhomme died in October 2015. Since then, his niece Brenda Prudhomme and her husband, Paul Miller, have run the restaurant.

Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 closures, the restaurant said, it can’t recover.

“The difficult decision to shut down the restaurant came after repeated closings this year due to mandated business restrictions,” K-Paul’s said in a release.

The building was originally constructed in 1864. In 1996, the restaurant was refurbished and expanded the restaurant’s seating from 61 to over 200.

Under Prudhomme at K-Paul’s, a generation of chefs went on to open their own restaurants — including Frank Brigtsen of Brigtsen’s, Greg Sonnier of Gabrielle and Miller.

After 40 years, Brenda and Paul said they know the closure will be difficult. The couple said they “will look to the future and forever embrace Chef Paul’s ‘Good Cooking, Good Eating and Good Loving’ approach to life.”

Latter and Blum will manage the sale of the building.

[hearst-location place_id=”ChIJiUWE9A2mIIYRngo31C8qPSw”]K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen[/hearst-location]