Less than a week after a writer declared to Popville that Dino’s Grotto was near its demise, the Shaw restaurant has confirmed it will shut its doors. Washington City Paper was the first to report that Dino’s will close in September

The Dino’s Grotto on 9th Street NW is actually the second iteration of the Italian-focused concept. In 2005, owner Dean Gold first opened Dino in Cleveland Park, where it operated until 2013. At the time of Dino’s closure, Gold blamed the popularity of the blossoming 14th Street corridor and the recent government shutdown for declining business. “No one wants to rent space here,” he told Washington City Paper in 2013. “All the neighborhoods that used to feed us—we used to get tons of people from Chevy Chase Circle; we used to get tons of people from Mount Pleasant; we used to get tons of people from the 14th Street area.” He opened Dino’s Grotto the following year.

This time, Gold tells City Paper there’s another reason to shutter the restaurant where he serves as chef: He’s retiring, partially due to health problems. “Nine months ago my doctor said to me, ‘Do you want to live a full, long life or what? The amount of stress you’re under isn’t right.'”

Gold’s restaurant has been known for sourcing ingredients locally—from his Shenandoah-based beef and lamb chops in the dining room upstairs, to the local peaches that went into cocktails at the subterranean bar. The restaurant’s menu was Italian (with an array of pastas and meatballs, burrata, and bruschetta on the app menu) or Italian inspired, as in the Nashville-style hot crab sandwich on the menu this summer. The massive burger and the much-beloved duck bolognese were staples on the menu, and diners came to expect rotating specials, including half-off Negronis on Fridays and $2 tacos on Wednesdays.

In recent years, Dino’s Grotto has been joined on 9th Street NW by fellow Italian joints San Lorenzo and All Purpose, as well as Espita Mezcaleria and Zeppelin. Gold mused to City Paper that today’s diners want “a show” from their restaurants. “I knew I should have paid attention to that. People want multiple things. Roof decks are an example. People who normally on a regular basis eat at restaurants that use local food go to roof decks that buy food from Sysco because they want the roof deck.” (It was not clear which restaurants Gold was referring to.)

Gold tells City Paper that Dino’s Grotto’s last summer in business will include duck dinners and deep discounts on wine. As for that closing date, the restaurant tweeted that it would shutter around September 15, or, as the account’s display name declares, “before the autumnal equinox.“