It looks like we have another contender for this year’s “Boy, That Was Fast” award. Elliott’s Public House, which took over the space that had been occupied by Brian’s restaurant across from Lake Invahoe, is currently shuttered and has the eyeroll producing “closed for renovations” notice on the door. I’m skeptical, even though in my review of Elliott’s in September shortly after it opened I noted that the food was better but the ambience was lacking. You’d think that if renovations were actually taking place the phone would be kept in service for the use of the workers and contractors. Instead, Elliott’s phone has been disconnected.

It’s difficult to know why a restaurant — any business, really — would close after such a short time. It’s a general rule of thumb that a restaurant won’t make money immediately; it’s a prospect new restaurateurs should be prepared for. And it’s especially disheartening in this situation because Elliott’s was making the effort to bring better food to the Ivanhoe Village district.

Although Elliott’s life was terribly brief, I think Blackfin has the shortest length between opening and closing this year with five weeks.