A frustrated Sacramentan has called to suggest that The Bee start to run a list of all the restaurants closing in the area. With the price of car fuel what it is, she's tired of driving up to a Blank Angus here or a Tahoe Joe's there only to find it no longer in business. Such a compilation would be helpful, and maybe our database experts can get on it. In the meantime, I'll do what I can to alert readers of closures as I become aware of them, though restaurateurs are notoriously shy about broadcasting their disappointments.

Just this morning I learned of another restaurant closing, but only because I was walking along J Street and noticed that the windows of the Vietnamese pho cafe Tamarind were covered over and a sign on the door said the place is permanently shut. The man who opened Tamarind two years ago this fall, Perry Yuen, who also owns the Chinese cafe Plum Blossom farther west along J Street, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.