Nimbus American Bistro & Brewery on East Tanque Verde Road has closed, the second Tucson area restaurant to call it quits this week.
Monkey Business in Marana closed Monday. (See story on following page.)
Nimbus Bistro officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday and did not return repeated phone calls. James Counts, who owns Nimbus Brewery Co. and was a minor partner in the restaurant, said he was notified by the partners after they closed on Monday.
Nimbus Bistro opened in September 2009 as a joint project of Counts and Tucson restaurateur Bob McMahon. A year into the venture, McMahon, who owned the building at 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road, pulled out and listed himself as strictly the landlord.
A year after McMahon’s exit, Counts sold his majority stake in Nimbus Bistro to Phoenix businessman Brandon Williams and Tucson businessman Don Norris .
Counts said he still maintained a 20 percent stake in the restaurant, but he wanted to focus his energies on brewing beer.
“The restaurant business is a very, very tough business and that’s why I had to get out of it,” Counts said Wednesday. “It’s a really, really hard business. To my knowledge, they made money at it. But I don’t know if they just got tired of it or what because of all the hours that it takes to do it. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to Don (Norris) much. He sent me a text and let me know that was what they were doing.”
Nimbus Bistro had a short-lived outpost in Scottsdale. Williams and Norris opened Nimbus American Bistro & Eatery at 7001 N. Scottsdale Road in March 2012 and closed it that November, according to the Phoenix New Times.
Nimbus Brewing Co. is not connected with the restaurants.
