Martello's Italian Restaurant Shutters

click to enlarge

Image via

James Joyce's martello tower. Just because.

Martello's Italian Restaurant (8025 Mackenzie Road, south St. Louis County; 314-352-1326) has closed, according to Sauce. The restaurant's phone number has been disconnected, and its Facebook page has been deleted.

Never heard of Martello's before now? Not surprising. The restaurant opened in Affton only three months ago.

I don't know if this qualifies as a true trend -- and it certainly pales in comparison to the number of openings over the past twelve months -- but Martello's is, by my count, the seventh restaurant to open and close in less than year in 2011 (plus the first two weeks of 2012).