Blue Cat Steak & Wine Bar closed in April after an 18-year run at 1 Lawson Lane in Burlington. Owner Mariasha Giral announced the news in a goodbye letter printed in Seven Days but otherwise declined to comment.
As of last week, the only other confirmation of Blue Cat’s closure was its status as “permanently closed” on reservation site OpenTable. There were no signs at the cozy alleyway steakhouse — where tables were still set — or on its website, voicemail or social media.
Giral and her late husband, Ozzy, opened Blue Cat in 2006, the same year they moved to Vermont from New York City. In 2008, they shifted the menu from Italian-inspired panini and pasta to classic steakhouse dishes, including shrimp cocktail, truffled foie gras, filet mignon, steak au poivre and rib eye. The wine list featured 300-plus options from around the world.
Giral continued to operate the restaurant after her husband died unexpectedly in 2016 at age 36.
“While my husband and partner, Ozzy, has passed, I’d like to include him in this goodbye, as well,” she wrote in the closure announcement. “He was a leader in our tucked-away wine bar as well as the community and enjoyed it more than anyone else possible.”
This article appears in May 1-7, 2024.
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