After 13 years of slinging shrimp toast and lobster rolls on West Third Street, Son of a Gun, the seafood-centric sister restaurant to Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s seminal restaurant Animal, is closing on Saturday, October 12. The closure announcement posted on the restaurant’s Instagram account characterized the decision as “bittersweet” but did not cite a specific reason for the business shuttering.

“Thirteen years in the restaurant world is like 100 years. We definitely consider Son of a Gun a huge success,” Shook tells Eater. “We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished, extremely grateful for our hardworking team, and for the amazing support we’ve received.”

Son of a Gun opened in February 2011, three years after the blockbuster debut of Shook and Dotolo’s critically acclaimed Animal. While the chefs’ first effort centered around carnivorous and shareable plates paired with eclectic wines, Son of a Gun’s menu was comparatively lighter and more freewheeling in its seafood focus but never short on the kind of punchy touches that the “two dudes” from Fort Lauderdale were known for.

From day one, diners gravitated toward a duo of sandwiches on the menu: The shrimp toast layered with rich sriracha mayonnaise and even richer slices of buttered and browned white toast was a runaway hit, while the hefty fried chicken sandwich came packed with spicy slaw and pickles. Mishmash nautical decor pilfered from Dotolo’s grandfather’s garage featured heavily in the 55-seat restaurant’s decor, full of buoys, fishing nets, and antlers. Shook and Dotolo own the Beverly Grove building where Son of Gun is located and do not have immediate plans to open another restaurant in its place.

Though Son of a Gun did not receive accolades on the level of Animal, critics appreciated it for its contributions to Los Angeles’s broader dining scene. “It’s beach shack food, tasty and inexpensive, dosed with hot sauce or vinegar, messy to eat, not meant to be anything more,” S. Irene Virbila, the former Los Angeles Times restaurant critic, wrote in her one-and-a-half star review of the restaurant in 2011. Then-LA Weekly restaurant critic Jonathan Gold dubbed Son of a Gun “a kick-ass Florida fish house” and called the “smoked steelhead roe with dots of maple-flavored cream and razor-thin shards of pumpernickel toast” his favorite dish.

Shook and Dotolo continue to operate their namesake Italian American chain of Jon & Vinny’s restaurants — in Studio City, Brentwood, Hyde Park, Beverly Hills, and the original outpost on Fairfax — along with multiple locations of Helen’s Wines and Cookbook Market in Larchmont, Echo Park, and Highland Park.

Cathy Chaplin