Lights Out at Ara International Grille and Bar

Almost , Ara International Grille and Bar appears to be closed.

The lights are off and the doors locked at the recently renovated spot at the corner of Routes 25 and 347. Calls to the restaurant were met with a busy signal Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, a large white sign that read "Open for Lunch" had been taken down and the restaurant's reservations page on popular online eatery guide Open Table says the restaurant is currently unavailable.

Co-owner Mike Schumm had not returned numerous calls for comment by the time this article was published.

The restaurant's Facebook page is still online, however.

The restaurant opened Sept. 6, four months after Schumm and partner Dino Vlacich leased the building. The cuisine is high-end, with items including lamb, duck and Chilean sea bass. The menu features dishes and wines from around the world.

The darkened interior is an ominous sign for an establishment inhabiting this building, which has seen several businesses close their doors in the last 15 years.

The building was rebuilt in 2000 after a fire evicted a strip club known as the Brass Monkey. An Italian restaurant named Intermezzo took its place, which changed its name to Capo before finally closing in 2006. The building was empty until Schumm and Vlacich leased it in May.

In an , Schumm said the intent was to add some diversity to the area’s dining scene, offering residents something more than “another Italian place in Smithtown.”

But if the recent darkness at the eatery means it's curtains for Ara, it won't be Schumm's first project that's stalled. The owner recently ran Bin 107 in St. James before handing it back to former management, .