Greetings, Beacon Nation. I’m Tristan Scott here with a morose edition of your Monday Roundup. One of downtown Whitefish’s most enduring restaurants, Wasabi Sushi Bar and Ginger Grill, abruptly announced it had permanently closed its doors today after the death of one of its key staff members, sushi chef Jules Arcel.

Although the local institution had been listed for sale and was slated to close on Sept. 30, Arcel’s death devastated the staff and left the close-knit trio of chefs — Jacob, Jake and Jules, better known by their in-house alias “Triple Threat” — without a key load-bearing pillar. Instead of limping along through the final busy weeks of summer, Wasabi owner Paula Greenstein announced the restaurant’s immediate closure in a social media post this morning.

“Due to unfortunate circumstances and a tragedy in our Wasabi family, we are forced to end our engagement with you all,” according to the post. “We are permanently closed as of today. Thank you for your patronage. It has been an honor to be part of this beautiful community.”

The post, which was signed by Greenstein, as well as her sister, Sharon Katz, advertised a “fire sale” tonight from 5-7 p.m. in order to clear out its perishable inventory “at cost.”

“Please come say goodbye and treat yourself to this wonderful product,” according to the post.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text the Montana Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Lifeline at 988.

For more than 26 years, Wasabi defied the meat-and-potato culinary standards of the Intermountain West while defining the drift toward sushi fusion long before the trend skyrocketed. As the sushi surge spread between U.S. coasts, Wasabi was quick to respond to sustainability concerns, sourcing its fish according to guidelines established by the Seafood Watch program, a Monterey, California-based watchdog group that monitors issues such as overfishing and unsustainable fish-farming practices, which can impact oceanic ecosystems.

Beloved by locals for its strong sense of community, and by visitors for its creative rolls and fresh sashimi, Wasabi cultivated a dedicated following — so much so that a wall of chopsticks near the kitchen sports the custom dining utensils of dozens of longtime customers, each set clasped in a holder bearing the owner’s name.

Behind the scenes, a cohesive crew of chefs and servers kept the restaurant humming during the height of tourist season. The atmosphere remained lively and vibrant during the shoulder season, too, due in large part to a fun and familiar waitstaff who kept the mood low-key without compromising the high-end culinary experience.

But that exuberance ended abruptly on Aug. 2 with the death of Arcel, a well-known Whitefish local who was instrumental in maintaining the restaurant’s operational metabolism, as well as lifting the staff’s morale.

Mitch Bouton, Wasabi’s dining room manager, said the restaurant had been planning on a soft, celebratory closure at the end of the summer to mark the end of an era as the establishment went under contract. He described the decision to close suddenly as difficult but necessary following Arcel’s passing.

“Our chefs took this so hard that they left and they didn’t want to come back,” Bouton said. “Without the Triple Threat, I can’t operate. Those three boys they were the backbone of this business so we had no choice.”

“We just had to make a really hard decision,” he added.

Here’s the rest of your Daily Roundup.