When Dustin Ronspies first opened Art of the Table in the tiny Fremont space that now holds Kamonegi, he pioneered a daring, innovative style of restaurant. Today, the idea that a chef can design a restaurant’s service around their own preferences is commonplace, even cliché. But when Ronspies first introduced his “Supper Club” meals in 2007, his $55, five-course menus led the way into the near future of dining: prioritizing the best ingredients and the chef’s instincts on the ideal way to serve them. While he added to that offering, expanded the menu (now six courses, $142), and moved to a bigger space, he never stopped rethinking the possibilities of a restaurant and how it can work.

In a Friday morning email to customers, Ronspies announced that he and wife Shannon Van Horn will close Art of the Table by the end of the year. The final regular meals will be November 22, with celebratory “Last Supper” events on November 30 and December 1.

“Wow, what a trip it has been,” writes Ronspies. Art of the Table was one of the first “Unrestaurants” in Seattle—dining destinations that eschewed the general conventions of hospitality. AOTT opened with six tables, butter-yellow walls, and Ronspies giving sermonettes about the virtues of eating communally from the kitchen door as he brought out course after course from his seasonal menu.

After a decade, already ancient in restaurant years, it moved to its current location, just a block from the old one, where Ronspies and Van Horn gave AOTT the room to grow up. Which it did, and with poise, even capturing a position on our recent list of the best special occasion restaurants in town. Keeping a restaurant open for 17 years is incredibly difficult, and Art of the Table did one better, still earning praise for consistency and perfection until the end.

Ronspies is stepping off from the top, as he made clear in his email. “Sadly, we will not be looking for the next spot, or the new hot concept.” But one might argue he’s already onto the new hot concept: ““Shannon and I and the kids are ready to move on, to find a new home, to focus on family and self care.”