Momma Pearl’s Cajun Kitchen, which for more than a decade has served up po’boys, jambalaya, crawfish, gumbo and other Cajun specialties, has closed its doors in Colorado Springs.

Owner Robert Brunet, known as Chef “BB,” cited financial hardships in announcing the restaurant’s closure in a Facebook post this week.

“Despite our best efforts to adjust to the numerous economic challenges we’ve faced, the past few months have been particularly difficult,” Brunet said on his personal Facebook page. “Rising food, labor, and property tax costs, coupled with a severe drop in attendance, have made it impossible for us to continue operations.”

Brunet’s Facebook post also appeared to point fingers at the White House for his restaurant’s troubles. It showed a headline that explained “Momma Pearl’s Cajun Kitchen CLOSED” — with a photo of a smiling President Joe Biden pointing at the closure announcement and the words “I DID THAT.”

Similar “I DID THAT” stickers of Biden were affixed by his critics on service station fuel pumps around the country a few years ago, which showed the president pointing at gasoline prices as a way of suggesting he was at fault for higher gas costs.

Brunet’s post also included the “Let’s Go Brandon!!!” tagline, which conservative critics have used as a three-word code in place of a profane attack on Biden.

The Facebook post drew well wishes from supporters, who bemoaned Momma Pearl’s closing and said they had enjoyed its food and service. Some also appeared to back Brunet’s political stance.

“Damn Robbie, I’m so sorry to hear that,” one Facebook commenter told Brunet. “We need Donald J. Trump. God bless your family and you.”

On at least one other social media site, however, commenters ripped Brunet for targeting Biden and said the restaurant owner should take responsibility for his troubled business.

“Why just the other day I heard Joe Biden hisself say ‘f*** Momma Pearl’s Cajun Kitchen in Colorado Springs specifically,’ so I definitely believe he’s to blame,” one commenter said sarcastically on Reddit. “Dark Brandon strikes again!! Is there any middling restaurant owner he won’t personally take down??”

Neither Brunet nor his wife, Becky, who was the restaurant’s co-owner, could be reached for additional comment.

The Brunets launched Momma Pearl’s — named for Robert’s mother, Pearl — in 2013 in the Rockrimmon area on Colorado Springs’ northwest side. In 2020, they relocated the business to the Polaris Pointe development, which is home to dozens of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues on the city’s fast-growing north side.

In a 3½-minute video that he posted on Facebook in late December, Robert Brunet laid out a series of problems the restaurant faced and pleaded for public support.

In 2020 when Momma Pearl’s moved to Polaris Pointe, the restaurant was serving 1,000 guests a week with more than 30 employees, he said. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, his business suffered, he said.

Since then, and even as customer numbers returned to normalcy, business never came back to its pre-pandemic levels, he said in the December video. Still, Momma Pearl’s was able to keep its doors open, Brunet said.

Over several months leading up to December, however, Momma Pearl’s and many other independent eateries “have experienced a drop in business unlike any we’ve seen before,” Brunet said.

“Our attendance has dropped to less than 30% of our norms for this time of the year,” he said. “One can only begin to speculate at the causes of the recent downturn: high inflation, economic turmoil, geopolitical uncertainty, not to mention the proliferation of fast-food and corporate chain businesses that continue to dilute the culinary market of our city.”

Brunet said he was forced to assume duties as a line cook, dishwasher and daytime dining room server because the restaurant didn’t have enough business to support those positions. Becky was forced to take “side gigs” so that the couple could cover their personal expenses.

“I haven’t even been able to take a paycheck since August of this year,” he said in December.

He went on to say the restaurant’s future was threatened by the slowdown and asked customers to come back to the business.

A Louisiana native, Brunet’s career included work in the computer technology and hospitality industries, while Becky also worked in hospitality, according to a Gazette profile of the couple in 2022.

After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, the Brunets moved to Colorado Springs where Robert launched an in-home chef business — preparing Cajun dinners for homeowners at their residences, The Gazette profile said. He then started Momma Pearl’s Cajun Kitchen.

In 2021, Momma Pearl’s was the subject of “Restaurant Impossible,” the Food Network’s reality TV show, in which troubled eateries are given a makeover — often a new décor and menu changes — to help restore them to profitability and prominence.

“This restaurant is our life,” Robert said in The Gazette’s profile story in 2022. “We don’t have 401(k)s or savings left — we had to live on those for a long time. Now, the restaurant is our future. A message I always tell my kids is, ‘You only fail if you quit,’ and I’m not quitting.”