Ruthie & Moe's Diner is serving up another order of heartache at East 40th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Owner Ruthie Helman has closed the doors on Cleveland's famed comfort-food mecca, citing the city's roughening economy, unfinished negotiations with the diner's landowner and the strain of going it alone for years without her late husband and the diner's co-founder, Moe Helman.

"It's a very sad fact that we have to close," said the provider of distinguished matzo ball soup, fresh-cut french fries and mile-high coconut cakes. "We've been open for a long time."

Employees were surprised to get their last paychecks in the mail this week with a thanks -- and a goodbye -- from her.

"I just loved the place," said singing waitress Laura Tripp, an 11-year employee. She will miss the mix of well-heeled and no-heeled customers.

"They can't close. It's my favorite restaurant," said Jim Gelardin, a moviemaker who helped get the renovated Cleveland icon into the 1997 film "Telling Lies in America."

"What a loss to midtown," said Mary R. Gygli, communications representative for the American Red Cross office nearby. "What a loss to all of Cleveland if it stays closed."

Helman declined to discuss the diner's future. She said customers were fewer recently, and they spent less.

"I was trying to give the best quality for an average price, and it didn't work," she said. "How long should I wait for the downtown economy to turn around?"

The outwardly genial Moe shocked Cleveland when he committed suicide in 2002.

"It just wasn't the same," said Helman. "You always need a buffer, and he was definitely my buffer."

She is considering a cooking job at a restaurant to be announced.

Originally published online here: http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living/1136626747227560.xml?lfnew&coll=2