The Buccaneer Restaurant on Longboat Key will be the newest dining concept by The Gonzmart Family, which owns numerous Florida restaurants including Columbia Restaurant and Cha Cha Coconuts on St. Armands Circle.
LONGBOAT KEY — The owner of Florida's oldest restaurant has announced plans to unveil his newest dining concept on the site of the former PattiGeorge’s.
The Buccaneer is scheduled to open in 2019 where PattiGeorge’s Restaurant straddles the Sarasota-Manatee County line on Longboat Key.
It’s the latest venture for the the 113-year-old Gonzmart Family of Restaurants that owns and operates 13 Florida restaurants, including the Columbia Restaurant, Ulele, Goody Goody Burgers, Cha Cha Coconuts and Café Con Leche Ybor City. The original Columbia in Ybor City is Florida’s oldest restaurant and the St. Armands Circle location dates back to 1959.
The Buccaneer name pays homage to a former Longboat Key dining destination.
“My parents’ favorite restaurant, besides the Columbia, was Herb Field’s The Buccaneer Inn on Longboat Key,” said Richard Gonzmart, fourth generation “caretaker” of the family restaurant group, in a statement. “My goal and my dream is to make this new restaurant an architectural gem and to pay homage to some of that restaurant’s beloved menu items, such as oysters and prime rib, as well as to add distinctive touches.”
The new Buccaneer Restaurant site at 4120 Gulf of Mexico Drive had been home to the celebrated PattiGeorge’s for four decades before Gonzmart purchased it in 2016. Citing that it's in poor condition, the building will be torn down. Gonzmart said that for more than a year he has been working with architects on exterior and interior design ideas for the restaurant, which will still have boat slips. The interior will feature buccaneer antiques and artifacts Gonzmart has acquired on travels around the world.
The Gonzmart family has a long history with Sarasota County, especially St. Armands Circle where their Columbia and Cha Cha Coconuts restaurants are located.
“My dad opened a second Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands Circle in 1959,” Gonzmart said. “He loved Sarasota and Longboat Key and always told me if any opportunity came for a waterfront location that I should go for it. I already had many projects in the works when the PattiGeorge’s location was offered for sale. But I didn’t hesitate and we closed on the purchase very quickly.”
Executive Chef Mark Boor has been hired specifically for The Buccaneer, and is developing the menu with Gonzmart and his team. Gonzmart noted that Boor worked at the Trio Bistro in Cincinnati when it was named a Top 20 restaurant, at Fulton’s Crab House in Disney Springs, and was selected as one of the “Top 20 Chefs of Central Florida” by Restaurant Forum magazine.
Gonzmart does not have a specific opening date planned, yet.
“Here’s what I always say: We’ll open when we’re ready,” Gonzmart said. “That’s the beauty of a family-owned business.”