In the Know: More Naples restaurants close in June

A few more Naples restaurants closed in June.

Greek Gourmet closed Friday in East Naples, Pate’s Island Club and Under the Shady Palm Pub recently were shuttered in Naples, and I Burnt Mine Barbeque is closing soon on the East Trail. 

Earlier this month Public House suddenly closed at Creekside Corners in North Naples. The adjacent Bone Hook Brewery will be expanding into that anchor space and adding a food menu through a partnership from the Phelan Family Brands local restaurant group.

A Taste of Jersey Italian Deli closed June 21 after a three-year run in Naples. Another restaurant is planned for that retail strip on the corner of Creech Road and U.S. 41.

Greek Gourmet

Greek Gourmet permanently closed Friday after operating nearly 15 years in the Naples area.

While it was a sad moment for the local family to turn off the lights at their casual Mediterranean-style restaurant on Airport-Pulling Road in East Naples, it also was a time for celebration. Not only did they serve more than an estimated half-million pita wraps over the years, but the family’s past prosperity paves the way for their future successes.

“We originally opened this restaurant for our five children to eat authentic Greek food and learn some work ethic along the way. Little did we anticipate the great success and popularity in the community for our family recipes,” said Dr. Athina Kyritsis, who launched Greek Gourmet with her then-husband, Dr. Zannos Grekos. “With our youngest going off to college, it is time to start new adventures. The whole family is entering different realms including law, medicine, business administration and engineering.”

When they realized their dream to open their first Greek Gourmet in fall 2004 where Dunkin’ Donuts now sits on U.S. 41 in downtown Naples, Kyritsis was a pediatrician and Grekos was a cardiologist, and they both worked across the street at NCH Baker Hospital Downtown. Their youngest child was a preschooler then.

The next spring they launched a second Greek Gourmet in Bonita Springs, but that spot closed years ago. They relocated the original location to East Naples four years ago.

Although the last restaurant has closed, the big, fun Greek family has not served its last popular Greek salad, gyros, moussaka or baklava.

“The Greek Gourmet will continue to provide private catering, food shows and school function services. We can’t just stop cooking,” Kyritsis said.

While she has had a pediatric practice, Kyritsis plans to use her medical skills to help people with chronic illnesses. She’s diving into the new medical marijuana field at Green Palms Health and Wellness, which opened its first medical cannabis wellness clinic in Naples on April 20.

“I’m going to be the prescribing doctor,” Kyritsis said.

Meanwhile, expect another eatery to carry on the longtime dining tradition at Greek Gourmet’s recently vacated location, although a name and concept are not available yet.

“There’s another restaurant coming soon,” a representative for the property owner said Friday.

Before Greek Gourmet relocated, La Bamba Mexican Restaurant operated there for a decade. Before that, The Crazy Flamingo restaurant and bar served seafood and more for many years in that small building on the west side of Airport-Pulling between Davis Boulevard and U.S. 41 East.

Under the Shady Palm Pub

After a 10-season run in the heart of Naples, Under the Shady Palm Pub quietly closed in late June.

Before the pub opened in November 2008, that not-so-shady spot across from NCH at U.S. 41 and Second Avenue North saw a lot of local restaurants come and go in the last 50 years. Old-timers may recall it as a Dog n Suds drive-in with car hops, but it later was Mickey's Pizza and Spaghetti House, Pete & Danny's, The Golf Coast Grille, Le Caffe des Artistes, Le Riviera, Flambo and Wahoo’s Bar & Grill.

The string of restaurants at 210 U.S. 41 N. won’t be broken, and it won’t stay vacant for long. Ted Rosensweig, the Philadelphia native and Naples resident who opened Chatterbox in January on Bonita Beach Road, plans to launch his second location for the casual restaurant and bar.

“Looking to open around August 1st,” Rosensweig emailed. “Lots of work to do here to get her into shape.”

The second Chatterbox will serve the same menu of all-American food — burgers, barbecue, cheesesteaks and pizza — with the addition of some seafood items such as ceviche, shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, fish and chips, and a fish sandwich, Rosensweig said. The new Chatterbox also will have a full bar with a stage for live music.

Pate’s Island Club

Seasonal reality took its toll on another Pate restaurant in Naples.

“We have decided not to struggle through the summer months this year at Pate’s Island Club and have unfortunately closed our doors as of Monday night,” reads last week’s post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “The restaurant business in Naples is not what it used to be, there are so many restaurants and just not enough people in the summer to support them all. We will miss all our loyal patrons who we would rather call our friends. The new owner of the restaurant is a well-known restaurateur in Naples and Marco Island and we wish him the best. We are always looking for new adventures in the dining industry and you very well may see us in a new location in the future, so keep an eye out for us and we’ll keep you posted!”

With that, the Pates packed up another restaurant — something that has become too common for the Naples family of restaurateurs for nearly 50 years.

The local legacy started in fall 1969, when Cape Cod restaurateur Cloyde Pate, now 93, wintered in Naples and opened Marker 4, where The Boathouse on Naples Bay is today. The following string of restaurants between Piccadilly Pub and Pate’s Island Club has included Cloyde's Prime Steak & Seafood House, Pate's Steakhouse, Pate's House of Prime Rib and many others.

Cloyde’s son, Stanly, who opened Pate’s Island Club in March 2016 with his wife, Julie, remembers when there were only three restaurants in Naples and they had three-hour waits.

“The restaurant business is not the same,” he said. “The competition is just fierce. It’s so very hard. It’s not like it was. It’s a whole different ballgame. The whole complexion of the restaurant business has changed.”

But don’t count the Pates out yet. They are taking the summer off, but they are not leaving town nor the grueling restaurant business.

“I’m not ready to go sit on the couch yet with the remote,” Stanly Pate said. “I obviously would have to find another location. My hopes would be that we would get back in business by season. We hope to be back by then.”

Even after they find another space to launch a new restaurant, Julie Pate will continue operating the couple’s In the Pink ice cream boat to provide cool treats for boaters and beachgoers at Keewaydin Island and along the coastal waterway between Naples and Marco Island.

“She’s always been a beach person, a water person, a boater. She’s very happy. She loves it, and it turned out to be quite successful,” Stanly Pate said. “She’s the ice cream lady. The kids love her.”

Following in his father’s footsteps, Stanly Pate hopes to locate another local spot for “affordable dining in a great atmosphere.”

“She’ll be down there. I’ll be scouting round to see what I can dig up,” he said.

Although the Pates' recently vacated space didn’t work out for them, new owners plan a more casual concept for that tropical oasis tucked away on a poolside island in the center of Park Shore Resort. That space off Neapolitan Way had been the Island Club and Island Pub for 30 years.

The new owners, Jerry Alajajian and his sweetheart, Dayle Westover, also took ownership of 7th Avenue Social in Naples in May. They have owned and operated the Island Gypsy Café & Marina Bar since October 2011 in Isles of Capri.

Alajajian, a Boston native who has called the Naples area home for 28 years, was the original general manager of Tommy Bahama’s restaurant and bar in Naples — the first location for the chain. Alajajian stayed with the company for nearly 10 years, launching other locations of the tropical cafes from Maui to West Palm Beach.

He left to launch Handsome Harry’s Third Street Bistro in early 2006 where The Continental is today in downtown Naples, nearly across the street from Tommy Bahama’s.

“I named it after my father. He was Harry. I threw in the Handsome part because it sounded good,” he joked.

Before October, Alajajian plans to transform the hidden gem at Park Shore Resort into his second Island Gypsy Café with a menu of predominantly seafood dishes.

“Some people have nothing to do. I’m not one of them,” he joked.

I Burnt Mine Barbeque

Burnt ends? Yep. This is the last week for I BurntMine Barbeque in East Naples.

“All good things must come to an end, and so it is for I Burnt Mine BBQ,” owner and pitmaster Dave Higgins posted Tuesday on his local restaurant’s Facebook page. “We've loved serving you Naples and SW Florida for the last 2-1/2 years, but we need to hang up our oven mitts. We'll be closing after next Friday, July 6th, but we wanted to give all of our fans one (or two or three) last chances to come in for the best BBQ in Naples. We'll be open normal hours through July 6th, and *will* be open the 4th of July. So, stop in, say goodbye, and feast on some authentic, slow-smoked BBQ. Thanks to everyone who has eaten with us the last couple of years. We'll miss you!”

Higgins graciously is giving patrons a chance to use their coupons, Groupons and gift certificates before it’s too late.

“If you purchased gift certificates and can't use them, please contact us for a full refund,” he said.

Higgins knows a thing or two about good barbecue. Long before he and his wife, Monica, moved to Naples in 2007, they entered barbecue competitions in their native Kansas City every year since 1988. Right out of the gate, their team won first place in the barbecue mecca's miscellaneous category, and Dave Higgins was hooked.

After sampling his award-winning entries, Higgins' friends in Naples encouraged him to launch a local barbecue restaurant. The winning team's funny name — I Burnt Mine — seemed like a good place to start with its IBM abbreviation a wink and a nod to Higgins’ previous career in the IT industry. The name worked in barbecue competitions for 30 years, so why mess with success?

When launched in February 2016, I Burnt Mine’s lunch and dinner menus introduced Neapolitans to burnt ends — a traditional Kansas City barbecue delicacy cut from the flavorful, charred points of extra-smoky brisket. The eatery also uses live oak to slow-smoke pulled pork, chicken and baby back ribs.

Higgins doesn’t have concrete plans for the future yet. After he gets back up to speed after a knee replacement in a couple of weeks, he hopes to make a decision this fall. 

“I’m looking into different options, all of which will be depending on finding funding partners,” he said. “We may continue to use our current location but shift to a catering-only model, or we might choose to be open on a more limited basis — such as weekends only — for carryout orders of our meats. We just haven’t been able to generate the volume of business at our current location to justify continuing on as we have.” 

As a farewell gesture and an opportunity to cleanse palates between barbecue bites during the hot holiday week, the eatery has a dine-in special on adult beverages.

“One week until we close and we're closing out our beer,” Higgins posted Friday on Facebook. “Stop by any time between now and next Friday and get our beer and wine for half off.”

I Burnt Mine Barbeque, 3802 U.S. 41 E., is in the Sherwin-Williams plaza across from Naples Towne Centre South retail center. The restaurant is closed Mondays but will be open 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, while supplies last. For information call 239-234-5260 or go to www.iburntmine.com.

The annual “Halftime Report,” a recap of the local restaurants that opened or closed in the first half of 2018, will be in Wednesday's In the Know column.

Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com. Tim Aten’s "In the Know" is published every Monday and Wednesday. Follow In the Know on Facebook now at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.