Business Observer

+ Key restaurants reopen for start of the season

Longboaters have more on their plates this month as Key restaurants reopen for season.

• On Oct. 4, Euphemia Haye Restaurant and The Haye Loft, 5540 Gulf of Mexico Drive, and Harry’s Continental Kitchens restaurant and deli, 525 St. Judes Drive, reopened.

• Dry Dock Grill, 412 Gulf of Mexico Drive, is scheduled to reopen in early October after closing in August for renovations.

• Lazy Lobster of Longboat Key, 5350 Gulf of Mexico Drive, closed for lunch for the summer but resumed lunch Tuesday, Oct. 1.

• Last month, Café Don Giovanni, 5610 Gulf of Mexico Drive, and Ciao, Italia!, 5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive, reopened.

• Maison Blanche, 2605 Gulf of Mexico Drive, took a two-month hiatus earlier this summer but reopened Aug. 9.

• Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant, 800 Broadway, will be open for summer hours of 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and closed Monday through Wednesday, and will resume regular hours Oct. 15 — the start of stone-crab season.

+ The Peanut Shop opens on St. Armands Circle

The Peanut Shop of Sarasota recently opened at 27 N. Blvd. of the Presidents on St. Armands Circle.

The store sells handcooked Virginia peanuts and fine Southern specialty food. It also offers daily samplings.

For information, call 388-1236.

+ Longboater contributes to Sarasota Chalk Festival 

Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key member Jeff Mayper was so impressed with last year’s Sarasota Chalk Festival that he felt the need to contribute this year.

At the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key’s weekly breakfast meeting Sept. 19, Mayper presented a $1,500 check to Chalk Festival co-founder and Executive Director Denise Kowal. His contribution raised the total amount of money the Longboat Key chapter is giving the festival to $4,000. 

The money will go toward funding the children’s section of the event, which accounts for more than $10,000 of this year’s $1.4 million budget, to fund chalk for children who will draw near Five Points Park when the event begins Nov. 13 and runs through Nov. 18. Approximately 5,000 children from the area participate in the event, Kowal said.