'End of an Era' for Moore's Stone Crab Restaurant

At 56, Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant co-owner Alan Moore has never filled out a job application or a W-2.

He and his brother, Paul Moore and Robert Hicks, whom the Moores consider their adopted brother, started in the family restaurant as dishwashers before climbing to their roles as co-owners.

“I was washing dished for 50 cents an hour with my brother when I was 8,” Alan Moore said. “We would leave the kitchen every day with a pocket full of quarters and spend it on candy.”

But after 48 years, Moore’s is no more.

The family sold the 48-year-old restaurant to Sarasota restaurateurs Mark Caragiulo and Tom Leonard for an undisclosed price. Caragiulo and Leonard own The Shore on St. Armands; Caragiulo is also involved in Owen’s Fish Camp and his family’s Caragiulos restaurant.

The restaurant will be closed for 10 months to a year until Caragiulo and Leonard open a new restaurant on the site that will be similar to The Shore on St. Armands Circle, which Caragiulo and Leonard own.

The deal closed July 7. That night, the family told staffers at the end of their shift that it was the restaurant’s final night of operations.

“The last night was bizarre,” Moore said, as he sipped a Miller Lite beer at the restaurant’s bar Thursday, while he and others worked to remove signature items, like the giant tarpon with a Jack Daniels bottle stuffed in its mouth and Tampa Bay Rays memorabilia dating back to when the team was known as the Devil Rays. “This is the only job I’ve ever had.”

On July 8, a single piece of paper posted to a bar stool blocked the entrance ramp with the news:

“Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant has closed. A new restaurant is coming soon! We would like to thank everyone for the years of loyalty and friendship.”

Family tradition

Whenever Alan Moore goes to the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Department, he sees evidence of how much the Key has changed in 47 years in the department’s file on the property. It contains the earliest drawings for the restaurant that his father, Pete, submitted.

“Everything my dad did was drawn on the back of a placemat,” Alan Moore said. “In the ’60s, that’s just how you did things.”

By contrast, Caragiulo said:

“We have a couple of months of poking around and seeing what we can do with the building as far as renovations are concerned before we decide what to do,” Caragiulo said. “As to what extent we will renovate or how much needs to be torn down and restored, we just don’t know yet.”

Alan Moore said he didn’t intend to sell the restaurant last summer when Caragiulo and Leonard approached him about purchasing the waterfront restaurant. They filed restaurant rezoning plans late last year with the Planning Zoning and Building Department in partnership with the Sarasota restaurateurs to prepare for the new restaurant.

But health concerns, coupled with a desire to spend more time with family caused them to reconsider.

“I called up Mark and Tom in March and said it’s time to sell,” Alan Moore said.

The stone crab family tradition goes back even further than the 47-year history of the restaurant for the Moore family.

Alan and Paul Moore’s grandfather, Jack Moore, lived in Cortez and harvested stone crabs to sell at retail markets in Manatee County. Their father, Pete, worked for the phone company, and their uncle, Hughey, was a U.S. Postal Service employee. They wanted to open a restaurant where they could relax, eat stone crabs and drink beer with friends. They considered the property that is now the Seafood Shack in Cortez but settled on Longboat Key due to its touristy feel.

Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant opened in November 1967, just across the street from the red-brick home the family had purchased one year earlier.

The first day of business, both Moores’ co-workers from the phone company and post office filled the counter and all 10 of its tables.

That year, Alan Moore and Paul Moore, ages 8 and 9, and Hicks, 12, began washing dishes.

As they became owners, they learned to stick to their own roles in the business.

“We learned early on we didn’t fight as much if Paul had complete control of the kitchen and I had control of the inside,” Alan Moore said. “That’s worked well for years.”

The business brought more than a few memorable customers.

Alan Moore has witnessed countless clumsy boat-parking attempts from the restaurant that was a popular mooring spot.

“I always use the analogy, I could go buy an airplane tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean I can fly,” he said.

Paul Moore reminded him Thursday of what they call the “redneck wedding” from about a decade ago, when the well-to-do father of the bride asked Alan Moore where the tallest bridge was.

The reason for his despair: the groom, who had a Mohawk with the words “This space for rent” tattooed on one side of his friend. The wedding reception ended with a brawl between the groom and his father-in-law; an annulment followed three days later.

As he discussed his customers Thursday, Robert Walesby, of Land O’ Lakes, docked his boat before seeing the closure sign.

“It’s good to know there’s so many good memories here for a lot of folks. It’s the end of an era.”

— Alan Moore

He waved to Moore and hollered from the dock:

“I’m gonna miss this place! I’ve been coming here since I was 12. I used to feed the dolphin here as a boy!”

Moore thanked him and waved before suggesting he keep his boat on the dock and head over to Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub next door.

“I get that a lot,” Moore said. “It’s good to know there’s so many good memories here for a lot of folks. It’s the end of an era.”

A new era

Alan Moore said he’s excited for the future of a restaurant spot where he was raised.

“They will do a fantastic job and I promised I’ll be here the day it re-opens,” Alan Moore said. “They have a vision that keeps the character of what we had here.”

The Moores and Hicks will not be involved with the new restaurant, although they will consult with Caragiulo and Leonard to help them incorporate stone crabs as a major feature of the new eatery.

Alan Moore said he plans to relax through the rest of the year before seeking another job.

“I don’t ever want to make another decision in my life,” Alan Moore said. “I just want to be hired, whether it’s in the restaurant business or not, and have people tell me what to do.”

But he admits it will be difficult not to jump in his white van for the rest of the summer and head south to Longboat Key from his Bradenton home.

“I’ve always had a job here working 55 to 60 hours a week my whole life but I’m ready to relax a bit,” Moore said. “It will be bizarre, though, not to show up here every day.”