Top Story - December: The Buccaneer to open at former Pattigeorge's property

On March 17, 1957, Herb Field opened The Buccaneer Inn on Longboat Key.

Until its closing in 2001 and eventual razing in 2005, the restaurant was a fixture on the island.

Now, The Gonzmart Family of Restaurants is bringing its expertise to Longboat Key while paying homage to The Buccaneer Inn.

The group announced Dec. 18 that it will be opening The Buccaneer in 2019 on the former Pattigeorge’s property.

“My parents’ favorite restaurant, besides the Columbia, was Herb Field’s The Buccaneer Inn on Longboat Key,” Richard Gonzmart, fourth generation president of the group said 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 Columbia Restaurant Group purchased the Pattigeorge’s property in June 2016, and in September, the group acquired the three-story Harbour Square office building on Longboat Key adjacent to the former Pattigeorge’s property.

As of December, the Harbor Square office building was not part of The Buccaneer plans. Michael Kilgore, the group’s chief marketing officer, said there are leases still in place for those using the building. For now, that property won’t be used for more than extra parking and boat slips for The Buccaneer customers.

“The boat slips will be a part [of it] because you could do something there and walk over, but as far as the restaurant itself, no. Maybe sometime in the future,” he said.

The former Pattigeorge’s building will be torn down and rebuilt. For more than the past year, Gonzmart has been working with architects on exterior and interior design possibilities. Gonzmart has collected “antiques and artifacts from the “golden age” of the buccaneers for use in the new restaurant,” the statement reads.

“The Buccaneer is based on not just any pirate,” Gonzmart said in the statement. “In my mind – and I know this is a romantic view – he was well off, possibly a noble, who rebelled and went to sea. He’s more a privateer, someone commissioned by countries like France and England to wreak havoc on Spanish shipping and trade. Some of them eventually were knighted for their services. Even the word ‘buccaneer’ comes from the French ‘boucan,’ a wooden frame that was used to smoke meat over a fire.”

The 113-year-old restaurant group owns and operates 13 Florida restaurants, one of which is the Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands Circle. The opening of The Buccaneer continues the group’s local focus.

“My dad opened a second Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands Circle in 1959,” Gonzmart said in the statement. “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.”

Although they plan to include some of The Buccaneer Inn’s menu items, this restaurant will have its own flavor. While it’s too early to say what will definitely be on the menu, Kilgore said it’s important people realize this is not a Columbia Restaurant, an assumption, he said, people make all the time when the Columbia Restaurant Group opens a new establishment.

Gonzmart and his team are working with executive chef Mark Boor, who was hired specifically for The Buccaneer, to form a menu, the statement said.

“This is a completely different concept, a completely different menu,” Kilgore said.

The Buccaneer’s address is the same as Pattigeorge’s 4120 Gulf of Mexico Drive. An opening date has not been released, but The Buccaneer is expected to open in 2019.