That's Amore

W. Howard Rooks has waited more than six years for this moment: At 5 p.m. Nov. 13, the building at 555 Bay Isles Parkway will open to its first customers since 2008, when Paul Mattison closed his Longboat Key restaurant, Mattison’s Steakhouse at the Plaza.

Rooks and chef/partner Andrea Bozzolo will open Amore by Andrea, a contemporary Italian restaurant.

“After six years of vacancy, I’m thrilled,” Rooks said.

Bozzolo is the owner of Andrea’s The Art of Food & Wine on Siesta Drive in Sarasota, which he will continue to own and operate. A native of Pallanza in Piedmont, Italy, Bozzolo moved in 2003 to Siesta Key after vacationing there one year earlier.

Amore by Andrea will serve contemporary Italian cuisine using a combination of local, organic produce and meat and ingredients imported from Italy.

“We use local fisheries and all organic vegetables,” Bozzolo said. “We make our own pasta and breads, using flour imported from Italy.”

Rooks knew of Bozzolo because he frequented Divino in Sarasota, which Bozzolo founded, and began talking with him about a new restaurant venture about a year and a half ago, after a neighbor introduced them.

Rooks, a Lido Beach resident and real estate investor who has owned restaurants in Virginia and Florida, including the former Cork Restaurant on St. Armands Circle, said it was difficult to find a new restaurateur during the recent economic downturn.

“The economy was just terrible, and no one had that kind of money that they wanted to risk,” Rooks said.

Over the past two years, Rooks has made significant renovations to the building that’s modeled after the Plaza Hotel in New York, although he declined to say how much he invested in the building.

He tripled the size of its bar, installed a new electrical system plus new carpeting and landscaping and added new artwork to the restaurant’s collection. He also received a special exception for outdoor dining from the town, allowing him to add 50 seats in a 1,600-square-foot outdoor patio to the restaurant’s existing 210 seats indoors.

With the combined 260 indoor and outdoor seats now permitted at the restaurant, plus the building’s more than 6,200 square feet of indoor space, diners will not be the only ingredient to the restaurant’s success.

“We’re going to do special events, rehearsal dinners, birthday dinners, anniversary parties, divorce parties,” said Rooks, who said the restaurant has been promoting its availability for special events this season because many other facilities are already booked.

On Longboat Key, where the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort has been closed for more than four years, and the former Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort is closed for renovations until next year, the restaurant could fill a void by providing scarce gathering space.

Rooks said hosting events will be especially important to the restaurant during off-season.

The building is one of the rare barrier island structures that has a basement, which could be used for smaller events, such as wine tastings.

Although the building is located on Bay Isles Parkway, and is not visible from the island’s main thoroughfare, Gulf of Mexico Drive, Rooks believes the restaurant will have more visibility than it had in the Mattison’s days. That’s because he sold the adjacent Town Plaza II to Lakeland-based Publix Supermarkets Inc., which tore down the structure for extra parking.

“It’s not a bad location,” Rooks said. “We are very, very visible from the Publix parking lot, which is loaded during season.”

The restaurant will initially serve dinner from 4:30 to 10 p.m. but could expand to offer lunch and Sunday brunch.

But the restaurant will cater to a variety of customers — including some that have four legs.

With its new outdoor dining space, Amore by Andrea will test a “yappy hour,” creating a possible new canine customer base.

Amore by Andrea
Partners: W. Howard Rooks and Andrea Bozzolo

Opens: 5 p.m. Nov. 13

Regular hours: 4:30 to 10 p.m. seven days a week

Location: 555 Bay Isles Parkway

Phone: 383-0101