Boat slip addition underway behind future Buccaneer Restaurant site

Pirates don’t drive Honda Accords or Teslas. They steer ships.

So, there's good news for the hook-handed looking for some grub off the Gulf coast: The Buccaneer Restaurant planned on Longboat Key will have parking for boats.

On July 30, contractors were seen at work on Sarasota Bay behind the vacant lot where the new Buccaneer Restaurant is planned. Jeff Houck, spokesperson for the 1905 Family of Restaurants behind the Buccaneer Restaurant concept, said eight new boat slips are being built and the boat slips behind the Harbour Square office building will be repaired as well.

“All of this dock work should provide room for about 16 boats,” Houck said.

The Buccaneer Restaurant will be a resurrection of a Longboat Key institution, the Buccaneer Inn, that operated from the 50s until 2001. The popular restaurant was acquired by Longboat Key founding father Herb Field in 1957 and was morphed into a popular resort for both visitors and locals. Guests were welcomed by a peg-legged pirate cosplayer for many years, and menu items were listed in doubloons.

The 1905 Family of Restaurants, which includes the Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands Circle, Cha Cha Coconuts and Ulele and Casa Santo Stefano in Tampa, purchased the former Pattigeorge’s Restaurant and neighboring Harbor Square office building in 2016. The company originally announced its plans to resurrect the Buccaneer in its place in 2017. It’s still in the works.

“We’re still in the design phase of the project,” Houck said. “There remains no timetable to complete the project.”