South Beach is coming back! And if all goes well it could be soon, too

Bart DeStefano and Marco Meola, owners of South Beach Bar & Grille, have announced they will be coming back bigger and better than ever, maybe even in the next couple of months.

Of course, they won’t be at their original location on Gulf Boulevard, which quite literally exploded and burned to the ground during Hurricane Ian. Their goal is to rebuild there, but for now they are trying to work a deal with a downtown property owner to use a building that is just about ready to go.

“We are close to making a deal to opening another restaurant on the island,” DeStefano said. “We just wanted everyone to know we are alive, we are well, we are not a thing of the past … we are not dead.”

Meola and DeStefano sat together on a call with the Beacon to discuss the future of the popular restaurant. They said their plan is to have Chef Myriam Carvalho and Chef Osmar Orozimbo come back to serve their phenomenal food and to have many of the popular servers and staff back at the new location as well.

DeStefano and Meola said they would keep us in the loop as far as their progress at the new location and hoped it would be sooner than later that they would open.

They didn’t seem too fazed by the series of events that took place at the restaurant during the hurricane, taking it in stride that the nature of a beautiful Gulfside location comes with its ups and downs.

“You’re a target when you’re located on the beach in Southwest Florida,” DeStefano said. “We always realized that. During this whole process we have realized once again that we all are a benefit for each other on this island. We won’t let this beat us.”

It’s nice to get a piece of good news amidst the current state of the island and we will keep you up to date with any news we hear about the new location for South Beach.