Business & Tech
Tarpon Pointe Grill Opens Friday on Waterfront
The new downtown restaurant on the Manatee River set to open Friday with live music, a limited food menu and full bar options.
Elle Kasier ‘s lifelong dream will be realized when the opens for the first day of business Friday on the Manatee River.
Kaiser, part-owner of the waterfront restaurant, 801 Riverside Dr. E., along with husband Richard, said she expects to be open for business around 4 p.m.
Tarpon Pointe Grill, located next to the Manatee Landing Marina just east of the DeSoto Bridge, features 600 feet of deep-water docking, a fire pit, flat screen televisions and live entertainment six days a week, including a Friday show by local jam band Kettle of Fish.
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There's also a 150-seat outdoor patio, an observation deck for 60 people and party deck for 40, tiki bars and, eventually, a volleyball court and cornhole setup.
“This was always our dream,” Kaiser said. "Because it's, 'Welcome to paradse.' "
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The restaurant was undergoing the final touches of construction Thursday afternoon. It will open with a limited food menu and full bar options before closing at 2 a.m.
Chef Brady Hendricks will over see the kitchen. Hendricks has won a James Beard award and three Bon Appetit awards.
“For me, I treat the food as love and light,” Brady said. “The food is alive, so you have to put positive energy into it. Because the food is alive, I don’t allow any negative energy in the kitchen because it transfers to the food.”
Brady said, for example, if a cook comes to work in a bad mood, he will politely send him or her home so the cook’s attitude does not reflect on the food quality.
“But I don’t ever yell at my employees,” he said.
Kaiser opened her first restaurant in Manhattan, and said she has 30 years of experience running restaurants and nightclubs in New York and Florida. In 1994, she opened the first Gecko’s restaurant in Sarasota. Kaiser added she and her husband have opened 65 restaurants, including Club Heart, Thirdy-Something, Dunkin’ Donuts and Checker’s in Bradenton.
For more information, including menus and an upcoming live music schedule, check out the Tarpon Pointe Grill website and Facebook page or call 941-932-7172.
