| The smells of fresh wood and
new furniture will mingle with aromas from the kitchen when
Rumrunners begins serving the public tonight.
The restaurant at the spacious Cape Harbour development will
start serving dinner between 5 and 9 p.m. Next week, the hours
will expand from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. to include lunch.
Rumrunners developers hope their presence will usher in a
burgeoning social scene in southwest Cape Coral. The restaurant
also figures to attract customers from other parts of Lee
County looking for another way of enjoying waterfront dining.
“It has to cater to Cape Coral, not just Cape Habour,”
said Todd Johnson, co-owner of the restaurant.
Cape Harbour developer Will Stout plans to eventually have
retail shops and smaller eateries that will be part of the
city’s first waterfront entertainment district.
Although Rumrunners, which seats 300, is located in a development
that contains multimillion dollar homes, the restaurant and
surrounding marina area will remain open to the public.
Owners Jeff Gately and Johnson are the same team that opened
Bistro 41 in Fort Myers in 1997.
The duo sold that restaurant in February. Since then, they’ve
taken time off, planning this next venture.
“At first we didn’t look at Cape Coral because
there’s so much business in Fort Myers and Naples. But
we decided to come here when we saw what was happening, not
just in Cape Harbour, but the Cape in general,” Gately
said.
Cape Coral is the ninth fastest-growing city in the nation.
About 9,000 people moved into Cape Coral last year. The city’s
population is 124,000. But the city lacks restaurants that
offer a water view.
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Ebullient employees in training
at Rumrunners say they’ve come in on the ground floor
of something big.
“Cape Coral is ready to explode, and this is what we
need here,” said Stacey Murdock, the head bartender
at Rumrunners.
The food pricing is meant to attract diners who may not have
a lot to spend on a meal.
Steak AuPoivre, the most expensive entrée, cost $18.95.
A grilled chicken breast sandwich cost $7.95. Pasta dishes
can be cut into half orders.
There is a glass wall along the back of the restaurant that
looks out at the water inlet and protected mangroves across
the channel. Diners also can eat and take in the view alfresco
on the wood decks along the water.
The water leads to Glover Bight and, farther out, to the Gulf
itself. Boaters who come to
Rumrunners will have free parking at the Cape Harbour marina.
Just days before opening, dozens of employees stood before
computers learning how to put in orders. Gately stepped outside
to the deck under a sun-drenched clear blue sky.
He pulled out a Swiss Army knife and cut a store tag off the
bottom of the chair he was about to sit in.
“We’re like Minnie Pearl here,” Gately joked.
He was joined a minute later by his friend and business partner,
Johnson.
The two have put in many stress-filled hours in the past two
weeks. For a few minutes, they sat on the deck, took in the
fresh air and laughed about it all.
“It’s really comfortable. We wanted this place
to be extremely casual, but elegant at the same time,”
Gately said.
Johnson finishes the thought: “You almost feel like
you’re on vacation when you come in here.”
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