Iconic waterfront restaurant to reopen on Captiva year after Hurricane Ian: What we know

Captiva Island will get one of its iconic waterfront restaurants back almost a year after Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida.

The Green Flash will reopen Sept. 22, according to Tim McGowan, who owns the popular restaurant with his wife Julie.

“The employees, my wife and I are so excited,” he said. “It’s been a long time and we can’t wait to be back.”

The history of the restaurant goes back to 1994 when Andreas Biery built it on the former Timmy’s Nook site. In 1950, T.M. Wiles opened his “Nook,” which was a popular watering hole on the island for more than 40 years. The McGowans bought the restaurant on Jan. 1, 2021.

The timing of their reopening couldn’t be better. Sept. 22 coincides with the start of the highly anticipated Island Hopper Songwriter Fest, allowing the Green Flash to be a host spot for the third consecutive year.

“It just kind of fell into place,” Tim McGowan said. “It’s an awesome event and a lot of fun. It will be interesting to see what this year brings. We felt like the momentum of the weekend would be a great restarting point.”

Docks, building refreshed and ready to go

The Green Flash will certainly be ready to welcome festival goers and the community back.

“Everything is kind of back to how it was before Ian,” he said. “We took on about four feet of water on the ground floor. Fortunately, there was no structural damage. We lost tables, chairs, storage stuff, and the roof due to the wind. With no power for about 50 days and negotiations with the insurance companies taking some time, repairs were slow to start but ramped up over the past month.”

McGowan said he has taken the time to do some updating.

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This includes rearranging the line in the kitchen to make things more efficient, adding new equipment, repainting and putting new carpet in.

“It looks almost identical to how it did before,” McGowan said.

Menu and staff stay pretty much the same

The menu will be tweaked oh so slightly, but, “We haven’t really gotten to that yet.”

Customers can expect the same seafood-heavy, fine-dining, European-influenced menu with plenty of appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and desserts to choose from.

Seating is available at dockside tables or inside overlooking Roosevelt Channel and Pine Island Sound.

“Our docks will be open,” McGowan said. “It is absolutely a great day boating destination.”

Most of the staff from The Green Flash has been working at Rosalita’s Cantina, a Mexican restaurant McGowan opened March 1 with his brothers.

“Eighty percent of the staff at Rosalita’s can jump right in when we open,” he said.

More improvements coming to The Green Flash

While the restaurant looks the same as it did before that may not be the case in the near future.

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“We are looking to expand our docks and add an outdoor covered patio in the front of the building,” he said. “We’ve received great support from the community. We are still going through the approval process from the county but are hoping to make those improvements next fall or the fall after that.”

Fate of The Sandbar still up in the air

The McGowans also own The Sandbar restaurant on Sanibel, which they bought in April 2022.

“In the first drone pictures we saw after the hurricane, The Sandbar was still standing so we had some hope,” he said. “After we got there, we observed the floor has been pushed up to the ceiling and there was absolutely no saving it.”

The building was demolished.

“We are looking at what is required and what the options are to rebuild,” McGowan added. “Dec. 15 is kind of the do-or-die date to pull the permit to rebuild what was there. We’ve engaged with an architect and are looking at the cost of construction. If the numbers work, we will do something. If they don’t work, we will have to consider something other than a restaurant.”

In the meantime, they are eagerly awaiting the reopening of their beloved Green Flash.

“We’ve been on island in Captiva for about three straight weeks,” McGowan said. “We are beginning to see signs of normalcy more and more each day. The energy is returning to the island and we are so happy to be part of it.”

The Green Flash, 15183 Captiva Drive, Captiva; reopening Sept. 22 at 11 a.m.; greenflashcaptiva.com; follow on Facebook and Instagram

Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Green Flash will reopen on Captiva year after Hurricane Ian