- December 27, 2024
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A longstanding restaurant on St. Armands Circle will reopen with a new name and fresh concept in 2025, offering dining from breakfast to dinner. What has been known for 50-plus years as French-inspired Café L’Europe will become The Café on St. Armands, a Mediterranean eatery with a coffee and to-go component, including alcohol delivery service.
Starting in January, The Café on St. Armands will serve Mediterranean dishes with a focus on small plates and seafood. Menu items will be inspired by French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, North African and Middle Eastern cuisine.
Going from the widely-known Cafe L’Europe, which suffered major storm damage this fall, to a new concept is something of a bold move in an industry like hospitality that values consistency and tradition.
But the shift will make the restaurant “more approachable,” according to Eleni Sokos, executive vice president of Oysters Rock Hospitality, which owns the eatery.
“The tourist population might not have been looking for a fine-dining, white tablecloth experience when they’re shopping on the circle or rolling off the beach," Sokos says.
The Café on St. Armands menu will be 75% shareable plates and 25% main dishes, according to Sokos. Her family’s Greek dressing will be featured, along with tzatziki, a Spanish octopus preparation, Moroccan fried chicken and crudos that are like Italian sashimi, she says, naming a few items.
"People might be able to try two or three items rather than one entree," Sokos says. "If we make a menu that's more approachable, they'll be more likely to try different things and keep coming back for a new experience every time." The menu will change seasonally, with flexibility based on customer preferences.
Outside, the facade will be updated to signal the change to a Mediterranean cafe. A bougainvillea and lemon wrap in pink, yellow and green will be installed with the help of a local artist, Sokos says, a move she hopes will attract attention from the street.
Inside, the restaurant is divided into four sections, Sokos says, and the new eatery will take advantage of the setup to offer different experiences based on the time of day.
A coffee bar called Café Soleil will offer specialty drinks, morning cocktails and grab-and-go items in one area. It will sell Tampa-based Buddy Brew Coffee, according to Sokos, in addition to breakfast.
A cocktail bar known as The Wet Bar will feature creative drinks and full menu access. Since the 16-seat bar can get full, Sokos says she’s bringing in some lounge furniture and low-slung couches as well as cocktail tables to add more capacity.
Also, because customers do not always want to commit to hours to dine, Sokos says the new concept will offer takeaway experiences.
The Café on St. Armands will provide to-go liquor sales, custom picnic baskets and third-party delivery services.
“There’s no liquor store on St. Armands or Lido,” Sokos says, so the business plans to use its liquor license to sell alcohol through services like DoorDash in the New Year.
The restaurant has been closed since the end of September due to damage from Hurricane Helene, which Sokos says has driven the recent changes.
“We lost the entire contents of the operation” from flooding, Sokos says.
“That’s something we can’t afford to go through again, and that’s where a lot of the shift comes from,” Sokos says. “We needed to change the business direction because we needed to be more resilient.”
The restaurant has a plan in place in the event of hurricanes, including possibly putting all equipment on wheels so it can be removed.
“We’ve committed to … trying to make the concept so successful that rebuilding and reopening is not a question,” Sokos says.
Cafe L’Europe opened in January 1973 and celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Entrepreneurs John and Amanda Horne purchased the eatery in 2022 and have since brought it under the umbrella of their company Oysters Rock Hospitality, which also owns the Anna Maria Oyster Bar restaurants.
According to Sokos, the company’s other businesses have revealed that post-storm operations may look a little different.
“What we’ve seen from Anna Maria Island and the Oyster Bar on the Pier is just because we’re open doesn’t mean we’re back to normal,” Sokos says, following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
At the Anna Maria Oyster Bar on the Pier in Bradenton Beach, Sokos says sales are down 40% this year since the storms.
“One of our bartenders said she made $12 on a shift” when she was used to making $200, says Sokos, adding: “That’s a reality we’re prepared for” and has in part driven efforts to diversify the business.
“We’re excited and grateful that we can reopen,” Sokos says. “I know a lot of others didn't have the choice, so we feel like we’re in such a lucky position.”
The Café on St. Armands will open at 431 St. Armands Circle in time for a “big celebration” of the restaurant’s 52nd anniversary, Sokos says, on Jan. 21, 2025.
