Cathy Salustri
The Breeze Waterfront Cafe is back.
Two months after announcing its permanent closure to the chagrin of loyal local customers, owners of the restaurant on Shore Boulevard announced on Facebook that it would reopen the day after Thanksgiving.
“We open at 9 a.m.,” they posted on their Facebook page the morning of Nov. 25, along with a photo of a plate of food. “Special today bratwurst skillet with home fries. Hope to see you soon.”
Amid the numerous comments about the reopening, the owners addressed the obvious question of how they were able to do so after previously saying they could not afford to resolve issues raised by city building officials.
“We found a solution with the city of Gulfport to go with the code and we got our restaurant license back,” they stated.
According to Gulfport Community Development Director Fred Metcalf, that solution was simply a return to the status quo.
“They just went back to the way they were doing it before,” said Metcalf, referring to the cafe’s outdoor dining and B&B-type service.
It was a desire to expand and include indoor dining that led to the initial roadblocks. During a September meeting with the city’s Site Plan Review Committee, when the owners learned that it would cost a considerable amount of money to bring the building up to code for such a use, the largest of which was the installation of a new water line at their own expense. At the time, that was a mountain too high to climb.
“We are very sorry to announce that The Breeze Waterfront Cafe will be permanently closed,” the owners posted Sept. 16 on their Facebook page. “We decided that we cannot proceed with the costly investments as a small family-owned business.”
Now they are back in business.
