Blase Cafe & Martini Bar Completes Renovation

Online, May 3, 2012 (Newswire.com) - SIESTA KEY, FL -- An extensive remodeling is nearing completion at Blase Cafe & Martini Bar, an intimate dining and entertainment hot spot on Siesta Key, just steps from the beach named "America's Best Beach" in 2011.

The restaurant remodeling included repositioning of the bar, which was salvaged from the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Petersburg and was frequented by such famous characters F. Scott Fitzgerald, Al Capone, Lou Gehrig and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Additional tables were also brought in to create extra seating, and new decking and air-conditioning were installed.

"We started renovating in the fall and have been doing a little at a time," said managing partner Rami Nehme, who became a partner with founder Cindy Breslin after working there many years. Established in 1997, Blase Cafe is the only restaurant on Siesta Key offering a late-night dinner menu.

Born in Kuwait and raised in Jordan, Nehme is an unlikely restaurateur. A business graduate of Yarmouk University in Jordan, he traveled the world as an executive buyer for a Kuwait-based multinational corporation involved in retail, oil refineries, mobile phones and catering. While attending a trade show in Orlando, an associate took him to the Siesta Fiesta street fair on Siesta Key. "I immediately fell in love with the area," Nehme remembers.

When the war in neighboring Iraq motivated him to emigrate to the United States, "I did not think twice," he says. He lived one year on Virginia Beach, then headed south for Siesta Key.

"It was really sad to lose a home, but I'm happy to call Siesta Key my new home," he says.

Much like the island version of television's "Cheers," the casually elegant Blase Cafe is a home away from home for many islanders as well, many of whom Nehme greets by name as they wander in for happy hour or dinner. Completing the Blase Cafe family are "Rami's Angels," including Rachel Cromley, Jacki Long, Ashton Salter and Heather Servant, who are also well known by the regulars.

Founder Cindy Breslin also serves as the executive chef, working hand in hand with sous chef Jordan Niemeier to deliver the unique taste influenced by Breslin's 30 years of restaurant experience and her mother's original recipes.

Featuring the $5 happy hour martini and both indoor and outdoor seating, Blase Cafe is open 3 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, with live entertainment Wednesday through Sunday, featuring blues on "Blues Sunday."

In addition to the unique eclectic atmosphere, Blase Cafe offers an extensive appetizer menu that includes mouth-watering hamburgers and pork sliders for $5, and a dinner menu featuring fresh wild-caught fish.

You can mapquest Blase Cafe at 5263 Ocean Boulevard, Sarasota, FL 34242. Telephone: (941) 349-9822. Website: http://www.theblasecafe.com.

PHOTOS BY LINDA THOMAS