Seafood restaurant opens Monday in Sarasota's Rosemary District

A new seafood restaurant will open next week in Sarasota’s Rosemary District. Lefty’s Oyster & Seafood Bar will welcome diners to its Lemon Avenue location on Monday, Jan. 27.

The restaurant will offer a variety of seafood, with a marine cuisine board of rotating specialty oysters and fin fish. Oyster shooters, a Maine lobster roll and soft shell crab BLT are on the menu. Organic salads from Sarasota-based Blumenberry Farms and scratch-made chowders will also be available. An assortment of cocktails, domestic and local craft beer, bubbles and a selection of wines are on the menu as well.

Lefty’s Oyster & Seafood Bar is a creation of Watershed Hospitality Concepts, which operates three other local restaurants: Main Street’s Cask & Ale as well as Pie on Main and Siesta Key’s Blase Martini Bar + 3.14 Pi Pizza. The latest restaurant will deliver a new flavor to the restaurant’s portfolio.

"We are excited to introduce our innovative menu of coastal seafood in a vibrant and lively atmosphere,” Watershed Hospitality Concepts President Mike Quilleen said in a statement. “There’s nothing quite as refreshing as a freshly shucked, briny gem from the sea. The flavor is determined by the water they come from, just as our connection to our coast shapes our lives and, in turn, Lefty’s menu.”

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More than 100 employees are part of Watershed Hospitality Concepts across its four restaurants, according to a statement, which says the company plans to provide more than just jobs for the community.

“Lefty’s will create new hospitality positions, and we will continue with our long-established culture of giving back to support our community through philanthropic efforts," Quillen said in a statement.

Quillen, who co-founded Gecko’s Hospitality Group, partnered with Chip White, David Sessions and John LaCivita in founding Watershed Hospitality Concepts in 2019.

Lefty’s is named for the three-legged rescue dog adopted by White, and her likeness is depicted on its logo. The owners of the new restaurant say dogs are welcome to join guests on the covered patio, which features TVs, picnic tables and ambient fire pits.

The new restaurant is at the location previously occupied by Mandeville Beer Garden, which closed more than two years ago. In July 2022, Mandeville LLC sold the building for $3 million to 428 N. Lemon LLC, which is associated with the partners in Watershed Hospitality Concepts.

This article originally appeared on sister site BusinessObserverFL.com.