Bar Tab: Bimini Bar and Grill is Osprey’s new nautical respite

Fish and chips, mahi-mahi, salmon, scallops St. Jacque and “Cabbage Key-style” key lime pie are among the menu items.

Upstairs, in a nondescript building off Blackburn Point Road, is a new, nautical haunt known as Bimini Bar and Grill.

I unearthed it last week, and upon arrival, met two bar regulars who volunteered on-the-spot raves. Pat and Larry – walking advertisements for Bimini, which has only been open since mid-July – gave me the culinary lowdown as bar manager Logan Kuntz took my Casey Key Cosmo drink order.

“Everything here is good, I promise,” Larry says, adding that he and Pat live in the Osprey neighborhood and are already hooked on the mahi-mahi, salmon, scallops St. Jacque and “Cabbage Key-style” key lime pie. “This is the only place we go anymore, and we’re here at least two nights a week.”

In the span of six months, Pat and Larry have devoured every item on the menu except for the fish and chips, which I chose. While dousing the crispy catch with malt vinegar (not because it needed it, but because you can never have enough malt vinegar), I flipped through the cocktail menu.

As to be expected, Bimini gets tropical with its mixed blends, from my Cosmo with Stoli Ohranj Vodka, Licor 43, and fresh cranberry and lime juices; to the Key Lime Pie cocktail with SKYY Vodka and Bailey’s Irish Cream. There is also the Hemingway, the Bimini Twist Fizz, the Stress Reliever and the Bermuda Triangle – cute, naval and themed. Shock Top and Stella Artois are on draft, and microbrews like Hoegaarden, Pilsner Urquell and Redhook IPA are available, too.

“We’re hoping more people find us. We’re hidden and so many people just aren’t aware that we’re there,” says Stephanie Copeland, who co-owns the establishment with her husband, Pete. “This location used to be Aqua, and then it was closed for almost two years, so I think people forgot about the building. We want to remind them.”

Reasons to visit abound. First off, the chefs will clean, cook and serve any fish you catch for $12.95 if you pull up to Channel Marker 33 on Sarasota Bay, dock and meander inside. Second, you can marvel at the sunset while you eat in the top-deck restaurant area. Third, if it is raining outside, you can duck into the lower pub I chose. It is just intimate enough to feel like the cabin of my friend’s old sailboat, but not small enough to be stifling. There are 12 seats at the bar, some high-top tables, and a slew of ropes, hanging swordfish and other sea-specific baubles weaved into the décor.

Happy hour is from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and all day Sunday, with $2 drafts, $3 wines and $4 well drinks.

Karaoke with Valerie is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Regular hours are from 11 a.m. until about 9 or 10 p.m. Brunch starts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday with $2.95 mimosas and Bloody Marys.

“It’s a nice place for a daytrip,” Copeland says. “It’s a locals place where you can come as you are.”