Keylime Bistro receives award for excellence, third year in a row
For the third year in a row, Captiva’s Keylime Bistro has received the Award of Excellence 2009 from Wine Spectator magazine, one of America’s most popular wine publications.
Adding to the prestige of the honor is the fact that the Keylime Bistro is the only restaurant on Sanibel and Captiva islands to be the recipient of such an award, and, perhaps more impressively, one of only two recipients in the entirety of Lee County.
So what makes the Keylime Bistro’s wine selection worthy of national publication and praise?
According to restaurant owner Sandy Stilwell and manager Russ Boorman, it’s the variety of selection and price that make the Keylime Bistro an award-winning wine spot.
After taking the Award for Excellence in 2007 and 2008, Stilwell says she was hoping for a third award.
“We have a very respectable list [with] four pages of wines. Our most reasonable wine is $6 and our most expensive wine is $690,” Stilwell said.
“The idea is that a lot of people come to the island and want that real casual feel to a restaurant – but some people are very serious about their wine. We want them to know that they’re able to come here and see that we also take our wine very seriously,” she continued.
“We also know that, with our demographics, not everybody cares. They’re fine with the house wine and wouldn’t see the value of spending $100 on a bottle of wine at all. There are so many different people. But of course, we love it when someone buys a $600 bottle of wine,” Stilwell laughed.
Stilwell says that she’s grateful for such a wonderful staff, including Keylime Bistro general manager Russ Boorman and assistant manager Regina Thompson, the folks in charge of handling wine storage, inventory and purchasing.
“It’s nice to be able to provide people with a wide variety of good wine – from the people who want to spend some money on it, to the people who just like what they like. Everybody has different tastes,” Boorman said.
The Keylime Bistro is located at 11509 Andy Rosse Lane and is open from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
For more information about the Keylime Bistro and their award winning list of wines, call 395-4000.