Cortez's popular Star Fish Company, a dockside fish shack that's also one of the area’s best restaurants, will reopen tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 31, at 11:30 a.m., after being closed for more than a month due to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Its next-door retail market will also open tomorrow, at 10 a.m. 

Both the restaurant and the market incurred damages due to Helene’s storm surge. Since then, owner Karen Bell and her team have been working to get everything back up and running.

“The first storm did almost all of the damage," Bell says. "Helene flooded the building, which had never flooded before since it sits 3 feet above the water." Then, she continues, one of AP Bell Fish Co.'s boats, The Alice, broke free and pummeled the lower dock, ruining it. "We think [the boat] might have protected the upper dock, though," Bell says.

Bell, 61, has owned Star Fish Company since 1996. The restaurant specializes in local seafood, like grouper and shrimp, prepared blackened, grilled or fried, and served at outdoor picnic tables overlooking the nearby bay. She also co-owns AP Bell Fish Co., a saltwater fish wholesaler in Cortez, which supplies Star Fish Company's market and restaurant with fresh catches.

“In 1996, I wanted to have a little dockside restaurant and Star Fish Company was in foreclosure,” she says. “I also wanted to be able to buy something without my dad having to co-sign for me. I thought it was the perfect place for a little seafood restaurant. The first two banks declined me. The third one got me an Small Business Association [SBA] loan. The SBA has always been so helpful and will likely help us with Star Fish Company and AP Bell Fish Bell Co. after these storms.”

In the midst of Star Fish Company’s closure, which began on Wednesday, Sept. 25, and will continue until tomorrow, Oct. 31, Bell and her crew have been passing out supplies to those in need.

“The employees wanted something to do,” she says. “I always pay hurricane and disaster pay, but their jobs became turning Star Fish Company into a distribution point for people who needed supplies. They sorted the items by food, hygiene, cleaning, cleaning tools and so on. We worked with the Anna Maria Island Community Center, distributing all sorts of things to people.”

She also laments the time lost in which local fishermen could have been stocking up on their catches.

“Even though we have our own boats, the weather ultimately controls our activity," Bell explains. "Two of our boats are coming in tonight to offload grouper, but the weather keeps breaking their trips. It hasn’t been cooperative this year."

Star Fish Company will reopen Oct. 31 with 12 of its original 18 picnic tables and all-new kitchen equipment (the old appliances were lost in Helene’s storm surge). The full menu will be available, as well as a special stone crab chowder. Bell anticipates it will be busy, thanks in large part to the community, which has reached out to offer help, donations and support.

“One of my favorite things about Star Fish Company is that the type of people who come here are genuine people,” she says. “This place is a community more than a restaurant. The people who really appreciate it are down to earth and like the simpler things in life: the beauty of the bay, docks and other people.”

Star Fish Company’s market will open Thursday, Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. and the restaurant will open at 11:30 a.m at 12306 46th Ave. W., Cortez. For more information, call (941) 794-1243 or click here.