The Blue Dog Bar and Grill reopens on Matlacha

The Blue Dog Bar and Grill on Matlacha has reopened after being damaged by two back-to-back Hurricanes.

The restaurant was ready to reopen two weeks ago, but then Milton came along, delaying the reopening until Tuesday.

If Hurricane Helene was Mother Nature’s left hook.

“Then Milton came. She gave us a punch in the gut, but I told her it was like, ‘If you’re gonna knock us out, you gotta do a lot better than that,'” said Jesse Tincher owner of the Blue Dog Bar and Grill.

The Blue Dog Bar and Grill knows a thing or two about resilience.

“We’re reopening for the fourth or fifth time. I think I’ve lost track of how many times after how many storms and other things going on,” said Tincher.

WINK News reporter Amy Galo first met Tincher after Hurricane Helene.

“There was a little over two feet of water, about two and a half feet,” said Tincher. “We lost all the refrigeration equipment.”

He quickly ordered new equipment and the place was ready to reopen until Mother Nature delivered that gut punch.

“I was telling everybody, it’s like, whoever made her mad, go apologize, like, right now, so she, like, just leave us alone for a little bit,” said Tincher.

Luckily, the Blue Dog was ready for Milton.

“We were able to save all of our equipment, refrigeration units, things like that. We put them up on cinder blocks, which I highly recommend,” said Tincher.

And after some cleaning, they’re now ready for you.

“I was out here all the time asking ‘When you’re going to reopen?’ and now it’s “If you’re going to reopen,’ but they continue to reopen, which is a great thing,” said Cape Coral resident Hal Bryan.