FAIRHOPE, Alabama — Local chef Pete Blohme, better known around the Eastern Shore as “Panini Pete,” is preparing to open a new restaurant called Sunset Pointe at Fly Creek Marina, taking over the space once occupied by the shuttered Fly Creek Cafe on North Section Street.
Council approves liquor license
The Fairhope City Council voted unanimously this week to approve a restaurant liquor license for the new venture. During the discussion, Councilman Mike Ford raised the site’s history of noise ordinance complaints and asked whether Blohme planned to bring live entertainment to the location. Blohme said no, telling the council with a laugh that he had tried to book high-profile acts for opening night but couldn’t land anyone loud enough to matter, before making clear his real plan is to keep the focus on food, hospitality and the marina’s water views rather than live music.
A location with a complicated past
The site carries some baggage from a contentious 2011 fight over the city’s noise ordinance, a dispute rooted in neighbors’ complaints about the previous restaurant at the location. That earlier business, Fly Creek Cafe, closed in October 2012 amid a bitter lease dispute. Stricter noise limits passed by the council at the time were vetoed by Mayor Tim Kant, leaving the current standard at 85 decibels during the day and 65 decibels after 10 p.m. — well above the roughly 50 decibels of a normal conversation. One council member floated the idea that live music could return to the marina if the noise ordinance is loosened in the future, a comment that visibly caught other council members, including Council President Jack Burrell, off guard.
A local chef with a national profile
Blohme has run the popular Panini Pete’s Cafe and Bakeshop in Fairhope’s French Quarter since 2006 and opened a second location in downtown Mobile in 2011. His food has drawn national attention through appearances on Food Network programs including “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with Guy Fieri. Blohme has also spent recent years traveling with a group of chefs who call themselves the “Messlords,” cooking for U.S. troops stationed at military bases in places like Japan, Djibouti and Guam.
A different kind of seafood menu
At Sunset Pointe, Blohme said he wants to steer away from the fried seafood already common throughout the area and instead lean on techniques and flavors he picked up cooking overseas. The menu is expected to include an oyster bar along with what he described as good quality, regionally inspired dishes, plus a solid drink selection. Renovation work on the marina building was underway as of early September, with Blohme targeting an early October opening and telling the council he wants the restaurant to make both his hometown and Fairhope proud.