Published: Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2008

Updated: Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2008

Mattison's Longboat Key restaurant will not reopen

Chef Paul Mattison has closed Mattison's Steakhouse at the Plaza on Longboat Key, but he says his remaining three restaurants will stay open.

The restaurant closed in July with plans to reopen in the fall, but instead the business moved out Sept. 1. Mattison moved his growing catering operation to Mattison's Forty-One Restaurant and Catering in Sarasota. He said a new restaurant will be moving into the Longboat Key building.

"We will focus on this downtown (Sarasota) and Bradenton, and off the islands," Mattison said Tuesday. "As the catering operation grew, we were doing so much volume, we needed more space."

Many of Mattison's 20-some employees moved to the catering operation or to his other restaurants but some did leave, said Jennifer Ahearn-Koch, the company's marketing and public relations director.

Mattison's Culinary Outfitters, a custom kitchen boutique nearby, remains open.

Mattison said the economic downturn was not a significant factor in the closing.

"The economy? It hasn't really affected us," he said. Mattison said his business experienced a brief pause in January and February but by spring and summer, it had bounced back "very strong."

"Bookings for the upcoming next year - we've booked a lot of weddings, special events," he added.

In recent weeks, other restaurant operators have closed their establishments, citing the poor economy. Shells Seafood Restaurants Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and abruptly closed its Holmes Beach location and seven others across the state.

Mattison also owns Mattison's Riverside, 1200 First Ave. W., Bradenton and Mattison's City Grille, 1 N. Lemon Ave., Sarasota.

For three years, Mattison had a temporary arrangement to manage Mattison's Siesta Grille, 1256 Old Stickney Point Road, Siesta Key, but the arrangement ended in November, the chef said.

The restaurant was renamed Clayton's Siesta Grille and is operated by Clayton Thompson, its owner-operator.

Thompson said resort-area restaurants have problems with a steady clientele.

"It's (Mattison's) a great restaurant but just like mine, it's so darn cyclical out on the keys. It's very difficult to make a big place like that work when you don't have enough traffic on the off-season."