Bayfront Bistro receives two awards
Bayfront Bistro at 4761 Estero Blvd. (behind Publix Supermarket) is the recent recipient of two prestigious awards -one for its wine selection and another for its community service.
The bistro, located at Snook Bight Yacht Club & Marina, was chosen as the National Restaurant Association’s 2010 Neighbor Award which is given to restaurants throughout the country for outstanding community service activities each year. It also received the Award of Excellence by The Wine Spectator Magazine, a world-wide renown publication. Earlier this year, the waterfront restaurant captured the Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s award of excellence.
Regarding The Wine Spectator Magazine honor, Bayfront Bistro was among five award holders in Lee County to be honored for the esteemed Award of Excellence. It was the only restaurant chosen in the Fort Myers/Fort Myers Beach area with one recipient from Captiva and three from the Estero/Bonita Springs area.
“Along with the Wine Enthusiast Award of Distinction received in January, these two very influential organizations have recognized our wine list for its depth, creativity, accuracy and menu-pairing excellence,” said Bayfront Bistro’s Joe Yerkes. “We are very proud of these awards, as we are of the wine list and our unique policy of pricing all of our wines at a level far below all of our competitors. You don’t need a bank loan to enjoy a great Cabernet here.”
According to the magazine’s average user rating, Bayfront Bistro received five out of five stars.
Regarding the Neighbor Award, the waterfront restaurant was selected within the past two weeks to be among approximately 100 winners from around the country which will now go on to compete for one of four national awards. It is the first restaurant on the West Coast of Florida to win this distinction.
“The National Restaurant Association Neighbor Award is obviously one we are so proud to be competing for and, as the Florida winner, we are very excited,” said Yerkes. “We won this award basically for our efforts for our Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer program which generated over $75,000 in donations in 2009 and this year to date. It also included our donations to the Southwest Florida Wine Festival auction, which generated over $40,000 for children’s hospitals, and for our contributions to the Beach school and Bay Oaks operations. All of that combined is what brought us to the forefront of the Neighbor Award.”
The National Restaurant Association and founding partner American Express developed the Restaurant Neighbor Award to raise awareness about the restaurant industry’s contributions in local communities across the country and to inspire other restaurant operators and owners to make even greater contributions in their communities.
“It’s an annual award that’s been given out since 1999 for outstanding community service efforts in philanthropy,” said National Restaurant Association media specialist Alyssa Prince. “Our state association partners select winners to represent their state and move on to the national awards.”
According to Prince, the national winners will be selected in another two weeks and will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. where they will be presented with the award and given $5,000 to support their favorite charity for philanthropy.