Chef Reid Freeman and his wife Natasha have been laboring for six straight months, cleaning up damage to his family’s Smokin’ Oyster Brewery restaurant from Hurricane Ian and operating the restaurant’s food truck. 

However, when the opportunity arose to open their own restaurant on Pine Island, they took advantage of it and did so within two months. Street Eatz & Ale, Freeman’s newest business venture, opened Thursday on Bokeelia.  

“I have always wanted to come to Pine Island, Bokeelia or Matlacha,” Freeman said. “I love the islands. I was born and raised in Fort Myers Beach, but this is a little bit more laid back, a little bit more of a rural island. I’m not the hustle and bustle kind of guy anymore. I want to push away from that and that’s basically how we ended up here.” 

Street Eatz & Ale, 5508 Ave. A, is a self-service restaurant concept. “Everything’s going to be on sheet trays and boats, just like if you were going to go up to a food truck,” Freeman said.

A classically trained French chef, Freeman has been in the restaurant business his whole life. His family has owned Smokin’ Oyster Brewery on Fort Myers Beach for 25 years, during 12 of which he ran the kitchen. 

“From running the kitchen to running an entire restaurant,” Freeman said. “It’s just kind of what’s in my blood, it’s what I’ve always done.” 

After the storm, Freeman had to gut the restaurant and rebuild. Within five days of the storm, Freeman bought a food truck, named it after the Smokin’ Oyster Brewery and hit the road.  

“It’s hard, it really is,” Freeman said of switching gears from a restaurant to a food truck. “It’s more of a hustle because you have to find the right locations and spots to go to. Your income depends on that one single day, just as a restaurant [does], [only] it’s more volatile because you don’t have that permanent location.” 

The SOB food truck received support from other breweries, as well as loyal customers from the Smokin’ Oyster restaurant booking the food truck in their communities. Freeman attributes much of the success to the family business’ reputation.  

“We’ve always done really good food and great service and we did the same thing with the truck,” he said. “Just switched gears, instead of servers and bartenders, it was literally me and kitchen manager Jason, his sister Daisy or my wife Natasha working the window.” 

Freeman plans to reciprocate the support he received with his food truck to others in the industry with Street Eatz & Ale. On Sundays, patrons can expect different food trucks to be on site to feed the bar. Food trucks booked at the restaurant will be there at no cost and without having to use their own generator since Freeman can power across the street. 

“They can just come and plug in, and they have the opportunity to feed the entire restaurant all day,” he said. “I want a partnership with the people. As me being in the food truck [business], I found a lot of these venues, they treat you like employees. You own a business by yourself because you don’t want to be an employee, you’re self-employed. That being said, give good food and good service and I’m fine with it.” 

The Street Eatz & Ale menu will offer a variety of options including smashburgers, homestyle chicken tenders, Cuban sandwiches, peel-and-eat shrimp and blackened, grilled or fried Gulf domestic grouper. 

“I love seafood,” Freeman said. “That’s what I’m known for. I’m going to make sure I have the best grouper sandwich on this island and competing islands. People are going to want to come here.” 

There will also be beer and wine options, including six domestic beers on tap and a revolving craft tap. 

Prior to Street Eatz & Ale, the location was home to two other restaurant concepts and was virtually unchanged throughout those years. “When another place comes into another building, people want to see change,” Freeman said. 

He expanded the existing bar with it now having 20 seats. In total, there are 70 seats inside and about 15 to 20 seats outside. Along with changing seating arrangements, all the tables were built by hand, stained and burn marked with the restaurant’s name. 

Street Eatz & Ale is open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday with differing closing hours on weekends.