Caiman Cantina Mexican restaurant launches in North Naples

Phelan Family Brands follows the latest value-driven dining trend in launching Caiman Cantina Mexican restaurant to replace its Two Fillets concept in North Naples. 

“This is authentic, from scratch, traditional Mexican, 100%. Our chef is from Mexico,” said Grant Phelan, CEO of Naples-based Phelan Family Brands. 

“We wanted to do Mexican for years. When my dad (Tony Phelan) was in Texas he had a Mexican restaurant there called the Mesquite Branch. That was back in the early ’80s. He always wanted to bring Mexican to Southwest Florida, but we took off doing Pinchers and other seafood places. We really started thinking about what our next venture was going to be. We decided to attack the Mexican portion of the market.” 

In what has been dubbed the year of rebranding, the changing marketplace is behind Phelan’s switch from Two Fillets to Caiman Cantina. 

“Areas change, this area in particular,” Phelan said. “We’ve always had Capital Grille and Fleming’s right there, but J. Alexander’s just opened up, we have Connors (Steak & Seafood) coming across the street here. The market segment for steak and seafood up here is very saturated. So, we felt the building would set up better for a Mexican-style restaurant than it did for steak and seafood. So, we’re excited to launch a new concept and, hopefully, take this one through Southwest Florida.” 

When Two Fillets closed Aug. 31 after operating just two years, the Phelan Family Brands quickly reimagined the space for its third restaurant concept at the same North Naples location on the southwest corner of U.S. 41 and 104th Avenue North. Phelan grew up on 110th Avenue North, just six blocks north from his new restaurant in Naples Park. 

The restaurant’s former white exterior was noticeably repainted the spicy color of Peppery — a dark orange Sherwin-Williams hue — with contrasting blue and orange walls inside. Strings of colorful lights line the ceiling to give the restaurant a casual, festive ambiance. The 3,868-square-foot restaurant space includes a lounge with a full bar on one end. 

“This, to me, is the perfect test kitchen,” Phelan said, because it’s not on the water or in a high-end shopping center. “You have to have great food in order for it to work here. We found that with Deep Lagoon. I really like the Two Fillets concept, too, but we decided to shelve that one because of all the competition that came into the market.” 

Of course, the change also is reacting to the economy and the cost of meat. 

“Steak prices are so expensive, so you’re looking for different ways to bring value to your guests, and Mexican cuisine allows for that with better price points. You can do a plate of enchiladas for $19, where a filet is $55 to $60 nowadays. You don’t have a choice because filet prices are $41 a pound for Prime. This allows you to serve quality products to the guests at a better price point.” 

Mexican food also has a wide appeal similar to the global popularity of Italian cuisine. 

“It’s a great cuisine,” Phelan said. “You find it in a lot of other cities; you just don’t find a lot of it in Southwest Florida. So, we’re excited to bring it here.” 

The new restaurant’s logo — a green caiman crocodilian wearing a gold sombrero — appears atop the menus, which feature names of dishes in Spanish with helpful explanations in English. The Phelans worked with Rafael Elisea and Jason Mattozzi, the executive chefs at their Chops City Grill Bonita and Naples, respectively, to create the opening menu.  

The menu starts with antojitos — “little cravings” — with appetizers such as queso fundido cheese dip; guacamole topped with pork rinds and cotija cheese; beef birria and cheese quesadillas; shrimp ceviche and esquites street-style corn. Queso Gringo is highlighted at the top of the menu as “traditional Tex-Mex queso with just the right kick.” 

The center of the menu highlights combination plates such as El Jefe Grant’de Platter, named for Grant Phelan, of course, which includes an enchilada, a tamale and a poblano and chicken flauta served with rice and beans; and Fajitas de Don Tony, a nod to family patriarch Tony Phelan. The menu also has sections for tacos, burritos, enchiladas and tamales — “We have tamales which are out-of-the-world good,” Phelan said — as well as fish and meat dishes, soup and salads. 

“If you want traditional, go down in the carne section. Beef Birria is spectacular. It’s so good,” Phelan recommends. “Our chef is from right outside Jalisco in Mexico, so all the traditional items are fabulous. It’s all authentic Mexican and super tasty.” 

The dessert menu — El Rincon Dulce, or The Sweet Corner — features flan, a classic Mexican rice pudding, a horchata cheesecake and Tres Leches de Chocolatey Cafe, a decadent chocolate cake with coffee pastry cream. In addition to margaritas and other signature cocktails, the cantina serves draft and bottled beer, wine and nonalcoholic beverages, including agua frescas — “a refreshing blend of fresh fruit, water and a touch of sweetness” — in five flavors: cucumber mint, hibiscus, horchata, pineapple and watermelon. “It’s an authentic Mexican drink,” Phelan said. “They’re so good.” 

On the eve of Caiman Cantina’s Oct. 16 opening, the Phelans celebrated the start of the annual stone crab season and the 28th anniversary of their original restaurant, Pinchers Crab Shack, in Southwest Florida. Pinchers, which now has 10 locations along the Gulf, began where Petar’s is today in The Center of Bonita Springs. That first 1,500-square-foot Pinchers had only 12 tables and six employees, Phelan said. 

Caiman Cantina is a brand the Phelans plan to grow like Pinchers. “We already have our eye on the second one,” Phelan said, noting that the second location is planned in Fort Myers. “If everything goes according to plan here, then we will start construction on that at the beginning of the year.”  

Phelan also is building another new concept, Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktails, in Cape Coral. “I’m going to take the best of Hogfish Harry’s, the best of Deep Lagoon and the best of Pinchers and meld those together for one restaurant in Cape Coral,” Phelan said. 

The new Caiman Cantina, 10395 Tamiami Trail N., opens today at 4 p.m. for dinner, but starting Oct. 22, it will launch lunch service and its hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.