After more than 15 years in North Naples, KC American Bistro is charting a new course under new ownership as Amber Cove.

Tim Herman, the new owner of the restaurant, is a seasoned hospitality veteran with more than 40 years of leadership at luxury properties like LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort, The Inn on Fifth, Caesars Palace and The Venetian Las Vegas. In early May, Herman launched Amber Cove, a fine-dining restaurant that blends modern coastal cuisine with global influences.

Amber Cove transforms the space in The Pavilion retail center that Chef-owner Keith Casey served a loyal following with his KC American Bistro since June 2009. Casey said he needed a break, so the timing was right for him to sell his longtime restaurant at 885 Vanderbilt Beach Road.

KC American Bistro

After seeing an erosion of business during a trying time recently for many local dining spots, Casey listed his restaurant for sale in December.

“I just got lucky that I was in the right place at the right time and I could sell it so quickly,” he said. “Usually, it takes six to eight months to sell a business. Tim was looking and the price was right, so everything lined up.”

Herman said he fell in love with the restaurant in early January and purchased it March 7 because of its great reputation and loyal following. The new owner operated it under a management agreement as KC American Bistro until May 1.

Although Casey sold his namesake restaurant, he still has a personal passion to be a restaurateur. He was amazed at the number of people wondering if and when he would be opening another restaurant.

“I’ll do something in the future for sure,” he said. “I’m going to take the summer off and decide what that’s going to look like, where it’s going to be. I’m kind of 50% in Naples, but I’m also looking to do other markets like Miami, maybe Fort Lauderdale — something less seasonal. I’ll land somewhere. I don’t know when and where.”

Casey says consistency has been the key to pleasing KC American Bistro’s guests, who always appreciated Casey’s personable hospitality.

“We never tried to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, and fool around with a lot of food science and things of that sort,” he said. “We just tried to provide the best ingredients that we could get and stay very consistent in what we did.”

Amber Cove

While KC American Bistro celebrated cuisine throughout the regions of the United States, its successor will broaden its focus to international flavors and coastal influences.

“The reality is there are still a few KC American Bistro items on the menu, but we’re going to be phasing those out over the next couple of days,” Herman said. “I would say it’s 85% a new menu and the new menu in its entirety is posted on OpenTable, if you want to take a look at it.”

Herman does plan to keep KC’s mushroom soup, which was the most popular item, he said. That will be authentic to its original recipe, but other items at Amber Cove may be similar to Casey’s creations but prepared differently.

“We’re going to have the grouper and the miso sea bass, but they’re our versions rather than his versions,” Herman said. “Our cuisine is really going to be contemporary, fresh. We’re using whole fish where we can and we’re filleting it ourselves, so it’s fresher.”

Amber Cove’s kitchen is led by Chef Jehad Alsharabini, who has created a new menu comprised of seasonal, sea-to-table ingredients creating dishes with modernist techniques and culinary fusion influences, Herman said.

Entrees include Miso Glazed Chilean Seabass with cauliflower mousse, couscous, yuzu dashi and confit wild mushrooms; Faroe Islands Salmon paired with Sicilian eggplant caponata and confit baby potatoes; and Mediterranean Spiced Lamb Chops complemented by citrus-sumac crust, parsnip mousse, layered potato pave and black currant sweet-and-sour glaze.

The interior of the restaurant has been painted navy blue and is decked out in a nautical theme. “It’s an extremely elevated elegance to the restaurant now,” Herman said.

The new restaurant obviously couldn’t use any parts of the old name, but the new name charts a fresh start for “a comfortable, tranquil restaurant in paradise,” Herman said.

“I was looking for something to subtlety depict the cuisine that we are,” he said. “Amber is a celebration of or paying homage to our nightly sunsets here in paradise. Cove is really an indication that we’re connected to the coast.”

Launching the restaurant checks off an item on Herman’s bucket list.

“Literally speaking, it’s been a passion all my life,” he said. “Even though I was managing hotels and resorts, I was very involved in the food and beverage side.”

The restaurant’s exterior signage will not be changed for six to eight weeks, but Amber Cove is now open for dinner 4 to 9 p.m. daily.