The No Name restaurant at 11521 Andy Rosse Lane, one of many eateries to make that building its home.

Bellini's of Captiva was the last of the restaurants to occupy the building on the south side of Andy Rosse Lane.

The “No Name Restaurant,” pictured here circa 1986, was located on the south side of Andy Rosse Lane. Although its time on Captiva was relatively short, the restaurant was one chapter in the surprisingly long history of a building that was the home of numerous island restaurants.

Island restaurateur Andreas Bieri, former chef at South Seas Plantation and current owner of the Mucky Duck Restaurant, shared photos and narrative with the CIHS. Of particular interest is the story Mr. Bieri shared, "South Seas rented three cottages on Andy Rosse Lane, which were used for employee housing. These cottages were later demolished and rebuilt on the property was a building which would become home to a succession of restaurants; the Uptowner, F & B Oyster, No Name, La Vendee, and Bellini's.”

As the story goes, after F & B Oyster restaurant closed, the building’s owner Red Jensen, wanted to preserve the building’s use as a restaurant until another operator could be found. Red and his sons kept the establishment running themselves. And according to Mr. Bieri, it became the “No Name” because the Jensen brothers could not agree on what to call it.

The casual, family-operated No Name was followed by a much different dining experience. La Vendée brought ambitious French cuisine to Andy Rosse Lane under Swedish businessman Bengt Nygren and French chef Marcel Grondin, who had worked at London’s renowned La Gavroche. Grondin led the La Vendée kitchen from 1985 until his untimely death in 1987 at age 37.

By 1988, the building had become Bellini’s of Captiva. Operated by the Mucciga family, Bellini’s was known for Northern Italian cuisine, fresh seafood, live entertainment and its signature Frozen Bellini. The restaurant became a popular part of Captiva’s dining scene and remained at 11521 Andy Rosse Lane until closing in 2001.

The building was later demolished and the property redeveloped with villa-style homes. What began as employee cottages and passed through several distinctly different restaurants ultimately disappeared from the landscape—but the Uptowner, F & B Oyster, the No Name, La Vendée and Bellini’s remain part of Captiva’s rich and remarkable dining history.