Chris Ponte launched his first restaurant, Café Ponte, in Clearwater in 2002. He quickly made a name for himself in Tampa Bay thanks to an extraordinary trail-blazing New American menu and impeccable service. However, after an 18-year run, Ponte decided to shutter the iconic fine dining restaurant citing a combination of COVID-19 issues and a difficult lease renegotiation.

A past nominee for the highly prestigious James Beard Foundation Award, Ponte had already taken his talents to Tampa, opening On Swann in the city’s Hyde Park Village in 2016 and then OLIVIA, a modern Italian restaurant, in South Tampa in 2019.