Matthew Creach has gone all in. Again.
When he opened his first restaurant, Fancy’s Southern Café, in Fort Myers in 2012, he put everything he had into it — physically, emotionally and financially.
“I did the same thing here,” he said, standing in the dining room of the new Fancy’s in downtown Fort Myers. “If you want to be blessed by God, you have to go all in. You never think anything is 100 percent ready, but here we are.”
Everything about it sure looks ready. And lovely.
It quietly opened for lunch and dinner on Wednesday, Aug. 6, on Bay Street, with The Firestone on one side and City Tavern on the other.
“Four or five years after opening (the first Fancy’s), I was looking for the next one,” Creach said. “The goal was always to open more. Every place I looked, either I couldn’t work a deal or in my gut, it just didn’t feel right. I looked everywhere. Always. Then one day after church, we go right down the street, we were looking for brunch and there was a phone number in the window here.”
Starting from scratch
That window was in Twisted Vine Bistro and The Barrel Room’s former space, which had stood vacant since Hurricane Ian came through in 2022. Creach signed the lease in June 2024.
“Everything was gutted,” Creach said. “I came into a blank slate.”
Perfect for someone who started in construction.
“I love to create, to design,” he said. “I love taking a pile of wood and making something. Taking a pile of ingredients and making it all something. Here I create dishes, I create ambiance, I create an experience. Whether you build with your hand or imagination, you’re still building, creating.”
And the result here is lovely and, well, oh so Fancy.
Classic and modern mix
The 5,300-square-foot space (with a 1,200-square-foot outdoor garden area) is classic and chicly modern with velvet and leather seating, gorgeous stonework, intricate wood and tile flooring — all in a sea of gray, white and green with gold and black splashes.
“I designed it all,” Creach said. “I knew my style and what I wanted to do. It’s my style at our house, plus Restoration Hardware and Williams Sonoma.”
Look closely and you’ll see more of his touches in the moldings, paint sheens, hooks for purses that at first appear to be just brass accents, and a subtle line of gold separating the patterns of the flooring.
“The décor and ambiance we’re trying to hit is upscale fine dining,” Creach said.
He certainly accomplished that, even down to the smartly dressed (and exceedingly friendly) staff in tailored outfits.
Fancy’s has a main dining room and a luxurious bar on one side and a bourbon bar with more intimate seating and a stage for live music on the other.
“It’s all Southern style with a bourbon bar,” Creach said.
A familiar menu with upgrades
That Southern sophistication can be found in the menu too.
“All the core menu (from the first Fancy’s) is the same here,” he said. “We changed a few things. We got rid of all the seed oils and preservatives. Everything is cooked in clarified butter or beef tallow. That’s the way I eat, so why not do that here?”
The salads have been revamped, and all the dressings are made in-house (bourbon citrus is Creach’s favorite).
Grouper and snapper dishes have been added too.
“We added some fresh fish,” Creach, a fifth-generation Floridian, said. “And only freshly caught, nothing frozen. Growing up here, that’s important to me.”
The menu is a who’s who of Southern fare — hot boiled peanuts, grits (deep fried or with blackened Key West pink shrimp of course), frog legs, cornbread (grilled and honey drizzled!), chicken-n-waffles, hot chicken, meatloaf, ribs, liver & onions, crawfish or shrimp po’boys, country fried steak and much more. And let’s not forget the beloved brunch, available Saturdays and Sundays til 2:30 p.m. at both locations.
Our deep-fried catfish — topped with remoulade and a fresh roasted corn relish — was picture perfect, as are most items.
“We have new stuff we wanted to do here” Creach said. “Then we will implement it at the other one.”
Much more to come
That comfortably cozy first Fancy’s — at 8890 Salrose Lane — will temporarily “close next summer and be revamped like this” new one.
It’s all part of Creach’s plan to open more Fancy’s in the next several years.
Not bad for someone who didn’t start out in the restaurant industry.
“My wife was eight months pregnant, and we just put in an offer for a house,” Creach said. “I was laid off (from his construction job) the next day.”
He immediately called his wife and told her he would figure it out that day.
“So I went fishing,” he said. “All day. Then I called my wife again and said, ‘What do you think about opening our own restaurant?’”
With her blessing, he worked in his father’s Southern food restaurant in Central Florida, progressing from dishwashing and peeling potatoes to executive chef in just 17 months.
“I worked 63 days straight before I got a day off,” he said. “Then I worked another 42 or 44 days again. And got two days off. My father said at the start that this isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle. And I love it.”
And it shows in every inch of the new Fancy’s.
Fancy’s Southern Café, 2214 Bay St., downtown Fort Myers; open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (for brunch!!!) and 3:30 to midnight Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (another brunch!) and 3:30-10 p.m. Sunday; dinner is by reservation only (for the time being); (239) 208-2564; fancyssoutherncafe.com or follow on Facebook.
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Fancy new restaurant with Southern cooking and charm opens in downtown Fort Myers
Reporting by Robyn George, Fort Myers News-Press / Fort Myers News-Press
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