For longer than anyone in River Club wanted to admit, the old Applebee's building on State Road 70 sat there with a faded sign and an empty parking lot, the kind of retail ghost you stop noticing after the second year. Then last August, the lights came back on. A new sign went up. Cars started showing up at lunch.
That building is now Peppercorns Steak and Seafood, at 7175 State Road 70 E, and it is not the only spot on this stretch of highway that has quietly come back to life. Further down the same road, a barbecue name that River Club residents will remember has resurfaced too, in a different building than before. Neither opening got much fanfare. Both are worth knowing about if you drive this corridor on your way home from the clubhouse.
The building that used to be an Applebee's
Peppercorns is run by a chef named Boudreau, who told the East County Observer that he grew up working his way from dishwasher to chef and had been eyeing that empty Applebee's shell for a while before it became available. His pitch is not fine dining. It is steak and seafood priced for regular Tuesdays, not special occasions.
"There's a little more money in this area, so competitors try to rake in as much as they can," Boudreau said. "I was like, where is everyone else supposed to go?"
The menu backs that up. Items range from $3.49 to $38, which is a wide enough spread to cover a quick bite or a full dinner without the ticket climbing into steakhouse territory every time. A handful of details worth knowing before you go:
- Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
- General manager Jeremy Wehr runs the front of house
- The building's Applebee's-era decor is still mid-transition, according to more recent reviews, so do not expect a full remodel yet
- Reservations and phone orders go through 941-866-3011 or peppercornsfl.com
It is not a perfect record. Reviews through early 2026 mention service that is still finding its footing and a dining room that has not fully shed its previous life as a chain restaurant. But the lot has cars in it most evenings, which is more than that building could say for a long stretch before Peppercorns moved in.
A barbecue name returns to the same corridor
River Club residents who have been here a while might remember BubbaQue's BBQ from its earlier run at 6581 State Road 70 E, which opened around 2022 after the company signed a lease in a space that had previously been Boneyard BBQ. That location eventually closed.
The name did not disappear from the corridor for good. In April 2026, plan review paperwork surfaced showing an entity called East Bradenton BBQ LLC preparing a new BubbaQue's location at 6310 State Road 70, a different address than the original spot. Plan review filings do not always turn into open restaurants on schedule, so the more useful confirmation came about six weeks later. A Manatee County health inspection roundup covering restaurants inspected from May 26 to June 5, 2026, listed BubbaQue's BBQ at 6310 State Road 70 with no violations, which means the doors were open and the county had already checked the kitchen.
Here is how the two openings line up:
| Peppercorns Steak and Seafood | BubbaQue's BBQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 7175 State Road 70 E | 6310 State Road 70 |
| Previous tenant | Applebee's | New location for the brand |
| Confirmed open by | August 2025, per local reporting | June 2026, per county health inspection |
| Price positioning | $3.49 to $38 per item | Combo dinners built around smoked proteins and Southern sides |
Both moved into commercial space that had already cycled through at least one previous concept. Both are leaning on affordability rather than trying to be the fanciest option on the road. That is not a coincidence, and it says something about what actually works on this particular stretch of State Road 70.
The same math the clubhouse already figured out
If you live in River Club, you already know this pattern from inside the gates. The River Club Grille, on the top floor of the community's own golf clubhouse, has built its reputation on being casual and affordable rather than upscale. The course itself, a Ron Garl design from 1988 that carries a Golf Digest Places to Play four-star rating, sits a mile east of I-75 at exit 217 and stays open to the public seven days a week. It has never tried to be exclusive. It has tried to be good and reasonably priced, and that has kept people coming back for decades.
What is happening on State Road 70 right now looks like the same instinct playing out commercially. Two buildings that could not hold onto their previous concepts are now occupied by operators who are explicitly pricing for the neighborhood rather than for a tourist crowd passing through. That is a meaningful distinction if you have watched storefronts turn over on this road before. It suggests the corridor is not just getting more restaurants, it is settling into a specific identity as a place for accessible, everyday dining rather than destination spots.
River Club itself is built around a similar kind of steady, unglamorous consistency. The community's 946 single-family homes sit on roughly 950 acres that the Braden River runs through, alongside more than 70 ponds covering 156 acres, according to the community's own HOA information page. It was built out gradually between 1989 and 2006, with control passing from the original developer to the homeowners' association in 2005. Nothing about that history suggests a place chasing trends. It suggests a place that gets built slowly and holds up.
What it actually means for a Tuesday night
None of this requires a special trip. If you already live off River Club Boulevard, both restaurants sit within a few minutes of your driveway on a road most residents already drive daily to reach I-75 or Lakewood Ranch. Peppercorns works for a family dinner where the kids want something familiar but the adults want a real steak option. BubbaQue's works for the nights when nobody wants to cook and pulled pork sounds better than another delivery app default.
The larger point is not that two restaurants opened. Restaurants open and close on State Road 70 constantly, and most of that turnover is not worth writing about. What is worth noticing is that the two most recent arrivals both chose to compete on price rather than polish, in buildings that previous, pricier concepts could not sustain. That is a small data point, but it is the kind of thing you only pick up on if you are paying attention to this specific stretch of road over time rather than reading a generic list of Bradenton restaurants.
Whether you have lived in River Club for twenty years or two, that is the version of local knowledge that actually matters day to day. Not a ranking of the best restaurants in Manatee County, but a read on what is happening on the road you already drive.
If you are curious how this kind of neighborhood-level detail fits into the bigger picture of life in River Club, or you know someone weighing whether this community is the right fit for their next move, Jane Ebury Sinclair keeps a close eye on what changes and what stays the same across River Club Bradenton and the surrounding area. You can also browse the River Club Bradenton neighborhood page for a fuller picture, or reach out directly to schedule a free consultation whenever the timing makes sense for you.
