After suffering flooding from hurricanes Helene and Milton, the owners and staff of The Perfect Caper reopened the Punta Gorda fine dining establishment Oct. 30.

At first glance, things look about the same. But the usually upbeat Chef Jeanie Roland admitted that the restaurant’s three floods in 18 months and the destruction of her and her husband’s home during Hurricane Ian in 2022 have taken their toll both financially and emotionally.

In August 2023, Hurricane Idalia flooded the downtown section of Punta Gorda. Then hurricanes Helene and Milton flooded the city during a two-week period starting Sept. 26.

Meanwhile, she and her husband James Roland, also a chef and the restaurant’s co-owner, are still rebuilding their home on the Peace River while dealing with the recent damages and insurance claims for their business.

Although they had flood insurance for The Perfect Caper and their home was insured, collecting from the insurance companies hasn’t been an easy process. The only thing the Federal Emergency Management Agency could offer them were loans, she said.

The Rolands were determined to reopen, and they did with a lot of help from the staff and crew of the Caper, as well as others.

The Rolands also own Ella’s Food & Drink restaurant in Westerly, Rhode Island, also a fine dining restaurant and, like the Caper, its cuisine has a French flair.

Jeanie Roland was in Rhode Island when Hurricane Helene arrived. “We had 2 1/2 to 3 feet of water,” she said.

James Roland headed to The Perfect Caper with his wife on the phone and reported the damage. “It was heartbreaking,” she said, adding that she was glad she did not have to see what the storm had done to a place she loves.

James hurriedly removed equipment that could be salvaged and loaded it into trucks and removed the materials to storage units.

Hurricane Milton came two weeks later, bringing in 4 1/2 to 5 feet of floodwater, Jeanie Roland said.

James Roland brought in pressure washers and hoses, hired day laborers, and most, if not all, of the restaurant’s 20-plus employees pitched in to clean the restaurant, with some working 18-hour days.

While Hurricane Helene was primarily a water event, Milton brought mud and muck, Jeannie Roland said, and its higher water level required removing more drywall.

She had to reopen as quickly as possible because her staff was without income. Only one employee has received notification from the state’s Reemployment Assistance Resource Center, so far, she said.

The Rolands planned to build a new Perfect Caper at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard downtown and harden the facility against future storms – they currently lease the building they are in. But with the financial toll that the recent hurricane took, that plan was delayed.

Her mood temporarily darkened while she was talking about the storms, but then became upbeat when she said the restaurant offers a refuge for storm-weary residents who wish to escape from the destruction throughout the city and enjoy a secure and familiar environment and great food.

One of the restaurant’s draws, besides the food, is Jeanie Roland herself. She has garnered national fame, both for having been nominated seven times as a semifinalist by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef in the South Region and for her television appearances.

She was on “Beat Bobby Flay” in 2015 and beat him with her mussel and frites recipe.

Roland also is the author of two cookbooks. In 2020, she gave Taylor Swift private cooking lessons in Rhode Island.

But it is her Ella’s and Caper restaurants that attract diners from out of town and out of state. And, despite the Rolands’ resilience being tested by natural disasters, that will continue to be the case in Punta Gorda.