Coming soon to downtown Sarasota. Nancy’s BBQ. We can’t wait to enjoy Nancy’s great food in her new permanent location! More details soon.

Nancy's BBQ - Pulled Pork Sandwich

All of a sudden Gulf Gate is turning into the newest Sarasota dining hotspot. This is what you can expect at Veg.

Veg - Salad Nicoise

Living in Sarasota is great. For a city our size, we have a fantastic array of food choices before us each and every day. People should be jealous.

Obviously, being right on the water has its culinary advantages. Fresh gulf shrimp, stone crab, grouper and the like are available daily. It’s a seafood wonderland.

So here’s the rub. A majority of people who live in Sarasota started out their lives in other parts of the country. There are some real Sarasota natives here, but, they are certainly outnumbered by the transplants. We all have food favorites from the cities we grew up in. New York or New Jersey pizzas, Maryland crab cakes, Beef on a weck, Texas BBQ, you get the idea.

Each of us has been teased with the prospect of actually getting our favorite home grown food without having to endure any of the reasons we left home to begin with to get it.

Here’s how it typically plays out. You’ve got a couple of buddies from Cincinnati. You get together to grab a beer. One says to the other, “Hey, did you hear about this new place opening up on 301 that’s going to serve REAL Skyline Chili Dogs?” The other one says, “Are you kidding? Don’t even start with me!” Followed by, “No, it’s true. I heard it from…” And so it goes.

We’ve all been down this road before, only to be bitterly disappointed by what lays at the end. You know what will happen, but, you still can’t help yourself, you have to check it out. In the case above, you may indeed get a chili dog, but, certainly nothing that could pass for or even come close to the original. Skunked again!

So what does a guy from the Windy City do when he’s jonesing for a true Chicago beef sandwich? Until recently, the answer was to hop a plane north (expensive) for a trip to Al’s #1 Beef or call in an order to Portillo’s for a FedEx delivery (just as expensive!). All that has changed.

Enter Tony’s Chicago Beef Company located in the Gulf Gate neighborhood.

It’s not much to look at from the outside, but, what really counts is what’s going on inside. With a Chicago beef stand décor, Tony’s is serving up some authentic, Chicago style grub.

Photos and other memorabilia line the walls. There’s Mayor Daley (Richard J. & Richard M), the Riverview Amusement Park,  Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox and even (I hate to say it) Cubs photos. The customers cover a wide range from construction workers to suit and tie types. But, the setting levels the playing field for everyone. It’s everything you would expect (if you were from Chicago).

Looks are nice, but, what comes out of the kitchen that’s behind the sit down counter is more important.

Here’s a peak at their headline attraction, the Chicago Beef Sandwich.

The day I was at Tony’s it was busy. That’s the way I like my beef places. Step up to the cash register and place my order. One beef, wet, with hot giardiniera. A can of coke and a bag of Jay’s chips complete the picture. (For those uninitiated, giardiniera is a pickled vegetable mixture in oil or vinegar, great stuff!) You can buy Tony’s giardiniera right there. They have bottles for sale.

Now there’s a million and one ways to order a Chicago beef. Some people like cheese, some don’t. Some like sweet giardiniera, some hot or none at all. What about the juice? Should the sandwich be wet, dry or just the tips dipped? You can also add an Italian sausage for a “combo”. You begin to see the picture. Arguments are constant and sometimes heated about the best way to serve a beef.

Five minutes after my order was in, they were calling my name. Seating can be an issue at Tony’s. They have two counters. One faces the kitchen and the other one faces the wall. Each has about eight to ten seats. They also have a separate table for four. Watching (and commenting) on the action in the kitchen works best for me.

Tony’s cooks their own beef and you can really taste the garlic (which is great). The roll is nice and soft and the beef is perfectly thin sliced. This Chicago beef was a knockout. Closest to the “real” thing I’ve had outside of Chicago. It even came in a plastic basket with a piece of white paper in the bottom!

The Bottom Line: All in all a great Chicagoesque experience. Tony’s is highly recommended for those of us who want some of the perks of living in Chi-town, but, are tired of shoveling. There’s no tease here, it’s the real thing.

FYI – If you can’t make it over to Gulf Gate, the Siesta Key Oyster Bar (SKOB) also serves a great Chicago beef made with real Vienna beef.

Gulf Gate, Downtown, St. Armands, Siesta Key and of course Southside Village. There are so many great restaurant hot spots here in Sarasota. We’re pretty lucky that way.

Lots of cities our size can’t make that claim. A good amount of places have all of their best restaurants bunched up all in one area. Go there and get it all. Not here! You can cruise through most parts of the Sarasota community and find clusters of dining delight.

Our adventure today takes us to one such spot, Southside Village. In an area that has one traffic light and one small roundabout there are no less than 13 places to catch a breakfast, lunch or dinner. That’s a lot of choices.

And, when I say choices I mean it. Traditional breakfast place, check. American fine dining or casual, yes. Deli food, got that. Indian cuisine, times two. Sushi, of course and why not just throw in an amazing gourmet market just for the heck of it. Most people would kill for these kinds of choices for their entire town, not just in one little neighborhood.

I’m looking for lunch and a Southside Village mainstay is just the place, The Hillview Grill. Since 1986 (why does that seem like such a long time ago?), The Hillview Grill has been serving fantastic casual dining fare to eager, hungry customers. The menu ranges from soups and sandwiches, to the “Fish Delish” which is about as made to order as it comes. You choose the fish, the cooking method and the topping. Now, that’s having it your way!

No “Fish Delish” for me today, although the salmon and mahi are both great (see how easy it is to get off track). Today it’s the Half Sandwich Combo. Listed on the menu for a great price of $7.95, it should make for a nice lunch and a nice value.

I like soup, we’ve been over that before. And, half of a sandwich makes the perfect partner. There was no doubt which soup would make the cut. Hillview Grill has a great Black Bean Soup. The only real question was what would occupy the other half of the plate. They give you five options including a Cuban, which would seem to be the obvious choice. But, casting aside the traditional combo, I opted for a Turkey Club instead. Ready for action!

Here’s the only problem (at least that I see) with the soup and sandwich combo. If you order a sandwich that is best served hot, you are faced with the dilemma of which to eat first, soup or sandwich. Your gut tells you, “Go for the soup, you gotta get it while it’s hot”. But, your brain tries to reason it out to determine which item would be the best in its cooled down state. I decided not to use my brain. An easy choice for me. Soup first.

Making this “which first” choice even easier was the fact that I already knew that the Black Bean soup would be awesome and a great way to start. Besides it would have made eating the sandwich tough knowing that the soup was calling my name and sitting right there. No disappointment here. The soup was as good as expected. Rich, thick black bean topped with just the right amount of Bermuda onions. Score!

Thirty seconds later (OK, possibly least a minute), I was on to the Turkey Club. The soup was a slam dunk, but, this would be a little tougher. Sandwiches can be complicated. They shouldn’t be, but, sometimes doing something simple seems to be so hard.

This club had some meat to it. Loaded with turkey, avocado, bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and topped with mayo. WOW! Glad I only had the half. The entire thing comes on grilled bread. Not grilled like toasted, but, grilled like a Reuben. A fantastic carrier. That touch made that sandwich for me. It would have been just as easy (no wait, even easier) to make that club with white or wheat toast, but, the extra step really made the dish. Score again!

The bottom line: There are lots of great places to eat in the Southside Village neighborhood. Some of them have been around for years, others are just getting started as Southside traditions. The Hillview Grill is still on its game after 24 years. It’s good to see that time doesn’t change some things.

The Hillview Grill
1920 Hillview Street
Sarasota, FL 34239
941-952-0045

What to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon? Here are some choices. I could (A) just sit around the house, watch a little college basketball, do lots of nothing or I could (B) shop for bathroom fixtures.

Hhhmm… That could be a tough choice. I know that every guy is just dying to shop for faucets and sinks. We’re just really great at keeping those feelings bottled up inside. You know how guys can be.

So, it was decided (or, shall I say suggested), basketball out, shower heads in. But, what fact finding mission couldn’t benefit from a stop at a local restaurant for a little fueling up. I “eagerly” agree to go with the understanding that I get to scout out a new Sarasota restaurant after the porcelain showroom tour.

There have been bunches of new places opening around town the past several months, so there were lots of options. My choice for today’s outing, Trader Vic’s Island Bar and Grill. Legend has it that they invented the Mai Tai way back in 1944.

Located off of Fruitville and Cattlemen Roads, Trader Vic’s has taken up residence in what was formerly R.J. Gator’s and Leverock’s. It may have even been several other things at some point. Newly remodeled and ready for prime time, the building has taken on a comfortable, relaxed, island atmosphere. Now, it’s not “islandy” like SKOB, O’Leary’s or the Casey Key Fish House, but, it’s about the best you can do twenty minutes from the nearest large body of water or beach.

A rainy Sunday afternoon is not the busiest time for Trader Vic’s, so we had no problem getting the table of our choosing. Hey, I could even see the TV’s in the bar area, so, I got to check out a little basketball from a far. Hostess pleasant, server nice. Great start.

Vic’s has a pretty large menu with lots of choices. Today we decided to try out some of the appetizers. With over a dozen options, we figured we could get a good sampling by choosing the Signature Island-Tizer. It says “enough to share” right on the menu! It seemed like a good choice. It was highlighted in green and had a picture of a palm tree next to it, so, it screamed “TRY ME”!

This is what the Island-Tizer has in store for you. Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Coconut Chicken Fingers, Ragin Cajun Shrimp and Veggie Pot Stickers. We added a Bucket of Fries and of course I had to have some soup. I went with the Barbados Chicken Soup on my servers suggestion.

Here’s how it went down. The Barbados Chicken Soup was out first. It was great. People who know me know that I like soup and this one hit the mark. It actually tasted a lot like chili. Nicely spiced, the dollop of sour cream was a great touch.

Next came the main event. I’ll just start by saying there is no problem with the quantity of food served. There’s more than enough on the platter for two people. Things get a little more complicated from there. The pot stickers were good, not chewy like some of them can be. The filling was nice and they weren’t overcooked. When I saw Ragin’ Cajun Shrimp as one of the items included on the platter I expected something with a little zip to it. Not here, these shrimp were pretty zipless. Fried, not really recognizable as shrimp and bland. Nothing Ragin’ about them.

The last two items were the Coconut Chicken Fingers and the Spinach Artichoke Dip. I can say with a high degree of certainty that I am not a connoisseur of chicken fingers. When it comes to this task, you would probably be better off enlisting the help of an eight year old. They should be well qualified to render a worthwhile opinion. I tried one, they were tasty. A crispy coconut breading and big pieces of chicken. They would probably rate high on the chicken finger scale.

For me, the highlight of the Island-Tizer platter was the Spinach Artichoke dip. Fantastic! Hot, creamy, great full flavor. I probably should have been a little embarrassed about licking the bowl. My server shot me one of those, “are you kidding me” looks. I’m not intimidated, it was good.

The bottom line: The new Trader Vic’s Island Bar & Grill is a nice addition to the Sarasota dining scene. Everyone around us seemed to be enjoying their meals, the friendly service and casual atmosphere. It’s a great place to take a family. There are lots of choices for people of all ages. Kids can order those Coconut Chicken Fingers off the “real” menu and feel like a grown up.

If you’re looking for more Trader Vic’s food photos from that afternoon, you can see some by clicking HERE.

Sliders are all the rage on restaurant menus these days. Not only here in Sarasota, but, pretty much everywhere you turn. And, it’s not limited to the humble hamburger. No, they seem to make sliders out of everything from fish to hot dogs. Some of these “slider” interpretations work and sadly some of them don’t.

Knick’s Tavern and Grill located on Osprey Avenue in the Southside Village neighborhood has one that works! And, that works very well.

It doesn’t seem like it’s really that inventive to take a smaller portion of some filler, stick it on a miniature bun and pack them two or three to a plate. But, as it turns out it’s not the size that matters, but what’s inside that matters.

In Knick’s case it’s their sweet, tangy and tender pulled pork that’s inside. A generous portion of pork, tucked inside a soft, fresh bakery bun. As you can see by the photo, it’s pretty big for small sandwich (it’s not photo magic, they truly are good size).

Lunch is a tricky meal for me. It’s a delicate balance between a 3pm food coma/nap and having just the right amount of food to carry me through the rest of my day. This is where the slider concept works best (at least for me). The two sliders on the Knick’s Slider Platter were just the right amount of food to get the job done in delicious style.

Oh, did I forget to mention the side order of potato salad that accompanies those two pulled pork beauties? As seen above, a nice helping of homemade potato salad. Cool and creamy, it makes the perfect partner for the sandwich.

I’m pretty picky about potato salad having a Mother who has perfected the art. Knick’s isn’t quite my Mom’s, but, it has a lot of the same flavors. A good mayo base, onion and firm potatoes make it a winner for me.

The bottom line: Knick’s Tavern and Grill has the slider down pat. Pulled pork is a fantastic choice and the sandwiches are big enough to help power you through whatever your afternoon has in store for you. Potato salad, thumbs up. Not quite my Mom’s, but, what is. I had this as a lunch special. Call ahead to find out if they’re featuring it on the day you go to Knick’s for lunch.

The versatile Reuben. You normally don’t think of sandwiches in those terms, but, that’s what the famous Reuben has become. You see it on almost every deli menu. Lately I’ve been seeing some interesting and delicious variations on the traditional version.

Depending on which story you believe, the original Reuben sandwich was created either by Reuben Kulakofsky, a grocer from Omaha Nebraska between 1920 and 1930 or Arnold Reuben of Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York around 1914. I’m sure the debate rages on in deli circles around the globe. I’m choosing not to pick a favorite.

No matter which story you believe to be true, the outcome is still the same. A tasty and satisfying deli treat. The traditional sandwich is made with corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, topped with Russian or Thousand Island dressing and served on grilled rye bread. Variations abound!

Here’s one that caught my eye at the Oasis Cafe on Osprey Avenue. The Blackened Basa Reuben.

Now, I’m going to admit something right now which will fuel the Reuben debate. I don’t like sauerkraut. And, too make matters worse, I ask for my Reubens sans sauerkraut. I’m sure some of you are probably saying, “well, it’s not really a Reuben then is it?”. In technical sandwich terms it’s probably not, but, I think you should eat what you like versus coloring inside the lines one hundred percent of the time. So, for me, it’s hold the kraut.

My kraut aversion actually works to my advantage in the case of the Blackened Basa Reuben. I think if sauerkraut was added to my sandwich it would have been too much for the delicate taste and texture of the basa. In the “Larry” version, I could effortlessly taste all of the components of the sandwich without one flavor or texture overpowering the dish.

Here’s the anatomy of an Oasis Cafe Blackened Basa Reuben. Start with a couple slices of marble rye. Top with a nice big piece of basa. For the uninitiated, basa is basically a type of Asian catfish. Top with sauerkraut (if that’s your thing). Add Swiss cheese on top AND bottom. Spread on some remoulade sauce and grill. The end result is fantastic. On the advise of my server, Denise, I added a side of Spanish potato salad and my noontime feast was complete.

The Bottom Line. I was a little unsure going into it. I’ve had the traditional Reuben, turkey, pastrami and probably a few other adaptations, but, never one using fish as the basis. Now I’m thinking of all the other seafood possibilities and there are many. The end result is a winner.

Is a Blackened Basa Reuben not your thing? Click here to check out the entire Oasis Cafe menu. If you have a non-traditional Reuben variant that you’d like the world to know about, leave a comment below and tell us about it.

The Oasis Cafe
3542 S. Osprey Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34239
941-957-1214

Sarasota is not a hotbed of “real” deli food. I think we all know that. But, being from Chicago, I love a good corned beef sandwich. I was out in search of one today.

Now, this is a very subjective area we’re getting into here. Lots of discussion, lots of disagreement. Let’s just start and end the argument by saying that everyone is right! There I said it. You have your fav and I have mine.

The topic is so hot that Toronto Journalist, David Sax has written an entire book on the subject. Save the Deli, is an L.A. Times bestseller.

Today’s corned beef search has led me to the Corkscrew Deli on Tamiami Trail in the Landings. Corned beef sandwich here I come.

The menu board at the restaurant says: Hot Pastrami or Corned Beef “piled high on NY rye”. That’s a big statement. So, that’s the expectation.

The yardstick against which all others are measured (at least in my humble, corned beef eating opinion), is Manny’s Cafeteria and Delicatessen in Chicago. Located at Jefferson and Roosevelt in the west loop, Manny’s has been loading up corned beef sandwiches since 1942. You have to be good to stay in business that long in a hungry city like Chicago.  Check out the photo below. That’s ONE sandwich. And, it’s only $10.95! A pretty good deal too.

But, enough dreaming. Let’s talk about the corned beef sandwich I can actually get here in Sarasota. The sandwich at the Corkscrew is made with Boar’s Head Corned Beef. I used to have a hard time getting past the name to enjoy the product. I’m over that now (thankfully). And, over time I have learned to appreciate Boar’s Head products. They have good tasting, good quality meats and cheeses. Plus, they’re right here in Sarasota and I like to shop locally.

Oh, yeah, the sandwich. Well, it’s not exactly “piled high”. Especially if you are comparing it to exhibit A (Manny’s monster corned beef). Is that fair? I think it is, especially since the carry out menu adds that it has “more meat”. More meat than what?

Even though it’s not a giant, hulking, meat monstrosity, it tastes great. It’s a first class corned beef sandwich even for those of us whose portion sizes are a little out of whack from years of eating true, big city deli food. One of the side benefits of the Corkscrew Deli sandwich was that I didn’t have to go home at 3pm and take a two hour nap or drink three gallons of water. That’s nice.

Also, if you notice in the top left image, the Corkscrew sandwich has a fantastic looking pickle. Not joking here.  At first you may think “so what”, but, I can’t tell you the amount of pickles I have been served in this town that look like they were taken directly out of the trash and placed on my plate. This was a first class, cold, crunchy, awesome pickle!

The bottom line. If you’re dying for a GIANT NY/Chicago corned beef sandwich your S.O.L.. Can’t be had in Sarasota at any price. But, if you’re just trying to satisfy that urge for a delicious, salty, tender, comforting corned beef, the Corkscrew Deli comes through in fine fashion.

Here’s where you can get it:

The Corkscrew Deli
4982 S. Tamiami Tr.
Sarasota, FL 34231
941-925-3955

Looking for a great place to grab a relaxed and casual breakfast or lunch?

I know Sarasota offers lots of options fitting that description. One of the newest entries is Station 400. Located in the old Sierra Station space on Lemon, Station 400 is reinventing the breakfast and lunch menu.

Chef Eric Bein is adding his special culinary flare to traditional and non-traditional breakfast and lunch fare.

Click on the image below to view the full menu.

If you give Station 400 a try, please leave us a comment about your experience.

Station 400
400 North Lemon Avenue
Sarasota, Florida 34236
941-906-1400

Three great locations for breakfast and lunch. Word of Mouth also serves dinner at their downtown restaurant, the former Metro Coffee on Osprey. There are lots of fantastic traditional entree choices for you to choose from. Easy on the wallet pricing and prompt, attentive service complete the picture at Word of Mouth.

My personal favorite is the Reuben Sandwich for lunch. It’s worth a try. Have one for me!