eat here - A Suggestion, An Invite, A Demand, A Great Idea!

Posted @ Dec. 19 2011 03:04PM by Rich - food-entertainment

eat here is definitely the new place to eat, drink and be merry. And before we know it, eat here will be the place we’ve been going to for years, a local staple you can count on for a quick bite or a lingering dinner, a few cocktails or a plethora of tasty bites, a gorgeous sunset view from the rooftop, fun people watching on the patio or a cozy meal in the ambient dining room. eat here has it all.

Ok, so everybody knows who Sean Murphy of Beach Bistro is, right?? If you live in the Sarasota area, there is no way you could escape either name. Beach Bistro is a surfside restaurant in Anna Maria Island that prides itself on top notch cuisine, it’s pretty impressive stuff. An extensive wine list, a menu touting such fare as Roasted Maple Leaf Duckling, Famous Bistro Boulliabaisse, Food Heaven (‘worth dying for’ promises the menu), a view of the Bay, and a very skilled team all marry to provide one of the best meals in the state. Sean Murphy wanted to bring the class, the success and the sheer deliciousness of Beach Bistro to downtown Sarasota but he didn’t want to bring Beach Bistro, itself, to the new location. Instead, he decided to focus on a more approachable, casual establishment and menu without sacrificing sophistication.

We three gals were invited by the very lovely local food queen, Judi Gallagher, to feast on plate after plate after glorious plate of eat here specialties. We easily ordered enough food for 73 people and managed to scarf most of it down - we had to leave room for dessert, of course.

What came out of that kitchen was a variety of tastes, textures and flavors, something to please any palate. We had fish tacos, lobster tacos ‘kissed with garlic butter and lime’, house-made potato chips with garlic butter, a serendipitous salad with ‘anything salady that grabbed them,’ the titanic wedge salad with bacon and blueberries (of all things!), shrimpcargots (get it?), gulf coast seafood stew, smoked salmon pizza with creme fraiche and their already famously delicious tempura beets. I know, right. We had to be rolled home.

The real standouts for my personal tastes were the better-than-any-frenchman’s onion soup with caramelized sweet onions in stock with hints of sherry and cognac; crowned with emmenthal -- and for only 8 bucks, people! 8 bucks!! Sooo good. I was also blown away by the cedar key clams which are pan cooked with chardonnay, a splash of pernod, a little garlic and sweet cream and a soupcon of curry and frites. It is so good that it is pure bullshit that everything else in the world doesn’t taste like this. I have spent the last week dreaming about this dish, half-heartedly cooking other meals and resentfully eating other dishes that are NOT the cedar key clams.

We enjoyed an absolutely lovely meal on the deck outside. Management Partner, Chip Parmelee (who may be one of the most generous and knowledgeable managers I have ever had the pleasure to meet) joined us for the majority of the meal, telling us the background and future hopes behind eat here. He told us that sharing plates is a big theme at eat here - think family style meets tapas dishes but don’t dare say ‘family style’ or ‘tapas’ at eat here, because they are not trying to go for either label. It’s more about spending time with your dining companions, sharing stories as well as sharing flavorful dishes. We spent a couple of hours in the gorgeous weather that we Floridians charmingly call Winter, while listening to the sounds of the running fountain and the noise of other patrons relishing in their tasty meals.

After dinner Judi suggested we eat our desserts on the rooftop overlooking Main Street and beyond. Passing through the restaurant for the stairs, I couldn't help but take in just how lovely, inviting, cozy, warm, welcoming and every other adjective of the like that eat here is. Wooden tables made from old champagne racks, each table painted by a artist Jeff Tarr, huge paintings of bright orange fish adorning the walls, an open kitchen alive with chefs under the guidance of the brilliant Chef All Massa - the whole restaurant seemed lit by firelight, with the soundtrack of a restaurant that has been a local favorite for years, not just weeks.

Our dessert upstairs was every one of their ‘sweet things’ options - key lime cheesecake, apple crisp, creme brulee, a pineapple cake that was a mix between bread pudding, the best muffin of my life and an upside down pineapple cake that was memorably delicious, and the chocolate budino which is a little jar of ganache, topped with sea salt and what must be some highly addictive new drug as I have been dreaming of inserting it straight into my veins. It was pure heaven in a cup.

Please do check out eat here and let us know what you think. I can tell you to be prepared for a restaurant which focuses solely on attention to detail. From the menus, with charming verbiage in lowercase writing tucked into clipboards, to the unique shape of the plates and bowls, to the jar of silverware and singular happy, little yellow flower adorning each artistically crafted table - eat here has carved out its very own niche here in Sarasota.

I hope to tell 10,000 of my closest friends to eat here. ‘eat here,’ a suggestion, an invite, a demand. Whatever the intention, heed the call.

eat here is located right on Main Street. For more information, check out their site - www.eatheresarasota.com

For more from The Three Kitcheneers, go to www.threekitcheneers.com!