Downtown Sarasota's New Restaurants Are Opening in Rooms You Already Know

"It doesn't look like it was just built," Paul Caragiulo told Sarasota Magazine about the family's new dining room on Ringling Boulevard. "It's like a Mastroianni movie from 1968."

That was the goal at Caragiulos. It also describes most of downtown Sarasota's dining news this fall. Nearly every new place to eat between Links Avenue and the bayfront has opened in a space that already had a kitchen, a bar and a name everyone in the neighborhood knew. Once a restaurant room in downtown Sarasota empties, it gets refilled within weeks. The projects that need a brand-new building take years.

Two Doors Apart on the 1500 Block of Main

The clearest example is a half block of Main Street. In September, Baldoria opened at 1528 Main St. in the former Block 15 Cork & Craft wine bar. It's the newest concept from Riccardo Margarella and Paola Pignata, who also run My Mamma Italian Kitchen on North Tamiami Trail. The menu has tapas with Italian and Spanish twists, focaccia sandwiches, pasta and pizza, plus a self-pour wall with 24 taps of beer and wine.

Two doors down, Sorella opened near the end of September at 1532 Main St., in the space Yume Sushi used to fill. Twin sisters Dana and Danielle Malcolm co-own it. Head chef Giancarlo di Cosmo came from 15 South by Napulé on St. Armands Circle, and pizza chef Simone Di Marco came from Malmosto. The menu runs to cacio e pepe, carbonara, Neapolitan pizza from an Italian oven, osso buco and a "girl dinner" that pairs a Caesar salad and fries with a cocktail, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's September roundup.

Those are two new Italian-leaning kitchens in long-familiar storefronts on the same block, both opened within a few weeks. Up and down Main Street and beyond it, the rest of the fall went the same way:

At the top of Main Street, SaraSocial opened Sept. 15 in the 3,522-square-foot former Fork & Hen space. The Herald-Tribune reported that its website calls it the "same kitchen" and "same heart" as Fork & Hen, now with new owner Bobby Khush and executive chef Yamzey Gonzalez. The menu stays with Southern soul cooking and adds live music, cocktails and an outdoor hookah area near the Regal Hollywood theater. Sarasota Magazine reported weekend lounge plans that keep the kitchen open until 1:30 a.m. and the doors open until 2 a.m.

Farther down the street, Mitchell's Food and Wine opened in the former Lucile Pizza & Wine Bar at 1660 Main St. Chef Ryan Boeve and partner Mark Baldwin kept pizza on the menu, including one topped with Lion's Mane mushrooms and brie, and built out the rest with baked littleneck clams, blue crab and avocado salad, duck breast, sea scallops and short rib brasato. "I want the food to speak for itself," Boeve told SRQ Daily. Mitchell's serves daily from 4:30 to 9 p.m.

How a Familiar Room Opens in a Month

Alma de España shows how fast this can go. In September, Indigenous closed after a 15-year run in its Towles Court cottage at 239 S. Links Ave. Chef-owner Steve Phelps had made it one of Sarasota's best-known restaurants for Florida ingredients and sustainable seafood, and it earned James Beard semifinalist nods in 2014 and 2015. The cottage's next tenant moved in on this schedule, according to Your Observer:

1. Sept. 28: Cathedral Hospitality Holdings LLC, registered to Alma de España chef and owner Elier Rodriguez, bought the nearly 1,100-square-foot building for $1.65 million, according to Sarasota County property records.
2. Sept. 30: Alma de España closed its original location at 1830 S. Osprey Ave., near Southside Village.
3. October: The team spent the month getting the Links Avenue cottage ready.
4. Nov. 1: Grand opening, with live guitar and percussion, a flamenco performance, tapas and cocktails.

That's roughly five weeks from closing on the building to serving dinner. Alma de España's menu runs from gazpacho and paella to flan and reflects Rodriguez's Spanish training and Cuban upbringing. His résumé includes two years at the two-Michelin-star Picasso inside the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The Herald-Tribune reported that he hopes to add a patio and live guitar music. "We are trying to create something that is nice where people can go, have a meal," he said. The restaurant's website lists dinner daily from 5 to 9 p.m. and happy hour Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m.

Older places came back to their rooms too. The Herald-Tribune's October openings and closings gallery reported that downtown's Cock & Bull reopened the evening of Oct. 15, with the band Ellipsis playing and Smokin' Momma Lora's Kitchen serving from a permanent food truck. A few blocks away, Tastes of the Philippines opened in Courthouse Centre at 1987 Ringling Blvd. It serves fast-casual Filipino food in a build-your-own-box format, with proteins cooked over an open flame alongside garlic fried rice, lumpia and turon.

The Rooms Between Owners

The same pattern explains the downtown spaces that are dark right now. Each one is expected to become another restaurant.

Artisan Cheese Company closed this fall after more than 14 years. It opened in 2012 in a 1,100-square-foot storefront at 1310 Main St. and later moved to its 3,000-square-foot space at 550 Central Ave. in the Rosemary District. Owner Louise Converse told the Herald-Tribune that the landlord approved a restaurant for the space.

On State Street, Brick's Smoked Meats had already announced Oct. 10 as its last day of service ahead of new ownership. An oven fire on the morning of Oct. 6 closed it four days ahead of schedule. Your Observer reported that the fire stayed inside the oven, nobody was hurt, and Monte Silva, who runs nearby Comida, said in a Facebook post that a Mexican-themed restaurant is planned for the 1528 State St. space. Brick's had been on State Street since May 2017. It started as a weekly pop-up at the Sarasota Farmers Market.

The Slow Clock of New Construction

Projects that need new or redeveloped space move much more slowly.

Caragiulos opened in the Mira Mar building at 69 S. Palm Ave. in 1989. Your Observer first reported its planned move to Ringling Boulevard in December 2023. The restaurant reopened to the public Oct. 27, 2026, nearly a year after its last meal on Palm Avenue. The new room is about 4,300 square feet, with 150 seats, a full bar and a covered patio. Inside are a vinyl collection behind the bar and 14.5-foot gold curtains made by 87-year-old Anna Caragiulo, which her son Paul says also improve the acoustics. Back on Palm Avenue, current plans for the Mira Mar site call for two 18-story towers with 70 condominiums behind the restored historic building, whose Palm Avenue frontage is planned for shops and restaurants.

In the Rosemary District, 1000 North had been expected to open by October. It's a members-only club and restaurant whose Palm Beach County original lists Michael Jordan among its founding partners, and it would occupy two commercial condominium units in The BLVD Sarasota. At its Sept. 9 meeting, the Sarasota Planning Board voted unanimously to push the discussion to a date uncertain, citing parking, impacts on residents and the pedestrian walkway around the building, according to the Herald-Tribune.

The newest restaurant plan downtown is at The Bay. A 4,999-square-foot waterfront restaurant at the end of 10th Street, across the basin from the boat launch, reached pre-application review Oct. 7, Your Observer reported. Venice Pier Group is slated to run it, and a new floating day dock beside the site is already finished. The Bay Park Conservancy says the park has drawn more than 1.2 million visits in its first four years, so the restaurant will open into a park with a large existing audience whenever it's built.

Where the New Tables Fit Into November

For residents planning the rest of the month, the new places fall into easy groups:

• Early dinner: Mitchell's from 4:30 p.m., or Alma de España's weekday happy hour starting at 3 p.m.
• Shared plates and a drink: Baldoria's tap wall at 1528 Main, then Sorella next door if the group wants pasta.
• A long sit-down dinner: Caragiulos on Ringling Boulevard, with 150 seats and a covered patio.
• A quick lunch near the courthouse: Tastes of the Philippines at Courthouse Centre.
• Late on a weekend: SaraSocial on upper Main Street.

The holiday season brings more people downtown. The City of Sarasota lists Downtown Turkey Jam for Wednesday, Nov. 25, from 4 to 10 p.m. in the 1400 block of Lemon Avenue. It's free, with live music, food and drinks, and it's about a block from the 1500 block of Main where Baldoria and Sorella opened this fall.

At the Let's Move team, we follow downtown's storefronts address by address, because the business in a building affects the street around it. If you're thinking about a condo within walking distance of Main Street or Towles Court, Tonna Gruber can show you how this season's changes look from the buildings you're considering. Let Us Guide You Home.