More than just gorgeous, world-class beaches, the Sarasota area boasts a range of exceptional dining options.
With choices ranging from innovative fine dining establishments to quaint waterfront hideaways bursting with Old Florida charm and everything in between, Sarasota is truly food-lover’s destination set to find its way onto America’s culinary map. Our vibrant city adores unique dining concepts and treasures its tried and true mainstays that have provided delectable food and fun for generations of visitors and residents. No matter what the craving, you can guarantee there is a menu to be found in the Sarasota area that does it and does it well.
As longtime area residents and people about town, our agents and branch managers have sought, savored and selected the preferred dining spots they enjoy sharing with guests, clients and family alike. So here—in no particular order—is the first sampling of a multi-part series highlighting some of our favorite Sarasota-area restaurants:
• The Casey Key Fish House – Laidback and relaxed, the Casey Key Fish House offers casual waterfront dining with an “Old Florida” feel in mind. A favorite spot of Longboat Key South agent Deborah Beacham, the restaurant is located just over the north bridge at Blackburn Point to Casey Key. Here you will find fresh seafood served daily from 11:30 am to 9 pm. Owner Jimmy Von Hubertz and Master Chef Willie Tia present terrific food served with warm hospitality. There are daily lunch specials—Deborah’s favorite lunch is the Caesar salad with grilled mahi—and customers rave about the ahi tuna, Bouillabaisse and almond snapper dishes available on the more extensive dinner menu. There is an outdoor section where dogs are allowed (well mannered, of course), so Deborah’s poodle is always welcome! Boat docking available. Learn more HERE.
• Madfish Grill – With a dinner menu offering a selection of Caribbean-inspired cuisine from starters and tapas to seafood to salads and sandwiches, Madfish Grill is a favorite of Siesta Key Branch Manager Debbie Judge. Located at 4059 Cattlemen Road in Sarasota, this locally owned spot serves great cuisine lending itself to the islands and a selection of great steaks. Plus, the bar area is a great place for a lively evening. Fun fact: the restaurant was a bank at one time and the private room is the old vault! Learn more HERE. (more…)
Michael Saunders & Company is proud to announce several successful closings made possible through the professional representation of our agents, who work each day to fulfill the unique needs of homebuyers nad sellers. For the week ending July 3, 2010, the below properties sold for over $1 million.
Mary Hellhake of Michael Saunders & Company closed a sale on a Key West-style custom home on Casey Key that blends perfectly with its lush surrounds and Gulf and bay waters. Mary represented the buyer, who bought the residence for $4,275,000 on July 1, 2010. The Lewis Group of Re/Max Alliance Group represented the seller.
Sarasota property sold for $1,700,000 on June 30, 2010
Kelly Quigley , Judy Limekiller, and TammyL. Garner of Michael Saunders & Company closed the sale of a 2-story custom home located in Cherokee Park. This residence has abundant natural light and consummate finishes. Kelly and Judy represented the seller, who sold the home for $1,700,000 on June 30, 2010. Tammy represented the buyer, who will appreciate the finesse and style of this property.
Pat Mudgett and Susan McLeod of Michael Saunders & Company closed the sale of a 1927 Mediterranean Revival-style estate located in Sarasota. All the charm and history that one can expect a home of this caliber is present. Pat represented the seller, who sold the home for $1,450,000 on June 30, 2010. Susan represented the buyer, who appreciates the wrought iron gates, main house and guest cottage surrounded by an open pool.
Siesta Key property sold for $1,395,000 on June 30, 2010
Bryan Flippen and Lee Dillon of Michael Saunders & Company closed on a listing located in the Orchid Beach Club Residences, Siesta Key on June 30, 2010 with a sale price of $1,395,000. Signature Sotheby’s represented the buyer.
Whitney Eichenberger of Michael Saunders & Company sold a listing at Summer Cove, Siesta Key on June 28, 2010 for $1,200,000. JD Culp represented the buyer.
Susan Fox of Michael Saunders & Company represented the buyer on June 30, 2010 for a condominium in the Water Club on Longboat Key. Sale price was $1,150,000. Coldwell Banker represented the seller.
Summer Cove condominium sold for $1,200,000 on June 28, 2010
Bibiann Allard and Jennifer Schwell of Michael Saunders & Company closed on a condominium located in Marina Bay on Longboat Key on June 30, 2010. Sale price was $1,125,000. Bibiann represented the seller and Jennifer represented the buyer.
Richard Perlman of Michael Saunders & Company represented the buyer for a condominium located in Grand Bay, Longboat Key on June 30, 2010. The sale price was $1,100,000. Coldwell Banker represented the seller.
Carol Aviles of Michael Saunders & Company represented the seller of a property that sold for $1,050,000 located in the Longboat Key Towers on July 2, 2010. Prudential Palms represented the buyer.
Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on April 28, 2010
CASEY KEY is a unique island retreat that it consists almost entirely of single-family homes and private, lush waterfront estates. Vintage beach bungalows are nestled between large elegant homes up and down the island, both on the bay side and the gulf side.
Casey Key residents dwell on this eight-mile long barrier island, with no high rises and no traffic lights. Homes here exude a unique blend of wealth, elegance, and old-Florida charm.
Downtown Sarasota sparkles at night and reflects off the calm waters of Sarasota Bay.
The web’s most popular social network sites are still buzzing about Sarasota’s recent placement as the #1 city in the United States to buy a home according to real estate maven Barbara Corcoran on NBC’s Today Show. The criterion for her list was simple: these are the cities in which prices have dropped the most, but have seen a boost in the last fiscal quarter.
While those of us who already live in this preferred destination have been aware of its charms for some time, interested homebuyers from around the nation have been zeroing in on our area upon hearing this recent spotlight of hope that has been pointed in our direction. To help them along, we are proud to present the top 10 reasons why now is the right time to choose Sarasota as a place to live: (more…)
The end of summer never indicates the end of beach days on Florida's Gulf Coast
As the summer season winds to an end, we find it perfectly fitting to boast the beautiful weather that defines Florida’s Gulf Coast. While those up north are readying their snow shovels, winter coats and heating systems, we here can continue donning our bathing attire to enjoy a few more months of frolicking on our favorite area beaches—some of which are renowned as among the world’s very best.
To send a taste of our tropical splendor to our cold weather friends, we present the top 10 beaches on Florida’s Southwest Coast. To help guide travelers on their journey down, these spots are listed from north to south. (more…)
Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on March 3, 2009
Casey Key is one of those pleasantly unexpected places where your first impression, almost from the moment your front tires roll onto the island, could easily be summed-up by the legendary cinematic understatement of 1939: “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
No sooner do you cross the historic Blackburn Point Swing Bridge—which has linked the north end of Casey Key to the town of Osprey since 1925—than you realize the only real similarity between Casey and its more familiar cousins to the north, Siesta and Longboat, is the word “Key” in their names. Each of these islands has its own extraordinary ambiance, with Casey being one of breathtaking tropical seclusion amid an atmosphere of unmistakable affluence. It’s impossible to travel its eight mile length without uttering the word “wow” at least a dozen times.
At some places along the key you can easily lob a seashell across the entire width of the island. At others you’ll spot some of the Gulf Coast’s most splendid residential compounds stretching luxuriously from gulf to bay; their sumptuous environs buffered by acres of lush native landscape. Let there be no doubt, if you live in the estate section of Casey Key—which is to say most of the island—you’ve definitely “arrived.” Although several well-known people have homes on Casey Key, what makes it so desirable is not who lives there, but why so many successful people from all walks of life opt for this small, secluded jewel box of an island.
Is Casey Key secluded? Definitely.Is it isolated? Not at all. All the conveniences and attractions of Sarasota are just a few miles north; the pleasures and conveniences of downtown Venice just a few minutes south. Both are easily accessed from the key’s two bridges, with the much newer Albee Road Drawbridge linking the mainland to the key’s southern end.
Gracing Nokomis Beach, just in from the drawbridge, is the superbly restored Nokomis Beach Pavilion, a fine example of the famed Sarasota School of Architecture; and one of the first major works by architect Jack West, who also designed Sarasota’s City Hall. Dedicated in 1956, then rehabbed and rededicated in 2008, the structure was Sarasota County’s first beach pavilion. Its thin horizontal roof lines and slender vertical supports provide a classic example of the minimalist forms associated with mid-century modern architecture; a movement in which Sarasota architects figured prominently throughout the 1940’s, ‘50’s and ‘60’s. Just south of here you’ll find North Jetty Park, where you can buy bait, fish along the jetty or enjoy a sunrise cup of coffee as you watch fishing boats head out to sea.
Less obvious than its natural beauty and splendid seclusion are the more practical reasons why Casey Key is such an inviting place to buy or build. Chief among them: Although no area in Florida has been totally immune to the on-going real estate correction, Casey Key will forever have room for only 400 properties while enforcing minimal commercial activity and a ban on high-rise structures. Most properties front the beach, the bay—or both; making Casey Key that much more of a rare and coveted commodity. Because the eight-mile strand of properties can never get longer, sprawl inland or soar upward, demand for Casey Key properties has itself soared upward in recent years compared with Sarasota County’s other barrier islands.
Since 2000, 68 single-family homes valued from $3 million and above have sold on Casey Key; 40 of them in only the past four years (2005-2008). Compare this to just 18 single-family home sales over the past four years on Lido/St. Armands Key, 25 on Longboat Key, 35 on Siesta Key and 18 on Bird Key and you can see how demand for Casey Key’s limited supply of properties has significantly outpaced its much larger sister islands. And since prices have essentially corrected back to where they were in 2002/2003—before the boom—today’s buyer is that much closer to enjoying a resumption in normalized property appreciation.
If you approach the island from the south bridge you can jump right into the spirit of the key by stopping for a casual waterfront meal at either one of the two restaurants that occupy the east bank of the Intracoastal Waterway.You’ll find Pop’s Sunset Grill and Pelican Alley Restaurant just to your left as you approach the Albee Road Drawbridge. On the north end, the Casey Key Fish House is just to your left after you cross the Blackburn Point Swing Bridge. Each is a revered neighborhood establishment where fresh seafood rules the menu, water rules the view and the ambiance is decidedly old-Florida casual. Directly across from the Fish House is Casey Key’s very own, privately run, not-for-profit library.
The words “old Florida casual” truly sum-up the Casey Key experience. Sure there are grand new homes at nearly every bend in the road, but they co-exist rather nicely with the island’s vintage homes and classic beach bungalows; as if it was somehow meant to be like this. The many different styles of homes—stretching from one end of the key to the other—are thread together by Casey Key Road, a quaint two-lane thoroughfare where you best be watchful for oncoming traffic, cyclists and pedestrians. You’ll want to idle along slowly anyway to feast on the homes and chew the fabulous old-Florida scenery, especially where canopies of green suddenly make way for a drive along the azure shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico. Toto, stop the car. This is the rainbow’s end.
