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Sarasota Dining

9 times out of 10 I eat at the great Amish restaurant Yoders. Not only is it amazingly good (especially
for pies and fried chicken) but Amish restaurants is the only really unique thing about Sarasota other than the circus history. Get some of the fried chicken with potato pancakes, smear the homemade bread and potato pancakes with the apple butter on the table and get a slice of their peanut butter butter or butterscotch pie.

The only other place I thought was worth a repeat visit was Inkanto.
 
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9 times out of 10 I eat at the great Amish restaurant Yoders. Not only is it amazingly good (especially
for pies and fried chicken) but Amish restaurants is the only really unique thing about Sarasota other than the circus history. Get some of the fried chicken with potato pancakes, smear the homemade bread and potato pancakes with the apple butter on the table and get a slice of their peanut butter butter or butterscotch pie.

The only other place I thought was worth a repeat visit was Inkanto.
Ah, yes, the place featured on Man v. Food. Thanks.
 
Check out St. Armands Circle. Neat place, should be easy to find some good grub. Last time we were in that area we went to Venice to a place called the Crow's Nest. I thought it was very good.
 
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Crab and Fin in the circle in St Armand's Key. Home run every time we've been - also never know who you'll see just walking around. Ran into Dickie V once with a Nole shirt on. All he had to say was "FSU Seminoles, baby!" and I offered to buy the man a drink. Funny funny guy.
 
I got you big guy...what kind of food do you like??? BBQ????
Of course I like BBQ. Go ahead and recommend a place. I will cautiously consider your suggestion. :-D I want to try the Amish place but I might not get into town early enough on the 3rd to make it. I think they close at 8:00.
 
Of course I like BBQ. Go ahead and recommend a place. I will cautiously consider your suggestion. :-D I want to try the Amish place but I might not get into town early enough on the 3rd to make it. I think they close at 8:00.

Basil's for real. If you just want a cheap, good, family type of meal go there. I don't know how they make this chicken but it is off the chain. It's grilled and it has a very unique flavor to it. They have Greek food too, gyros and such. As far as nice places are concerned I don't know Sarasota much anymore. There used to be a place called Carmichael's that was super good. Lately we just go to the Sandbar up on Anna Maria or Mar Vista on Longboat. Both are legit...
 
If someone mentions an Amish buffet called Der Dutchman, don't even consider it.
 
Of course I like BBQ. Go ahead and recommend a place. I will cautiously consider your suggestion. :-D I want to try the Amish place but I might not get into town early enough on the 3rd to make it. I think they close at 8:00.

I'm just messing around...I don't know much about Sarasota. We did eat at a restaurant in Long Boat Key that was good. It was right on the beach with a nice inside dining area and an outside area right on the beach with a beautiful view. The food was better than average...so was the cost. But it was really good.

Don't remember name though...I'm worthless. Want to maybe it had shell in the name.
 
Basil's Chicken
I still haven't tried that place yet. My wife's parents moved from Bradenton to Ft Smith Arkansas in January and I don't have any clients at the moment in Sarasota proper (I do further south in Bonita Springs and Naples) so I might not be getting down there anytime soon. But when I do, I'll give it a try thanks to your raves.
 
If someone mentions an Amish buffet called Der Dutchman, don't even consider it.

That used to be a local placed called Troyers that was actually pretty good Amish food just not quite up to Yoders level and we'd go there when Yoders was packed. But, it was bought by the Der Dutchman chain out of Ohio, so now it's just a chain restaurant masquerading as an authentic Amish place. There's nothing authentic about corporate food from Ohio.
 
I'm just messing around...I don't know much about Sarasota. We did eat at a restaurant in Long Boat Key that was good. It was right on the beach with a nice inside dining area and an outside area right on the beach with a beautiful view. The food was better than average...so was the cost. But it was really good.

Don't remember name though...I'm worthless. Want to maybe it had shell in the name.

The Chart House? I'm not sure of any other beachfront dining on Longboat...
 
I still haven't tried that place yet. My wife's parents moved from Bradenton to Ft Smith Arkansas in January and I don't have any clients at the moment in Sarasota proper (I do further south in Bonita Springs and Naples) so I might not be getting down there anytime soon. But when I do, I'll give it a try thanks to your raves.

It's superb. I wish you could try it one time so we could try to duplicate the way they make it. I've caught glimpses of them pulling whole, split, birds out of a brine (then tossing them straight on the grill) but I'm not sure what is in it to give it that distinct flavor. I'd cut off a toe on each foot to find out...

I'll tell you how good it is. My wife loves gyros and they have very good ones, the best ever maybe, but last time we were there my wife got the chicken instead. It's that good...
 
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It's superb. I wish you could try it one time so we could try to duplicate the way they make it. I've caught glimpses of them pulling whole, split, birds out of a brine (then tossing them straight on the grill) but I'm not sure what is in it to give it that distinct flavor. I'd cut off a toe on each foot to find out...

I'll tell you how good it is. My wife loves gyros and they have very good ones, the best ever maybe, but last time we were there my wife got the chicken instead. It's that good...

CMA,

In case you haven't been to AMI recently, they moved the Manatee ave store to a strip mall just west of 59th. Word is, Dunkin Donuts apparently made them an offer for the old spot that they could not refuse. They get a monthly check $$.

Also, I still can't replicate the chicken. I spatchcock the chicken and grill it on a bed of herbs but, it's still not the same. It's something to do with the marinade or brine that they use.
 
CMA,

In case you haven't been to AMI recently, they moved the Manatee ave store to a strip mall just west of 59th. Word is, Dunkin Donuts apparently made them an offer for the old spot that they could not refuse. They get a monthly check $$.

Also, I still can't replicate the chicken. I spatchcock the chicken and grill it on a bed of herbs but, it's still not the same. It's something to do with the marinade or brine that they use.

Good to know, we'll be down there soon. It's gotta be in the brine but I can't figure out what...
 
So CMan, you know I haven't eaten there but I looked around and supposedly they use a Feta brine at Basil's. I don't know if they're getting it in bulk commercially or "making" there own like in this website. But that COULD be the missing ingredient in your home attempts.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/dining/feta-brine-improves-roast-chicken.html?referrer=&_r=0

I have made my own feta once, and there was a lot of wasted brine and whey. To get it closer, you might want to try making your own fresh cheese (super simple technique) and save the whey. Then use the whey, salt and a splash of vinegar or lime to replicate the feta brine. I'm not sure if the articles technique of basically chopping up feta would get you what you really want. The real brine off of Feta would have a lot of whey in it not solid chunks of curd no matter how small.
 
So I don't know if that's the real missing ingredient but you can give it the old Trysky.
 
I tried to find a recipe to make fresh cheese but they were all overly complicated. So I'll just type it out for you.

1) Buy whole raw goat or cows milk. Do not buy the pasteurised kind at a grocery store, you have to go to a hippie store like New Leaf or Earth Faire (I'm not sure about Whole Foods) and ask them to give you the raw stuff from behind the counter, pasteurised milks will not separate properly and have already been burned.

2) Slowly (so at medium low heat at most) bring the milk up to somewhere between 72-86 degrees. The higher the temp the better the yield but the grainier the curd.

3) Combine 1 teaspoon of citric acid (easy and cheap to buy in bulk at hippie stores) with a quarter cup of water.

4) When at the desired temp, take it off the heat and start vigorously stirring. Then add about a quarter teaspoon of rennet per gallon of milk and the citric acid water mix while its stirring. Keep stirring for a minute or two then stop.

5) Let the whole thing rest for about six hours or so and it will separate into curds and whey.

6) Gently scoop the curds out using a standard issue strainer and then place it into a colander lined with cheesecloth inside a bowl or pan. Let the curds drain for about six hours. It's approximate, the longer you leave it out the firmer in texture it gets. 6 hours is basically standard goat cheese log texture. Then mix in salt and any herbs or spices you may want (I usually do half plain and half herbed with a little splash of truffle oil, minced garlic, savory (the plant), thyme, fresh coarse ground mixed peppercorn and the tiniest bit of ground fennel.

7) The liquid left behind in the pot and in the drainage pan is whey. You can use it for a number of things including that fake feta brine I was talking about. It also works good in making fresh lemonade (it doesn't look good as it looks milky but tastes better and has protein) and as a water substitute in any breads you might bake.
 
Just saw this Tribe. It's very interesting - thanks - I had no idea this was a thing. I'm going to buy some whole birds, brine them some sort of way then cook them up on Saturday. The home making the cheese seems like a lot of work. I think I'm going to throw a container or two of feta into some salt water along with some other stuff and see how it turns out...
 
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Just saw this Tribe. It's very interesting - thanks - I had no idea this was a thing. I'm going to buy some whole birds, brine them some sort of way then cook them up on Saturday. The home making the cheese seems like a lot of work. I think I'm going to throw a container or two of feta into some salt water along with some other stuff and see how it turns out...

Nah, the fresh cheese I just described is ridiculously easy and maybe ten to twenty minutes of work if that. You just have to be generally around the house as it takes about six hours to set up the curd and another six hours to drain the curd. But it's mindnumbingly easy and you would be shocked by the yield you get from even a single gallon of milk. Fresh cheese (whether goat or cow), cottage cheese, quark, burrata, feta, mozzarella and ricotta are all really basic and easy cheese making. Bries, camemberts and blues require a moderate amount of skill, more effort and a little aging. It's the cheddars, tommes, havartis, parmesans and other semihard or hard aged cheeses etc that require a lot of skill, equipment and effort.

But at the very least you should try making the fresh cheese I described, quark and cottage cheese, they are as simple and easy as it comes. The only things you need is raw milk (from hippie grocery stores), citric acid (ditto), cheesecloth (ditto again), a large pot, a colander and the only "hard to get" ingredient rennet which you can buy cheaply and easy online.
 
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