Barnacle Bill's lunch

Seafood Crepes
Sesame-encrusted Salmon Salad

For this experience, our Protagonist left behind the all-you-can-eat attitude of the first Barnacle Bills experience and picked a nice selection off of the "recession specials" list.  The Seafood Crepes had a nice amount of seafood, and the crepes, themselves were very light and tender crepes.  There was nothing extraordinary about the veloute that the seafood had been prepared in, but it was pleasant enough.  The obligatory accompaniment of coleslaw was serviceable; thankfully, it had not been drowned in too much dressing as is the bane of many a restaurant.  His dining partner ordered the salad; the salmon was crusted with both white and black sesame for a nice color combination which also packed a slightly more peppery punch.  Our Protagonist, having recently discovered the pleasures of black tahini, is a fan of the black sesame, for certain.  Overall, the lunch was fine and reasonably priced; while our Protagonist probably wouldn't make a point of coming back just to eat here for lunch, he wouldn't be disappointed if the suggestion were made, either.  At least it isn't Cafe Americano...

Barnacle Bill's
1526 Main Street
Sarasota, FL 34236

941-365-6800

Patrick's

Kress Burger (Bacon Cheese Burger with lettuce, tomato, onion rings, and side of chili)
Bacon Cheese Burger

Sometimes one cannot live on gourmet food alone; one must also indulge in the occasional burger.  Our Protagonist, having heard good things about Patrick’s, decided the experiment was in order.  To get more bang for his buck, a Kress Burger was decided upon with both chili and fries to get a good smattering of different tastes.  The server assured the chili was good.  It was fine.  For comparison's sake, he chili at Waffle House is also fine; nothing to write home about, but edible.  The fries were fries; nothing bad, nothing particularly outstanding except a good outer crunch.  The onion rings rated more words; a nice outside batter, crispy, tender inside.  These were quickly conscripted as a burger topping along with the choice of freshly sliced bleu cheese.  The burger, itself, was cooked exactly to order, a beautiful medium rare, which few places know how to do properly.  His dining partner also got his medium rare, but ate more daintily with a knife and fork.  He was also saving half for later, so he carefully bisected his meal.  A good burger, however, is easily recognized by the request for more napkins, which became an emergency at one point, with our Protagonist's dining partner play-acting as the mirror to an obviously messy face that needed a mother’s attention.  The knife-and-fork procedure, though, did reveal the perfection to which the burger was cooked; it looked like something out of a grocery store circular advertising ground beef for the Fourth of July, with the textbook searing cocooning the light pink inside and finally morphing into the beautiful warm red center.  Lovely.  Perhaps the sides aren’t that special, but the burger clearly is something done “well” here, and still at discount prices, to boot!

Patrick's
1481 Main Street
Sarasota, FL 34236
941-955-1481

Derek's Culinary Casual

Yellow Fin Tuna Tartare
Prince Edward Island Mussels
Duck Two Ways
Braised Lamb Shank
Banana Cream Custard
Poached Pear
Smores

Our Protagonist had heard many good things about Derek's, and he was not to be disappointed.  It was truly eye-rolling pleasure from start to finish.  The mussels came in a treatment of a spicy tomato broth with garbanzos that still had "bite" to them, and the addition of sweet peppers and house-made chorizo meant that every last drop of sauce was consumed, thanks to the grilled bread that was served alongside.  Speaking of bread, the tiny brioche/biscuit/mini-popover that was served to the table was just lovely in its cheesy goodness.  One dining companion shared his Yellow Fin Tuna Tartare, a generous portion accompanied by kimchee; the taste combination subtle, but good.  Another dining companion ordered the lamb shank, a quasi-Morrocan dish featuring a fig puree and preserved lemons, but served alongside root vegetables to anchor a hearty wintertime meal.  It was fall-apart tender, just as it should be; in short order, his plate was empty.  Our Protagonist went with the Duck Two Ways; the duck breast was perfectly seared outside, with a juicy medium rare inside.  The pecan crusted leg confit was extraordinary, especially paired with the creamed spaetzle.  The bacon braised greens with burnt honey jus were a perfect complement to the comfort food-like concept of the platter; it was exactly what he wanted.  Dessert proved a slight argument, but all ended up happy.  One companion's banana cream custard with riccotta doughnuts was nice, but didn't approach the show stopping power of the flavors of the Pear poached in lavender and honey, topped with goat cheese ice cream, and sitting in a spicy bed of black pepper caramel sauce.  Eyeopening, to say the least.  Our Protagonist's choice was switched from the Frozen Trio due to a change of menu to the Smores; a homemade marshmallow caramelized atop a coffee mug of chocolate pate, or, the most haute cuisine take on Swiss Miss one could ever imagine.  All that was missing was the crackling fire and cozy blanket.  The silent nods of approval abounded, just as they had throughout the course of the meal.  Service was unhurried, to say the least, but when the food was finally ordered, the dishes arrived in good order. One would become easily frustrated if they were in a rush to be somewhere afterward.  Thankfully, a good bottle of wine softens the edge of such things...and paves the way for a second visit in the hopefully-not-too-distant future.

Derek's Culinary Casual
514 Central Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34236

941-366-6565

Caribbean Pie Company

Cuban Divorce Soup
Southwestern Panino
Key Lime Pie
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Today our Protagonist decided to take up the challenge of the best Key Lime Pie in town.  Unfortunately, the particular variety he was looking for was out, today.  But before we come to that, we must explore the rest of his lunch.  The Cuban Divorce (the opposite of Mexican Wedding, apparently), a hearty white bean and shredded pork soup,  was nicely seasoned, the white beans still slightly firm to the bite.  The Southwestern Panino called to our Protagonist with its spicy guacamole aioli, but it could have used more kick.  He felt it was slightly "gringo-fied" in it's southwestern-ness; a pandering, if you will, to Yankee tastes that can't abide spices.  Our Protagonist, being a hedonist at heart, prefers to be overwhelmed by spices rather than underwhelmed.  Well, within reason of course.  And now we come to the main event; Key Lime pie samples abounded, and were very creamy, with a lovely consistency to the graham cracker crust which just crumbled to the touch.  His dining companion thought the chocolate peanut butter cream pie was just as good as Dutch Heritage.  Of course, with Yoder's being the locally accepted pie standard, we wonder how it would stand up in a taste test.  A return visit to sample more Key Lime Pie must be in order to better round out the survey, although this particular experience did prove most promising.

Caribbean Pie Company
1952 Main Street
Sarasota, FL 34236
941-953-5758