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03/01/2005 Archived Entry: "Back from Florida"

I’m back where I belong – Brooklyn. Florida does not agree with me. Palm trees don’t turn me on. Bare branches against a little snow look better to me. The clear, crisp light of New York winter, even the cold temperature, appeals to me more than the sun and warmth.

On the other hand, I can see how a winter escape to Sarasota can be a very pleasant thing. I was in Tampa, Sarasota, then Boca Raton, Delray and Boynton Beach. Sarasota is a real city, and I am a city boy. There are people on the streets. The streets have shops and cafes. There are theaters, even an opera house, not that I need an opera house in my life. I don’t know how long Sarasota is going to be able to keep its old character, however. The huge, high-rise condos facing the Gulf of Mexico are so expensive that eventually the commercial real estate on the streets behind them may get so high-priced that the small shops won’t be able to afford them. Can chain stores be far behind?

One good sign, re chain stores, however, is that a Whole Foods supermarket has opened in downtown Sarasota. For one thing, Whole Foods will carry products that you can’t find in south Florida. This is hard to believe, but the Publix supermarket where I taught an Italian-American class, had no canned tomatoes from Italy. They didn’t even have Italian-style tomatoes from California, only the round type. And they were doing an Italian foods promotion! Whole Foods is a sure sign that the gastronomy of Sarasota is about to improve. Where there is increased demand for better produce and groceries there will be a restaurant renaissance, too.

Sarasota is full of restaurants and cafes open to the street, which is delightful, but the level of the food served in them seems to appear rather low. I went, for instance, to the famous Columbia restaurant. It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. Actually, in this largely retirement community, every day is Saturday, so for all I know it’s this crowded on Tuesdays. Anyway, the famous Cuban sandwich was no more than acceptable. The famous house salad, a tossed version of a chef’s salad, was perfectly pleasant, but no more. There is supposedly a secret ingredient in the dressing. It tastes like just oil and vinegar to me, but I did see a waiter, tossing it nearby, add a little Worcestershire. It didn’t seem very secret to me. The restaurant’s famous sangria was excellent, by the way, but I wouldn’t buy the powdered sangria base they sell in the gift shop. I tasted that, too, and it doesn’t measure up to the fresh version. On the other hand, I was very tempted to buy one of the pretty Spanish ceramic sangria pitchers – only $15. Whatever the food, I loved Columbia.

My best meal in Sarasota may well have been the ice cream sundaes my hosts, Sue and Dan Brady, served for dinner one night. We had eaten a big lunch and decided we didn’t really need to eat dinner, so we sat in front of the TV and had hot fudge sundaes. Dan and Sue say this is what retirement is all about. You get to do whatever you want, even though it may be silly. I had a grand time with them. They are the parents of my former assistant, Sean Brady, who has been living in Italy (Salerno) to learn Italian. They moved down to Sarasota last year and love it. With them, I went to the Ringling Museum, a complex with John and Maude Ringling’s Venetian gothic mansion, art museum, and circus museum. All three are fascinating, but I particularly love house tours. The Ringling Circus used to winter in Sarasota. Dan and Sue are stimulated company, which is one reason I liked Sarasota so much.

The other reason, besides the city itself, was Judi Gallagher, who is the queen of all food media in Sarasota. She is a delight, and I was thrilled, too, to be a guest on her TV program – to be aired sometime in April or May – and her radio show. And she introduced us to the Beach Bistro, which is considered by most locals and guide books to be one of the best restaurants on the Gulf Coast, not merely Sarasota. Sean Murphy was our very charming host. He runs a tight ship and follows the number one rule of all great restaurants – say hello to everyone who walks in, say goodbye to everyone who leaves. It’s amazing, but all kinds of goofs and gaffs can be made between the hello and goodbye. All is forgiven if you give personal attention.

There were no goofs or gaffs during our dinner, which actually started in the car getting there. The restaurant is on the beach on Anna Maria island, which is after Long Boat Key. (I am still confused about the difference between an island and a key – obviously further research is needed.) There is only one lane in each direction and traffic can be bad and it can take nearly an hour from downtown, so Sean sent us some crab cocktails in Martini glasses to hold us over during the ride. And champagne. Let it suffice to say that the rack of lamb – big, American lamb chops – was the best I have had in years. The biggest seller in the restaurant, however, is coconut crusted grouper. I can see why. It has a crunchy, sweet crust over the moist, meaty fish; a very appealing combination to Americans. We love sweet, and we don’t really, really like fish.

Like all “society” restaurants -- and Beach Bistro is expensive so it attracts the upper echelons of Sarasota, plus special occasion business -- the tables are close together. I know people who complain about such things, but as I used to say about Le Cirque, when it is Bill Cosby or Ivana Trump whose thigh is rubbing yours, you don’t mind the crowding so much. Beach Bistro is like that. Although I didn’t see any celebrities the night I was there, they do come.

My goal in Florida was not to visit friends or check out restaurants, however. I was there to promote Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food . To that end, I was interviewed by a number of Florida newspapers, I taught classes at Tampa and Sarasota Publix markets, and I gave talks and signed books at the Sarasota Barnes & Noble, and then the Boynton Beach B&N. In Delray, I also did a breakfast talk at the Levenger’s store. Levenger’s is a catalog company and now retail store for serious readers, carrying everything from gorgeous leather furniture to snuggle in with a book to pens and bookmarks. Wherever I went, I left behind autographed copies of the book. If you live in Florida and need a gift, may I be so self-promotional as to recommend my book? It is a beautiful book with color photos on every page – archival material like old menus and postcards, plus contemporary photos taken by the great photographer Chris Callis. It is more a reading book – as Levenger’s noted – than a cookbook, but it does have more than 100 legendary recipes.