The New Shore Restaurant & Shop on Longboat Key

After three years of construction, Shore opened on Longboat Key in the summer of 2019 replacing Moore’s Stone Crab which operated for over 40 years. Purchased by Tom Leonard and Mark Caragiulo for $3.2 million, the new Shore which is sandwiched between the Longboat Key public pier and Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub sits on 400 feet of waterfront with a 300-foot dock that offers bayside access to boaters. Boasting clear, panoramic views of Sarasota Bay, the new Shore seems poised to become a Longboat Key staple. The restaurant features what owner Tom Leonard calls “stadium-style” seating, with a slanted design that gives every table an uninterrupted view of the water, and the outdoor seating area is covered by a retractable roof. Leonard says he wanted the restaurant to be warm and intimate, but modern at the same time. Shore's inspired menu of creative coastal cuisine showcases sensational dishes such as Key West Shrimp and Scallop Risotto, Lump Blue Crab Cakes, Lobster Sliders, Fish Tacos and their sensational Lobster, Shrimp & Crab Cobb Salad with avocado, bacon, egg and chopped romaine lettuce with a yuzu-tarragon vinaigrette. 

Clear panoramic views of Sarasota Bay

Seating areas are scattered throughout the open air restaurant 

The modern interior with “stadium-style” seating gives every table an uninterrupted view of the water, and is covered by a retractable roof

Shore's signature Mai Tai

Shrimp Ceviche & Guacamole with Toasted Cumin Corn Tortillas

Rustic Rosemary Olive Bread with Smoked Salmon, Herb & Shallot Goat Cheese and Spinach Eggplant Spreads

Fish Tacos made with Black Grouper, Slaw, Mango Scallion Salad and Avocado Crème Fraiche on Flour Tortillas with Truffle Fries

Black Grouper Fish Taco toped with Mango Scallion Salad and Avocado Crème Fraiche

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Butter Lettuce Salad and Grilled Shrimp with Candied Pecans, Shallots, Parmesan and Mustard Lemon Vinaigrette

Crabcake Sandwich made with 100% Blue Lump Crab, Dill Wasabi Mayo Brioche Bun, Asian Cucumber Slaw and Truffle Fries

Lobster, Shrimp and Crab Cobb Salad with avocado, egg, tomato and a Meyer lemon-vinaigrette

www.dineshore.com

Harry's Continental Kitchen on Longboat Key

A Longboat Key institution and a mini gourmet empire, Harry’s offers fine globally inspired cuisine in its charming dining room, and also catering services, plus a corner store, deli and wine shop. Located on the corner of Gulf of Mexico Drive and St. Judes Drive, Harry's serves wonderfully fresh and beautifully prepared food — what they call “coastal cuisine” — in a white-on-white dining room and pleasant outdoor patio, serving popular favourites such as their famous Crab Cakes, Chunky Gazpacho, Shrimp-Cargot, Florida Gulf of Mexico Grouper pan seared with tropical risotto and mango gastrique, Roast Duck with wild berry sauce, in addition to their decadent dessert and specialty coffee list including Banana Cream Pie, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Vanilla Crème Brûlée  and popular Key Lime Pie. The bar knows its way around a dry martini, and there are a handful of good wines by the glass, as well as a more extensive list by the bottle. Harry’s incredible creations are available at Harry and his wife Lynn's award-winning restaurant, as well as Harry’s Gourmet Deli & Wine Store which offers gourmet food to-go and through Harry’s Coastal Catering. Delighting diners on Longboat Key for years, Harry's continues to attract a dedicated clientele with a spoonful of love and splash of panache. 

Harry's Bloody Mary

Iced Tea

Warm homemade scones and banana bread

Harry's German Apple Pancake

Ahi Tuna Stack

Grilled Reuben with corned beef, sauerkraut and Russian dressing

Seafood Omelette with crabmeat and shrimps

harryskitchen.com

Harry’s Fish Tacos
Serves 2
Recipe courtesy of Chef Harry Christensen 

Cajun seasoning 
6 oz of local red grouper
Colby Jack Cheese, shredded
Six-inch flour tortillas
Shredded napa cabbage and sliced red pepper, mixed together

Pico de Gallo:
3 tomatoes, diced
1 Anaheim pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 lime, squeezed
Salt to taste

Baja Sauce:
8 oz sour cream
8 oz mayonnaise
1 tbsp minced chipotle with Adobo sauce
1 lime, juiced
2 oz cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste


Combine each of the ingredients together for the Pico de Gallo and Baja Sauce in two separate bowls, add salt to taste, and set aside. Heat a non-stick skillet on high heat. Dust the grouper with seasoning and sear on all sides until cooked through. Warm tortillas in oven or on grill. To assemble the tacos, place the Colby Jack cheese on each tortilla, top with grouper, then garnish with with Pico de Gallo, cabbage pepper mix and Baja sauce. Serve straight away with a cold beer.

Merry Scrumpdillyicious Christmas to All!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Let your heart be light

From now on,

our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Make the Yule-tide gay,

From now on, 

our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,

Happy golden days of yore.

Faithful friends who are dear to us

Gather near to us once more.

Through the years 

We all will be together,

If the Fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.

And have yourself A merry little Christmas now. 

Blu Kouzina Greek Cuisine: A Gem on St Armands

One of the best restaurants on St Armands Circle is Blu Kouzina, a lovely Greek taverna run by owners Chef Effie and Denise Tsakris, that was born out of the founders' love of sharing a hearty meal with friends, spiced with quality olive oil and accompanied with good wine. The Tskarises are of Greek descent, but were born and grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, and then moved to Singapore where the couple ran a very successful restaurant also called Blu Kouzina. The couple wasn’t looking to own a restaurant in Florida, but one day, when Effie and her mother saw an empty space on St. Armands Circle, she thought it would be nice to open a place here, so in March 2015, Effie and Dennis opened Blu Kouzina, bringing their signature, wholesome Greek cooking to the Sunshine State. 

Fresh quality ingredients, mostly grown organically, and sourced from well established, local producers are used in dishes that are both traditional and creatively contemporary with uniquely Greek flavours with ingredients like dried oregano, seafood and wine that are especially flown from Greece, including the family's own olive oil, which comes from their own trees that are more than 500 years old. The interior, drawn from the traditional blue and white palette of a beach taverna, is detailed with whitewashed furniture, nautical accents and beautiful honey-coloured stone tile flooring. Blu Kouzina serves traditional and modern Greek recipes with the freshest of ingredients, such as Moussaka, homemade Baklava and lighter tapas-style dishes like the roasted red peppers stuffed with tangy, melty, spicy feta cheese to fresh grilled Greek sardines and octopus. By marrying their passion for the food of their native Greece, their warm welcoming hospitality and personalized service, Blu Kouzina is like a bold breeze off the Aegean Sea — a little gem on Sarasotas's culinary scene.

The blue and white Greek Taverna-style interior of Blu Kouzina

Even the water and glasses embrace the blue theme

Homemade Dolmades with tzatziki

2018 Thalassitis Greek white wine

A selection of fresh fish that can be grilled and served whole or filleted 

Grilled Octopus

French Cut Pork Chops

Chicken Skewer served with fresh onion, sliced tomato, in-house baked bread with a side of tzatziki

Grilled whole Branzino with green beans and roast potatoes

blukouzina.com/US/menu

A Merry Christmas Culinary Journey to Longboat Key

A Very Merry Christmas Culinary Journey to Longboat Key, Florida

December 20 - 31, 2019 

Scrumpdillyicious will be touring South Florida's Gulf Coast this Christmas, on a culinary and cultural journey from Longboat Key, Anna Maria Island and Sarasota and up to St. Petersburg, capturing all of the seasonal festivities in this little corner of paradise, renowned for it's sugar-sand beaches, fabulous cuisine, stunning Spanish style architecture and thriving arts scene. 

Join me online each day for a Christmas Culinary & Cultural Journey that will take us from beautiful Longboat Key and St Armand's Circle then journey up to St Petersburg, home to the renowned Dali Museum and south to Venice and Naples, as we explore the diverse culinary influences and regional ingredients of South Florida cuisine. So grab your appetite as we head south for a few very merry weeks of Christmas culinary and cultural snooping!

A Taste of Palermo: Ballarò, Il Capo & Vucirria Market

Palermo has a rich history as being the most conquered city in the world. A prime example of this are the bustling street markets that first emerged during Arab rule, thousands of years ago. Known worldwide for being an authentic explosion of colours and enchanting scents of fresh products such as fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, Sicilian markets are always very crowded and noisy but this is their peculiarity: vendors shout very loud – and in dialect, of course – to attract locals and tourists and to promote their tasty specialties. Palermo boasts three famous street markets which are il Capo, Vucciria – which means “chaos” in local dialect – and Ballarò which is one of the oldest. A place that awakens all of the senses, the name Ballarò has ancient arab origins, which explains the similarity to Arab suqs. Il Capo is another area that remains virtually unchanged since the time of Arab rule. Along with Ballarò, these two are the most significant and true-to-life representations of street markets from this historically influential time in Palermo history, alive with vendors shouting, colours everywhere, and a lingering folklore of days gone by. With the exception of some Norman-Arab architecture and a number of words in the Sicilian language, the markets are perhaps the best-preserved of Sicily's Arab traditions, and a splendid way to spend a day exploring and savouring true Palermo.

A mountain of fresh Sicilian tomatoes

Setting up a display of lovely green apples in Ballarò

Prickly pears are generically known in Sicily as fichi d'India – Indian figs

Crates of large Sicilian eggplant

Enormously long 'Serpent of Sicily' are a mild squash that can be treated as a zucchini

Fresh squeezed pomegranate and blood orange juice

Known as frutta di Martorana, these life-like fruits appear real, but are made of marzipan

Local Sicilian cheeses and fresh pots of flavoured Ricotta

Selling cooked octopus dressed with olive oil and lemon juice

Feasting on all the sights and sounds of a busy market day

A rather grumpy fishmonger but his swordfish looks fabulous

Anchovies and sardines - freshly smoked, salted and in oil

A spiffy red 3-wheel Piaggia is an anchovy shop on wheels 

A maze of cobblestone streets connect Ballarò to Mercato del Capo

Mercato del Capo is Palermo's historic fish market, characterized by the colours and 'abbanniate' or shouts of sellers

Artfully tied fish at Il Capo

Fresh pink filleted sardines

Small tender calamaretti

Gorgeous pink locally caught shrimp

Whole swordfish area common site in Sicilian fish markets

Fishmonger slicing gorgeous pieces of swordfish

A mountain of plump Sicilian olives

Il Capo Market Fritturia, a small stall selling fresh fried fish

The market was bustling on a warm Palermo weekend

Il Maestro del Brodo in the historic Vucciria Market

Fresh fish and shrimp on ice in the front of Il Maestro

Il Maestro del Brodo revels in Italian soul-food classics, whether it be tortellini in broth, zucchini-and-prawn risotto, or grilled fresh fish

Il Maestro del Brodo menu specializes in fish and seafood

Local white wine 

Zuppa di Cozze: Mussel Soup with tomatoes

Spaghetti con Vongole, Gamberi, Ricci e Rucola Croccante: Spaghetti with clams, shrimp, sea urchin, and fried rocket

Risotto ai Sapori di Mare: Seafood Risotto with mussels, clams, shrimp and squid

Trancio di Pesce Spada alla Griglia: Grilled Swordfish

www.facebook.com/maestrodelbrodo