What’s it Like to Take a Walking Food Tour?
Food tours are a great way to see what a city’s culinary scene has to offer.
This is Troy. Troy knows a thing or two about the Sarasota restaurant scene. Troy is also very enthusiastic. In short, Troy has what it takes to be a fantastic tour guide. When it comes to navigating the downtown Sarasota restaurant landscape, he possesses all of the ingredients that make him the perfect leader of a Sarasota food tour!
Sarasota’s downtown landscape has been changing for a while now. Yes, it’s getting bigger and in a lot of ways better. But like every growing small/medium-sized city, it has its share of challenges too.
One thing that has definitely changed, in a mostly positive way, is the downtown food scene. There are A LOT of restaurants in the area we all consider “downtown”. And the range of cuisine types that are represented is pretty crazy for a city “of our size”. As a note, I think we stack up pretty well against cities of any size.
Here’s the challenge. You’re new in town or just visiting for a couple of weeks. Of course, you want to dine at some of our fantastic Sarasota restaurants. How do you make a good choice? That is the question.
You could stumble around the internet looking for reliable restaurant reviews. I’m talking about the ones left by ACTUAL customers; not friends and family. You can buy a Sarasota dining book! (I know a really great one!). Or you can think outside the box a little…
How about a walking food tour of downtown Sarasota? That sounds like something. Right? A little exercise, some invigorating Florida sunshine, and some food and drink. If this was a math equation, it would equal perfect!
I wanted to take it a step further. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to take a Sarasota food tour if you already knew the local food community intimately. Would it be dull? Would you uncover some hidden gems? Could you make some new friends? All questions that needed to be answered. I was determined to get them, and I’m about to let you in on what I found!
Enter Key Culinary Tours. The name pretty much says it all, “culinary” and “tours”. Not a lot of guessing is required here. These are the people who are going to get your feet on the right path when it comes to a walking food tour. Let’s get this tour on the road, shall we?
These are my dining and walking companions for the afternoon. You already know Troy. He gets to eat too. We were a small but mighty group that day. I was told that the group sizes usually run a little bigger than this, but they had some cancellations due to weather. That is precisely why you should just live here (at least in the winter) rather than risk missing a potentially wonderful food experience!
The meetup spot is centrally located downtown. And with several new garages sprinkled around, parking for the three-hour tour (Spoiler Alert: this will not end like the S.S. Minnow) is usually not an issue.
Our first stop, Circo (1435 2nd St., (941) 253-0978). Yep, tacos of course. What a perfect way to get the tour rolling.
The Mongolian Beef tacos here are one of my favorites (oh, we’re doing a full-on taco piece in a couple of months, stay tuned). We had some guacamole and chips for a warm-up. Some folks had margaritas. Even though this tour took place on a Friday, I still passed on the day drinking. Looking back though…
On to stop number two, Boca Sarasota (19 S Lemon Ave., (941) 256-3565).
A little light salad starter, and then the Brie & Apple Flatbread. Yes, there were more cocktails served. Now things were getting rolling. At this point, question number three had been answered (liquor has a way of loosening people up). YES, you will make some new friends!
Stop number three was pretty unexpected. To have your food tour stop at one of your favorite downtown spots and one of our top spots every month on The LIST was a treat, to say the least. Yes, Drunken Poet Cafe Thai Bistro & Sushi Bar (1572 Main St., (941) 955-8404) was happily our third stop!
What in the world could be better than a Drunken Poet sampler plate of Red Curry, Pad Thai, and sushi? Oh, maybe some sake you’re thinking. Yes, sake was served. You’re beginning to see a pattern here I’m guessing. After people start drinking sake, question number one was answered. This tour was not dull!
We had one more stop to go. I’m a veteran food sampler. Twenty years of food writing will get you that label. But I’ll admit I was getting near capacity. At least for a Friday afternoon.
Last, of course, dessert! You didn’t think that a walking food excursion would end without a little something sweet, did you? I’m hoping that you’re better trained than that. Last stop, Mattison’s City Grille (1 N. Lemon Ave., (941) 330-0440). This train was pulling into the station on a high note. And right back where we started our journey.
With full stomachs and a running start on the weekend, the time had come to go our separate ways. Only question two remained to be answered. And that one, as I suspected, would be a little more difficult to answer. I didn’t personally find any hidden gems this afternoon (I did learn a little city history from Troy that I didn’t know). But if you were newish to Sarasota or were here on a little vacation, I am sure that you did uncover a hidden gem or two. After all, the fun is mostly in the exploration!
* A note. If you’re up in the Bradenton area, Taste Magazine conducts walking food tours of downtown Bradenton.
We didn’t forget about your links. Here are links to some things we think you might find interesting.
The Drunken Poet Café Thai Bistro & Sushi Bar
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