A Savory surprise at night

Located in Citrus Square, just north of Fruitville Road on the corner of 4th and Orange, the Savory Street International Café & Bakery introduced their fresh-baked, wonderfully prepared breakfast and lunch menu to Sarasota in April of 2010. With a bright, casually elegant décor, a traditional menu with an international flair and style, consistent excellence from the kitchen and a genuine desire to provide a high-quality differentiated cuisine, one could only surmise Savory might have more to offer.

Evolution and Transformation

After some minor changes to décor and slight cosmetic upgrades in the summer and fall of 2011, Savory’s physical evolution was complete. With some careful dinner menu planning, Savory Street International Café was ready to introduce their signature dinner service, Savory@Night.

Every Tuesday through Saturday evening, a transformation occurs at Savory Street. The casual daytime café becomes a refined white-tablecloth bistro at night. Even though the transformation is relatively minor, the impact is dramatic.

The transformed ambience clearly sets the expectation for a more upscale, yet casual dining experience. The menu offers a wide selection of appetizers, salads, and entrees supporting the upscaled expectation. For our dinners we chose the following:

• 7 Wonders Salad: Roasted beets, goat cheese, citrus segments, jicama, toasted peanuts and palmitos on a bed of red oak lettuce with a citrus mustard dressing, served in a Parmesan nest.  $10.00 Beautiful presentation with a wonderfully fresh collection of citrus and sweet flavors and textures. Cool and crunchy, every forkful a treat.
• Asparagus Savory Signature Salad: Grilled asparagus, roasted wild mushrooms, baby arugula, Cabrales blue cheese, roasted red peppers. Dressed with caramelized onion vinaigrette.   $10.00 A cool, colorful presentation. Tender, silky, creamy texture with a slightly tangy flavor from the dressing.
• Tapas Savory: An assortment of mini Mexican botanas: chicken flautas, pumpkin flower and cheese quesadilla and potato and horizo pambazo.   $9.00 Warm and savory, each bite offering a burst of flavor
• Empenadas Argentinas: A duo of savory, flaky pastries filled with beef picadillo or corn and Manchego cheese, served with chimichurri sauce. $8.00 Two warm, savory pastries, one filled with slightly spicy beef and the other with a rich creamy sweet cheese. A very nice combination and presentation.
• Veggie Pyramid: A stack of roasted Portobello mushrooms, eggplant, blue corn polenta, spinach, tomato and toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) with poblano cream sauce.  $9.00 A depth and range of flavors and textures from the rich, earthy mushrooms to the sweet tomatoes.
• Paella: Saffron rice, mussels, clams, shrimp, squid, roasted red peppers.  $24.00 We wish there was a way to capture and share the smell of the nice-sized portion, full of seafood with mouthwatering flavor and color.
• Mar & Tierra: Large shrimp, seared scallops and petite filet with poblano demi-glace served with a chorizo-cheese potato croqueta.   $29.00 Very fresh; nicely seared on the outside, yet moist and tender inside. The demi-glace added a sweet, spicy flavor … perfect.
• Ravioli de Langosta: Lobster-filled raviolis with sautéed oyster mushrooms, fresh basil and roasted garlic in a yellow tomato-achiote cream with lobster garnish.   $28.00

  Rich, luscious, creamy and delicious, with a great “dipping” sauce for bread.

• Seafood Pasta al Poblano: Shrimp, scallops, calamari rings, mahi-mahi, clams and mussels, delightfully mixed in a creamy sauce of roasted poblano pepper and cilantro.   $26.00 Mouth-sized chunks of seafood, clams, and mussels swimming in a creamy, slightly spicy sauce. Very satisfying and filling.

Savory@Night offers a limited selection of beer and wine to accompany your meal. The waitstaff is friendly, knowledgeable, professional and efficient.

For a city of its size, Sarasota has a plethora of fine restaurants. The Savory Street International Café & Bakery has created an interesting dining distinction.With Savory@Night every Tuesday through Saturday, diners are presented with a restaurant within a restaurant: casual café by day, and lively bistro by night. It's the type of place where lingering conversation, food and wine all combine to make for an enjoyable evening.

Savory Street International Café & Bakery

411 North Orange Ave.

Citrus Square

Sarasota, FL 34236

941-312-4027

http://thesavorystreet.com/wp/