Roast Restaurant: The one to break the streak?

The No.1 mantra in real estate is “location, location location.” When deciding where to open a new restaurant, this mantra also holds true. So, why has the historic I.R. Burns & H.H. Bell building been a seemingly revolving door of restaurant openings and closings over the years? The short answer: location alone does not guarantee success.

The newest restaurant to occupy this charmed, historic space on First Street, adjacent to the Sarasota Opera House, is Roast. Poised to change the location’s restaurant dynamics, Roast’s food, style, décor and overall ambience seem in harmony with the building’s historic roots: simple, yet classic, and with hints of tradition.

Promising a creative, modern American cuisine with a European flair, Roast’s menu offers a wide selection of soups, salads, appetizers, small plates, meats and seafood. This is an ideal dining option for people with varied tastes. In other words, there is something for everyone on this menu. For our meals, we chose the following:

• Roast Beet Salad: Goat curd, truffled honey. $7.00 A fresh, flavorful, sweet and tangy combination.
• Local Greens Salad: Shaved shallots and sherry parmesan. $5.00 Fresh. A great way to start a meal.
• Endive, Maytag blue, walnut, celery and apple salad. $7.00

  An interesting presentation: light and refreshing, a cross between a finger food and a salad. A wonderful blend of flavors and textures, with just the right amount of crunch.

  

• Sausage Cooked Quail Eggs: $6.00 A deliciously rich and visually pleasing presentation. Superb, and not something you often see on a menu. An outstanding brunch item.
• Seared Scallops: Appetizer with boudin noir, cauliflower puree and red wine. $9.00 A simple presentation, featuring sweet scallops and rich/briny sausage. A tremendous flavor combo.
• Signature Beef Sliders: With truffled cheese, onion crisps and Deep South bacon. (3) $9.00 Bacon, beef and truffled cheese. What better combination of flavors and textures? Rich, mouthwatering and flavorful.
• Pork Sliders: With apple sauce stuffing. (3) $9.00 Great appetizer for sharing, or eat it yourself for dinner. Awesome salty/sweet combo!
• Grilled Lamb Flatbread: With eggplant and cilantro. $5 half/$9 full

  A very nice, simple presentation. Earthy flavors — perfect for lunch.

• Pressed Ham and Roast Pork Cubano: Swiss cheese and pickles. $5 half/$9 full Tender ham and pork, perfectly toasted with warm, gooey cheese and a tangy, pickled taste. Perfect item for lunch.
• Roast’s Signature Burger: With truffled cheese, onion crisps and Deep South bacon on a brioche bun. $13.00 The super-sized version of the beef sliders, for those of us who cannot get enough beef, bacon, and cheese. Juicy!
• Truffle Parmesan Fries: (Side) $6.00 Lightly cheesed, crisp and delightfully flavorful. A tad salty, but after all, they are fries!
• Duck Fat Fries: $7.00 Crunchy and crisp on the outside, and soft, almost creamy, on the inside. As one person said, “tastes like Paris!”
• Roast Grouper: Sunchoke puree, grilled artichokes, tomato, olive oil and meat juices. $24.00

  Thick piece of moist, fresh, in-house filleted grouper. Presentation over vegetables was beautiful and tasted even better.

  

• Herb Marinated Swordfish: Soft roast peppers and fingerling potatoes. $19.00

  Fresh, hand-cut swordfish. Very moist and well presented. A great entrée.

  

• Roast of the Day: Half of roast chicken. Spinach, mushrooms, onions and carrots. $24.00 Can you say upscale comfort food? Deliciously prepared and presented and full of flavor. Nothing left over on this plate.
• Banoffi Pie: With caramelized bananas and chocolate sauce. $7.00 English dessert of bananas, chocolate and cream in a pie crust. Rich, but not too sweet. Life is good.

There is a full bar service, offering specialty cocktails, beer, wine and soft drinks to accompany your meal. Even though we found the wait staff to be friendly and well intentioned, there have been times where service was spotty. To be fair, the service has definitely improved over the past couple of months, however, there are still times where service might be lacking. We are certain it will improve, but want our readers to understand there might be little glitches; none of which would prevent us from going again.

With restaurant longevity at this location in question, will Roast be the one to change the prior dynamic? Chef Andrew Thompson seems to have all the right ingredients: quality food, reasonable prices and, of course, a great location. Roast is already off to a good start.

Roast Restaurant & Bar 1296 First Street / 953-1971

Hours: Lunch: Daily from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. /  Lite Bites: 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. / Dinner: Monday to Thursday from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. / Sunday brunch: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.