I like seafood! For a number of days in and round Bradenton on Florida’s west coast, south of the Tampa Bay space and north of Sarasota, I indulged in the very best eating places that includes the freshest gulf shrimp, crab truffles, gumbo, calamari, scallops, oysters Rockefeller, and contemporary fish. And I discovered that I appreciated mussels. I simply had by no means had glorious contemporary mussels till my journey in Bradenton. Listed here are 10 coastal Bradenton space eating places focusing on the freshest seafood out there, in no specific order.
Notice: Go to Bradenton and several other eating places hosted me; nevertheless, all opinions are my very own.
A plate of purple snapper wings at Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant
Picture credit score: Janie Tempo
1. Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant
Chef Aaron Kulzer ready a domestically sourced four-course dinner with wine pairings for our group at Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub. Initially inbuilt 1912, this previous Florida-style waterfront eatery — a part of the Ed Chiles Hospitality Group — is likely one of the oldest buildings on Longboat Key, spared when a 1921 hurricane worn out massive areas of the Island.
We began with Purple Snapper Wings: snapper fins lower with a little bit of stomach meat which was panko battered and fried then topped with a spicy buffalo sauce, blue cheese crumbles, and carrot. Our wine pairing was Emmolo Sauvignon Blanc, dry and contemporary with crisp, fruity flavors.
Our second course featured Burrata cheese, arugula pesto, and flavorful marinated heirloom tomatoes with a balsamic discount and crispy croutons that paired properly with a Lola Rose.
For an entree, a Lola Russian River Pinot Noir superbly complemented the domestically sourced Shogun Farms pulled pork topped with a whiskey barbecue sauce and served with a fried grits cake and pickled oyster mushrooms.
Dessert was a Lola Pinot Noir poached pear topped with delectable chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and fried mint leaf. I virtually licked the bowl to get all of the unbelievable chocolate sauce. The Kung Fu Lady Riesling completed the evening.
What To Order: Shrimp and grits or the seafood paella from the dinner menu.
Star Fish Firm, Dockside Restaurant And Seafood Market
Picture credit score: Christopher Testini, Bradenton Space Guests Bureau
2. Star Fish Firm
Star Fish Company Dockside Restaurant is a seafood restaurant and market serving the freshest Florida seafood: fried, grilled, blackened, or sauteed. Add sides of cole slaw, cheese grits, French fries, or the very best hush puppies.
Beginning within the early Nineteen Twenties as a wholesale fish firm, Star Fish Firm in Cortez Village turned a retail market within the ’60s. When Karen Bell bought it in 1996, she opened the eatery with a small kitchen and eight picnic tables on the again dock.
Order small bites like peel-and-eat shrimp, calamari, or conch fritters. For principal dishes, strive the grouper, gulf shrimp, swordfish, or oysters. Take pleasure in home, imported, and draft beer or wine.
And for dessert, don’t cross up Karen Bell’s Key Lime Pie or baklava cheesecake.
Take a look at the seafood marketplace for grouper, snapper, sea scallops, shrimp, or stone crab by the pound.
This firm solely takes money.
What To Order: Something that’s Gulf shrimp or oysters.
3. Mattison’s Riverwalk Grille Downtown Bradenton
Award-winning and celebrated native Chef Paul Mattison gives a snug eating ambiance beneath the lined patio at Mattison’s Riverwalk Grill in downtown Bradenton. Bask in all-natural, contemporary, sustainably-sourced elements, contemporary seafood, and locally-grown produce for brunch, lunch, dinner, and completely satisfied hour.
Select from calamari, shrimp Rangoon, fish tacos, or the tuna poke tower with contemporary tuna, mango chayote slaw, avocado, and rice noodles, a brand new and engaging mixture of flavors. The eatery gives a gluten-free bun for any of the sandwiches plus corn tortillas for the tacos.
Chef Paul has an Italian heritage and grew up cooking along with his Italian grandmother, so that you’ll discover a wide range of Italian and Mediterranean cuisines, together with a Mediterranean frittata, Tuscan marinated hen, or grilled Norwegian salmon salad. The menu gives a wide array of wine, beer, and specialty cocktails.
Professional Tip: Save room for the Key lime pie with raspberry coulis or the flourless chocolate espresso torte topped with raspberry sauce for chocolate lovers.
In Sarasota, three different areas embrace Mattison’s Metropolis Grille, Mattison’s Forty-One, and Mattison’s Catering, well-known for marriage ceremony catering.
What To Order: The Tuna Poke Tower and the Key lime pie.
The outside of the Seashore Home Restaurant
Picture credit score: Bradenton Space Guests Bureau
4. Seashore Home Restaurant
A climate-friendly outside deck that includes 650 toes of gorgeous oceanfront, the Beach House Restaurant, one in every of three Ed Chiles Hospitality Group eating places, boasts a novel toes-in-the-sand atmosphere. Sea turtle-friendly lighting and beach-friendly native landscaping are the settings for magnificent Anna Maria Island sunsets and award-winning seafood.
The theme of sustainability and eco-consciousness surrounds the restaurant, together with domestically sourced farm-to-fork greens and domestically sourced seafood.
The oysters Rockefeller — baked in a forged iron skillet and topped with creamed spinach, bacon, and Romano cheese — was my favourite. The Gamble Farmhouse Salad options veggies and lettuce grown domestically on the farm and topped with Manchego cheese and tropical French dressing.
I don’t know which was higher; the Gulf fried shrimp or the seafood gumbo, stuffed with wealthy andouille sausage, a wide range of seafood, and the trio of veggies topped with a mound of crawfish Seashore Home rice. The sharable fried inexperienced tomatoes with Sriracha mayo have been like Mother used to make, solely the spicy mayo made it higher.
What To Order: Oysters Rockefeller.
5. Pier 22
The landmark waterfront restaurant, Pier 22, is devoted to making a memorable visitor expertise with lunch and dinner every day and breakfast and brunch on weekends. Dock your boat and luxuriate in dinner on the waterfront terrace or the completely satisfied hour sushi bar at 3 p.m. on the patio with seating on the full bar or across the hearth pit.
Begin with the chunky crab cake with creole remoulade or the mussels in white wine, garlic butter, spinach, bacon, and bleu cheese. The fish tacos characteristic tempura fried cod, and the ahi tuna nachos embrace seared yellowfin tuna and wakame salad.
Take pleasure in sake mirin glazed sea scallops, grouper piccata, or scampi Florentine for the principle course. The Recent Catch gives black grouper, tuna steak, stuffed salmon, or shrimp served with two sides. The “Landfood” menu options steakhouse tenderloin, hen chevre, or Italian pork osso bucco.
Professional Tip: Save room for Key lime meringue pie or tiramisu.
What To Order: Grouper Piccata.
Floriday’s Crab Muffins
Picture credit score: Janie Tempo
6. Floridays Woodfire Grill & Bar
What higher place to look at a rainstorm within the distance, backlit with a golden sundown, than Floridays? This previous Florida Fish Home with an indoor-outdoor patio overlooking Anna Maria Sound is positioned proper subsequent door to our Compass by Margaritaville Hotel.
A manatee was hanging from the ceiling on one facet of the tiki bar, and the opposite hosted an enormous shark, including to the informal fish home ambiance.
I wasted no time choosing from the menu, zeroing in on the lump crab cake served with avocado, corn relish, and a bowl of conventional gumbo.
We shared tastes of the tender mussels in wine and garlic butter and the seasonal catch grouper served with two sides. I may have ordered “one every, please” of the barbecued shrimp skewers, calamari, peel-and-eat shrimp, or fried inexperienced tomatoes.
Professional Tip: Don’t cross up the Key lime pie or the peanut butter chocolate bar, a brownie topped with peanut butter mousse and chocolate peanut butter items.
What To Order: Lump crab truffles.
Scrumptious French toast at Anna Maria Island Seashore Cafe
Picture credit score: Janie Tempo
7. Anna Maria Island Seashore Café
Positioned proper on the seashore with attractive gulf views, Anna Maria Island Beach Café is fashionable with guests and locals. We have been there for the all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage. I ordered the veggie omelet with grits, and others requested the pancakes, French toast with strawberries, eggs Benedict, and a Belgian waffle.
Order American dishes for eat-in or takeout like fish, hen, beef tacos, Island salads, or the shrimp platter or seafood platter served with fries and slaw. Sandwiches embrace burgers, turkey golf equipment, tuna wraps, or island fish wraps, both grilled, fried, or blackened.
They concentrate on shopping for a drink, holding the glass, and having fun with discounted refills all day. Anna Maria Island Seashore Cafe is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and reside music begins at 4:30 p.m. every day.
What To Order: All-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage.
Key lime pie dessert at Swordfish Grill
Picture credit score: Janie Tempo
8. Swordfish Grill
Swordfish Grill is on the water’s edge in Cortez, one of many final fishing villages on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Take pleasure in waterfront eating and outside seating overlooking Sarasota Bay and eat contemporary seafood that arrives every day. I ordered the Bahamian conch fritters served with remoulade, a secret recipe from the islands.
The oyster sampler was very good and included 4 of every preparation: the Rockefeller with spinach, cheese, and bacon; garlic parmesan oysters; and bacon jalapeno oysters. I needed to design a taster platter to incorporate coconut shrimp, Florida crab cake, calamari, bacon-wrapped scallops, and firecracker shrimp.
How are you going to resist lobster mac and cheese, shrimp scampi, or shrimp and grits for dinner? Order the seafood platter and take pleasure in grilled fish, massive shrimp, sea scallops, and a Florida crab cake.
We had Key lime pie right here additionally, and it was scrumptious.
What To Order: The Oyster Sampler Platter and shrimp scampi.
9. Compass Bar & Grill
Positioned contained in the Compass by Margaritaville Resort, Compass Bar & Grill gives a spot to sit back out and have a fast chew. Take pleasure in Compass Nachos, quesadillas, or a bacon cheeseburger. The Energy Bowl options spinach, romaine, quinoa, chickpeas, feta cheese, and Roma tomatoes with lemon-tahini dressing.
Professional Tip: For dessert, order the Key lime pie, chocolate cake, or heat cookies and chilly milk.
Strive a specialty margarita just like the Prime-Shelf Uptown Margarita or the Finns To The Left with blue curacao. The 5 O’Clock Someplace® options silver rum, ardour fruit tequila, rum, orange and pineapple juices, candy and bitter combine, and a splash of grenadine.
What To Order: The Energy Bowl and a cocktail.
Nutritious shrimp salad at Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar
Picture credit score: Janie Tempo
10. Anna Maria Oyster Bar On The Pier
After a wildlife Paradise Boat Tour, we gathered for lunch on the award-winning Anna Maria Oyster Bar On the Pier, overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway on the historic Bridge Road Pier. We received the social gathering began with appetizers of contemporary mussels and baked oysters, mounted Rockefeller model, and garlic parmesan, the very best we’d tasted.
I ordered a shrimp salad with massive gulf shrimp and contemporary veggies. Others requested the grouper, spicy kaboom shrimp, the pier poke bowl served with yellowfin tuna, and conventional North Atlantic Pollock fish and chips.
There have been loads of boat drinks, together with the pink flamingo, Key lime margarita, and for enjoyable, the Florida Viagra, vodka, bloody Mary combine, horseradish, and a uncooked oyster.
Moreover the Bridge Road Pier, different areas embrace Landslide, Cortez, and Ellenton.
What To Order: Baked oysters and mussels in wine sauce.
Whereas I didn’t get an opportunity to go to, another fashionable Bradenton eating places to contemplate are the Sage Biscuit Cafe, recognized for a wonderful breakfast; Ortygia, boasting genuine Sicilian, French, and Mediterranean fare; and Chateau 13 Restaurant And Wine Bar, famend for serving Western European-style dishes.
