"It doesn't look like it was just built," Paul Caragiulo told Sarasota Magazine about the family restaurant's new dining room on Ringling Boulevard. "It's like a Mastroianni movie from 1968."
That line also sums up downtown Sarasota's season. The big dining news this fall came mostly from names locals already knew, moving into rooms other restaurants had left, and very little of it came from brand-new places. In its November 6 roundup, dineSarasota called it "musical chairs" and said there was "A LOT of house swapping going on." If you haven't kept up since summer, you could easily drive to a favorite spot this weekend and find a different name over the door.
The New Map
| Restaurant | Where it was | Where it is now |
|---|---|---|
| Caragiulos | Palm Avenue, for 36 years | 1833 Ringling Blvd. |
| Alma de España | 1830 S. Osprey Ave., Southside Village | 239 S. Links Ave., Towles Court |
| Mitchell's Food and Wine | Same owners ran Lucile Pizza & Wine Bar here | 1660 Main St. |
| Baldoria | Former Block 15 Cork & Craft space | 1528 Main St. |
| Sorella | Former Yume Sushi space | 1532 Main St. |
| Sarasocial | Former Fork & Hen space | 1990 Main St., Suite 112 |
Five of those six opened in rooms that other restaurants had already used. Caragiulos is the exception: it built a new room and brought its old one along in pieces.
It Started With Palm Avenue
Caragiulos served its last meal on Palm Avenue about a year before it reopened. The Mira Mar site, where the restaurant had been, was sold to Seaward, which has approval for a project that restores the historic frontage and puts two condominium towers behind it. The family's new home has a local link too. According to Sarasota Magazine, the person who sold the Mira Mar also owns the property under the Ringling Boulevard building.
Caragiulos opened to the public on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The space is about 4,300 square feet, with 150 seats, a full bar and a covered patio. Instead of copying the old room, the family brought pieces of it along:
- Marble from the Palm Avenue bar was cut into strips and built into the new bar.
- Original Italian film posters and artwork from the old restaurant are back on the walls.
- The 14.5-foot gold curtains were made by Anna Caragiulo, the family's 87-year-old matriarch. Her son Paul says they also improve the acoustics.
- Murano glass fixtures came from Venetian artisans, and vintage furniture was restored in Italy and shipped over in a container.
Luciano Botta, the Milan designer and longtime family friend behind the interior, told Sarasota Magazine he tried to picture how Caragiulos would have evolved "from its beginnings in the 1980s through today." The move also adds to a growing cluster near the courthouse. Farther along Ringling, Tastes of the Philippines opened this fall in Courthouse Centre at 1987 Ringling Blvd. It serves build-your-own boxes of scratch-cooked Filipino dishes with garlic fried rice, lumpia and turon. By November, it was No. 5 on dineSarasota's monthly list.
The Cottage on Links Avenue Changed Hands
The biggest loss of the fall came in September, when Indigenous closed after 15 years at 239 S. Links Ave. in Towles Court. Chef and owner Steve Phelps had opened it in 2011 and was a James Beard Awards semifinalist for Best Chef: South in 2014 and 2015. The Herald-Tribune remembered the cobia "hot dog," the wild mushroom bisque and My Uncle's Burger.
The cottage didn't stay empty for long. Alma de España, which chef-owner Elier Rodriguez opened in Southside Village in 2025, set Nov. 1 as its reopening date in the cottage, according to the Herald-Tribune. Rodriguez is a Cuban native who worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Las Vegas. He has said his grandmother, Cacha, inspired the restaurant, and its menu has featured garlic prawns, Spanish-style octopus, paella and Basque-style branzino. He told the paper the outdoor space was part of what drew him to Towles Court, because it can host live music at a volume low enough for diners to keep talking.
Alma de España's website lists dinner daily from 5 to 9 p.m. and happy hour Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. The restaurant points diners to public parking across the street.
Same Owners, New Name on Main Street
Not every swap brought in a new operator. At 1660 Main St., Lucile Pizza & Wine Bar closed, and owners Ryan Boeve and Mark Baldwin reopened the space as Mitchell's Food and Wine. SRQ Daily reported Nov. 3 that it had just opened. The pizza stayed, and baked clams, seafood and duck joined the menu. Boeve, who cooked at Zoria and Pomona, describes the style as a return to classical cooking, and his son Aaron is chef de cuisine. Hours are 4:30 to 9 p.m. daily.
Three more Main Street rooms got new tenants between mid-September and the end of the month:
- Baldoria, 1528 Main St. This is the former Block 15 Cork & Craft space, now run by Riccardo Margarella and Paola Pignata of My Mamma Italian Kitchen. It serves tapas with Italian and Spanish twists, focaccia sandwiches, pasta and pizza, plus a 24-tap self-pour wall of beer and wine.
- Sorella, 1532 Main St. Twin sisters Dana and Danielle Malcolm co-own this one, which opened in Yume Sushi's former space near the end of September. Head chef Giancarlo di Cosmo came from 15 South by Napulé, and pizza chef Simone Di Marco came from Malmosto. The Neapolitan pies come out of an oven from Italy.
- Sarasocial, 1990 Main St., Suite 112. It opened Sept. 15 in the former Fork & Hen space near the Regal Hollywood theater, under new owner Bobby Khush and executive chef Yamzey Gonzalez. The menu sticks with Southern soul cooking and adds live music and cocktails.
Two of those landed next door to each other on the 1500 block. Sarasocial jumped from No. 9 to No. 2 on dineSarasota's list between October and November, the biggest move in its top 10.
The Rooms Still Changing
The reshuffle isn't finished. Artisan Cheese Company closed this fall after more than 14 years, and the Herald-Tribune reported that the landlord approved a restaurant for its 3,000-square-foot space at 550 Central Ave. in the Rosemary District. Also in the Rosemary District, 1000 North, a private club and restaurant planned for two commercial condominium units in The BLVD Sarasota on North Tamiami Trail, was once expected to open by October. On Sept. 9, the Sarasota Planning Board voted unanimously to postpone discussion "to a date uncertain," citing parking and the pedestrian walkway along the building.
That leaves two Rosemary District addresses still waiting to show where the next chair lands.
Putting the New Addresses to Use This Month
The new map matters most on busy downtown nights, and the next few weeks have several:
- Nov. 14–15: The free Fall Fine Art Festival takes over J.D. Hamel Park, according to the City of Sarasota events directory.
- Nov. 21: Cirque Dreams Holidaze plays the Van Wezel, with The Bodyguard following Nov. 30 through Dec. 2. Mitchell's starts dinner at 4:30 p.m. and Alma at 5 p.m.
- Nov. 25: Downtown Turkey Jam brings live music, food and drinks to Lemon Avenue the night before Thanksgiving.
- Dec. 5: The Sarasota Holiday Parade returns with an "America 250" theme.
If this fall's moves have you weighing which downtown blocks you'd most like to walk to dinner from, Kelli Eggen is glad to talk it through, block by block. Let's Connect.
