(on Atria’s): There’s no place like it for fresh bread. The Rustic is so crusty and soft and the Hokkaido is like a pillow. Platinum Winner- C’est La Vie / Gold Winner- Paisano’s Italian Baker / Silver Winner- Detwiler’s Farm Market / Bronze Winner- Atria Cafe.
BEST LOCAL COOKIES Suncoast Cookies We all turn into a bit of a cookie monster when given a warm, gooey chocolate chip treat. Baked to buttery bliss, the simple flour, sugar, egg combination that becomes cookies is nothing short of heavenly. Sarasota voted for the sirens of sugar and SUNCOAST COOKIES sweetened the deal for the Platinum pick. CCSWEETS, LLC hot Gold fresh out of the oven while KOOKIES & KREAM is an un-batch-able Silver winner. Last up is SIMPLY SWEETS SRQ crumbs in for a Bronze win. Other spots to roll your dough are Honorable Mentions Honey Badger Baking Company, Cakes by Ron, Detwiler’s Farm Market, Sweet Doctors and SouthernDough Cookies. -AC Amber Keim (on Suncoast Cookies): These are the most inventive and exciting cookies I’ve ever had. Suncoast Cookies always offers something you would have never expected from a cookie, and they always deliver on deliciousness. Grace Sullivan (on CC Sweets): These cookies are one of a kind! They are created with such an eye for detail and I love how each cookie is unique. This baker/decorator is beyond capable of creating very complex and beautiful designs, not to mention the cookies taste amazing. Michele Abreu (on Kookies & Kream): Amazing combinations, lots of creativity, and overall amazing flavor. You can tell he puts his love into his creations. Valerie Bernhard (on Simply Sweets): Amazing, beautiful homemade cookies made by a very sweet familyowned business. Platinum Winner- Suncoast Cookies / Gold Winner- CC Sweets / Silver Winner- Kookies & Kream / Bronze Winner- Simply Sweets SRQ .
BEST FRIED CHICKEN
Yoder’s Restaurant & Amish Village If there is one food that virtually everyone on the planet is going to like—it’s fried chicken. Juicy, moist, crispy, crunchy—there’s no delicious adjective that doesn’t fit and while Florida might not be considered the southern staple for this feel-good food, Sarasota has some spots winging it to the next level. YODER’S RESTAURANT & AMISH VILLAGE plucks into Platinum while DER DUTCHMAN is a golden fried Gold winner. SHORE ST. ARMANDS spices its way to Silver and MADE RESTAURANT drumstick’d its way onto readers plates for Bronze. -AC Jack Hoza (on Yoder’s): If you know you know. Suzanne Lucas (on Der Dutchman): OMG... just typing this and thinking about it makes me want to go get some of their fried chicken. Heavenly! Sarah Seay (on Shore St. Armands): With the honey Tabasco and mac and cheese. So juicy and delicious. Alyssa Holcomb (on MADE ): So many fried chicken options, so little time… perfect place to nosh on my favorite dish before catching a flick. Platinum Winner- Yoder’s Restaurant and Amish Village / Gold WinnerDer Dutchman / Silver Winner- Shore St. Armands / Bronze Winner- Made Restaurant.
BEST LOCAL SANDWICH Anna’s Deli Sandwiches have the rare culinary freedom to be anything they want as long as it’s between two slices of bread. Hot pastrami with spicy mustard, cold cuts with mayonnaise, Philly Cheesesteaks with marinated peppers, chicken salad with grapes—not a single overlap in flavors or ingredients and yet each one shares the same name in the end—sandwich. ANNA’S DELI had voters vying for a bite with a Platinum win while MAIN BAR SANDWICH SHOP grubbed it’s way to Gold. NELLIE’S DELI MARKET & CATERING was an easy slice for Silver and SOUTHSIDE DELI toasted their buns to a Bronze victory. Take a bite out of Honorable Mentions Corkscrew Deli and Deli Deli Sandwich Co.-AC Caylyn Wells (on Anna’s Deli): You just can’t beat the original Surfer. Liza Rojas (on Main Bar): Famous Italian. Babette Bach (on Southside Deli): Incredible service and super consistent good fresh food. Platinum Winner- Anna’s Deli / Gold Winner- Main Bar Sandwich Shop / Silver Winner- Nellie’s Deli Market and Catering / Bronze Winner- Southside Deli.
BEST LOCAL CUPCAKE Cakes by Ron The miniature version of everyone’s favorite birthday treat, the cupcake makes the case for smaller but mighty. CAKES BY RON had readers hooked on first bite and plated their way to Platinum with a sweetly substantial hundred plus vote lead while SIMPLY SWEETS SRQ bakes up Gold. SWEETS BAKEHOUSE sugar and spiced a Silver victory and CCSWEETS, LLC frosted a fourth place win for Bronze. Honorable Mentions include Cupcakes A Go Go, Sweet Doctors and Hometown Desserts -AC Chandra Riccio (on Cakes by Ron): Absolutely hands down the best of the best! Their Boston Cream cupcake is epic and I would fight anyone that said otherwise! Dan Fago (on Simply Sweets): Their cupcakes are a work of art and taste amazing. Ashley Parker (on Sweets Bakehouse): Not only are Sweets Bakehouse cupcakes delicious and the perfect combination of moist flavourful cake and classic light but decadent buttercream frosting, the owner/baker Tara Allison is a true artist who makes beautiful and creative cupcakes and cakes. She is our go-to for birthdays and family celebrations. Kim McArthur (on CC Sweets): Edible Artistry at its finest. Platinum Winner- Cakes by Ron / Gold Winner- Simply Sweets / Silver Winner- Sweets Bakehouse / Bronze Winner- CCSweets.
BEST LOCAL PIE
Yoder’s Restaurant & Amish Village Pie is the oft forgotten dessert. A bit retro, sometimes savory and arguably acceptable at breakfast—it’s hard to put pie strictly in the dessert box. Sarasota sweet-tooths seem to love pie berry much and came out in droves to vote for YODER’S RESTAURANT & AMISH VILLAGE as the Platinum winner who had a whipped-cream-whopping three hundred vote lead. Voters gobbled up DER DUTCHMAN for Gold and wanted a slice of FLORIBBEAN FLO’S for Silver. Occu-pie-ing the Bronze spot is DUVAL’S FRESH. LOCAL. SEAFOOD. -AC
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