Food & Wine

Tour de Force

Lan’s smoked trout caviar on panna cotta and chive pancake.

At Lan, every forkful is a delight, and the price makes it one of the best deals on food-fabulous Main Street.

One of the pleasures of being a regional judge for the annual James Beard Foundation Awards is the opportunity to nominate outstanding Sarasota chefs and restaurants. When the next round comes along, chef Lan Bradeen and her superb restaurant, Lan, will be high on my list of nominees.

At Lan,not only is every forkful a revelation and a delight, it is served with grace and at a price that makes it one of the best deals on our food-fabulous Main Street.

Sometimes Colette and I read through a beautifully constructed menu and are tempted to say, “Yes, we’ll have this. Start with the top of the appetizer list and polish us off with the last dessert.” That’s not very practical, of course, but at Lan we came as close to closing the deal as we have in years. The vehicle for our swoony ride through the chef’s astonishing repertoire was something called The Chef’s Tour, nine small plates of her choosing plus canapés, amuse bouche and desserts. At $40 per person, it’s an irresistible bargain.

The standard dinner arrangement is a superb value, too, a three-course prix fixe meal at $35 per person, offering appetizer, main course and dessert selected by the diner from a standing menu and daily specials. Dishes also can be ordered à la carte, and at 10 p.m. a special late night all a la carte menu kicks in.

But let’s back up a bit and take a look around. The dining room and cozy wine, beer and sake bar are at once glamorous and comfortable. Jewel-tone rose red walls, tables dressed in black and white linens, artful lighting and sheer swags symbolically separating tables along one wall add up to a feeling of being someplace special but not pretentious. There are patio and sidewalk tables, too.

And now, fasten your seatbelt as we embark on The Chef’s Tour. Be bold; say “feed me anything the chef likes” and get ready to be knocked out. And if you’re a wine drinker, do jump at the chef’s offer to pair this culinary bonanza with wines of her choice. Because her by-the-glass list is so well-priced, this is not an extravagance. It just feels that way.

Whatever option you choose, dinner is preceded by canapés, tiny squares of focaccia dotted with ancho-scented jack cheese kisses on our recent visit, and an amuse bouche of the day, which for us was a simply adorable mini quesadilla stuffed with fig, blue cheese and prosciutto on a gorgeous sauce-painted plate.

For the tour proper, Bradeen started us off with a hot and sour duck soup, the pungent broth poured at table over thin, rosy slices of duck on a bed of soba noodles. To say that it was savory is an understatement.

Next up were two appetizers: a light and aromatic foie gras custard with a little grape and Fuji apple salad and a surprisingly sweet and tender portion of beef tongue, first braised and then sautéed, served on a slice of braised daikon radish with a bit of dried fruit salsa. Another surprise was the chef’s wine choice for this course: a lovely Jekel riesling that proved to be the perfect foil for the rich meats.

A Liberty School chardonnay was the chef’s pick with a course pairing yummy pork belly (from a farm in Myakka) on a bed of sticky rice with another plate where two perfect diver scallops crowned with a subtle orange and mint salsa reposed on little pillows of spicy Yukon mashed potatoes.

Next up was the pièce de résistance in this gastronomic tour de force. On one pretty plate were arrayed four delicate portions of miraculously light and golden sautéed sweetbreads asserted by a charming and delicious salad of micro greens. On another plate, just as pretty, two mouthwatering rare lamb chops cut from a standing rack were arranged on a rich and fragrant pool of shiitake and shallot demi glace.

But wait; there’s more. Sharing the plate were spears of sautéed endive and a taro and Stilton croquette that rivaled the chops for goodness. With this stunning course the chef chose from her globetrotting wine list a wonderful Vale de Bomfim Reserva from Portugal.