It appears that we may now be permitted a sigh of relief. Not only is most of the original collection slated to continue its palate-pleasing ways, there also is a new outpost in the new city of Lakewood Ranch, consisting of both a Fred’s Restaurant, based on the Osprey Avenue original, and a Morton’s Gourmet Market complete with J.D. Ford wine shop.

Before bringing you up to date on the whole Epicurean Life empire, let me say right up front that Fred’s at Lakewood Ranch offers excellent food and smart, attentive service in a larger, airier dining room than the original, and that there often is live piano or jazz in its bar. It has a ballroom, too. The bottom line is this: The offspring Fred’s is, in a way all its own, as satisfying as its parent.

The original Fred’s has undergone an extensive renovation and is scheduled to reopen by this month. Next door, The Tasting Room was being downsized and returned to its original, cozy dimensions, which is fine; that lounge thing never really worked. Across the street, Morton’s is going strong and expanding into the space previously occupied by Annabelle’s Home & Kitchen shop, which is history now.

Out east on the new frontier of Lakewood Ranch, Morton’s once again sits across the street from Fred’s, but both are bigger and there’s more parking. Outside, things still look a bit raw—some sidewalk-shading trees would be nice—but inside Fred’s everything is as it should be. Those idiosyncratic, multi-colored, glass-ceiling fixtures from the original are here, too, which is a nice touch. The place also has a big bar, display wine racking, a partly open kitchen and plenty of tables outside for fine-weather dining and sipping.

Four of us enjoyed a superb evening at table in the new location. The service was superior from appetizers (the soy sauce Anita requested to complement the house’s dipping sauce served with her tuna tataki appeared as if by magic) right through to dessert (when the “Maybe one more scoop?” of vanilla ice cream my brother Frank thought might more perfectly crown his warm flourless chocolate cake also materialized instantly). No fuss, no muss; your wish is our command. Just right.

Frank, a true connoisseur of everything creamy and rich, pronounced the crab bisque starter as silky smooth and satisfying as a bisque must be to win his approval. He moved on to the “naked” beef Wellington, which is a smart alternative to the puff-pastried original. All the ingredients were there—a tender, generous filet, the mushroom duxelles, the lily-gilding pâté and the pinot noir demi-glace—but without the starchy wrapper, which I’ve always thought was a bit much.

Anita, after enjoying her very rare, mustard-crusted tuna starter, stuck with seafood for her main course. Her choice was an excellent take on cioppino, the Italian fish stew, this one a judicious mix of perfectly firm and fresh fish and shellfish in a chardonnay-tomato broth. Instead of ordering a dessert of her own, she generously volunteered to share Frank’s cake and (extra) ice cream.

Across the table from me, Colette started with a Southern specialty on which she is an expert: fried green tomatoes. “Authentic,” she declared. “Good firm sliced tomatoes in a nice crisp crust.” She ordered shrimp and grits for a main course, a dish that lately has been turning up on haute Southern menus from Lexington to Birmingham to Atlanta. Colette samples it wherever she finds it. Chef Jacob Rodibaugh’s version for Fred’s? “Delicious,” she said. Having done so well so far with her Dixie theme, she finished with a high and light white-peach cake that I can tell you myself (she shared) is a perfect warm-weather dessert.

Coarse country pâté served simply with crusty bread and cornichons (can’t get enough of those sour little French pickles) is, perhaps, my ideal starter. Fred’s version is a bit more refined in texture than I’m used to, but every bit as flavorful. The lingonberry compote it comes with here gave me pause at first, but the tart fruit reduction proved to be an excellent accent. Scallops are another favorite, and I like the way Fred’s pan-roasts them with a touch of brown sugar crust and a madeira demi-glace. The accompanying truffled mushroom risotto was so rich and creamy it would have earned even Frank’s approval had I been generous enough to part with a forkful, which I wasn’t.

All of the main dishes are nicely garnished, but if yours doesn’t happen to come with the goat cheese polenta or the onion rings you crave, you can add them from a good assortment of individual sides. The wine list is well assorted, too, and generally well priced. We chose from the middle range of the many pinot noirs on offer an impeccable Bethel Heights bottle at $54. That’s good value for the money, as is the new Fred’s.

Fred’s at Lakewood Ranch
10640 Boardwalk Loop (in the Main Street shopping district)
(941) 782-0899
Lunch: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Saturday
Dinner: 5-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Brunch: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday
V, MC, AMEX, Discover
Ample off-street parking
Handicapped accessible

A new downtown scene

Horse Feathers Grill & Lounge, a lively bar with a very good small restaurant appended, has opened in the downtown space formerly occupied by The Silver Cricket, and has made it very much its own.

I mean neither the restaurant nor chef John Glenn any disrespect in giving the bar first mention here. The restaurant has been thoughtfully redone, the menu is sharply focused and the staff is well trained, but the fact remains that the lounge is at least twice the size of the dining room. During happy hour and beyond, the bar is jam-packed, and the crowd spills out the door to a dozen or so sidewalk tables. In short, it’s a scene.

The restaurant is an island of tranquility in this sea of high spirits. Comfy, intimate booths, perfect for tête-à-tête dining, line a wall of windows. Well-spaced tables for four round out the seating. The light fixtures are of a pleasingly retro design, and plush, stylish draperies hide the half wall separating the dining room from the lounge.

It’s an agreeable mix, one calculated to satisfy customers in a variety of moods. Likewise calculated to satisfy are the portions served in the dining room at dinner, a monumental example of which is the White Marble Farms stuffed pork chop. This double chop weighs in at what I would guess to be at least a full pound. As if that weren’t enough, it’s voluptuously stuffed with goat cheese, dried cranberries, spinach and shiitake mushrooms. But wait, there’s more! The whole extravaganza is served with a terrific apple-inflected sweet potato bread pudding and finished not only with asparagus spears but also with a nicely understated bacon-asserted sauce.

This is a monster you’ll be delighted to confront and, quite possibly, to take home with you for the next day’s lunch.

A slightly more modestly portioned main dish is the grilled duck breast, but the flavors are just as big as the chop’s. The first thing that arrested my attention was not the sliced and fanned duck breast, which was excellent in duck’s fatty way, but the warm Napa cabbage slaw dolloped with a creamy duck confit. It’s a telling detail when a chef pays every bit as much attention to a meaty main dish’s sidekicks as to the star of the show. Chef Glenn is one of those blessed chefs. Everything on the plate is first rate.

Starters, selected from a somewhat misleading list headed “Sharing Menu,” also are well executed. A “deconstructed” crab cake put the spotlight on beautifully dressed but crumbless jumbo lump crab served with the bread, in the form of thinly sliced toast, on the side. All the ingredients are there; you put them together as you please.

Another winner is the housemade mozzarella Napoleon, which layers fried green tomatoes with fresh slabs of cheese and dresses the tower in a basil-balsamic vinaigrette. Here’s the strange part: The fried tomatoes are not the best I’ve ever tasted, but they worked beautifully in this combo. I’d certainly order it again.

Note, too, that a prix fixe menu also is offered, a bargain at $25 for one with a glass of house wine or $50 for two with a bottle.

Back in the lounge, a bar menu featuring a wide assortment of small plates, from “martini-crusted” petite filets to chicken satay, designer flat-bread pizzas and trios of mini-cheeseburgers is served until 2 in the morning Thursday through Saturday nights, which is good to know.

Horse Feathers Grill & Lounge
1923 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota
(941) 955-9179
Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
Dinner: 2:30-11 p.m. Monday-Friday; 4-11 p.m. Saturday
Late night: Until 2 a.m. Thursday-Saturday
V, MC, AMEX, Discover
On-street, valet and garage parking
Handicapped accessible

Ask John:
Starbucks is fine, but I like my java with a local edge. Any suggestions?

Starbucks is indeed a reliable international brand, but we have many fine locally owned alternatives. Here’s a starter list of several we like, scattered around town from South Trail to Siesta Key through downtown to the Ringling/University neighborhood.

Local Coffee + Tea: Three Sarasota locations, all “promoting local products and services.” Palms Plaza: 8784 S. Tamiami Trail; (941) 966-0665; Siesta Key Village: 5138 Ocean Blvd. (in Davidson Plaza); (941) 870-2671; Marie Selby Botanical Gardens: 811 S. Palm Ave.; (941) 366-5731.

Metro Coffee & Wine: Coffee in the morning, wine and microbrews in the evening (or vice versa); fine patio. 711 S. Osprey Ave.; (941) 365-1800.

Pastry Art: Fresh-baked goodies and the usual caffeinated suspects; sidewalk tables. 1508 Main St.; (941) 955-7545.

Sarasota News & Books: A sterling example of the classic books and coffee combo; sidewalk tables. 1341 Main St.; (941) 365-6332.

Cool Beanz: Coffee and eats with a Jamaican accent; a short stone’s throw from the Ringling Museum, Asolo and New College of Florida. 5119 N. Tamiami Trail; (941) 355-1519.

An editor, writer and online publisher, John Bancroft has reviewed restaurants, books, movies and music for many publications, most recently for The St. Petersburg Times.

What I’m Drinking

Michael Klauber, of the perennial midtown restaurant favorite Michael’s On East, is also proprietor of Michael’s Wine Cellar and an online wine merchant. With the approach of Thanksgiving and a raft of other holidays at which turkey is apt to make an appearance, we asked Klauber to steer us to the best wines to accompany the traditional roasted bird.

Following are six of his top picks, complete with his tasting notes. All—red, rosé or white—adhere to his cardinal rules: 1) Don’t overwhelm the turkey’s delicate flavor. 2) Stick with relatively low tannins and lots of fruit.

In order of Klauber’s preference, we start with two rosés, move on to two whites and finish with two reds. Prices are approximate and will vary with merchant.

2006 Chateau Grande Cassagne, Rosé, Costieres de Nimes, France ($9). Opening with pleasant aromas of strawberries, raspberries and candy apple, this wine is dry, clean and crisp, with tart ripe fruit flavors of apple and red currants.

2006 Susana Balbo “Crios,” Rosé de Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina ($12). Deep, vibrant rosé color. Surprising amount of glycerin and body for a rosé, together with aromas of fresh, ripe wild strawberries. On the palate, the flavors of strawberries and cherries come rushing in, accompanied by some spice notes. Clean, dry finish.

2006 Bouchard Finlayson “Blanc de Mer,” Western Cape, South Africa ($19). Deliciously fragrant, with an inviting, easy drinking style. Rich on the palate, with a creamy elegance followed by hints of green apple and melon. The finish is firm.

2006 Domaine Thomas “Clos de la Crele,” Loire Valley, France ($23). Produced from 30- to 40-year vines, this 100 percent stainless-fermented sauvignon blanc has a very floral nose, traces of mineral and beautiful length.

2004 Font de Michelle, La Font du Vent, “Notre Passion,” Rhone, France ($12). On the firm side, with red and black cherry fruit followed by some tobacco and toast on the finish. Fleshes out in the glass, adding depth of fruit.