C'est La Vie! nights

Downtown Sarasota's C'est La Vie! will begin serving dinner tonight, with nightly specials running every Wednesday through Saturday from now till whenever. In addition to the café's regular menu, the restaurant will be offering Gallic classics like moules arinières (mussels), lapin à la moutarde (rabbit with rice and a mustard sauce), duck breast served with a potato and crème fraîche dish, a fish of the day, boeuf bourguignon and more.

Dinner at C'est La Vie! is served 4-9:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 1553 Main St., Sarasota, (941) 906-9575.

Empanadas on the island

Alfonso Abreu recently launched an intriguing new food business. EmpaCurious delivers fresh Argentinian-style baked empanadas, plus sliders, tacos and more all over Anna Maria Island, as well as filling takeout orders. It's a first-time food venture for Abreu, who previously worked in the tech industry. That doesn't come as a surprise, given EmpaCurious' high-tech ordering system, which lets you pick your meal online or through an app. Chilling on the island and getting hungry? There's an app for that.

EmpaCurious takeout is offered 5-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, delivery is offered 6-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria, (941) 447-0414.

We need more coffee!

Java junkies, take note: By the Bay Bistro, a new coffee and snack shop, opened earlier this month in Osprey. The hangout is run by the husband and wife team of Joerg and Susan Pohlmann and offers well-known caffeinated favorites like drips and lattes, plus simple salads and sandwiches, danishes, croissants and the like. Susan calls it "a casual, friendly and Mediterranean-style shop—somewhere our friends would want to hang out," according to a press release.

New face, new food

MoZaic in downtown Sarasota this month hired a new chef, and with him comes a new dinner menu. Miguel Rego comes to Sarasota from Los Angeles, where he worked as the executive sous chef at the Sunset Tower Hotel, and he's developed a new identity for the restaurant. While the food previously leaned on former chef Dylan Elhajoui's expertise with Moroccan ingredients, Rego's iteration includes options like fish and grits, Creole-spiced prawns and beef bourguignon. Give it a whirl.

MoZaic is open 5-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 5-9 p.m. Sunday, 1377 Main St., Sarasota, (941) 951-6272.

Sage advice

Bradenton last week landed a major prize: a second Sage Biscuit Café. Since 2012, the original location on Cortez Road has been slinging outrageously good eggs Benedicts (the jalapeño bacon and fried green tomato Benedict is already iconic) and other brunch and lunch comestibles to the hungry masses. Now those ravenous residents can feast in a second location right downtown. Sage took over the former home of Soma Creek Side. Eggs all around.

The new Sage Biscuit Café is open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily, 1401 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton, (941) 405-4744.