Our Top Food Stories of 2025
Image: Everett Dennison
The time has come to reflect on the year's greatest milestones—including our local dining coverage. In 2025, we scoured every farmers market, ate tons of delicious treats, celebrated enormous wins for the food industry and said goodbye to some of our favorite eateries. Here's a look back at some of the most notable food stories of 2025.
Image: Everett Dennison
Everything You Need to Know About Sarasota’s Local Food Scene
Farmers markets are essential to any community. They give residents access to locally grown produce, meat, seafood and unique products crafted by dedicated makers, while also providing vendors a platform to reach a broad audience and sell their specialized products.
Thanks to Florida’s unique growing season, you’ll find the best produce from fall to spring, with a smaller selection in the summer months when it’s too hot to grow much of anything. Because of this, some of our markets operate seasonally, opening up in October and running through the end of April, while others are available year-round. Whatever you’re hungry for, you’ll find it at a local market.
Image: Everett Dennison
Julie Morris and Jim Strickland Are Out to Prove That Preservation and Agriculture Go Hand in Hand
It’s a thrill to find yourself lost in your own backyard—and that’s how it feels when you drive out to the aptly named Lost Girl Prairie, a new ranch owned by Jim Strickland and his wife Julie Morris on Rexrode Road in eastern Sarasota and Manatee Counties.
Image: Simo Ahmadi
Despite Last Fall’s Storms, Longboat Key’s Maison Blanche Remains One of the Area’s Top Restaurants
When Hurricanes Helene and Milton wrought havoc on the Sarasota area last fall, our barrier islands experienced the worst of it. Many coastal restaurants were damaged or outright destroyed. But through teamwork, determination and grit, some restaurants recovered in record time—like Longboat Key’s Maison Blanche, which was up and running just weeks after the storms passed. Maison Blanche isn’t new, and its menu has changed little in recent years, but after the storms, I felt called to revisit it. Had Mother Nature changed one of our area’s best restaurants?
Image: Courtesy Photo
After 36 Years on Palm Avenue, Caragiulos Is Moving to Ringling Boulevard
After 36 years on Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota, Caragiulos Italian-American restaurant is preparing for its next chapter. The family-owned eatery, known for its pizza, pasta, patio and loyal following, is relocating from its home in the Mira Mar Plaza building to a newly constructed location on Ringling Boulevard that’s less than a mile away.
Image: Lauren Jackson
Peachey’s Baking Co. Opens Its First Brick-and-Mortar in The Landings
On May 10, starting at 7 a.m. and lasting until 1 p.m., a line wrapped around the north end of The Landings shopping plaza, extending all the way to the Publix entrance around the corner. Grocery shoppers gawked at the bystanders. What was it all for?
Peachey’s Baking Co. was celebrating the grand opening of its brick-and-mortar storefront and handing out free doughnuts to its customers.
Image: Lauren Jackson
O’Leary’s Tiki Bar and Grill Is Back and Better Than Ever
O’Leary’s finally received its permitting approval from the city in March, and swiftly repaired its iconic thatched huts with new palm fronds and exchanged its old wooden deck for new paver bricks. Along the sandy beach, guests will still find plenty of picnic table seating—now with brand new aquamarine umbrellas that replaced the old yellow ones.
Image: ALEAIMAGE/iStock.com
The Mango’s Deep Roots in America Started in Manatee County
In certain academic circles, there’s a fierce debate over which fruit Eve gave Adam in the Garden of Eden. The King James Bible asserted it was an apple. Rabbis have claimed it was a grape turned into boozy wine, while other scholars have argued it was likely more regional fruit like pomegranates, figs or tamarinds. But there is only one fruit worth getting kicked out of paradise for: the mango.
Image: Lauren Jackson
Sarasota County Schools Has Launched Its Newest Education Initiative: a Working Farm
Adjacent to McIntosh Middle School, The Farm aims to expand agricultural learning among thousands of county students via its demonstration kitchen, greenhouse gardens and livestock pens. The project cost approximately $8 million to complete.
Image: Kathryn Brass-Piper
Adeline, One of Sarasota’s Best Restaurants, Is Closing
The small-plate fine dining restaurant opened in 2022, originally under the name Meliora, with chef Drew Adams—who worked for Michelin-starred restaurants like The Dabney and Rose’s Luxury in Washington, D.C.—leading culinary operations alongside then-general manager Bruce Pike, who ran an event production company that put on events at places like the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.
Image: Hannah Trombly
Sarasotans Have Been Publishing Their Recipes Since the Early 1900s. We Tried Two.
But if you were lucky, you also may have breathed in the heady fragrance of oranges, butter, flour and sugar fusing into a rich citrus cake in a hot oven. The recipe—from the Woman’s Club of Sarasota’s 1914 Florida Cook Book and called simply “Orange Short Cake”—made the most out of our prized citrus, directing cooks to candy the fruit and squeeze the juice into a sticky syrup that glazed the cake. It’s as much a showstopper today as it was 111 years ago.
