Meal-Time Manners

It's no secret that we love going out to eat with Lindsay, whether we're at home or traveling somewhere. (See here or here for some recent restaurant-focused posts.)

Eating with her fingers--oops!

She's usually pretty well behaved, for which we are extremely grateful. And from early on, we worked to teach her about basic dining dos and don'ts.

She didn't play with her food--the restaurant did!

If the thought of taking your rug rats to a restaurant sounds about as fun as a root canal, check out this video from Parents. It's a short and sweet but informative reminder of some of the eating etiquette little ones should practice when they're dining out or enjoying a meal at home. Use it to start a conversation with your kiddos, and maybe you can try somewhere other than the local fast-food joint for dinner.

Parent-Pleasing Meals

Did you hear about the controversy surrounding a couple who took their eight-month-old to an ultra-high-end, Michelin-three-star restaurant in Chicago? I’m all in favor of going out and about with kids—and of taking them places besides just McDonald’s and playgrounds—but I draw the line at things like taking a baby to the movies or a toddler to a super-swanky restaurant. When you go to a restaurant or museum or wherever, there should be opportunity for everyone in your party to enjoy the experience—Mom, Dad, and any little ones in tow. And I know that I enjoy a pricey meal much more when I don’t have to cut anyone else’s food or make sure that no drinks spill.

To be fair to those parents, their babysitter cancelled and the restaurant had a complex, months-in-advance, prepaid and nonrefundable reservation policy. And while their case may be extreme, almost every parent from time to time has taken a kiddo to a restaurant that may have been less than thrilled to have them, in search of a meal that didn’t come out of a deep fryer or that wasn’t available at every suburban mall in America.

With that in mind, here are some Sarasota County restaurants where little guys and gals are welcome and Mom and Dad can have a grown-up meal that goes beyond simple sustenance. And as long as the kiddos aren’t complete terrors, no one should take to Twitter about your presence.

Caragiulos has been an institution in downtown Sarasota since 1989. Kids can keep busy by making their own personal-sized pizzas; adults can sip a glass of wine while enjoying a specialty pie or one of the restaurant’s many pasta dishes.  

Owned by the same folks behind Caragiulos, Owen’s Fish Camp occupies a historic Sarasota cottage tucked under a banyan tree and oozing with down-home charm. Its Southern-tinged menu serves up simple but satisfying seafood dishes, and the atmosphere is anything but stuffy.

 

Gold Rush BBQ in Venice is ultra-casual and perpetually bustling. Tasty barbecued chicken, pork, and beef are served up quickly in a variety of forms and combinations and in portions big enough to handle even the most adult-sized appetite.

Don’t let the white tablecloths and wineglasses scare you away: The staff at Columbia on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota has no problem adding a high chair to the table. There’s tapas and sangria mixed tableside for Mom and Dad and a reasonably priced kids’ menu for the little ones.

Three area locations of Mi Pueblo serve up tart margaritas and spicy Mexican fare and sometimes offer kid-friendly entertainment like magicians, face painters, and balloon artists. Visit on a night when the mariachi band is in the house and no one will notice if Junior throws a tantrum.

 

The Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota is surprisingly welcoming of kids. The menu’s not cheap, but the tropical, get-away-from-it-all vibe provides a relaxing setting for a family meal.

Smack dab on Venice Beach, Sharky’s on the Pier draws locals and visitors for tropical drinks and seafood served surfside. Kids’ meals come with ice cream, and the shark-centric decor and giant fish tank offer plenty for young diners to look at if the water views don’t hold their attention.

Take in the action of downtown Sarasota from an outdoor table at Mattison’s City Grille. Dine on award-winning chef Paul Mattison’s casual yet sophisticated fare (including a kids’ side salad you’ll want to dig into yourself), then browse Main Street’s shops or stroll to Bay Front Park.

 

Venice newcomer Darrell’s Restaurant features a menu full of Southern favorites like fried chicken and pulled pork. Sit outside so the kids can stretch their legs in the adjoining courtyard while you polish off your plate, and make sure to end the meal with a generously sized Mason jar filled with “dirt” (aka chocolate pudding and crushed Oreos).

I'll Drink to That

I love it when kids’ meals include a beverage in the price. I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when some restaurants charge almost $3 for a child’s drink, even a reasonably priced kids’ meal quickly starts pushing $10.

Priced at just $5.95, the kids’ meals at Columbia come with a beverage. And not just some kind of soda—kids can also opt for milk and several types of juices.

That’s just one reason why Columbia is a great place to take kids. But it’s also a restaurant where young diners can try lots of different kinds of foods and learn about a piece of Florida’s history.

Though there are now several Columbia locations throughout the Sunshine State, the original restaurant opened in 1905 in Tampa’s Ybor City area. It was started by a Cuban immigrant and soon became a popular spot with the multiethnic workforce at the city’s nearby cigar factories. That original location still draws lots of diners today, who come to soak in its Old World charm and enjoy its much-lauded menu of Spanish cuisine (much of it offered in tapas-sized portions).

A trip to the original Columbia can be combined with other kid-friendly activities, like a ride aboard Tampa’s TECO Line Streetcar System and a visit to the Ybor City Museum State Park, which is housed in a former bakery and details the neighborhood’s history.

 

Or visit the location on Sarasota’s St. Armands Circle, a great spot for people-watching and a post-meal stroll. There are a slew of ice-cream shops and other dessert places on the circle for little ones in search of sweets, along with a handful of retailers (Fresh Produce, Crazy Shirts, Little Bo-tique) that carry kid-sized clothing and other items. Read more about my experience dining at Sarasota’s Columbia location with a kiddo in tow in the Whine and Dine column of the January/February 2014 issue of Mommy Magazine.

 

 

 

A Delicious Deal

We’ve been going to Gold Rush BBQ in Venice since my daughter, Lindsay, was a baby. From a very young age, she would dig into whatever kind of sampler plate we made up for her from our meals, feasting on chopped barbecue pork, green beans, barbecue beans, and melt-in-your-mouth cornbread. She’s now graduated to choosing for herself off of the kids’ menu, but she still always includes the green beans in her order.

Gold Rush is an ideal spot for kids. The opposite of formal and stuffy, the restaurant’s always humming with activity—bustling servers, customers coming in and out—which helps drown out crying, whining, or a stray shout here and there. There’s lots to look at in the dining room that’s done up like a gold miner’s shack, everything from lanterns and canteens to a faux flickering campfire. It’s a game of “I Spy” just waiting to happen. And all of the meals are served in metal mining tins, which means that Junior won’t break anything if he “accidentally” throws his plate on the floor.

Available for diners ages 12 and under, the kids’ menu features old standards like a burger, hot dog, and chicken nuggets along with options like chopped barbecue beef and a quarter rack of baby back ribs. Everything comes with one side dish; choices include applesauce, corn on the cob, cucumber salad, and the aforementioned green and barbecue beans. Expect a kids’ meal to ring in at $3.99, except for the pricier ribs, which will run you $5.99.

Unless you visit Gold Rush on a Monday from May to October. During that time frame, kids eat for free on Mondays. Here’s how it works: With the purchase of adult entrées, up to two kids per table can dine at no charge. Any additional kids eat for just $2 each. Face painting and a bike giveaway add to the family fun.

After devouring a platter loaded with tender barbecued meat, two sides, and a sublime square of cornbread, grown-up diners might not find a meal at Gold Rush to be easy on the waistline. But for families who visit on a Monday, the dining experience will definitely be easy on the wallet.

Shellfish by the Sea

Happy National Shrimp Day! In honor of this illustrious holiday, I’m highlighting the place where my daughter Lindsay recently made her first restaurant order of a kids’ helping of fried shrimp. The setting was Crabby Bill’s Seafood Restaurant in St. Pete Beach, a casual, two-level spot that sits along the Gulf of Mexico. We were sitting under an umbrella at a rooftop table, still in our bathing suits from the shelling cruise we’d taken that morning out of nearby Pass-a-Grille. The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, and the beach views made a perfect backdrop for our meal.

I had narrowed in on the Fried Popcorn Shrimp ($9.99) when Lindsay announced she was doing the same. She eats shrimp at home and isn’t what I would call a picky eater, but at restaurants she often sticks to her staples of grilled cheese, chicken fingers, and mac and cheese. So my husband and I applauded the fact that she was branching out, and she seemed pleased by her very reasonably priced meal ($4.99), which came with one side dish, a soft drink, and a package of Oreos for dessert.

Maybe it was the beachfront setting or the appetites that we had worked up while searching for shells, but that lunch hit the spot for all of us that day. Crabby Bill’s isn’t anything fancy, but its rooftop dining area is a fine place to enjoy a little seafood just steps from the sea.

An Easy Escape

Tommy Bahama’s Restaurant & Bar on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota might not immediately pop to mind when thinking of kid-friendly dining. But it’s actually more accommodating of the pint-sized set than you might imagine.

On our first visit there several years ago, we rolled up with our daughter still in her stroller and were warmly welcomed, wheels and all, to a table. We’ve been back several times since and the reception’s been the same.

With its walls done up in soothing shades of green and yellow and ceiling fans spinning lazily overhead, the upstairs dining room at the restaurant exudes a relaxed, tropical atmosphere. For mom and dad, that mellow mood can be heightened with a mai tai or mojito served alongside dishes like blackened fish tacos or a Cuban sandwich.

Little ones aren’t an afterthought here, with kids’ menu offerings ranging from steak medallions and mini cheeseburgers to a grilled chicken salad. Lindsay went for the chicken quesadillas, which came with fries and a little paper umbrella typically found adorning a fruity cocktail. Her drink arrived with a plastic swordfish in it.

Toward the end of our meal, our server asked Lindsay what her favorite color was, and Lindsay gave her usual response—pink, purple, orange, red, blue… A few minutes later, the server came back with five more paper umbrellas in a variety of hues that Lindsay could take home to use with her dolls.

But here’s the thing: The island vibe and friendly service will cost you. The kids’ menu doesn’t even list prices, so diners need to either ask or wait to be surprised when the bill arrives. Lindsay’s chicken quesadillas rang in at $8; the milk was another $3.25.

So we save Tommy Bahama’s for times when we really need to experience that feeling of getting away from it all. It’s something of an indulgence, but it’s definitely a whole lot cheaper than buying a plane ticket to a tropical isle. 

Grilling Greatness

“It was the best cheeseburger I ever had.” So said one of my daughter’s best little guy pals of his meal at BrewBurger’s Pub and Grill, located in Venice, Florida, off Jacaranda Boulevard near Interstate 75. With a ringing endorsement like that, we just had to check the place out, and based on my multiple visits to the restaurant, I’d say the praise was warranted.

Occupying a former Waffle House, BrewBurger’s gave the space an update but maintains the basic layout of the breakfast joint, including the open kitchen and counter seating. On our first visit, we snagged a spot at the latter, where my daughter felt like a very big kid and could watch all the burger flipping and assembling.

Burgers range from the basic to options like the Black & Bleu Burger ($8.50) and the Smokey Burger with barbecue sauce and pepper jack cheese ($8.50). They’re juicy, just the right size, and cooked perfectly.

My daughter has never strayed from the kids’ cheeseburger ($5.95) on the Little People’s Menu. (“I want to get what the restaurant is called,” she told me the last time we ate lunch there.) She attacks the all-American classic with gusto, leaving red streaks of ketchup behind on her smiling face. Other choices for children are a hot dog, grilled cheese, chicken fingers, and fish tails.

With cups of crayons for the kids and cold draft beers for the adults to go along with the friendly service and satisfying burgers, it’s no wonder the place has won local “Best New Restaurant” honors and draws both a regular clientele and guests from three nearby hotels. So the next time you need a burger fix, head to BrewBurger’s. You won’t be disappointed.