Ticket Editor: Sarasota restaurant closes on St. Armands Circle, reopens on Bradenton Riverwalk
Boasting a roster of restaurants only rivaled locally by downtown's impressive lineup, St. Armands Circle is one of the best places to visit in Sarasota County.
While among the most popular shopping destinations in Florida, for me, the Circle is all about dining. Satisfy a craving for Spanish-Cuban dishes and seafood at Columbia, or frequent Café L’Europe for Continental fare, now given a smart contemporary update. For New American cuisine, including a ridiculously good burger, visit Shore; for Italian, stop by Speaks Clam Bar, and for one of the best new restaurants to open in 2022, check out the St. Armands Oyster Bar.
Yeah, it's a long list of favorites that also includes the beloved Greek restaurant Blu Kouzina, which recently announced it will open a second Sarasota location at University Town Center later this year. But what you will no longer find on the Circle is Vernona Gourmet, which opened at 40 S. Boulevard of the Presidents about two years ago.
The restaurant specializing in genuine Hungarian cuisine has relocated to the Bradenton Riverwalk, one of the best places to visit in Manatee County. While St. Armands Circle has been a landmark for nearly a century, the Riverwalk, which opened in 2012 and recently expanded, is now a popular destination with plans for continued growth.
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Vernona Gourmet closes on Sarasota's St. Armands Circle, reopens on Bradenton Riverwalk and replaces Theresa's Restaurant
Named after the old El Vernona Hotel-John Ringling Hotel and founded by Hungarian native Nikoletta Pongo, the new Vernona restaurant has taken over the location of Theresa's Restaurant at 711 Manatee Ave. E. Situated on the section of the Riverwalk that connects the original 1.5-mile stretch to the west (featuring the new path to Caddy's), Vernona lies on the newly expanded eastern side of the Riverwalk, which features an observation tower and boardwalk leading to Manatee Mineral Springs Park.
Vernona provides a variety of seating options including plenty of indoor seating, a small beer and wine bar, a mini market area for cold and dry goods, and a charming courtyard with an awning. The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch, and is closed in the afternoon before reopening for dinner at 5 p.m. On Mondays at 6:30 p.m., jazz keyboardist and singer Robbie Rose hosts Music Jazz Night, a local jam session.
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Best things to eat at Vernona include Hungarian classics goulash, chicken paprikash; fried chicken and grilled pork ribeye dishes
If visiting during dinner or lunch, be sure to begin your feast with the goulash. The bowl I had the other day packed paprika-laced flavor in each bite with fresh veggies, potatoes, and generous amounts of tender chunks of smartly seasoned beef. I also enjoyed their chicken noodle soup, prepared 'Hungarian style' and costing just $5, same price as the goulash at lunchtime.
Some other standout items from the lunch and dinner menu that I recently enjoyed include the classic Hungarian dish of chicken paprikash served with homemade pasta ($14 at lunch), as well as the "karpati borzaska" featuring expertly fried chicken covered in shredded fried potato, topped with sour cream and shredded cheese ($20 at dinner). The "bakonyi szelet" also proved to be a must-try dish, featuring a deftly grilled pork ribeye topped with a rich and flavorful mushroom sauce and served alongside delightful mounds of mashed potatoes ($25 at dinner).
I also highly recommend the savory crepes filled with shredded chicken or mushrooms ($9 each at dinner), and be sure to consider saving room for sweets. During my two visits, I tried three desserts and they all are worth mentioning: Vernona's version of the Hungarian classic somloi galuska consisting of sponge cake with raisin, walnut, chocolate sauce and whipped cream ($8 at lunch); the house-made double chocolate salted caramel brownie with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream ($7 at lunch); and their rendition of another Hungarian favorite, turogomboc, featuring cottage cheese dumplings rolled in bread crumbs and sweetened with dabs of a brilliant berry jam ($8 at dinner).
Vernona also serves popular American dishes like a smash burger and wings that I plan to try in the future, along with items from their breakfast menu. Mainly, though, I look forward to tasting more of their Hungarian dishes such as the stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage and spiced meatloaf. Oh, and I'll definitely be returning for another bowl or two of goulash.
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Vernona joins exciting restaurant row that also includes Edelweiss, Oscura, Central Cafe and El Primo Taqueria
Vernona is now part of an exciting restaurant row on Manatee Avenue East that includes Vernona's next door neighbor, Edelweiss (611 Manatee Ave. E.), which has been serving genuine German cuisine and beer for more than a decade and is among my favorite places in the region to pair schnitzel with a Köstritzer or Paulaner brew, perhaps while enjoying some live Bavarian music.
To the east of Vernona, you have the coffee shop, cafe, live music venue and event space Oscura (816 Manatee Ave. E.), which serves an excellent avocado toast as well as an equally tasty Cuban sandwich and happens to be The Friendly City's hippest hangout. Next, you have Central Cafe just to the east at 906 Manatee Ave. E.. The restaurant housed in a handsome old hotel serves some of Bradenton's best burgers and best pizza — which both should be enjoyed with an order of their habit-forming hand-cut fries — among many other outstanding dishes and specials such as their French-cut pork chop. And no culinary tour of the Bradenton Riverwalk and Manatee Avenue East is complete without stopping by El Primo Taqueria (1111 Manatee Ave. E.) and enjoying an order of their famous chicken or beef tacos.
Unfortunately, The Farm House home decor shop that also served delicious doughnuts at 902 Manatee Ave E. in the same building as Central Cafe appears to have closed. Hopefully, a new restaurant will fill that space and join all the other great restaurants lining up by the new Bradenton Riverwalk East expansion that should be completed this year, judging by the progress I've witnessed during my daily walks. Daiquiri Deck has already announced plans to open on Riverwalk and I wouldn't be surprised if other popular Sarasota-based restaurants follow.
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Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida-Georgia Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Vernona restaurant closes in Sarasota, reopens on Bradenton Riverwalk
