Siesta Key Village Adds Two Walk-Up Lunch Options

Siesta Key Village has long offered sit-down dining along Ocean Boulevard. Two walk-up counters now add another option for a quick lunch.

How New Counters Fit the Village Dining Scene

Start with a fact most visitors never notice and most residents already know: a huge share of Siesta Key Village's dining scene traces back to the same two names. Chris Brown and Mike Granthon, operating as Above the Bar Hospitality Group, own Summer House Steak & Seafood, The Hub Baja Grill, and The Cottage, three of the Village's reservation-driven dinner anchors. They also built My Village Pub, known locally as MVP, on the corner of Avenida Messina and Ocean Boulevard, in the space that used to house Napoli's Italian Restaurant. Their footprint goes back further than the restaurants themselves. In 2014 the partners bought eight buildings in the Village, including what was then Siesta Market, which is now Morton's Siesta Market, and a former hardware store space that became Siesta Village Liquors.

Siesta Poke, tucked next to Made in Rome Organic Gelato, is operated by the same ownership group as Summer House Steak & Seafood, The Hub Baja Grill, and The Cottage. It adds a walk-up counter option to the Village dining scene.

The table below shows the businesses at the Village's busiest intersection and their listed ownership.

The table also shows the independent counter a few blocks away: The Duo Döner & Deli.

Two Walk-Up Options Join the Village

Chef Jakub Skoczylas moved through kitchens in Sweden, Croatia, and the U.K. before landing as executive sous chef at the exclusive Founders Club in Sarasota. He and his wife Maja Rakowiecka opened The Duo Döner & Deli at 5049 Ocean Boulevard, in the Siesta Center across from Davidson Plaza. His döner recipe takes five days to marinate before it ever reaches the counter.

In its report on the shop's opening, Siesta Sand quoted Katie Spelman of Above the Bar Hospitality Group:

"We've created a missing link in the Village."

At Siesta Poke, customers build their own bowl at the counter, choosing a protein, a base, and a sauce made fresh that day, then carry it out the door instead of waiting on a server. Siesta Poke has built a loyal following since opening, drawing a steady stream of locals in for something fast between beach trips. The Duo Döner & Deli has earned its own recognition, with Sarasota Magazine naming it one of the best new restaurants in the region. Both offer a different option from the Village's sit-down restaurants.

For visitors heading to Siesta Beach, a quicker meal can leave more of the day for the island.

The One Thing That Hasn't Changed With the Menu

Restaurants in the Village turn over constantly. Retail does too. Rochelle's on Siesta now fills the storefront that used to be the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce's space, and Comfort Shoes Birkenstocks & More relocated next door, into what was once an Edward Jones office. Against all of that churn, one thing on Siesta Key has run on the exact same schedule for decades: the Siesta Key Drum Circle.

Every Sunday, roughly an hour before sunset, drummers and dancers gather south of the main pavilion on Siesta Beach, near the green lifeguard stand. There's no ticket, no sign-up, no vendor booth. The gathering was started by David Gittens, described by Sarasota Magazine as an autodidact and industrial designer whose other creations include the Ikenga GT, a high-performance car, and the Ikenga Gyroplane 530Z, which is now part of the National Air and Space Museum's collection. Gittens is in his 80s and still lives in Sarasota. A core group of about twenty musicians shows up regularly, joined by anyone who brings their own drum. Costumes are welcome. Scarves, hula hoops, and lighted puppets show up as often as instruments.

The circle only cancels when the beach itself closes, for a hurricane or a red tide event. For residents who've watched restaurants and boutiques change hands along Ocean Boulevard, right down to the old Chamber of Commerce storefront now selling beachwear, the drum circle is the one Sunday fixture that has outlasted every lease in the Village.

If Sunday isn't your night, the same tradition runs on a gentler register elsewhere on the mainland side of the county: a more family-oriented drum circle happens Wednesday and Saturday evenings on Nokomis Beach, and another gathers Sunday evenings on Englewood Beach.

What a Local Sunday Looks Like Now

Put the two threads together and a resident's Sunday on the Key has a new shape to it.

• Skip the wait at a sit-down anchor and grab a poke bowl or a döner wrap from the counter instead
• Walk it to Siesta Beach, where the sand is 99 percent pure quartz
• Post up south of the pavilion near the green lifeguard stand about an hour before sunset
• Stay for the drums, the dancers, and whatever costume shows up that week
• Watch the sun go down over water that's been drawing people to this exact stretch of sand for generations

None of that requires a reservation. None of it requires driving off the island. And for the first time in a while, none of it requires giving up your afternoon to a forty-five-minute table wait just to eat lunch near home.

What the New Counters Add

The counters change one part of a local day; the Drum Circle remains a Sunday fixture.

Businesses on this stretch of Ocean Boulevard will keep turning over, the way Village retail always has. Against that change, the pairing of a faster lunch and an unchanged Sunday ritual is the notable addition this season—not just another name added to a restaurant list.

If you're weighing a move to Siesta Key or thinking about what your own place near the Village could be worth in today's market, The Paxton Group knows this stretch of sand block by block. Reach out and start the conversation about your Florida lifestyle search.