If you’re feeling extra spicy, go for the chili naan ($4), a flaky, puffy bread blasted with hot green chilies. The meat, simmered in tomato and plenty of spices, is tender and delicate, and the abundance of rich, fragrant sauce gives you something in which to dip your garlic naan ($3). That spice elevates the butter chicken ($15). That middle option retains an impressive heat level-right where I like it. I enjoy spicy food, so when I was presented with the option of mild, medium or hot at Tikka, which opened in Venice in 2018, my first instinct was to go for the spiciest choice, but something made me pull back and order medium instead. Even the plainer tacos-filled with pork, beef or chicken-are made with fresh tortillas made in house, and gorditas and burritos also benefit from Betancourt’s scrupulous eye. For $10, you can get three tacos and a bowl of that broth to dip them in, or just four tacos.
To perfect her birria tacos, she traveled to California to sample the state’s best and then developed her own, which are made with beef cheeks, and crisped up on a flattop after being dunked in a rich broth. Betancourt was born in Florida, but grew up in California, and her Mexican cuisine is filtered through that West Coast experience. In 2019, she opened The Spot Tacos & More in a small space attached to Robin’s Apartments, an affordable housing complex just down the road from the Red Barn. There’s also a grouper sandwich ($25) that is the ideal of that Florida classic, a hugely indulgent lobster, shrimp and crab Cobb salad ($25), a great burger ($19) and excellent cocktails.įor years, Laura Betancourt operated a food, juice and smoothie stand outside Bradenton’s Red Barn Flea Market, but she got tired of running an outdoor business on hot and rainy days, so she decided to move indoors. Louis-style barbecued ribs ($27) coated in a Mongolian glaze and arranged on the plate like a Jenga tower. For the die-hard meat eater in your life, there are the St. Chef Dylan Elhajoui has constructed a creative menu that has a little something for everybody. Whichever destination you choose, luckily, you can trust that the food will be on point. Armands Circle, when the weather’s nice, the roof rolls back, and if you request the right table, you can sit underneath the stars and gaze across an intimate table into the eyes of the person you love the most. On the other hand, at the original location, on St. On one hand, the newer restaurant, near the northern tip of Longboat Key, is built with tiered seating, which gives every diner a view of the lapping waters of Sarasota Bay, and the space is a swanky, polished, upscale midcentury Florida dreamscape. Which Shore location do I like the best? That’s a tough call.