Friday was our last day in Florida, so we wanted to make the most of it. Jerry and Justin got up pretty early to go play golf. Linda and I decided to forego this activity and go shopping at St. Armand’s Circle instead. Then, we would all reconvene around 1pm or so to have lunch together.
Linda and I arrived at St. Armand’s right about 10am when the stores opened. We weaved in and out of several shops including typical chains such as Coldwater Creek and White House Black Market to lots of local specialty shops ranging from jewelry to art to housewares. I was in heaven because I love being able to shop and enjoy the outdoors at the same time. Plus, there were tons of unique things that I wouldn’t normally see in Cincinnati – obviously, there were a lot of beachy and island-themed items. On this particular day, I was on a jewelry kick. I had kind of been searching for a cool turquoise necklace leading up to the trip, and other than online, had been unable to find anything. Well, here in Sarasota, there were multiple choices everywhere I went. I ended up purchasing 3 chokers and a pair of earrings from Coldwater Creek. Who would have thought I’d ever buy anything there? Their clothes are totally not my style, but as I discovered they have really amazing, unique accessories. I also bought another necklace at a local gift shop. Other than that, I tried on a few dresses here and there, but didn’t find anything I absolutely loved.
After working our way around most of the circle, the boys arrived. We decided to go to a modern little Italian place called Venezia. I ordered a glass of wine and for my lunch, I ordered wild mushroom pasta. I was pretty hungry. As usual, however, I didn’t come close to finishing my meal and got a to-go box.
Following lunch, we split up into couples so that we could do a little browsing of our own. Justin and I went to a few more clothing and jewelry stores, but didn’t make any purchases. We also went to a little wine shop because we saw they had free wine tasting. When we got in there, however, we realized that it wasn’t the traditional wine we were used to. They had things like strawberry, blueberry, peach, apple, etc. Some of them tasted like juice, but a few of the “varietals” were surprisingly dry. We finally decided to buy one of the blueberry wines as a novelty, not realizing that it was a $24 bottle! Oh well, we’ll drink it at some point.
It was getting to be late afternoon by this time, and it was definitely getting cloudy as if more storms were brewing. So, we went back to the condo to figure out dinner plans for the evening. On our final evening in Sarasota, we really, really wanted to have dinner with just the two of us, and we also really, really wanted to have sushi. So, we reluctantly asked Jerry and Linda if they were okay with our plans, and we researched a couple of local places based on reviews. We finally settled on a place called Vizen and made a reservation for 7pm since it was a Friday night. We also didn’t want to be out too late since we were planning on leaving first thing the next morning and needed to finish packing.
When we arrived at the restaurant, it definitely left a lot to the imagination from the outside. It was located in this little strip mall a couple of blocks from the beach that had a few bars and grills, some various servicing-type businesses, maybe a drycleaner…but never judge a book by its cover. The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a modern and simple Japanese style with colors of red, black and gray. It was also very small, only seating maybe 25 people. When we were seated, we were maybe 2 of about 8 people in the restaurant. The sushi menu was scrolled on a chalkboard. After ordering our drinks, we began to take in what some of the offerings were and quickly realized that we were not going to be having the typical sushi meal we have up north.
We decided to go with some Tuna sushi; the Madai sushi, which is a Tai Snapper; the Black Jack roll with calamari, avocado and a black squid ink sauce and; a Trico roll featuring lobster and roasted pistachios. The unique ingredients and flavor combinations in each dish were incredible. The artistry that the chef used in the presentation of the rolls was beautiful – supposedly this is called Edo style. One of the rolls was even embellished with a soy sauce foam! It was neato! Our last meal in Sarasota was definitely a high point of the many dining experiences we had during the trip. We will absolutely return to this restaurant when we visit again. We finally returned to the condo by about 9:15pm, finished our packing and hit the sack.
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