Eat & Drink: Sweets for the Sweets

By Rick Dakan

February’s highlight dining date is Valentine’s Day which is, we all know, a terrible night to go out to dinner. Restaurants are crowded, menus are limited, prices may be a touch or two higher. So, in addition to Dan Savage’s advice to get in that special quality time with your romantic partner BEFORE you stuff yourself with fancy food and sweet desserts, my advice is don’t follow the crowds and find a different way to celebrate. Maybe even a different day. What I don’t advise is leaving out the desserts part, and here I’ve compiled a list of places to get your goodies for any sweet occasion. 

I have a deep and abiding and maybe even pathological love of French cuisine and especially pastries and viennoiserie. We’re blessed here in Sarasota with more than our fair share of good French bakeries, but my current go-to (and go-back-to) spot is Rendez-Vous (two locations: 5336 Clark Rd and 2117 Siesta Drive). Their bread is great, their breakfast and lunch are classic, and their pastries knock me out. A selection of their various tarts makes a great dinner-party dessert tray. For first thing in the morning though, I like a little less (but still a little) sugar. Rendez-Vous makes excellent brioche au sucre: soft, rich buns topped with a restrained sprinkle of hard sugar that has a nice crunch and perfectly complements my morning coffee.

Okay, I only usually want to go light on the sugar. Sometimes I want donuts. Sometimes I want donuts made from croissants, because why not the best of both worlds? Five-O Donut Co (2241 Ringling Blvd) has been at the forefront of the new run of donut shops popping up around Sarasota, and they’re one of my favorites. As the sign says, open weekdays at 7 a.m., weekends at 8 a.m., closes when they’ve sold out. Warning: they’re gonna sell out. 

We’re all here in sunny Sarasota at least in part for the warm weather, and there’s a great joy to enjoying a frozen treat on a fine February afternoon. Pop Craft Pops (2095 Siesta Drive) is a great Sarasota success story, and you’ll find their delectable frozen treats in freezers and food trucks around town, but why not go to the source? Made from fresh ingredients with no artificial preservatives or corn syrup, the fruity, tangy, naturally sweet and intriguingly inventive popsicles from Pop Craft are a semi-healthy alternative to some of the other options I’m offering up here, but no less delicious. Plus, there’s chocolate ones too which, really, are some of my favorites. 

A Sarasota dessert institution for a reason, the Haye Loft (5540 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key) has been a go-to special or any occasion destination as long as I can remember. That means it’s going to be packed on Valentine’s night, so follow my advice and go the night before or after. Specializing in pies and setting things on fire, the Haye Loft is a more casual, no reservations needed part of the fine dining restaurant (Euphemia Haye). There aren’t a lot of places to get flambéed desserts like Bananas Foster and Cherries Jubilee, but the Haye Loft has been doing these classics for decades. Or, if you don’t want any fire, there’s the homemade ice cream and the homemade pies and well, why not have some of each? 

But let’s say you want to make your sweet day something truly special and spectacular. A luxurious, elegant profession of love in cake form. Maybe with an engagement ring in it? Or because you’re getting married that day? Then Cakes by Ron (3520 Fruitville Road) is the place to go. Another Sarasota landmark with decades of experience, Cakes by Ron creates amazing, beautiful, dare I say stunningly delicious bespoke cakes for special occasions. Those you need to order ahead and pay a much-deserved premium for. But then there are the cupcakes. There’s always a delightful selection ready to go, in the event you walk in, or you can custom order the perfect combo ahead of time and choose from seventeen different kinds of cake and twenty-six different fillings and frostings.

There’s no shortage of literal sweetness in Sarasota, so here’s hoping we all have a lovely month full of love and deliciousness.