A New Italian Restaurant in Downtown SRQ: Salute

A new Italian restaurant emerges in downtown Sarasota…

On the corner of North Lemon Ave and 1^st Street, in the space formerly occupied by Crepe Suzette, Sarasota's newest Italian restaurant, Salute, recently opened. With significant renovations and interior improvements, Salute offers four distinct areas for dining: al fresco, a casual bar, the wine room and the main dining room.

The menu at Salute is varied and extensive, offering bruschetta, appetizers, imported Italian cheeses, cured meats, salads, pasta, veal, chicken, pork and seafood with additional nightly specials.

With so many great dishes from which to choose, making a choice can pose a challenge. For our meals we chose the following:

1) Insalata di Rucola- Fresh arugula salad, red onions, goat cheese balsamic vinaigrette. $7.95

• A large salad, crisp and fresh

 2) Plate of Affettati/Italian Cured Meats and Formaggi/Cheeses- Your choice of imported cheeses (3) and dry cured meats (3) We choose:  Parmigiano Reggiano - piquant, salty, cow's milk cheese, Gorgonzola Dolce - sweet, runny blue cream, cow's milk cheese, and Taleggio Latte Crudo - silky, paste, hints of grass and herbs, cow's milk cheese.  Soppressata San Daniele - dry cured, seasoned salami of San Daniele del Fruili, Mortadella di Bologna - Pork sausage of Emilia Romagna and Speck del Tirolo - smoked, peppered prosciutto of Austria.

• A very nice presentation, salty, sweet and tasty, a great way to start a meal

 3) Special Salad Plate- Buffalo mozzarella, arugula, tomatoes, prosciutto and roasted red peppers.  $12.95

• Visually pleasing, refreshing and delicious

4) Grouper Special- Local grouper lightly breaded and pan fried, served with roasted potatoes and vegetables.  $24.95

• Very good sized portion, fresh fish, nicely seasoned potatoes.

 5) Vitello Saltimbocca- Veal medallions with prosciutto, sage, mozzarella in a light tomato white wine sauce.  $19.95 

• A large portion of fork tender veal, nicely seasoned and pan fried with a subtle touch of sage, very nice.

6) Cannoli- Traditional fresh ricotta cheese with chocolate chips and orange essence. $6.00 

• Nicely plated, sweet and flaky, a wonderful way to end the meal.

We found the wait staff to be friendly, informative, attentive and efficient.

Salute offers a full bar, beer, wine and soft drinks to accompany your meal. Additionally, Salute imports olive oil and wine from its own vineyards in Tuscany; which makes the bread service outstanding.

Launching a new restaurant is a challenging task; making it stand out is even more difficult! Seems to me the folks at Salute are well on their way to meeting the challenge.