Darwin's on 4th Brings Modern Urban Cuisine and Brewing Downtown

When it comes to the culinary arts, Darwin Santa Maria is Peruvian gold.

The former owner and chef took over the Rosemary Districta restaurant space formerly occupied by Mad Crow Brewery and opened his own restaurant and brewery, last month, where has met instant success.

“We were expecting about 20 people on opening night – friends, mostly – and ended up with 200. It hasn’t really slowed down since,” he said.

Santa Maria describes the cuisine he serves at Darwin’s as “urban street food meets upscale fine dining,” or in other words, accessibly popular favorites with a gourmet twist.

“In the good times, I can sell a plate for $40 or $50, but I wanted to be more realistic in this economy… I don’t go to fine dining restaurants very often – maybe once or twice a year – but I like to eat street food all the time, so I worked that concept into my restaurant,” Santa Maria explained.

An unsophisticated dish such as tacos, for instance, is a work of art at the hands of Santa Maria: Darwin’s appetizer menu features yuzu butter poached lobster tacos with miso-truffle black bean puree, avocado and pico de gallo.

For those who turn their noses up at shellfish, Darwin’s also serves oven roasted pork tacos with charred tomatillo salsa, caramelized onions and avocado aioli.

Santa Maria said that he plans to update the menu seasonally to keep it fresh, and is already working on adding a vegan section due to the popularity of the vegan-inspired dishes he began serving last month.

From Peru to Rosemary District

The path that led Santa Maria to open Darwin’s is just as interesting and flavorful as the dishes he serves up in his restaurant.

Santa Maria came to the United States from Peru in 1989 as a teenager and graduated from in 1993. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in culinary arts from Miami’s Johnson and Wales University, Santa Maria returned to Sarasota for what he thought would be a short duration of time. Luckily for Sarasota gourmands, however, Santa Maria ultimately decided to settle locally.

“I was working at – which was basically the only fine dining restaurant in Sarasota at the time – when the Food and Wine Fest came to town. When that happened, it made me see how much potential Sarasota really has and I thought, ‘Maybe I will stay here,’” Santa Maria recalled.

Santa Maria was offered his first chef position at Fred’s Restaurant (now the location of ) where he worked for less than three years before being nominated as one of the Top Ten Chefs in America in 2001. The nomination brought him to New York, where he had the opportunity to cook with other top chefs from across the nation.

“I was just the little guy from Sarasota – no one even knew what Sarasota was,” said Santa Maria.

Inspired by his trip to New York, Santa Maria and his wife opened the original Selva Grill in a strip mall off of Clark and Swift Road in 2002.

“We put all of our savings into it and people told me that we were crazy; that we wouldn’t make it, but within just two months of opening, we were a Top 10 Zagat-rated restaurant. The original Selva Grill was very small, with only 7 tables – but we were popular enough that people were waiting for as long as two months for dinner reservations,” he said.

Selva Grill moved to its current 1345 Main St. location in 2004, and Santa Maria left the restaurant in 2009 when he began to feel like he was not spending enough time with his family and was experiencing a creative dearth.

“I realized I always put the restaurant before my family, and my creativity kind of dried up for about a year. Spending more time with my kids changed me a lot, and it all started coming back to me once I took a step back for awhile.”

After a brief stay in Peru, Santa Maria returned to Sarasota re-energized and prepared to embark on a new restaurant venture. When a realtor showed him the former Mad Crow space, with a brewery already in place, he knew he had found the home for Darwin’s on 4^th.

The Brewery

Santa Maria hired Jared Barnes, formerly of Southern Tier Brewing Company, to run the brewery at Darwin’s.

Barnes is currently working on a series of specialty beers for the restaurant, which he plans to introduce within a month. For the time being, he has compiled a complex, well-rounded selection with choices ranging from Dogfish Head’s Raison D’être, a Belgian brown ale, to Saint Somewhere’s citrusy and peppery Caitlin and Southern Tier’s sinfully rich Choklat.

Barnes is currently perfecting the restaurant’s signature beer, Darwin’s Evolution, which he describes as “a slightly dry-hopped American style wheat ale with a Belgian yeast strain,” as well a stout brewed with raisins and molasses and an IPA featuring 5 different varieties of hops.

Barnes revealed that once the recipes are set, he looks forward to adding Peruvian ingredients to the brews.

“I’m looking forward to incorporating Peruvian and Amazonian fruits, Aji Amarillo peppers, and Chicha-style drinks brewed with Peruvian corn,” he said. “There’s just a lot of really cool stuff to play with in South American beers.”

Barnes is currently polling Darwin’s employees to see what kind of beers they want to see on Darwin’s draft, which will ultimately carry a rotation of 10 brews. He also plans to begin polling customers in the near future for their feedback.

“I want everyone involved,” he said. “I like to do everything, and my goal is to make as many people happy as I can.”

Santa Maria said his long-term goal is for Darwin’s to be one of the first and only restaurants in downtown Sarasota known not only for its food, but for its original beers as well. Eventually, he hopes to sell bottled varieties of the beers brewed at Darwin’s.

“I’d love to see people coming in here to pick up six-packs. Hopefully you’ll see our bottles in and other local markets one day,” he said.

The restaurant is open daily from 5 to 10 p.m., with late night dinner hours until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. For great food and atmosphere and some of the best beer you’ll find in downtown Sarasota – Darwin’s on 4^th is a must-visit.