A popular Sarasota-Manatee waterfront restaurant has been named one of the best in the country. Here’s what you need to know before you go.
Star Fish Company named one of USA TODAY’s best restaurants of 2024
Take a look inside Star Fish Company in Cortez, FL, named one of USA TODAY’s best restaurants for 2024
One of the best restaurants in Sarasota and Bradenton has earned national honors.
Out of 47 dining destinations from across the country, including just three from Florida, Star Fish Company earned a spot on the 2024 USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year list.
Promoted as a place for “ultra-casual outdoor dining,” Star Fish is located in the historic commercial fishing village of Cortez on northern Sarasota Bay in Manatee County. Karen Bell, a third-generation Cortezian dedicated to preserving her family’s commercial fishing heritage, owns Star Fish.
“For me, it’s almost shocking,” Bell said. “I know we do well with seafood, but we have very little space in this small village; it seems incredible to meet. Most people don’t even know Cortez exists. I am proud of us and the great people I work with and the quality seafood we provide. I’m just really happy and I’m very lucky.”
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What makes Star Fish Company stand out
Not only does Bell own Star Fish Company, a dockside restaurant, and seafood market, but he also owns AP Bell Fish Co., a wholesale seafood dealer located next door that his family founded in 1940. Bell’s fleet of commercial fishing boats fresh seafood at the AP Bell “fish house,” and served it alongside Star Fish — or shipped as far away as Asia. While dining at Star Fish, you’ll be mesmerized by the fishermen working alongside seabirds and the occasional dolphin.
For those looking for fresh Gulf seafood in an authentic Old Florida setting, it doesn’t get better tasting or more authentic than Star Fish. The restaurant has more than a century of history and seats guests at wood picnic tables on the working docks of the Cortez. It’s cash only; you order at the counter, and your meal, including specialty fish fillets, is brought to you in a cardboard box. During tourist season, the wait can be 90 minutes or more, giving enough time to order a cold beer and soak up the view.
What to order at Star Fish Company
mullet. The menu says that this fish put Cortez on the map and that it’s full of omega-3 oils and “good for you!” I’m no nutritionist, but I can attest that Star Fish mullet is delicious, especially when blackened or fried.
Cortez is special. Priced at $26.95, this might be the best dining deal in Florida. The special comes with irresistible Star Fish hush puppies, homemade coleslaw and either fries, broccoli or cheese grits. Take the grains. Next, you choose one of two: shrimp (fried or sauteed), mahi-mahi (grilled or blackened), oysters (fried), scallops (fried or sauteed), grouper (fried, grilled, blackened or sauteed), crab cake or conch pieces. My go-to order is the grouper (blackened) and scallops (sautéed).
Grouper Tacos. While fish tacos are common, the ones at Star Fish are unusual, thanks to fresh chunks of grouper tossed in spices and placed inside two soft flour shells with shredded lettuce, tomato , pepper jack and a cleverly balanced sauce with delicious. kick
Florida Pompano. While tourists and snowbirds gobble up grouper and shrimp, true Floridians will want to opt for fish like mullet and pompano, with the latter boasting a rich buttery flavor best realized when grilled.
Po’ Boy Sandwich. How good is fried shrimp or oyster boy? When Emeril Lagasse visited the restaurant in 2016, he asked for the recipe for their New Orleans-style remoulade sauce.
Key Lime Pie by Karen Bell. Karen’s namesake rendition of Florida’s favorite dessert offers the perfect sweet ending to any Star Fish feast.
See the full menu.
Did you know?
Located a short walk from Star Fish Company is another unique seafood restaurant, Tide Tables, which Bell owns with local couple Bobby and Gwen Woodson. At Tide Tables, they cut their fish right on its Cortez dock on the Intracoastal Waterway, overlooking Anna Maria Island, and use it for delicious dishes like Thai chili grouper bites or a blackened grouper sandwich.
In addition, Bell and his longtime employee, Josh Wilkinson, are reviving a local comfort food favorite called The Boiler Room, which he said should open in March. The Boiler Room, which specializes in the cheesesteak sandwiches that made the restaurant famous before it closed a few years ago, is located west of Bradenton, about seven miles from Star Fish Company.
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Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. Support local journalism by subscribing.
