Cafe Epicure, Downtown Sarasota Dining

Cafe Epicure Perfect for Birthday Lunch
Friday, downtown Sarasota was bustling with professionals on lunch breaks and seasonal visitors. Two of my girlfriends and I met at Cafe Epicure to celebrate combined birthdays and chat about life in Sarasota.

In the 1970s two young women entrepreneurs in Charleston, West Virginia, Gayle Preiser and Marsha Pushkin started a plant store named "Place for Plants" and one night over spicy gumbo, Marsha talked Annette Smith into opening a kitchen shop which she named "Kitchen Kaboodle." The girls operated those businesses next door to each other for a decade and raised children somehow long before the term "Super Mom" was known. Friday was a day of reunion and celebration of our Charleston past and our Sarasota present.

Cafe Epicure was the perfect background for our lunch. Downtown was bustling, and the gals had to drive several minutes before finding parking spots but as luck would have it in Paradise, we all separately parked in spots a few feet from Epicure's front door. Our server read us a list of the specials, and we made our choices from quite a selection of salads, pastas and sandwiches.

Marsha and Gayle dined on fresh arugula, avocado, hearts of palm with tantilizing dressings, and I had a "to die for" grilled chicken sandwich with avocado spread -- yummy! Cafe Epicure is located on the corner of Main and Palm Street in downtown Sarasota. Don't miss it.

Visit Downtown Sarasota condos to search for condominiums, area information and articles about living in one of Southwest Florida's thriving downtown communities. Cafe Epicure is within walking distance to most Sarasota downtown condos.