wherein we fall in love

So we fell in love last night with a new (to us) place, called indigenous.  We had a perfectly prepared meal with several knock your socks off courses and fabulous service (Thanks Jessica!) outside on the patio lit with fairy lights on an evening with 70* weather.  How could you not fall in love with a place under those circumstances? LOL

We had heard of the place before and had once called to get a reservation but they were so booked all they had was 5:30 LOL which as most of you know - is lunch to us... But last night we were able to get an 8:30 outside reservation and found the menu, the food and the server, very much to our liking. And you can BYO with a corkage fee.

This is a definite "return to" restaurant.

They are known for a number of dishes but many things change season to season so we were thrilled to find out that our two appetizers were among the standard menu items- we chose the Parmesan Beignets and the Mushroom Bisque.  While the beignets were wonderful, the bisque was exquisite- I gave some thought to ordering it for dessert as well! (the photos do neither of these dishes justice!)

 the mains were equally excellent - I ordered the special of line caught mangrove snapper with a fattoush salad mix under and a creamy sauce of basil and cilantro - seriously good! Phil had a lamb dish with savory middle eastern flavors.

the night was warm and the lighting was perfect- you could see your food and dining partners yet enjoy the fact that it was night- with a little sliver of a moon in the sky...the water glasses left their humidity on the coasters but it seemed a perfect temperature to us.

so if you get down this way and have an evening to spend in Sarasota- the place is near the Towles Court arts district- definitely go out of your way if you need to because this place is "worth the journey" as they used to say in Michelin guides... excellent meal and evening!