The Critics · Tables for Two
Under the Overpass
In Sarasota, a daring new restaurant pairs the brackish air of the bay with a menu that elevates forgotten coastal ingredients into miniature works of modern art.
The location of Citronella & Salt is either an act of supreme confidence or a structural joke. Tucked directly beneath the concrete shadow of the Ringling Causeway in Sarasota, the dining room is open to the elements, separated from the lapping waters of Sarasota Bay by only a low wall of coquina stone and a series of heavy canvas sails. On a warm Tuesday evening, the roar of motorists heading toward St. Armands Key provides a strange, industrial bassline to the delicate clink of cocktail glasses and the smell of roasting bay cedar. Chef Alistair Finch, formerly of several Michelin-starred kitchens in Chicago, has returned home to propose a radical thesis: that Florida’s coastal cuisine is best understood when stripped of its resort-style tropical signifiers and re-anchored in the salt-marsh scrub.
The meal begins not with bread but with a small bowl of smoked mullet spread, served on crisp crackers made from toasted sea-oats flour. It is a dish that could easily feel like high-concept Cracker kitsch, but Finch prepares it with such lightness and restraint that it becomes something entirely new—the oiliness of the fish tempered by a bright, fermented key-lime vinaigrette and the bitter crunch of pickled sea-purslane. The main courses continue this rigorous interrogation of the local landscape. A plate of roasted hogfish, served with a velvety emulsion of wild sorrel and green mango, is cooked on the bone to preserve its delicate, sweet flake, presenting a flavor profile that is both intensely familiar and foreign.
For dessert, Finch offers a frozen parfait of sour orange and lavender, served in a hollowed out citrus rind that has been cured in sugar syrup. Sitting in the humid air, watching the pelicans dive into the darkening bay while the highway traffic hums overhead, one feels a rare sense of harmony. The service is equally unhurried, managed by a young staff who describe the forage sites around nearby Myakka River State Park with the solemnity of botanists. Citronella & Salt does not offer a comfortable retreat from the Florida elements; instead, it demands that you sit within them, tasting the salt and soil with every bite.