ADDRESS: 1212 East Ave. SouthCUISINE: contemporary AmericanCHEF: Al MassaOWNERS: Michael Klauber and Philip ManciniPHONE: (941) 366-0007 WEBSITE: www.bestfood.com OPENED: 1987PER-PERSON DINNER CHECK AVERAGE WITH BEVERAGES: $55SEATS: 150 seats, banquets 400AVERAGE WEEKLY COVERS: 800 in high season; 500 in low seasonBEST-SELLING DISH: pan-seared sea scallops and lobster with gnocchi, ricotta and pecorino, roasted butternut squash and sage beurre noisette.
Michael Klauber was an award-winning restaurateur when he sought to open his own restaurant in 1986, yet with a recession looming, banks wouldn’t lend the 32-year-old the startup cash. Undeterred, Klauber got creative and cobbled together a limited partnership of 17 friends and business associates.
But that still wasn’t enough money. He wanted the decor at Michael’s on East to be sophisticated, so he blasted his budget on furnishings, which left the operation undercapitalized when it opened the following year.
It only got tougher for Klauber. Despite the growing popularity of contemporary California cuisine, it got little respect in Sarasota, Fla., the wintering grounds of senior snowbirds and a tourist destination for meat-and-potato-loving Midwesterners.
“We almost didn’t make it those first couple of years,” Klauber says. Klauber’s plan of correction was simple: Ask guests what they want to eat and listen to their needs, not trends. Soon after, Michael’s menu was revised to feature classics with contemporary twists.
The formula has worked ever since.
Klauber grew up in the hotel and restaurant business working for his father, Murray Klauber, who owned The Colony in Longboat Key, Fla. After attending the Cornell School of Hotel Management, he moved to New Orleans and worked at the Royal Sonesta Hotel.
Enticed by his father’s promise to step back and let him run The Colony, Klauber returned in 1980 to revive the struggling seaside resort. The turnaround was fast: In just a few years, it had won national recognition and awards for its wine program, including a Fine Dining Hall of Fame award.
While there, Klauber hired Philip Mancini, a Johnson & Wales University student seeking an externship. Bored with his “easy 40-hour schedule,” Mancini asked for extra hours and eventually took over the department. “I was supposed to be [in Sarasota] three months, but I’ve been here 30 years,” Mancini says.
When Klauber opened Michael’s in 1987, Mancini left The Colony to launch Sarasota Catering. The business blossomed quickly, and Mancini was pressed to find professional kitchen space. Klauber offered to share some of Michael’s ample kitchen, and the relationship ultimately led to the formation of Michael’s on East Catering in 1993.
Mancini says he couldn’t imagine a better business partner than Klauber. Each sees that the restaurant and catering operate exclusively.
“We don’t have to meet often or go over balance sheets, because I respect the decisions he makes, and he respects the decisions I make,” Mancini says. Running these as separate businesses is “not the least expensive way to go, but as we got bigger, we saw it as the most sensible thing we ever did.”
Sean Berryman, executive chef for Michael’s on East Catering, says he doesn’t know “exactly what makes them tick, but they definitely tick.”
“Philip’s all about the catering, and Michael’s differently all about the restaurant,” he says. “It all works well that way.”
Marjorie North, a retired columnist for the Sarasota Herald Tribune, said Klauber and Mancini a perfect balance: one part visionary, one part hands-on field marshal.
“Michael can see a project that can overwhelm a lot of others, and then he instills the energy and enthusiasm,” North says, referring to many of the charity events managed by Michael’s. “Phil Mancini is the go-to guy. He takes the idea and wrestles with it, figures it out and makes it happen. That makes the two of them work particularly well together.”
Menu Sampler APPETIZERS Foie Gras Seared medallions of foie gras, delicata-cranberry chutney, Mandarin orange-clove rice vinegar gastrique, yuzu confiture and cinnamon walnut crostini $21.50 Seasonal Salad organic greens, gorgonzola, figs, grapes and candied pecans in a pear-poppy seed vinaigrette $9.75 Crispy Oyster Salad fried Apalachicola oysters, baby spinach, toasted walnuts, Stilton blue, Steen’s cane syrup-apple vinaigrette with pear-bourbon house-cured bacon $12.95 MAIN COURSES Veal Chop served atop pine nut, basil and Parmesan mash with rosemary tomatoes $39 Roasted Bone-In Kurobuta Pork Chop fennel-dusted with cumin, yogurt, pistachio-beet salad with blood orange gastrique and candied ginger $36 Slow-Roasted Duck bourbon-glazed silky collard greens, fire-roasted corn and spoon bread $30 Phil’s Carved Prime 14oz. New York Strip porcini-rubbed, roasted shiitake mushrooms, arugula and lemon-oregano fingerling potatoes $48 DESSERTS Key Lime Tart pecan-graham crust, tangy filling under a cloud of baked meringue with balsamic-black pepper strawberry salsa $8 Upside Down Cake caramelized fresh apricot, chocolate decadent cake and Meyer lemon sorbet $9 Ice Cream Pops hand-dipped vanilla-milk chocolate Rice Krispies, coffee-dark chocolate-almond and peppermint-white chocolate $9