Oh my, oh my! You guessed it right. It’s another great restaurant experience. This time around, I found myself in the Sunshine State for Father’s Day Weekend. My boyfriend and I flew to Sarasota on Friday to join his family for a little weekend celebration. Apart from the forecasted storm that thankfully never reached us, the weather was lovely.

After two days of soaking up the sun at Siesta Key Beach, exploring the community and delicious grilled dinners, we headed out to celebrate Father’s Day at Ophelia’s On the Bay for our last night in town. The restaurant has two glass-walled dining rooms and an outside open-air patio that gives you stellar vistas of Little Sarasota Bay. We arrived early enough to have some drinks by the bar while we waited for our table. Although the views are amazing, the humidity and heat of the day called for an indoor dinner, plus we really wanted to enjoy and experience the food.

Where do I begin? Shortly after we were seated, our server brought a little basket of bread baked to perfection with garlic, still warm, soft, tasty and simply amazing. The menu offers intriguing and unique appetizers and entrées. I started with the eggplant crepes—thin and crisp rolled eggplant filled with ricotta, spinach, Mascarpone, Fontina and stewed San Marzano tomatoes, topped off with a semi-sweet tomato basil sauce. I savor it all over again as a type this.

Although the menu largely consists of fish and seafood dishes, there are a few poultry and meat options. I was happy to see they have Churrasco as an entrée option (a typical Dominican barbecue wouldn’t be complete without Churrasco grilled with some mojito sauce) and, of course, I had to choose that for my entrée. The dish was prepared en sous vide with mojo marinade, flash grilled with chimichurri, sweet onions, cheesy spinach and served with yucca frita with guasacaca. Within the first bite I took a trip to my childhood. The Churrasco was perfectly cooked at medium-rare temperature, the vegetables were crunchy, and the yucca fries were out of this world. The meal was paired with a nice red Bordeaux for the perfect match.

I enjoyed a subtle crème brûlée for dessert, and we all shared the key lime pie. Please do yourself a favor and visit Ophelia’s On the Bay whenever you’re in Sarasota. I assure you, you won’t regret it!

— Yasser Ogando, sales planner