Bistro, 1001 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Many of us remember the brown-bag lunches of our youths with a combination of nostalgia and nausea. The nostalgia comes from the simpler times, the nausea from our being sustained by such bland food as slices of dry deli meat between two slices of white bread. At Sarasota Art Museum’s Bistro, the aim is to offer some selections that evoke the nostalgia without the nausea and show that simple concepts can still pack lots of flavor.

Bistro’s house-brined turkey sandwich does just that. Rather than use dry slices of processed deli meat, executive chef Kaytlin Dangaran brines whole hunks of turkey for three days before roasting it. The result is a thick cut of turkey that won’t empty the salivary glands on its way down the gullet. Ample smears of smashed avocado line both pieces of the dense 7-grain bread, while a thick cut of yellow tomato sits beneath a mound of sprouts. The result is a sandwich that evokes the simple heartiness of a classic turkey sandwich but stacks it a little taller with meat and flavor. It’s enough to make you forget those dry and tasteless sandwiches of yesteryear.

Bistro, 1001 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

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