Pictured: Chef/owner Drew Adams is focused on dinner service at Adeline. Provided photo.

In the February issue of SRQ Magazine, Drew Adams (the chef/co-owner of Adeline) opened up about the challenges of establishing a unique identity in Sarasota’s bustling culinary scene. He also talked about Little A, the lunch concept he was running out of the kitchen at Adeline. Since that article was published, Little A has been temporarily tabled. Adeline, however, is still going strong.

“We launched Little A about three weeks after the back-to-back hurricanes hit the area,” Adams says. “We thought it would be a fun thing to test out, to see how it went, and it was received really well. But as fun as it was and as phenomenal as the product was, it was just starting to conflict with dinner which is really our bread and butter.”

As things started to settle down after the hurricanes and business started picking back up, it became apparent that the kitchen at Adeline couldn’t sustain two concepts long-term. The walk-in space was getting crowded with product, and it became a challenge to start dinner prep while people were still clamoring for sandwiches from Little A. Ultimately, Little A ended up being more of a pop-up concept in that space, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever: Adams is exploring the possibility of re-opening Little A in its own space in the future.

“I definitely want to look at some other locations,” says Adams. “I’ve looked at a couple already. But Adeline is still my primary focus.”

In fact, Adams has some exciting things in the works for Adeline. This summer he’s planning to host a chef dinner series at the restaurant, as well as several wine dinners. Be sure to follow Adeline on social media (Facebook and Instagram) or check the website to see when those dates are posted.

Adeline, 1920 Hillview Street, Sarasota, 941-444-7692, www.adelinesrq.com.

Pictured: Chef/owner Drew Adams is focused on dinner service at Adeline. Provided photo.