Crab & Fin on St. Armands Circle

Some restaurants chase trends. Crab & Fin has spent nearly fifty years doing the opposite, serving fresh seafood at white-tablecloth tables on St. Armands Circle since 1978. It sits right in the thick of the Circle's ring of shops and palms, a short stroll from Lido Beach, and for a spot this central the parking is refreshingly painless, with plenty of spaces right out front.

Inside, it's the kind of room Sarasota does better than just about anywhere: cool, polished, a little dressy without being stuffy, with a generous patio for watching the Circle go by. The menu is broad in the best way. Seafood is the headline, from a raw bar with oysters flown in from a few different oceans to local grouper and snapper, stone crab claws in season, and a proper lump crab cake, but there's a full slate of steaks and chops for the table member who doesn't do fish. During Savor Sarasota the kitchen stretched out even further, with one of the more generous prix-fixe menus in town.

If you're deciding, lean into what the name promises. The crab cake and the salmon are the dependable, satisfying classics, and regulars swear by the grilled octopus and the lobster bisque to start. Come hungry and unhurried, because this is a take-your-time dinner, not a quick bite before a movie.