One of the best restaurants in Sarasota and Bradenton received national honors earlier this year.
Among 47 dining destinations from across the country, with only three others from Florida, Star Fish Company earned a spot on the 2024 USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year list, published in February.
Promoted as a place for “ultra-casual outdoor dining,” Star Fish is located in the historic commercial fishing village of Cortez on north Sarasota Bay near Anna Maria Island in Manatee County. Karen Bell, a third-generation Cortezian dedicated to preserving her family’s commercial fishing heritage, owns Star Fish.
On Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene sent floodwaters rushing through Cortez, causing extensive damage to both her business and her nearby bayfront home — as well as the homes of many of her beloved neighbors.
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‘The hardest part has been keeping everyone employed,’ said Star Fish Company owner ahead of restaurant’s reopening
Bell and her dogs, who accompanied her upstairs the night of the hurricane, survived the storm surge that wreaked havoc on their beloved community and shuttered Star Fish Company, which sustained extensive dock damage.
In addition to Star Fish Company, the dockside restaurant and seafood market, Bell is the proprietor of A.P. Bell Fish Co., a wholesale seafood dealer located next door that her family established in 1940. Bell’s fleet of commercial fishing boats delivers fresh seafood to the A.P. Bell “fish house,” which is served next door at Star Fish — or shipped as far away as Asia. A.P. Bell Fish Co. came through Helene unscathed, but then Hurricane Milton “blew the roof off,” Bell said.
Fortunately, there’s a temporary fix for the roof in place, and all of the fish and refrigeration systems are fine, along with most of her commercial fishing boats. For the past month, while locals such as Junior Guthrie worked on repairing Bell’s docks, she kept her restaurant workers on the payroll and tasked them with various jobs, including helping to rebuild the Cortez community.
“The hardest part has been keeping everyone employed, but they’ve been great about coming to work, running donation programs (held outside Star Fish), and helping however they can,” Bell said by phone on Tuesday, Oct. 29. “Whether it was supporting folks in Sunny Shores or Cortez, some women helped clean, and the men helped move equipment — we made it through. Usually, after hurricanes, I just pay everyone to stay home, but this time, I had to say there’s still plenty to do, even if it’s not Star Fish stuff.”
‘Cortez is extremely resilient,’ says Star Fish Company owner ahead of restaurant’s reopening
At 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31, Star Fish Company will reopen its famed seafood restaurant and adjacent fish market. Both businesses will be open during regular hours, and the restaurant’s full menu will be served along with stone crab claws and Star Fish’s famous stone crab chowder. The only thing missing is the floating dock. However, there are still plenty of dockside picnic tables to dine at while overlooking the bay waters populated by seabirds and dolphins.
“I’m not prone to depression; I don’t let things get to me — my superpower is ignoring the negative stuff,” Bell said. “But getting up the past couple of weeks has been hard. My mind starts racing as soon as I wake up, and my to-do lists are ridiculous. It’s strange for me to feel overwhelmed, but I’d say I’ve been just that—it’s been overwhelming, especially with my house. The water damage has made it a mess. Luckily, my home is mostly plaster and tile, so it’s not as bad as some, but it’s still unusual for me to feel this way. Things are improving, though. Today was one of my most normal days: I filled the bird baths, fed the dogs, and got the house in better shape. It’s emptier now—a lot of stuff had to be thrown away, including all my books, which was heartbreaking.”
Growing up, Bell recalls relatives talking about the devastation to Cortez caused by the hurricane of 1921 and seeing pictures of boats at the schoolhouse because that was where the higher ground could be found. She remembers people calling it the “storm of the century” and hopes that Helene and Milton will also be remembered as “storms of the century,” especially with Helene’s floodwaters that had not been seen in Cortez in more than 100 years.
“One thing I’ll always say about Cortez is that it is extremely resilient,” Bell said. “Moving forward, fixing it, and learning from it seems to be what I see happening. I hope we don’t have a big exodus. There are lots of fishing people still here in Cortez, and I hope they stay.”
What to order at Star Fish Company
Stone crab chowder. This creamy delight is laced with big chunks of fresh, sweet, tender claw meat and might be the best soup in Sarasota or Manatee counties — so, yeah, I highly recommend ordering a bowl whenever you see it on the chalkboard menu of daily specials.
Mullet. The menu notes that this fish put Cortez on the map and that it’s loaded with omega-3 oils and “good for ya!” I’m no nutritionist, but I can attest that Star Fish’s mullet is delicious, especially when served blackened or fried.
Cortez Special. Priced at under 30 bucks, this might be the best dining deal in Florida. The special comes with Star Fish’s irresistible hush puppies, homemade coleslaw and either fries, broccoli or cheese grits. Get the grits. Next, you choose any two: shrimp (fried or sautéed), mahi-mahi (grilled or blackened), oysters (fried), scallops (fried or sautéed), grouper (fried, grilled, blackened or sautéed), crab cake or clam strips. My go-to order is the grouper (blackened) and scallops (sautéed).
Grouper Tacos. While fish tacos are common enough, the ones at Star Fish are uncommonly good, thanks to the fresh chunks of grouper tossed in spices and tucked inside two soft flour shells along with shredded lettuce, tomato, pepper jack and a smartly balanced sauce with a nice kick.
Florida Pompano. While the tourists and snowbirds gobble up the grouper and shrimp, true Floridians will want to opt for fish like mullet and pompano, with the latter boasting a rich, buttery taste best realized when grilled.
Po’ Boy Sandwich. How good is Star Fish’s fried shrimp or oyster po’ boy? When Emeril Lagasse visited the restaurant in 2016, he requested the recipe for their New Orleans-style remoulade sauce.
Karen Bell’s Key Lime Pie. Karen’s namesake rendition of Florida’s favorite dessert offers the perfect sweet ending to any feast at Star Fish.
See the full menu.
Did you know?
Located a short walk from Star Fish Company is another exceptional seafood restaurant, Tide Tables, which Bell co-owns with local couple Bobby and Gwen Woodson. At Tide Tables, they cut their fish right on the Cortez dock on the Intracoastal Waterway, overlooking Anna Maria Island, and use it for irresistible dishes such as Thai chili grouper bites and a blackened grouper sandwich. Tide Tables reopened on Oct. 15 following closures caused by Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton.
In addition, Bell and her longtime employee, Josh Wilkinson, are reviving a local comfort food favorite called The Boiler Room. The restaurant, which will specialize in the cheesesteak sandwiches that made it famous before it closed a few years ago, is located in West Bradenton, about seven miles from Star Fish Company, at 5600 Manatee Ave. W.
If you go
Star Fish Company is at 12306 46th Ave. W., Cortez. For more information, call 941-794-1243 or visit starfishcompany.com.
Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram and X. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota waterfront restaurant sets reopening date after hurricane hit
