Italian restaurant sells downtown Sarasota location, new Cuban eatery to open there

An Italian restaurant's downtown Sarasota location has shut its doors and sold its space, with plans for another eatery to open there.

Flavio's on Main, which originally opened in 2015 as Beulah at 1766 Main St., has closed, owner Flavio Cristofoli said. The restaurant's original location, Flavio's Brick Oven & Bar, is a Siesta Key Village fixture dating back to 1991. It will remain open.

"It was too much for me handling two locations, especially as Siesta Key gets very busy; we do big numbers seasonally there," Cristofoli said. "And I can’t find enough good help to run the place downtown, so I decided it was too much, handling two restaurants.”

10 best restaurants in Sarasota area to visit now that tourist season is over

The best downtown Sarasota restaurants: Here are 10 of my favorites

Ticket Newsletter: Sign up to receive restaurant news and reviews plus info on things to do every Friday

Cristofoli still owns the Main Street property, and will lease the space to another restaurant called Cuba 1958 Authentic Cuban Cuisine, according to the new restaurant's co-owner Daniel Jimenez. Cuba 1958 is an offshoot of Westfield, New Jersey's 1958 Cuban Cuisine, with the Sarasota restaurant — besides a slightly different name and more "tropical" influence fitting its Florida location — to feature largely the same menu and concept.

According to its website, 1958 Cuban Cuisine takes its name from the last year in Cuba before Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959, and offers "fine dining" Cuban cuisine that's served in "a very relaxed and joyful atmosphere." Jimenez said they hope to open the Sarasota restaurant in June, as they don't plan on extensive renovations but rather creating a new sense of place inside the existing space.

"We’re trying to emulate an 1958 theme inside the restaurant," Jimenez said. "You’re going to get the chandeliers, the colors, and the courtyard, we’re going to make it Havana club-style out there."

Jimenez said the Sarasota restaurant's menu should be very similar to 1958 Cuban Cuisine, which serves a variety of Cuban entrees, appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, sides, desserts and drinks. It also plans to offer a full-liquor bar, as Flavio's on Main did.

Like its Siesta Key counterpart, Flavio's on Main — which changed its name from Beulah in 2020 — was known for Italian cuisine including brick-oven pizza, and drinks, with the Herald-Tribune highlighting it in summer 2018 when the Italian cocktail Aperol spritz was trendy. The restaurant was also known for its outdoor courtyard.

Flavio's Brick Oven & Bar remains open daily starting at 4 p.m. at 5239 Ocean Blvd., Siesta Key. For more information, call 941-349-0995 or visit flaviosbrickovenandbar.com.

Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at [email protected]. Support local journalism by  subscribing.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Downtown Sarasota restaurant Flavio's on Main sold, Cuba 1958 to open