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Show time! For fine dining before or after the theater, here's our star line-up; plus great wine values.

Article Excerpt
Happily, Sarasota boasts as many excellent pre-theater dining options as it does excellent theater productions. Clustered downtown, within shouting distance of the Sarasota Opera House, Florida Studio Theatre, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and The Players playhouse, are an even dozen of superb choices, supplemented by an almost in-house restaurant for patrons of the three Asolo stages in the Ringling complex on the North Trail.

Let's start downtown just around the corner from the Sarasota Opera with Bijou Cafe (1287 First St. at Pineapple Avenue, 941-366-8111). This arts and theater district stalwart's enduring appeal can be summed up in two short phrases: "understated sophistication" and "old school done right." The wine list is superb, and the menu is a nicely balanced mashup of New Orleans style (an authentic jambalaya) and classic Continental dishes (appetizer trio of housemade pates). Service and ambiance are quietly perfect, and the bar is lively.

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Across the little park at Five Points from the opera is Pino's (100 Central Ave., 941-955-3739), a treasure named for its chef, who hails from Ischia, an island in the Bay of Naples not far from Capri. Everything here is good and served with panache in a cozy traditional setting. Appetizers (an unbeatable flash-fried calamari), pastas (mushroom-stuffed tortelloni), main dishes (superbly sauced roast duck) and desserts (limoncello ice cream) all sing. Good wine list, too.

A couple of blocks west is Zak's Steakhouse (1213 N. Palm Ave., 941-906-7300), another old-school knockout. As at Bijou, patio dining is available on fine evenings, and the dining rooms are studies in reserved elegance leavened with whimsy.

Steaks (Chateaubriand carved tableside for two) rule here, of course, but the seafood (scallops Isabelle) is also first-rate. The extensive wine list is varied and offers something for every taste and pocketbook.

Now we come to the Main Street divas, a chorus of diverse culinary voices strung from Pineapple Avenue on the west to Washington Boulevard on the east. We'll work our way east to west, beginning with Mediterraneo (1970 Main, 941-365-4122),...