Everybody eats. One feature of successful downtowns and popular shopping areas is lots of places to buy food. I’ve heard executives discuss potential office locations in terms of what restaurants are nearby. I’ve watched people shop for homes. “What’s the grocery shopping like around here?” is a frequent question. Antique stores and art galleries are nice, but food is a daily necessity. This is why I’m presenting my personal list of the kinds of food-oriented businesses downtown Bradenton needs if it’s ever going to become a place people go to instead of a place people drive through:
24 Hour Diner
Any real city needs someplace in its heart where you can get a meal and a cup of coffee at any time of the day or night. Ideally it should be a diner whose owners run it personally, not a chain joint like a Waffle House, although a Waffle House would be better than nothing. A well-run diner makes life better for everyone, especially cops, tow truck drivers, and others who are up and working at all hours.
Upscale Grocery Store
Most grocery chains are trying to compete with Wal-Mart to see how cheap they can sell their merchandise. If Bradenton is serious about attracting millionaire condomites, it needs an appropriately upscale store where they can buy food. My wife, who is more concerned about quality and cleanliness than price in a grocery store, would shop there even though she is not (and is not married to) a millionaire. So would plenty of other people who don’t mind spending a little extra as long as they get a little extra service in return. (Gelson’s, a small Southern California chain, offers a fine model for an “upscale” grocery store in Bradenton — or anywhere else.)
Piano Bar/Steakhouse
A good lounge where prosperous people over 30 can sit, listen to (or sing along with) old standards, mingle and meet, and order a too-large steak or prime rib is totally necessary. It should not be a mass eatery or even very large. “Intimate” is the key word. This is where real estate developers should come to plot deals, where you celebrate your 30th wedding anniversary, where lawyers go to relax after a long day of swindling clients, and where newspaper staff hang out (at the bar), hoping to pick up gossip. The Twin Dolphin, while nice (we eat there regularly) isn’t quite in this category, so this is an open market niche here. The one modification needed to create local ambience is relaxation of the dress code found in most top-end urban steak joints. Gentlemen here are not going to wear ties and coats to go out for a drink.
Jewish Deli
The lack of decent bagels and other Jewish staples in Bradenton is astounding. My wife is black, but she’s from Baltimore so she’s a deli fan. All New Yorkers, no matter what religion or ethnic background, understand the need for deli food. Indeed, I’ve had several visitors from New York express amazement at its lack here. There’s a Manhattan Bagel and a Schlotzsky’s franchise on W. Manatee, but these don’t make it, especially Schlotzsky’s (which is neither Jewish nor very good). If you know what a real Jewish deli is, you know. If you don’t, too bad. In any case, Bradenton needs a good Jewish deli, and I would patronize one even if I had to drive to Lakewood Ranch — even though a top-end deli should be downtown by definition, not in the hinterlands.
Other Favorites
Chinese food here seems to be mainly buffet, and not very good. Mexican food varies. My favorite Mexican spots are some little takeouts on Tamiami Trail and 9th St W, where I am invariably the only gringo patron when I go to them. We have fair-to-middling Italian available. We have every kind of bland chain restaurant known to the human race and don’t need more of them, especially in a downtown that’s trying to establish itself as unique instead of being just another shopping area like the ones in the burbs except with less convenient parking.
What else should we have? Feel free to add your favorite below. Hopefully we’ll get lucky and spur a few smart entrepreneurs into opening cool restaurants in downtown Bradenton. I know I’ll patronize them if they’re any good, and I hope you do, too.
