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🍦 A Greek Comeback Twenty Years in the Making

🍦 A Greek Comeback Twenty Years in the Making

Best Things To Do in SRQ: 7/16 - 7/19

Carson B
July 14, 2026

Happy Tuesday!

The World Cup wraps up Sunday, and you can catch the final on the big screen out at Sarasota Paradise Stadium with a crowd of fellow soccer fans. There's also ballet at the Opera House, bubbles under the banyans at Selby, and a Greek comeback story two decades in the making down on Clark Road. Here's the rundown.

—

In today’s edition of the Sarasota Scoop:

Local headline roundup
A Greek comeback on Clark Road
Tons of local events!

Thanks for reading,

Carson

🧠 Think You Know Sarasota? Trivia!

The purple Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on Sarasota's bayfront has an unmistakable curvy shape. What natural object inspired its architectural design?

📰 Local Headline Roundup

dineSarasota's monthly restaurant ranking saw one of its biggest shakeups yet, with Kitchen Social surging from No. 22 all the way to the top spot. The same column has good news for summer diners: Indigenous is running a $49 prix fixe from Chef Steve Phelps, and Pazzo is doing $16 sandwiches on Wednesdays.

Bobby Jones Nature Park Opens Its First Phase

The city cut the ribbon on phase one of the new nature park beside the historic golf course, which adds more than 200 native trees and 18,000 native shrubs and grasses to the property. Phase two brings a boardwalk with a bird blind, so the binoculars crowd has something to look forward to.

Airport Paintings Find a New Home for America's 250th

"Echoes of Sarasota," a collection of local-history paintings by Regan Dunnick and Frank Hopper that once hung at the airport, is now on display at City Hall and the Van Wezel for the next year as part of the nation's 250th-anniversary celebrations. A nice excuse to slow down and look at some hometown history.

🔦 Spotlight: El Greco Kitchen & Market

Some comebacks take twenty years. From 1990 to 2007, El Greco Cafe held down the corner of Main and Orange downtown, run by George Soublis, who came over from Greece in the 1960s and turned his family recipes into a Sarasota lunchtime institution. He sold the place in 2007, the cafe eventually went dark, and for almost two decades the avgolemono existed only in fond memory.

Not anymore. A couple of months back, in late spring, the family quietly brought it back. George's daughter, Patti Soublis Corcoran, teamed up with her nephew Dimitri Syros, who also had a hand in reviving the Hob Nob, to open El Greco Kitchen & Market in the Expo plaza on Clark Road near Sawyer. It has been up and running since May, so the kitchen has had time to find its groove.

The new version is fast-casual rather than the old sit-down cafe: order at the counter or a kiosk, grab a table, and the food comes to you. The menu is leaner than the original's, built around gyro pitas with fries, bowls, and salads, but the recipes are George's, right down to the avgolemono soup and the horiatiki salad that regulars still talk about. A grab-and-go market section is in the works too.

Go in expecting a quick, casual lunch rather than a long Greek dinner, and you'll leave happy. If you've been missing El Greco since 2007, the wait is over; if you never knew the original, this is your chance to find out what the fuss was about.

The scoop: El Greco Kitchen & Market, Clark Road.

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Thursday, July 16

Summer Circus Spectacular

📍 Historic Asolo Theater at The Ringling, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota
🕦 11:00 AM & 2:00 PM (through Aug 8)
🔗 Circus Arts Conservatory

Flip Schultz

📍 McCurdy's Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota
🕦 7:00 PM (through Sun Jul 19; 6:30 & 8:50 PM Fri & Sat)
🔗 McCurdy's Comedy

Laser Light Nights: Laser Queen

📍 Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, 201 10th St W, Bradenton
🕦 6:00 PM (doors 5:30 PM)
🔗 Bishop Museum

Dueling Pianos Night

📍 Solis Hall, Downtown Wellen Park, 19745 Wellen Park Blvd, Venice
🕦 6:00 PM — 9:00 PM
🔗 Wellen Park

The Faraday Experience

📍 Siesta Key Oyster Bar, 5238 Ocean Blvd, Siesta Key
🕦 7:00 PM — 11:00 PM
🔗 Siesta Key Oyster Bar

Friday, July 17

Laser Light Nights: Laser Swift Night

📍 Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, 201 10th St W, Bradenton
🕦 6:00 PM (doors 5:30 PM)
🔗 Bishop Museum

Which One's Pink? — A Tribute to Pink Floyd

📍 The Venice West, 1187 US-41 Bypass S, Venice
🕦 8:00 PM
🔗 The Venice West

Selwyn Birchwood Band

📍 Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Ct, Sarasota
🕦 8:00 PM — 11:00 PM
🔗 Fogartyville

High Tide

📍 Sharky's on the Pier, 1600 Harbor Dr S, Venice
🕦 7:00 PM
🔗 Sharky's on the Pier

Gravel Road

📍 Mattison's City Grille, 1 N Lemon Ave, Sarasota
🕦 8:00 PM
🔗 Mattison's

Chris Connolly Band

📍 Siesta Key Oyster Bar, 5238 Ocean Blvd, Siesta Key
🕦 8:00 PM
🔗 Siesta Key Oyster Bar

Saturday, July 18

On Stage 2026 — Sarasota Cuban Ballet School

📍 Sarasota Opera House, 61 N Pineapple Ave, Sarasota
🕦 6:00 PM
🔗 Sarasota Opera

Christmas in July Arts & Crafts Show

📍 Venice Community Center, 326 S Nokomis Ave, Venice
🕦 10:00 AM — 3:00 PM
🔗 City of Venice

Bubbles Under the Banyans: Spheres Bubble Show

📍 Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St, Sarasota
🕦 10:00 AM — 12:00 PM
🔗 Selby Gardens

FCL Braves vs. FCL Rays

📍 CoolToday Park, 18800 West Villages Pkwy, North Port
🕦 10:00 AM (free admission)
🔗 CoolToday Park

FST Improv: Comedy Lottery

📍 Florida Studio Theatre, Bowne's Lab, 1241 N Palm Ave, Sarasota
🕦 7:30 PM
🔗 Florida Studio Theatre

The KLICK Band