One of my favorite restaurants in the University Town Center area of Sarasota is permanently closing after about eight years in business.
The district near the Sarasota-Manatee County line and Interstate 75 began its rise as a restaurant hub about a decade ago when Seasons 52, Brio Tuscan Grille, and The Cheesecake Factory opened with The Mall at University Town Center in 2014.
Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern, BurgerFi, and Jpan Sushi and Grill then opened across the street from the mall on the west side of North Cattlemen Road in 2016, leading to the UTC area now boasting one of the largest rosters of restaurants in the entire two-county region.
Alas, while many more eateries have opened in the area, not all the original UTC restaurants have made it. Broward County-based BurgerFi closed in 2022, and now Rusty Bucket, which I always enjoyed for cold beers and Midwest-style comfort foods, is closing later this month.