The Tomato in Winter

Swimming pools, wine tasting, and pink sunsets (at normal twilight hours, not 4 in the afternoon) filled the weekend, but the highlight—particularly to my palate, dulled by months of cold-weather root vegetables—was a 7 a.m. foray to the Sarasota growers’ marketplace that proved to be more than worth the early wakeup call. At the marketplace, which was founded in 1979 and pitches its tents every Saturday from 7 a.m to 1 p.m., wet weather or shine, along North Lemon and State streets, the overwhelming visual impact was of red. And most of all, the tomatoes: amazing, awe-inspiring, plump red tomatoes.

But I homed in, with tentative joy, on one particular table at the Brown’s Grove Farms stand, full of tender tomatoes the size of my fist, streaked with the close to imperceptible variations in color that come from ripening in honest-to-goodness sunshine. These were the real deal—and in that moment, I realized that the best part of this trip wasn’t going to be freedom from the burden of a wool coat or the chance to dig my toes into some sand.

The best part of Sarasota in winter was going to be eating things that back home in New York, I wouldn’t be experiencing again for months. Delighted as I was by the tomatoes on display, my happiness deepened when I learned that Brown’s Grove Farm is one of the suppliers for Jack Dusty, a newly opened restaurant at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton, where—luckily for me—I was planning to have dinner that very night.

The atmosphere at Jack Dusty is cool, blue, and seafaring—the restaurant takes its name from the nautical slang referring to the crew member responsible for overseeing the ship’s stores and dispensing the daily ration of grog—with a suggestion of waves and sailing history as briny and fresh as sea spray. Settling in to my seat, glass of Prosecco in hand, I started my mission to put some summer in my mouth.

At the top of the list—and the menu—was the tomato burrata salad. Being primed all day, and then being presented with the idea of pairing tomatoes with a creamy-smooth ball of delicious dairy fats—for me, this was a certain kind of heaven. Served on a bed of spicy arugula, the tomatoes, lightly oven-cured to emphasize their sweetness, were mellowed perfectly by the rich burrata.

Per to Next up was another salad (who, you have to stop at one?) in which tomatoes played a bright supporting role to cubed watermelon, with chile flakes adding just the right amount of heat, and a sweet, citrusy Meyer lemon oil adding a bit of the flavor of Florida to the plate. Jack Dusty’s executive chef, Dwayne Edwards, stopped by our table, suggesting that I order the kitchen’s daily greens, sourced from the producers’ marketplace.

A mix that included spinach and chard, served with fluffy, salty grits—deliciously tender, cooked with mellow garlic and a slight tang to the broth (more tomatoes? Delicate but distinct, the greens not only provided my palate with a burst of phytochemical perfection, but as well gave my jaw a break from the robust leaves and tough stems I’d grown used to over the cold months.

My favorite of the flavors was a strawberry-lemon mix, bright and yet smooth—I remembered the heaping piles of local lemons at the growers marketplace and the vermilion abundance of strawberries, their combined flavors an ideal end to the meal, at once cooling and filled with the memory of the morning’s warmth. Boarding my plane back to New York the next day, I braced myself for—among other things—the cold, the need for inventive layering of clothing, and gray skies that darken early.

I as well prepared myself for a return to winter eating: kale and root vegetables awaited me at home, stalwarts that fuel my preparation until spring’s first shoots appear months later. See scenes from the Sarasota Farmers Market in the gallery » Sarasota Farmers Market _Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.