Walk the corner of Avenida Messina and Ocean Boulevard this month and the new sports bar sits in a strip of storefronts where the other tenants already answered to the same landlord before the sign went up. One partnership, most of a corner.
Several Village restaurants are affiliated with a hospitality group, while the Sunday farmers market features independent vendors.
If you have eaten at two or three "different" new places in the Village this year, there is a real chance you ate from the same kitchen group each time.
A new sports bar in the Village
The newest addition to that corner is My Village Pub, known locally as MVP, which opened in the space Napoli's Italian Restaurant used to occupy at 5200 Ocean Boulevard. It is a sports bar and village pub, the first of its kind in the Village, built around owner Chris Brown's sports memorabilia collection, some of which is for sale to interested buyers.
MVP is the latest project from Mike Granthon and Chris Brown, operating under a parent company called Above the Bar Hospitality Group. Between the two of them, that group already owned the Beach Club, Summer House Steak & Seafood, the Cottage, and the Hub Baja Grill, all in Siesta Key Village, plus Smokin' Joe's in downtown Sarasota and Mad Moe's Pub and Grill in Osprey. Because MVP went into a building the partners already owned, it landed them in a corner strip mall where the other existing tenants were staying put anyway, on a stretch the article covering the opening called the busiest intersection in the Village.
In an interview with Siesta Sand, Granthon described the look they are going for as something close to a New England beach town:
"We will be going with something like a Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket/coastal look."
Here is the part that is easy to miss walking past. Siesta Poke, the newer poke and açai bowl spot at 5204 Ocean Boulevard, is also a Brown and Granthon creation, not a separate small business that happened to open the same year. Between the two of them, Above the Bar Hospitality Group now runs six restaurants across the Village and its edges:
- Beach Club
- Summer House Steak & Seafood
- The Cottage
- The Hub Baja Grill
- My Village Pub (MVP)
- Siesta Poke
Siesta Poke earned a spot on Sarasota Magazine's list of the best new restaurants in Sarasota, and the reviews at MVP and the Cottage are consistently strong. Together, those accolades and reviews offer a snapshot of the group's local restaurant portfolio.
An independent Village deli
Which makes The Duo Doner & Deli worth noticing precisely because it is the exception. Chef Jakub Skoczylas and his wife Maja Rakowiecka opened the small deli at 5049 Ocean Boulevard on their own, no umbrella company, no sister properties. Skoczylas trained in Poland, worked in Sweden alongside a Michelin chef, and served as executive sous chef at the exclusive Founders Club before deciding the Village needed a place for a quick Turkish doner kebab, a breakfast sandwich, or a smash burger without sitting down for a full meal.
He makes his kebab meat with a five day double marinade, a recipe he describes as built from the different countries he has cooked in along the way. It is a small, personal business alongside restaurants affiliated with the same hospitality group. The Village has both kinds of ownership.
The fall calendar
The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce's fall calendar includes events organized by the Chamber and activities involving Village businesses:
- Handmade scarecrows from local businesses go up along Village storefronts October 1 through 31
- Safe Treats for Kids runs October 31 from 3 to 6pm, with Village businesses handing out candy for a supervised trick or treat
- The Siesta Key Crystal Classic International Sand Sculpting Festival takes over Siesta Beach November 13 through 16
- The Siesta Key Holiday Parade closes out the season on November 28
Together, the list spans Village storefronts, Chamber programming, and events at Siesta Beach.
Rotating vendors, one Sunday
A Siesta Sand report describes the Sunday farmers market, which relocated a few blocks down Ocean Boulevard to the Beach Bazaar parking lot after years at its old Davidson Plaza spot. Longtime manager Lloyd Dobson, a working artist whose paintings still hang at the Hub Baja Grill, handed the job to Mike Crider, a vendor who has sold his Tunisian Fouta spa towels at the market for twelve years.
Siesta Sand describes the market as a smaller, artisan-focused alternative to larger regional markets. It features 15 to 20 rotating vendors, compared with more than 100 at the Farmers Market at Lakewood Ranch, which was named the country's top farmers market by the American Farmland Trust.
At the market, Chip English runs a craft beer infused Spiked Pickles operation sourced entirely from local breweries and Florida farmers, while silversmith Jiayi Li, who lives on Siesta Key, sells hand-crafted sterling silver jewelry a few tables down, and DBTB Juice Bar and Bakery, co-owned by Devinne Whittaker, sells sourdough and ciabatta. Sisters Botanicals sells hemp-based products for pain relief and sleep support, including pet treats, a stall regulars now visit by name. This year's newer additions include stone crab claws, fig jam, charcuterie, and a new bakery stand, alongside longtime staples like the pink pineapples at TJ Produce.
The market's own rhythm shifts with the season, too. It runs 9am to 1pm through the summer months and stretches to 9am to 2pm starting in the fall. Musician Siesta John plays most Sundays, and the island's best known lifeguard, known locally as Scooter on the Beach, works a booth from 9 to 11am before his shift.
What this means if you already live here
For residents, the restaurants, Chamber calendar, and Sunday market each offer a different way to experience the Village and its local businesses.
If you are weighing a move to Siesta Key yourself, or know someone who is, this is the kind of detail that does not show up in a listing description but shapes what daily life here actually feels like. Pamela Hagan has spent nearly four decades watching these small shifts add up on this island, and a Request a Private Consultation is a good place to start if you want that kind of read on any block in Sarasota or Manatee County.
