Sage Biscuit to open downtown restaurant; Soma vacates Bradenton Financial Center

Soma is out and Sage Biscuit is in at the downtown Bradenton Financial Center building.

Soma owner and chef Dave Shiplett said his heart and focus is at Birdrock Taco Shack in Village of the Arts. And that opened up space for breakfast and lunch café Sage Biscuit’s second location at 1401 Manatee Ave. W.

“From the beginning, it was a plan to open one and another one and hopefully a third one,” said José Moreta, one of three partner/owners of Sage Biscuit. “It’s the right location and the right place. That's been the hard thing to find. We were ready after the second year, but we didn't have the right combination” of factors.

The downtown Sage Biscuit will serve breakfast and lunch, same as the 6656 Cortez Road restaurant, with beer and wine available.

“We might, because of the businesses around, add more sandwiches and maybe tweak it a little bit, but basically we’ll be the same,” Moreta said. “We have a following, so that should help. The building itself is 81 percent full.”

Though nothing is set in stone yet, the Sage Biscuit team is considering offering delivery to offices within the Bradenton Financial Center. Built in 1986, the building totals roughly 242,000 square feet.

Sage Biscuit offers a variety of breakfast, brunch and lunch options.

“It goes both ways,” Moreta said. “We have a lot of vegetarian and healthy plates, but we also have bacon and biscuits and gravy. We try to serve both worlds.”

Moreta’s son, Joe Moreta, and future daughter-in-law, Nicole Praessel, own and operate Sage Biscuit together. They hope to open the downtown Sage Biscuit in October.

Jodi Boucher, who operates Theresa’s daytime cafe just down the road at 608 Tamiami Trail, said she’s excited to see “a little healthy competition” come in.

“That way we stay on our game,” Boucher said. She isn’t worried she’ll lose too much business to Sage Biscuit because of regulars who stop in to Theresa’s every week. “It's going to affect us obviously because people will try it, but people will always support me because they know how hard I work.”

Shiplett said he decided to close Soma so that he could expand the menu at Birdrock Taco Shack, 1004 10th Ave. W. The California-inspired taco shack allows Shiplett to “do exactly what I want to do.”

“What I'm getting ready to do is completely retool Birdrock to help change it from being just a taco shack to a restaurant that has tacos,” Shiplett said. “I had more of a food truck menu and I'm going to expand from that and take from some of what I do: fusion food.” Fried rices, dishes with Asian flavor and salads are all examples of what Shiplett hopes to offer more often on the Birdrock menu.

Shiplett also hopes to offer beer-pairing dinners in coordination with local breweries and host cooking classes. Weaving himself into the fabric of the Village of the Arts community is important to Shiplett.

“I want to be not someone who just lives here and has a restaurant here,” Shiplett said. “With my involvement with Soma I just wasn't able to be as involved as I wanted to be.”

Shiplett was nearing the end of his lease, said partner property owner Thomas Howze, and everything between the two ended on good terms.

“We're delighted to have Sage Biscuit in there,” Howze said. He has been a partner owner in BFC Bradenton LLC since the 1990s, when the partner group purchased the building for $6 million. “They do such a good job at their store out on Cortez Road.”

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Sage Biscuit to open downtown restaurant; Soma vacates Bradenton Financial Center."