Siesta Key Oyster Bar announces new executive chef, new menus

Chef Gino Calleja has been hired as the new executive chef at Siesta Key Oyster Bar in Sarasota.

Calleja has extensive experience in the restaurant industry, including most recently working as the executive chef at Mattison’s in downtown Sarasota for 10 years. Before coming to Florida, Calleja worked in New York City as the executive chef and manager of three popular restaurants, according to a press release.

“Chef Gino is a brilliant chef of superior quality and talent, and we are fortunate that he has joined our team,” said Stephanie Brown, general manager. “His culinary talent and experience, business sense, management skills, and dedication are going to help SKOB grow to the next level which includes increasing the diner’s choices of quality ingredients.”

Chef Calleja is introducing new menus for brunch, lunch and dinner, along with new ingredients sourced from local and/or sustainable farms. One of the biggest introductions, according to the release, is the sourcing of local ingredients such as tomatoes from Sarasota’s Sweetgrass Farms, along with dairy products from Dakin Dairy in Myakka City. The rib-eye is procured from Florida’s Fort McCoy Ranch. SKOB’s burgers are now made with meat from Niman Ranch, a network of independent farmers throughout the United States that raise animals in a human environment and never use antibiotics.

“We at SKOB are proud to source our ingredient from these respected farms, not only because most of them are local, but also because they are all dedicated to the humane treatment of animals,“ says Chef Calleja. “Our regulars have noticed the tastier quality in our products, and that is our new focus.”

Among the new brunch menu items are a Cajun shrimp and egg wrap, a Crabby omelet and a Spanish omelet. New lunch and dinner menu items include a spinach and artichoke stuffed portabello, Southwest shrimp tostada, a burrata and tomato salad and seafood paella.

For more information visit the website at www.skob.com.

The Siesta Key Oyster is open daily serving lunch, dinner, and late-night with Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to noon.

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Siesta Key Oyster Bar announces new executive chef, new menus."