Limelight District, Hamlet’s eatery

Sarasota’s eclectic dining scene gained a particularly original and audacious addition this year, and now the accolades and acolytes are piling up faster than the hand-cut French fries. Hamlet’s Eatery, located in the expansive green courtyard of The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime in the newly minted “Limelight District,” is a dining experience that perfectly complements the unique shopping experience of The Bazaar.

Hamlet’s is technically a food truck but the menu rotates and the wheels stay fixed. Hamlet’s Eatery offers something for everyone: from vegans to carnivores and everyone in between. Their goal is to offer a vegan alternative for every meat option. The tagline for Hamlet’s Eatery is as clever as the concept—both attributed to Chef Brad Bierman: “To Meat, Or Not to Meat.” See what they did there?

Indeed, it was that very same question that I posed to myself on a sunny day a couple of weeks ago when I was joined by my mother, Carol-Ann, and my friend, Sally Ann (names are nothing but labels, according to old Bill Shakespeare, but the bard’s wife’s name was Anne, so I’m sure he’d approve). I’m a fairly unrepentant carnivore so I invited Sally Ann to join us as my “not to meat” representative.

Kim Livengood has been operating The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime for three years now and her desire for an onsite dining option has grown along with the growing number of customers that discovered the destination shopping area.

“There’s nothing within walking distance, so I would always get hangry,” laughs Kim. She and Brad decided to collaborate on the dining concept that Brad had been dreaming about for years. Thinking of it as bit of a lark, they opened at the end of June 2020. That’s right, these brave souls rolled up the window on their shiny blue truck-arant (restauruck?) in the middle of a pandemic in a self-described hidden gem of a destination and in less than a year later they’ve been crowned Best New Restaurant by one publication and made it to the list of Best Food Trucks in another—best of both worlds, it seems.

It’s important to note that Hamlet’s Eatery offers much in the way of live entertainment too, and I’m not just referring to the banter between partners Kim and Chef Brad. Sunday Brunches, Saturday Artisan Markets, and Fourth Friday “After Hours” gatherings feature live music and a convivial atmosphere. McCurdy’s Comedy Club hosts outdoor comedy nights—complete with adult refreshments—and The Players Centre for Performing Arts proves that all the world’s a stage after all, with multiple open-air performances scheduled, including the thematically on point “In Love with Shakespeare.”

But I digress. We’re here to talk about the food and if we’re going to talk about the food then it’s time to talk about Bob, pronounced “Bahb” in your best New England drawl. Bob and Brad are the dynamic duo in the truck doling out hot, fresh, from-scratch dishes with ease and humor—they’ve been likened to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; I’ll let you decide who is whom. Bob is credited for the Onion Pops and Bob’s Famous Crab Cakes. Onion Pops are deep-fried onion flowers served with a tangy dipping sauce created by Bob as something to do with the ends of the onions that people tend to throw out. They’re remarkably popular and instantly addictive, hence Bob’s intention to have the dish trademarked. My “not to meat” companion tucked into a “Romeo and Juliet (vegan)” appetizer of house-made hummus and house-made guacamole and she pronounced both to be fresh and well-seasoned. The crab cakes of Chesapeake crab—with no filler. Literally no filler. It’s just a crispy pillow of crabmeat and I think about those crab cakes. A lot. Probably about as much as William Shakespeare thought about iambic pentameter.

There’s a larger philosophical question to be considered when thinking about dining at Hamlet’s Eatery: “To meet up with friends and have to share the hand-cut truffle fries, or not to meet up with friends and get to eat them all yourself?” THAT, my friends, is the question.

Hamlet’s Eatery: 821 Apricot Ave, Sarasota; 941-445-1938; hamletseatery.com; visit facebook for the music bruch schedule.