Scratch Made, Opus

What’s that saying? If a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound? What about this one: If a restaurant refuses to use terms like “front of the house” and “back of the house,” do staff titles really matter?

The answer to both is yes, of course, as (a) sounds still sound without a listener, and (b) it’s pretty useful to not confuse the host with the chef. But it does raise the question of which matters more: the action or the outcome?

For the restaurant called Opus, there’s one outcome that matters most: that everyone under its roof feels like family, regardless of which part of the “house” they’re in.

“We’re one collective,” says Chef Kyle Harrington, whose 22 years in the industry has given him a lot of insight into kitchen culture. “It matters how our staff feels because it affects how our food tastes. It affects how you take pride in your work. Nobody here is ‘just’ a cook or ‘just’ a server. There’s no toxic kitchen environment, we’re all one team.”

And yeah, that’s lovely and all—who doesn’t want to see people feeling happy and valued?—but how does dinner taste?

“Phenomenal,” says Chef Kyle. “Our approach is to celebrate the food by respecting the ingredients. We take our time with each dish and focus on highlighting each flavor. We make every piece of pasta, every dough, every bread, and every sauce in-house and our guests notice. Plus, we always go one extra step. People aren’t expecting what they’re getting.”

Go on, grab your phone, Google the website, check out the Opus menu, and you’ll see what he means by “extra step.” Each dish has something that takes it from “Oh, that sounds good” to “OK, we need to go there right now and eat that.”

A house-made cavatelli dish sounds tasty on its own simply because homemade pasta is always a win, but Opus gives it an unexpected twist with pesto made from broccolini and toasted pistachios. Shrimp and grits is a go-to at any restaurant, however, here they’re made Spanish-style with chorizo, polenta, and crispy chickpeas for a “better mouthfeel.” Kataifi dough is usually used in Middle Eastern desserts, but Chef Kyle skipped over sweetness in favor of savory by frying shrimp in the most delicate kataifi phyllo dough with za’atar and a cherry chili sauce. Opus’s steak sandwich is a complete no-brainer as it’s made with hanger steak, gorgonzola mousse, and Hungarian wax peppers. They even have Eggs in Purgatory with sofrito sauce and parma dolce, as well as a Croque Madame with prosciutto cotto and Mornay sauce. And I haven’t even mentioned the wine list.

“Our food is definitely deliberate, but we also aren’t trying to do ‘too much,’” explains Chef Kyle. “We want to showcase the natural flavors of each element.”

Deliberate seems like a great way to define what’s happening at Opus. Between the thoughtfully curated menu and the beautiful aesthetic that owner Richard Carney created in the dining room, Opus intends to make you feel pampered. Chef Kyle says they simply want to make us feel at home. Now I don’t know about you, reader, but I know my home isn’t always sparkling clean with kind strangers serving me food, kinder strangers cleaning it up, and no tiny humans telling me that their “circle plates are too circle-y” and the “sauce is too saucy,” but Opus is definitely a house I like to be a part of—front, back, or anywhere in between.

“We aren’t trying to rush you. We aren’t flipping tables,” says Chef Kyle. “We want you to come in and have a great experience. We will give you the time and connection you want when you go out and spend money. We want you to enjoy your meal.”

Enjoy we will, Chef. See you soon.

>Opus: 6644 Gateway Ave, Sarasota; 941-925-2313; opus-srq.com