Check out the most recent Social Eatery and Bar videos to see what we have to offer

Get out and make friends, or just go be friendly with the friends you already have. At Social Eatery & Bar, that’s the idea.

File this one under “delicious”: Social’s filet mignon with a balsamic mixed-berry sauce ($31) is one of our new favorite dishes. Served atop a bed of creamy Parmesan risotto and asparagus, we’ll be ordering this one again and again.

Three years ago, when I left my job at Florida State for one at New College, I also left behind what is arguably one of the best bourbon bars in the country, the Lounge at Market Square, and the Tallahassee Whiskey Society, which held its meetings there. The unassuming bar tucked into an ugly strip mall provided me a thorough education in American whiskies, and a community of like-minded whiskey lovers whom I would not have otherwise met.

When downtown Sarasota’s Social Eatery & Bar has bouillabaisse as its “Gulf to fork” option of the day, run, don’t walk, to the First Street restaurant. The dish is packed with seafood, including lobster tail, salmon, mussels, shrimp and sea bass, all artfully presented atop a flavorful broth. We’re not sharing.

Recently voted as one of the top ‘100 Al Fresco Dining Restaurants in America’ by opentable.com, Social Eatery & Bar co-owner Jason LeFrock is justifiably proud of the award.

Social Eatery & Bar, or Social, is just off the beaten path of downtown Sarasota. The food is updated Italian-American comfort; the look is sleek with polished concrete floors and metal stools. But the sexiest design element is in the back.

Food critic John Bancroft finds First Street’s new Social Eatery & Bar in downtown Sarasota an excellent addition to the local restaurant scene.