Brio Bravo Restaurant Group bringing new concept to Westfield Southgate

I’ve been waiting to say Bravo! to Westfield Southgate for months.

I’ll still be cheering when the mall finally launches its four new restaurants, but it may be in a slightly different way.

Bravo Brio Restaurant Group has been planning to bring Bravo! Cucina Italiana to the mall for roughly three years.

The fine dining Italian restaurant was slated to open sometime within the next year or so along with Connors Steak and Seafood, Naples Flatbread and Wine Bar, and a fourth unnamed restaurant. After months of delays, construction finally started in July, and the framework for the buildings began going up a few weeks ago.

But documents filed with the city tell me that "Bravo!" may not be the right cheer for the project we’re seeing.

I found commercial building permits this week indicating Bravo Brio may actually be launching “Burrata Restaurant” at the Westfield Southgate site.

The name on the paperwork, though, isn’t nearly as important as what Brian O’Malley, the CEO and president of Bravo Brio, told me late Thursday afternoon.

The company has been brainstorming a new concept, and Sarasota is going to be the pilot site for it.

Whether Bravo Brio decides to give its Westfield Southgate restaurant a new name still isn’t finalized, but the brand itself is going through an evolution. The company has been revamping its look and feel for this restaurant. 

He’s aiming for a more comfortable and casual environment that still serves an extraordinary meal. That means re-evaluating everything the restaurant does whether it’s the cocktail menu, the overall décor and even how the servers dress. The menu, too, could be in for a shakeup. O’Malley expects a greater emphasis on small plates and sharable options rather than a focus on a specific cuisine.

This new concept will be the company's second step into the Sarasota-Bradenton market. Bravo!’s sister restaurant, Brio Tuscan Grille, opened with the Mall at University Town Center in 2014. The fine dining restaurant’s white marble bar, and gold-and-burgundy color scheme gives it a regal feeling. The wait staff is uniformed in crisp white shirts and ties. The tables are covered in linens.

It's the kind of place where diners feel important from the first greeting at the hostess stand all the way to the dessert menu. Brio is a wonderful place to dine, which is probably why it was packed when I stopped in for lunch on Friday.

The chicken Marsala I had was tender and my server was delightful, but even so, there’s a stiffness that comes with waiters in ties and marble bars. It sounds like the brand is trying ease away from that with its new concept.

The millennial generation has changed the way people think about dining. Restaurateurs and diners have adapted to the idea that the tablecloth doesn't have to be linen for the food to be exquisite. Getting rid of the tablecloth altogether can add a level of comfort that enhances the overall experience. 

Between the Brio at the Mall at University Town Center and the new concept heading for Westfield Southgate, it sounds like Sarasota is getting the best of both worlds from Bravo Brio.

The company is still designing this new addition to its brand, and O’Malley said he couldn’t really get into specifics when we spoke on Thursday. He’s planning to make a more formal announcement in the next month or two.

But he did tell me that the Bravo Brio restaurants have boomed Florida, and that he’s excited about the Sarasota market. Brio has been popular since it opened at the Mall at University Town Center two years ago, and with Westfield Southgate’s proximity to Siesta Key, that mall’s redevelopment plan and the area’s overall demographic — Sarasota seems like a prime spot to test out a new concept.

And that in itself is exciting.

It’s not often that the Sarasota-Bradenton area is chosen as a test market. Typically, we see retail players flock to Tampa, Miami or Orlando first and then migrate into our corner of Southwest Florida a few years later.

So whether we’re shouting Bravo! Burrata! or something else altogether when the new restaurant opens in August is still up for debate.

But one thing is for sure. Being the first in the country is something to cheer about. 

— Maggie Menderski, the Herald-Tribune’s retail and tourism reporter, can be reached at 361-4951 or at maggie.menderski@heraldtribune.com. Follow her on Twitter  and Instagram @MaggieMenderski. Read her daily blog at whatsinstore.blogs.heraldtribune.com.