A beloved Sarasota County restaurant with roots dating back to the 1960s recently reopened at a new location.
Loyal fans have flocked to A’s Giant Sandwiches since it debuted its new spot — adjacent to Moondoggy’s on Gulf Gate Drive in Sarasota — May 18.
Bryan Anderson, who has owned the shop with his wife Alysia for the past decade, described the response as “crazy.”
“Every day there’s been a line to the door,” he said.
Many of those customers are like Kevin Lugar, who used to walk to the A’s Giant Sandwiches shop near Venice High School at lunch.
When he saw that the Sarasota spot had reopened at 2230 Gulf Gate Drive, he had to stop by.
“They’re delicious, the bread is incredible,” said Lugar, who graduated Venice High in 1984.
“It brought me back to my childhood,” he continued. “The same sandwich I had as a kid.
“The taste is the exact same, everything about it.”
Consistency helped A’s Giant Sandwiches build a loyal Sarasota following
That consistency is no accident, said owner Anderson, who is a 2000 Venice High graduate.
His mom Sandy Anderson was already working at A’s when he got a job baking bread at the shop, which was then owned by Holger Wetjen.
“We bake our bread fresh every day,” Anderson said. “That’s what keeps us in the business.”
About a decade ago Anderson bought the prior location at 6300 Tamiami Trail in Sarasota and ran it with his wife Alysia Anderson, with his mom and Alysia’s mom, Patti O’Neil, at the front counter.
The Andersons are the fourth family to own the shop since it was opened by the Artigas family in the early 1960s.
After that, A’s Giant Sandwiches was operated by the White family and two generations of the Wetjen family.
“When we bought it, we had a long period to show people that, because we were younger, we weren’t going to change it,” Anderson said.
Along with the freshly baked bread, it was important to use the same meats and cheeses and the same oils and spices for the sub dressing.
He noted that a simple change such as the type of ham would impact three sandwiches, a ham sandwich, an Italian sandwich and a Cuban sandwich.
“You’ve got that ripple effect,” he said.
That consistency means customers like Lugar enjoy bites of happiness.
Anderson said several customers have told him, “Every time you guys move, it always tastes the same as the first time I took a bite.”
“That’s what we pride ourselves on,” he added. “That’s the goal.”
Why did A’s Giant Sandwiches in Sarasota move?
Once as many as a half dozen family-owned Giant Sandwiches locations were open in the area though the shop on Tamiami Trail — there since 1979 — was the last one.
Ownership of the 15,855-square-foot parcel with the 1950s area commercial building changed hands in 2024.
The new landlord South Trail Partners LLC, which lists Gary Kompothecras as the manager, has other plans for the property.
It is next door to Gulf Gate Square, a new strip center, which is adjacent to Siesta Promenade, a 24-acre mixed-use project owned by Benerson Development envisioned for the northwest corner of Tamiami Trail and Stickney Point Road.
While Anderson was looking for a new place, he wanted to make it easier for customers — who exhibit a fondness for the restaurant similar to the fondness exhibited by patrons of the Hob Nob — to get to the new place.
For an extra bit of synergy, Troy King, co-owner of the Hob Nob and the Breakfast Company with his stepson Dimitri Syros, helped with the remodeling of the new sandwich shop.
“The best place we could move would be Gulf Gate,” Anderson said, then added that customers can access Gulf Gate Village from Tamiami Trail and Clark Road, as well as via Gulf Gate Drive from Beneva Road.
“It gave us more access,” Anderson said.
At the same time, Mark Rosato, owner of Moondoggy’s Saloon had available space, since he could not find enough staff to keep all four bars of his thatched-roof entertainment complex open.
Currently, Moondoggy’s Saloon and ZuZu’s Cocktail Lounge are open.
It’s Rosato’s first venture as a landlord and so far he’s pleased.
“I’ve got a good tenant there in that sandwich shop,” Rosato said. “When he was over there, I don’t think the shopping center did him justice.”
Since Moondoggy’s doesn’t offer food, Anderson is working on a system where people can place an order for a sandwich and have it brought to the saloon or cocktail lounge while they’re enjoying themselves.
“We’re going to try and accommodate Mark, any way we can,” Anderson added.
If you go
A’s Giant Sandwiches is located at 2230 Gulf Gate Drive, under the thatched roof of the Moondoggy’s Saloon complex, in Sarasota.
It is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday and offers subs, soups, salads, hot sandwiches and pressed hot sandwiches.
For more information, call 941-924-2361.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota restaurant with rich history reopens at new location
Reporting by Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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