SARASOTA - Michael's On East has been named, along with top restaurants in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco, to Nation's Restaurant News magazine's 2009 Fine Dining Hall of Fame. Sarasota resident Burton Sack, a former chairman of the National Restaurant Association, said inclusion in the magazine's hall of fame is a very big deal. "To be selected by the industry's leading publication for inclusion in their Dining Hall of Fame is a high honor," he said. "Those of us that live here should be justifiably honored to have one of our own restaurants selected as one of only 10 restaurants in the entire United States to be selected for inclusion this year."
Michael's On East and the other fine-dining restaurants were selected by the magazine's editors based on criteria including excellence in food quality, gracious and professional service and memorable ambiance. "This is the biggest thing in our whole industry, and I've been hoping for this for 10 years," Michael Klauber, who co-owns the restaurant with Philip Mancini, said Thursday. "It's like the Oscars in our industry." Klauber said the staff "was walking on air" because normally the honor goes to well-known restaurants in big cities. "It will help Sarasota get recognized for the awesome restaurants we have here," he said. "We're very excited." Klauber and Mancini have operated Michael's on East for 23 years, and it has hosted the monthly Tiger Bay Club meeting for at least two decades.
The hall of fame designation is the latest in a string of awards won by the restaurant. Michael's on East was named by Florida Trend magazine as one of "Florida's Top 20" restaurants from 1992 to 2006. The Zagat Survey named Michael's On East as the "most popular restaurant on Florida's Gulf Coast" in 1996, 1999 and 2001 and the restaurant has received AAA's "Four Diamond Award" every year since 1992. Just during the last month, Michael's on East was host to United Cerebral Palsy's annual Fabulous Foxes and Hot Mamas event and the Sarasota Pride Festival and fed Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink during the Sarasota County Civic League's annual banquet. "It is not so much an honor for Phil and I as it is for our staff," Klauber said. "They are the ones who made this happen."
