Q&A with Chef Kaytlin Dangaran, Bistro Restaurant at the Sarasota Art Museum
Did you know there are over 35,000 museums in America and across the country the boring museum cafeterias have been turned into destination restaurants? Those days of eating an overpriced and average sandwich at a museum cafeteria are gone and eating at the museum has exploded in popularity in recent years.
Chefs helming the kitchens at museum restaurants are finding inspiration all around them, from the scenic sculpture gardens to the art exhibitions that rotate through the galleries. For guests, museum restaurants are some of the best ways to satisfy the creative and physical hunger at the same time.
At Bistro, the seasonal-inspired restaurant at Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art + Design launched its spring menu in line with its latest museum exhibitions – A Beautiful Mess: Weaver & Knotters of the Vanguard, Richard Benson: The World Is Smarter Than You Are and Sara Berman’s Closet.
Bistro’s Executive Chef Kaytlin Dangaran, is a Tampa native who trained at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan. Her background includes stints at famed restaurants L’Apicio and L’Artusi in New York City, Quince and Cotogna in San Francisco, and Verde at Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Chef Dangaran and the Constellation Culinary team draws inspiration from Florida’s fruit stands and farmers markets, focusing on locally and seasonally sourced ingredients. Dangaran’s spring menu emphasized healthy proteins and artisanal specialty items highlighting comforting soups, Garden-fresh salads, crisp tartine selections with freshly baked tartine loaves from C’est La Vie bakery, and fresh sandwiches served with house-made bread and butter pickles.
Inspired by the Sarasota Art Museum’s 1926 M. Leo Elliott neo-Gothic building and Paul Rudolph’s 1951 Modernist building, Bistro’s design pays homage to both eras and calls upon the buildings’ origins as a high school and public space to create an environment for museum-curated art experiences coupled with artfully crafted fare. Bistro also offers outdoor seating within the Museum Plaza, the perfect spot to enjoy a meal surrounded by interactive sculptures such as “Staccato” (2017) by Molly Hatch and “Ernest and Ruth (Exuberant Pink)” (2018) by Hank Willis Thomas. The Sarasota Art Museum opened to the public in 2019 and features 15,000 square feet of dedicated exhibition space, the outdoor Marcy & Michael Klein Plaza, the Great Lawn featuring temporary sculptures and site-specific installations, Bistro restaurant and the museum shop.
Bistro Executive Chef Dangaran shares her insights and inspirations.
Tell our readers what got you interested in becoming a chef? Walk us through your career track and how you found your passion for the culinary field?
I was always interested in food from a very young age. I loved the way eating brings people together and how that can be seen across different cultures throughout history.
I’d love to learn more about Bistro, the restaurant at the Sarasota Art Museum. Can you talk me through the concept and what the restaurant specializes in?
We used the restaurant’s location and name to help inspire us to create the concept: Being located in a modern art museum within a building designed by such a highly esteemed architect as Paul Rudolph as well as having such a strong and simple French name, we knew from the start Bistro would have a simple and honest farm-to-table, French American approach. I love to take hyper-local and seasonal ingredients and put a French twist on them. Or take a very traditional French dish and reimagine the ingredients for a new palate.
Tell us about the inspiration for the spring/summer menu and your strong focus on fresh locally and seasonally sourced ingredients.
My menus are always structured around what’s local and seasonal so for this change we are using all thing spring pea: snap, English, snow, and edamame. Peas Peas Peas! I also LOVE asparagus, so can find hints of it in salads as well as our beautiful bisque soup!
What made you take the leap into a restaurant in an Art Museum?
I was at the right place and the right time in my career path and am so happy the stars aligned as they did! I absolutely love being in a building every day that displays all types of mediums and is filled with creatives and people who love the creative process.
What new food trends are you seeing?
Tinned seafood: I believe there is a big misrepresentation of tinned seafood in America- the idea that it’s just low quality if it’s not fresh. In Europe, especially Spain and Italy, they have been doing some really great tinning for decades. Here at Bistro, we use a really beautiful Italian tinned tuna for our Tuna Salad Niçoise sandwich with dry-roasted olives, bagna cauda, a 6-minute egg, and ciabatta.
What is your favorite dish?
I can’t have a favorite – they all have a special place in my heart! The must tries on the menu right now are the asparagus salad, grilled cheese, and tuna niçoise sandwich.
What are key elements for running a successful restaurant in and out of a museum?
I think they are the same key elements to running any restaurant- good service, great food!
What’s your favorite piece of equipment that you couldn’t live without?
My Japanese vegetable knife for sure! It slices, it dices, it does it all.
Share your vision for the Bistro and plans for the future.
I hope that we can continue to do what we are already doing- serving the community through nourishment and hospitality.
