Breakfast

The friendly breakfast joint The Broken Egg (140 Ave. Messina, Siesta Key [1], 941/346-2750, 7 a.m.–9 p.m. daily, main courses from $6) has a great patio area for dining as well as a spacious inside dining room with lots of local artwork on the walls. It’s a great choice for breakfast on Siesta Key [1], with standards supplemented by a selection of originals like Egg Largo (a Benedict-style plate that substitutes sour cream, scallions, and tomatoes for hollandaise sauce) as well as massive omelets, blintzes, and Tex-Mex-style breakfasts.

If you’re sleeping on Siesta Key but headed into Sarasota or other eastward points for the day, Word of Mouth (6604 Gateway Ave., 941/925-2400, 7 a.m.–2 p.m. daily, main courses from $7) is often considerably less crowded than the Broken Egg, and it’s located in the Gulf Gate area just beyond the bridge that connects Siesta Key to the mainland. Their “regular” breakfast menu is rounded out with blintzes, crepes, fresh-fruit plates, and a truly decadent croissant-based French toast.

Downtown, the Pastry Art Bakery Cafe (1512 Main St., 941/955-7545, 7 a.m.–6 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 8 a.m.–2 p.m. Sun., pastries from $3, lunch from $6) offers fresh-baked pastries and coffee drinks; most of the pastries tend toward the sweet dessert end of the spectrum.