Anna Maria Island

This 7-mile stretch of white sand beaches and turquoise waters is spectacularly beautiful and beaming with Old Florida charm. You’ll feel your shoulders relax the moment you arrive here, and once you dig your toes into the silky sand, you may never want to leave. The island’s laid-back lifestyle is one of the reasons we keep coming back. The other is the plethora of fresh seafood and locally grown produce we’re lucky to feast on at the table. And then there’s the views of swimming dolphins and manatees paired with glorious sunsets over the Gulf. This year we are thrilled to welcome Ed Chiles—owner of the Anna Maria restaurant, Sandbar—and his team to the beach kitchen for the third time. Ed’s restaurant Sandbar is known for its seasonal seafood-centric menu sourced from nearby waters and nearby Florida farms. He’ll be joined by four other star chefs from the Chiles Group including Ted Louloudes & Helena Vavrikova of Anna Maria Bake House, Thomas Villetto of Beach House Waterfront Restaurant, and Aaron Kulzer of Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant. Host fisherman Brian Lacey is a good friend of the Chiles restaurant group, supplying them with everything from stone crab to Spanish mackerel to mullet. And farmers Zack Rasmussen & Natasha Ahuja of Gamble Creek Farms provide the vegetables. The three of them will join us at the table to tell us the story of what’s on our plates, while we toast to their hard work with a few glasses of crisp wine on the beach.