May is Early Bird Month!

We are very pleased to announce that May is Early Bird month here are Madfish. We are offering our Early Bird menu all day, every day throughout the lovely month of May. From open to close, 7 days a week.

It is no secret that Sarasota County is a retiree area. In fact, over 30% of the county population is age 65 or older, which is more than double the national average. And we're talking permanent residents, folks. This completely counts out the snowbirds that grace us with their presence for 4-6 months of the year. (And on that note... travel safely, seasonal friends! We will miss you this summer and look forward to your return in the fall!)

I'm not saying that it is a bad thing that Sarasota has so many older residents. They do pretty much sustain almost every business in the area. It is because of our area's population that a good number of restaurants in the area, just like us at Madfish, have an Early Bird menu. Often, we get customers visiting from other areas of the country that are pleasantly surprised by the offering of an Early Bird menu. (We also often get younger out-of-town visitors wondering why there are so many older customers. We like to point out that they are in Sarasota, after all.)

So what is Early Bird dining? Traditionally, an Early Bird menu is served earlier than the main dinner menu and offers a more narrow selection... often at a reduced price. Our Early Bird entrees vary from sirloin to pasta to seafood, and include a house salad or a cup of soup. Prices range from $9.99 - $13.99. According to Wikipedia, it is usually associated with the elderly and with Florida.

Some Sarasota restaurants limit their Early Bird menus to only senior citizens. We, however, are an all-inclusive kind of place. Our Early Bird menu is available to all ages - from 11:00 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening, 7 days a week. We want you to remember that it is perfectly acceptable to order off of the Early Bird menu if you are only 34 years old. Perfectly fine with us. In fact, Early Bird is a cost-effective way to dine if you are, say, a young married couple on a budget. You can be out the door with full bellies for under $30!

So, come join us this month for Early Bird month! Remember - all day, every day for the entire month!

Fish Fight!

Each year, Creative Loafing magazine holds a local food competition in honor of NCAA March Madness (the college basketball National Championship tournament for all of you non-sports fans out there). Thus we have the 2010 Fish Fight.


In the past, their food critics have tasted around for the area's best burgers and pizza. This year, they are having the consumers vote on the area's best fish sandwich. Each week is a different round, with the winners from each week being pitted against other winners. We are into Round 2 this week and up against Pincher's Crab Shack, with voting continuing until Monday the 22nd at noon. Pincher's is giving us some tough competition, so please take a minute and CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR US!!! You can vote more than once... you just have to wait 10 minutes in between votes.


We offer a lot of fish sandwich options at Madfish. We can serve any of our fish as a sandwich... tilapia, grouper, mahi, etc. We also have Baja Fish Tacos. Our most popular fish sandwich, however, is our Key West Fish Sandwich. It is a big piece of Pacific Whitefish (Basa) tempura battered and fried... served on Cuban bread with lettuce, tomato, onion and tartar sauce. Not only is it yummy, but it will FILL YOU UP!


Vote for us in Creative Loafing's Fish Fight, and come in sometime to try the Key West!

St. Patrick's Day

We love St. Patty's Day at Madfish. We love it so much that every year we make a whole bunch of Corned Beef and Cabbage... and just about every year we sell out. We'll start serving the American version of the Irish specialty, complete with potatoes and carrots, at 11:00am... and we'll keep serving it 'til the pot is empty.

So, what's the deal with Corned Beef and Cabbage anyways? It's technically not even an Irish dish... it really comes from New England, where the Irish first settled in the US. In Ireland, the closest thing to 'Corned Beef and Cabbage' is 'Bacon and Cabbage', with a bacon similar to Canadian bacon or salty ham. When the Irish immigrated to America, they began using corned beef instead of pork. Somewhere along the way, Americans adopted this meal as the traditional meal for St. Patrick's Day... since, you know, St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday and all.


Speaking of St. Patty's being an Irish holiday, let's talk a little about it's history. In Ireland, Paddy's Day (as they call it) is an annual feast day celebrating St. Patrick, who is one of the patron saints of Ireland. Though Paddy's Day has been a religious holiday in Ireland for centuries, it didn't become a public holiday until 1903, and is now recognized as a national holiday. Those lucky Irish get to take a day off to drink and eat and celebrate!

Wearing green and shamrocks has been a tradition since the 17th century... evidently St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach people about the Holy Trinity. "The wearing of the green" actually means to wear a shamrock on your clothing. Just remember, whatever you do... don't wear a 4-leaf clover. They aren't Irish and it doesn't make the Irish happy when you get 4-leaf clovers and 3-leaf shamrocks confused. Trust me... I know from experience.

In the US, St. Patty's day is kind of a big deal, whether you are Irish or not. I think it's mostly because people like the excuse to drink green beer and dress in head to toe green. In all seriousness, though... the Irish Society of Boston held the first St. Patrick's Day parade in the United States in 1737. New York's first celebration was in 1766, where the parades were meant to be statements about the unfair treatment of Irish immigrants. Numerous cities in America now hold parades and find different ways to celebrate the holiday. Chicago (see picture above) dyes the river green, as does Indianapolis. Savannah dyes all of it's fountains in the downtown parks green, and Seattle and many other cities paint their traffic stripes green along parade routes.

We don't dye any waterways green in Sarasota, but we do dye the beer green at Madfish! Come and join us for a day of corned beef, green beer and shamrock-wearin' fun!

Beer at Madfish

Ahhh, beer. It seems that beer is the trendy beverage these days. Not wine... not martinis... beer. There are bars devoted solely to the glory and culinary experience that is often now associated with beer, like our Cattlemen Road neighbor, The Cock & Bull Pub. Microbrews are increasingly popular, as are IPAs, seasonal brews, stouts, porters and just about anything "different."

Now, Madfish is known to be more of a liquor and wine type of establishment, but we want you to know that we have some great beers available. We always have a few featured and special beers that aren't on our regular "Beer List," so don't be afraid to ask us what we've got on hand!

Of course, we have your "regular" brews: Miller Lite, Bud, Corona, Heinekin (& Heinekin Light!), etc. We carry MGD 64 & Bud Select, as well as Newcastle, Beck's regular, dark & light. We've also got Bass Ale in a bottle, which is a popular choice amongst our regulars.

Some of the newer and more interesting bottles on our list include Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Stella Artois and Abita Jockamo. One of our newest favorites is Arrogant Bastard Ale... it says on the bottle that you probably won't like it, but we've found plenty of customers who can't get enough. We also carry Redbridge for our gluten-free friends.

By the makers of Arrogant Bastard is Stone Smoked Porter, with a definite smokiness and some chocolate & coffee undertones. The most popular new beer we feature is Left Hand Milk Stout, which has won awards all over the place. Our regular bar guests (okay, and our beer enthusiast employees) really love this one.

We don't have a whole lot of space for taps, and we have a few staples, like Miller Lite, Mich Ultra & Yuengling, but we do like to keep what we have on tap rotating and fresh. We carry a Sam Adams seasonal brew, which right now is their Noble Pilsner. We're also pouring Brooklyn Brown Ale and are about to switch out Bud heavy for Mojo Risin', a double IPA from the Boulder Beer Company. Keep an eye out for tap handles to change every few weeks!

If you have any questions about the beers we carry, or have any suggestions about what you'd like to see in our bar, leave a comment!

Coupons for Haiti

Back in December, we held a donation drive for Toys for Tots that we called 'Coupons for Tots.' We had a lot of success with that program and were able to donate over $1600 to the organization. Due to the success of that donation drive, we have decided to do the same thing for Haiti Earthquake Relief.

For every $5 that customers donate, they may pick a Madfish coupon out of a box that they may use that day or on a subsequent trip. All donations will be sent directly to the American Red Cross to be used for Haiti earthquake relief. Coupons range from free desserts and appetizers to 10% off a guest's entire bill.

We are so blessed to be in this country, where we have safe buildings... and we are lucky to be in Florida, where we don't have to worry about earthquakes. At least we have a warning when hurricanes come through.

Please help us help those who are less fortunate. If you can't make it in to donate through Madfish, we urge you to make a donation on the Red Cross website or through another organization of your choosing.

2 Dine for $29

This month we are running a special promotion at Madfish. A special dinner for two promotion we like to call "2 Dine for $29." Go ahead, rub your eyes and read it again. 2 for $29.

Each guest receives one glass of house wine and gets to choose 1 appetizer and 1 entree. That's 2 glasses of wine, 2 apps and 2 entrees for $29. Total.

Want to switch out a dessert for an appetizer? No problem. Want a well cocktail instead of a glass of wine? Sure thing. Dining out for one or have a party of 3 that would all like this special offer? We'd be happy to accommodate and call it "1 Dines for $14.50" or "3 Dine for $43.50."

The menu consists of 8 appetizer and 11 entree choices, and will be offered for a limited time... come in and try it while it lasts!

The Holidays at Madfish

We love the holidays here at Madfish. We love it so much that the day after Thanksgiving, first thing in the morning, Alicia breaks out all of the Christmas decorations and we start playing Christmas music. We all just love the peace and giving and happiness of the season, and we love to be able to share it with our customers. It doesn't matter what religion you are, or what holidays you celebrate... this season is all about love, caring and being thankful.


We are already in the middle of Hanukkah and Christmas is only 11 days away (yikes!) but I wanted to share with you some of the things that we are doing here besides just being in the holiday spirit.


First, we have proudly partnered with Toys for Tots to help bring Christmas gifts to children who would otherwise probably not receive them. There are two ways that you can help us help the kids: 1. We have a big toy box up in our lobby for guests and staff members to fill with new, unwrapped toys. These toys will be picked up a few days before Christmas and distributed to the children.


2. We also have a Toys for Tots promotion called "Coupons for Tots." Through December 18, for every $5 that a customer donates to Toys for Tots, they can pick a surprise Madfish coupon out of a box. Each coupon is worth at least $5, and there are some good ones in there! Free cocktails, free desserts, free dinner entrees, even $25 gift certificates! All of the money raised goes straight to Toys for Tots and will be used to purchase gifts for the children. We began raising money the last week of November and have raised $1415.00 so far. That's a lot of toys for a lot of deserving kids!

The last thing we are doing this holiday season is giving a little something back to our customers. Through the month of December, we will give you $5 for every $25 in purchased gift cards. That's $20 for every $100 in gift cards you purchase! Our gift cards do not expire and may be purchased in any dollar amount. They make great stocking stuffers and gifts for everyone on your list.


I should probably mention our holiday hours:
Christmas Eve - Open 11am - 8pm (make your reservations now!)
Christmas Day - Closed
New Year's Eve - Open 11am - 10pm (make your reservations now!)
New Year's Day - Closed for lunch; Open 4pm - 10pm for dinner

The management team and staff at Madfish Grill sincerely wishes you and your family and friends a very happy and bright holiday season!