Mall hauls in a new eatery

SARASOTA — The Westfield Southgate mall in Sarasota signed a replacement tenant for a large vacant sit-down restaurant.

The new eatery will be Ziti, the mall announced in a release this morning. A new concept, Ziti will feature an Italian-American-Asian fusion menu, the mall says. The restaurant, which will serve lunch and dinner, will occupy a 4,000-square-foot space that was most recently Cosimo's Brick Oven. The Cosimo's location closed earlier this year, leaving the mall only one full-service restaurant, Toojay's Original Gourmet Deli.

Ziti's menu will include steaks, pork tenderloin and grilled ahi tuna, in addition to flatbreads and lettuce wraps, the release states. There will be a full-service bar, too. “We're confident that this new concept will deliver the perfect menu, quality of food, and customer service that complements this shopping center and fills a need in Sarasota,” Westfield Southgate Marketing Director Sam Davidson says in the release.

The managing partner of Ziti will be Dustin Guimond, the mall says. Guimond, according to the release, has more than 20 years of restaurant experience. He previously worked in Minnesota. “We are very excited to partner with Westfield and introduce our brand to Sarasota,” Guimond says in the statement.

For more on Westfield Southgate and how it compares to other malls on the Gulf Coast, click here.