Alma de España Finds a New Home in Sarasota’s Towles Court

Chef-owner Elier Rodriguez has moved his Spanish tapas restaurant into the former Indigenous cottage, with plans for a patio and music quiet enough to keep the conversation going.

SARASOTA, Fla. — Alma de España has a new home at 239 S. Links Ave. in Towles Court, bringing Spanish tapas and wood-fired cooking to the cottage formerly occupied by Indigenous. The restaurant announced a November 1 grand opening on its official website, and its Instagram account has since acknowledged guests visiting the new space. I have a soft spot for local restaurants where you can settle in over dinner and lose track of the time. So when Alma de España announced its move into the cottage that once housed Indigenous, the plans for the space caught my attention.

The Spanish tapas and wood-fired grill restaurant is now at 239 S. Links Ave. in Sarasota’s Towles Court, following a November 1 grand opening announced on its official website. For people who knew Alma at its South Osprey Avenue location, it’s a familiar kitchen in a different neighborhood.

Chef-owner Elier Rodriguez seems to have given some thought to how people will spend an evening there. In a September interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, he described plans for a patio and live guitar or piano music, kept low enough that guests could still hear one another.

“We are trying to create something that is nice where people can go, have a meal,” Rodriguez told the newspaper in a report syndicated by Blue Water Healthy Living.

That detail about the music is a welcome one. When you’re meeting friends for dinner, being able to carry on a conversation matters.

Rodriguez’s approach to hospitality has roots in his childhood in Cuba. His biography credits his grandmother Cacha’s cooking with sparking his interest in food. Culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta followed, along with work at restaurants including Picasso and Le Cirque in Las Vegas, Del Mar in Washington, D.C., and Loquita in Santa Barbara.

At Alma, that experience comes to the table through Spanish cooking meant for sharing. An October SRQ Magazine review of the previous location highlighted ham croquettes, garlic shrimp, wagyu carpaccio and paella prepared for two or four. Rodriguez told the Herald-Tribune that the menu would initially stay largely intact, with changes coming gradually.

There’s a business commitment behind the move, too. According to Business Observer reporting republished by Your Observer, a company registered to Rodriguez purchased the Links Avenue property for $1.65 million on September 28. Alma closed its Osprey Avenue location two days later and spent the following month preparing its new home.

One early response suggests somebody has already found a reason to linger. Beneath a November 2 Instagram reel shared by Julie Stephens and Alma’s account, commenter @ilcatalan wrote, “That was the best 3hr dinner!”.

It’s one person’s reaction, but a three-hour dinner fits nicely with what Rodriguez described. I’m interested to see how Alma settles into the neighborhood—and whether those long evenings become a habit.

Alma de España is at 239 S. Links Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236. Reservations are available through the restaurant’s website, or call 941-365-8426.