If ever there were a place in Sarasota to epitomize Old Florida, it’s Linger Lodge (7116 85th Street Court East). The original Linger Lodge debuted in 1945, then burned down in the 50s, and was rebuilt shortly after. This hidden gem is tucked away on 100 acres of gorgeous Florida acreage, some of which are dedicated to RV campgrounds, making it a great stop for those with a case of wanderlust. But the draw for me is the Linger Lodge’s restaurant.
Surrounded by a sea of RVs, like a cartoon character, dopey-eyed by the scent of pie, in this case, smoked meats, you don’t walk toward Linger Lodge’s restaurant, but rather float along the wind. Inside, the mounted heads of taxidermied wild game and roadkill, courtesy of Frank and Elaine Gamsky, former owners who bought the lodge in 1968, and whose decorative acumen outlasts them: rattlesnakes frozen mid-slither, coyotes, mid-howl, and squirrels, mid-dunk, all—well—lingering in the lodge.
There’s also unholy chimera displayed. One creature is half snake, half duck, half turkey (that adds up), and I’ll leave imagination to decide which parts of what went where, not to mention the piranha-esque fish banded, not with scales, but fur pelts. All of that prepares you for the menu, which has a fine selection of roadkill (you can’t actually order skunk skewers or whippoorwill pies; I tried, multiple times, to countermand the waiter’s insistence that it’s a joke). On the real menu, however, are fried frog legs and fried gator bites. We highly recommend dabbling in the Smoked BBQ category. Menu here.
Old Florida welcomes you to fish and kayak
An irreducible part of Linger Lodge’s charm is the back acreage. The lodge overlooks a bend in the Braden River. If you walk along the bank, scan for gator signs: bubbles trickling up to the surface where the gator is submerged. You’ll spot quite a few, and maybe a few that aren’t submerged, but right in front of you.
Multiple docks behind the lodge allow easy ingress and egress between the grounds and the river, perfect for kayaks, canoes, and small fishing boats. Water enthusiasts can access miles of the river, exploring the wild of Florida right in the middle of Bradenton.
As for fishing, it’s a boon, for some, anyway. My nephew caught two fish in about 15 minutes. I caught zero and sat down in defeat.
