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ELITE AGENTS

VICTORIA STULTZ

Engel & Völkers Florida is expanding in Southwest Florida with Engel & Völkers Venice Downtown and Engel & Völkers Sarasota; marking the brand’s fi fth and sixth locations in the region. Local market expert, Victoria Stultz will lead the new brokerage as License Partner and Broker.

Victoria Stultz Engel & Völkers Florida c: 941.387-5676 o: 941.388.9800 e: Victoria.Stultz@EVRealEstate.com victoriastultz.evrealestate.com

Originally from Boston, Victoria STULTZ started out her career working in sales for a Fortune 500 company in Cincinnati before shifting into real estate with a distinguished brokerage. Since that transition over 22 years ago, she has established herself as a leader in her chosen industry, one who has been recognized with the Five-Star Professional Award for 13 years in a row, and who has garnered over $150 million in sales volume and over 350 closed transactions. Among the many credentials she has earned, Victoria has been awarded designations such as the Certifi ed Residential Specialist (CRS), awarded to only 1.5 % of agents nationwide, and the Certifi ed Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS), an achievement that is recognized as the hallmark of accomplishment in luxury markets around the world. Her enthusiasm for creating beauty in her workspace to her skill and solid business experience contributes to her success. Just as importantly, however, her vibrant personality and her style of daily communication with everyone she engages is commanding and inviting. Understanding that real estate is a relationship business, Victoria believes in offering a white-glove concierge service with a bespoke approach. Corporate relocation is also part of her portfolio, successfully transitioning businesses such as manufacturing, hospitals, medical groups, and professional athletes.

ENGEL & VöLKERS is a global luxury real estate brand that delivers a fresh approach to luxury real estate with a focus on creating a personalized client experience at every stage of the home buying or selling process. Engel & Völkers currently operates approximately 260 shop locations with 5,000 real estate advisors in the Americas, contributing to the brand’s global network of over 15,000 real estate professionals in more than 31 countries, offering clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services, including real estate, yachting and aviation. For more information, contact Victoria Stultz at 941.388.9800 or email at Victoria.Stultz@EVRealEstate.com.

ELITE AGENTS

alexis zibolis

Dedicated to excellence, Alexis Zibolis holds the distinction of Coldwell Banker’s Top 100 agents in Florida and is one of the top Listing Agents in Sarasota and surrounding areas.

With over $45 million in sales last year alone, Alexis’ clients choose to work with her because of her attention to detail, unmatched ethics, professionalism, unparalleled marketing skills, experience, and her “down to earth” disposition. Compared to the competition last year, Alexis closed on 9 more listings than any other listing agent in the area, and sold her listings for 5% more on average. With these impressive stats, Alexis consistently demonstrates her ability to exceed client expectations. Her listings sell faster and for more money because she understands the individuality of each listing and how to make them stand out above the competition. Her marketing plans are tailored to fi t each listing and to highlight the distinctiveness of every detail including design and staging. She is able to anticipate the ebb and fl ow of the area’s market to plan and guide her sellers accordingly. Her knowledge about the area, communities, and the constantly fl uctuating market help her buyers to make informed decisions. Because of Alexis’ concierge approach, unique strategies, cutting edge approach, and innovative marketing style, she has become the area’s “go to” luxury agent. Her uncompromising commitment to her clients’ needs makes her truly unique and the ideal person to assist in buying or selling your next home.

Alexis Zibolis, Realtor® Coldwell Banker Realty Lic#: SL3371142 8334 Market Street Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202 c: 941.725.3060 e: Alexis@ZibolisGroup.com ZibolisGroup.com

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ART OF THE UNDERSELL

COLD PORK. GNOCCHI. CABBAGE SALAD. FRIED POTATOES. The way Meliora names its dishes, one could mistake them for the titles of paintings from some laconic artist’s latest still life series. Or, perhaps a bit closer to the truth, co-owner and executive chef Drew Adams was too deep down the rabbit hole, too utterly fi xated in search of the sublime, that he simply couldn’t be bothered coming up with something more descriptive than each dish’s working title. By the time a diner digs into one of the restaurant’s plates, both assertions seem plausible. Written by Andrew Fabian

Left to right: A tuna sashimi plate features sushi-grade tuna dry-aged in house. A commitment to seasonality means this earthy beet salad is available through early Spring. A refreshingly surprising blend of housemade strawberry syrup, burnt lemon, vanilla meringue and polenta make this dessert more than a sweet treat.

The new restaurant on Hillview—co-owned by Washington D.C. transplants Chef Adams and longtime friend/associate Bruce Pike—brings an extraordinary level of artistry into the flavor profile and presentation of their New American tapas-style menu, a tweezer-wielding approach to perfection that is as playfully obfuscated by the unassuming verbiage of the menu as the understated décor. Inside, a simple palette of dark blue and minimalist fixtures, with here and there an accent color or framed illustrations of fishes, serves as a comfortable but unobtrusive backdrop for an ambitious body of work.

That body of work—and an introduction to a recurring theme of using locally sourced product— might begin with something from their cold selections like the ricotta with seasonal vegetables. The vegetables come from a cross section of farms in the region and in spring might include wild carrots, radishes, purple and yellow cauliflower, edible flowers and Romanesco, the latter striking with its fractals. In the center of it all, a bowl of whipped ricotta cheese seasoned heavily with dill. The vegetables are halved or quartered, with a light spritz of white balsamic and a pinch of salt. Plated with an eye for composition and color, it’s a simple, shareable appetizer that celebrates organic farming as much as it does culinary arts.

The cold pork impresses with a balance of sweet, savory and a touch of spice in the form of chili oil. Based on a Szechuan dish, it features ground pork cooked in a soy, fish sauce and sesame base. Served with verdant romaine lettuce leaves from Homestead Hydroponic farm, these cold pork lettuce wraps are best enjoyed with a drizzle of the spicy chili oil, which cuts through the pork with just the right amount of heat. The dish thrives as a shareable plate much like the vegetable platter.

A beet salad further establishes the visual panache of the menu. Listed on the “warm” half of the menu, it comes with a creamy whipped goat cheese at the base, as well as grilled avocado and Italian vin. Characteristically earthy and surprisingly dense, the dish’s “wow” moment comes courtesy of its presentation, which sees the whole plate sculpted into something of an abstract homage to the color purple.

For co-owner Bruce Pike, who manages the front of house, dishes like the vegetable platter, cold pork or beet salad make his job of securing positive feedback a simple one. But as the menu gets into the more ambitious platings, the ones that showcase Adams’ impressive experience in prestigious D.C.area kitchens—including three Michelin-starred restaurants—diners might find themselves lost in a trance of pure culinary pleasure. And the path to that pleasure is paved with Meliora’s carbonara.

Historically made as a peasant food, a traditional carbonara maximizes the calories-to-cost ratio with copious amounts of cheese, egg and pork fat. What Meliora has done with its take on the dish is elevate it with rarified ingredients, namely duck eggs. Slightly larger than chicken eggs, duck eggs also contain a bit more fat and a more intense, creamy texture. That means a smaller serving of duck eggs packs more egginess into less space. Finished with shavings of cured duck egg, Chef Adams also smokes the dish’s guanciale in house for 24 hours, which combines with the dash of black pepper to turn this decidedly un-peasantly preparation into something more. Rich, smokey, peppery, exploding with umami—the carbonara induces the kind of closedeye experience reserved for moments of bliss.

Another of Chef Adams’ masterpieces—one that was 14 years in the making according to Adams—is the scallop crudo. The dish centers on thinly sliced pieces of raw scallop garnished with a bit of chive and basil, including the little basil flowers. The final flourish includes a pour of warm scallop cream. As for flavor profile, the small dish expresses rather loudly an allusion to the rich chowders of Adams’ and Pike’s Mid-Atlantic roots, with a potent first wave of brine accenting a steady tide of creaminess.

The drink menu, which rotates as frequently as the food, features an eclectic assortment of craft cocktails from the imagination of Topher Nalefski, who the mixologically inclined might know well from his successful run at State Street Eating House and Cocktails. If Nalefski hasn’t already departed too far from the time traveler’s wife, his take on a negroni, a thirsty diner might enjoy the dash of black pepper, splash of sparkling water and sprig of mint. Less bitter than a traditional negroni, the cocktail nonetheless warrants a moderate sipping pace.

One of the great benefits of a tapas-style menu is that no single dish, particularly if shared, will leave a diner filled to the brim. This leaves just enough room for dessert, which at Meliora means the food starts to look increasingly like works of art. A plating of frozen white polenta pipings with delicate vanilla meringue discs between them comes drizzled with strawberry syrup, then embellished with buttermilk drops. The buttermilk remains separate from the syrup, giving the dessert its spotted look. More importantly, the immense amount of sweetness never dominates what is a broad and balanced cornucopia of flavors.

Those lucky enough to be invited to the custom wood slab counter that is the chef’s table overlooking the kitchen, will find themselves feeling almost like they’ve stepped into some prolific artist’s studio. As Chef Adams roams his kitchen, he ponders a sauce pan here, deliberates over a stock pot there, grabs his tweezers and toils over a garnish the way a painter might agonize over the way light reflects off their subject’s eye. In Meliora’s seemingly simple dishes, we find great imagination and technique, a mastery of the tried and true with an eye for the new and bold. Indeed, we find great artistic skill, none more refined than the art of the undersell. SRQ

Clockwise: A creamy gnocchi comes topped with brown butter. The sheepshead special sees Chef Adams experiment with new fish. Understated decor serves as a blank canvas for beautiful platings. Meliora, 1920 Hillview Street, Sarasota, 941-444-7692, meliorarestaurant.com, @meliorarestaurant

MAY/JUNE 2022 EDITION

DR. CAROL PROBSTFELD, STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA, MANATEE SARASOTA

In

Conversation

IN CONVERSATION WITH DR. CAROL PROBSTFELD ON INNOVATION IN EDUCATION AND LEANING INTO THE FUTURE.

INTERVIEWED BY WES ROBERTS | EDITED BY BARBIE HEIT

WHAT IS AT STAKE THROUGH THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR COLLEGE? It’s a very big time of the year for us. This year, there was a big statute about accreditation that is going to impact educational institutions. Hopefully, we’re coming out well out of this legislative session, so we’re excited about that. College is doing well, students now are thriving and they’re coming back. We’re not at our pre-pandemic numbers yet, but it’s looking hopeful as we go forward. So it’s good. One of the things we’re really excited about is this performance funding for nursing because nursing is our strong suit, has been for a while. We stand to do very well through that process. There are not enough nurses. And not only are we looking to create new nurses, but we’re working on a plan that would help nurses who maybe retired or let their license expire to get re-certifi ed and get back in the game. So we’re trying to attack it from both ends. YOU KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE GROWTH OF THE STATE AS A WHOLE AND CERTAINLY OUR REGION. WHAT ARE YOU SEEING IN TERMS OF PEOPLE RELOCATING HERE? We’re monitoring the high school enrollments, for example. We monitor the demographic changes in our community. We do know that we have great opportunity to expand our enrollment of students right out of high school because those numbers will be increasing. We know our Hispanic population is growing signifi cantly, we also know that our South County region, which would be in the North Port, South Sarasota County, is a fast growing area. So we have initiatives this year, for example, specifi cally targeting South Sarasota County for enrollment and also identifying high schools where we think we have the greatest probability of attracting students. And that’s on the traditional side. Then of course, we have our adult student population as well. WHAT ABOUT THE OUTREACH TO MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS? We have children on our campus that are as young as fi rst grade who are participating in our coding camps. We started the coding camps last summer. So we have children in elementary, middle, and high school that are participating in that. We have our own collegiate school on our Bradenton campus where we have middle school and high school children. And then on our Venice campus, we also have a collegiate school where we have high school students. In those collegiate schools, the goal is by the time they’re in the 11th and 12th grade, they’re dual enrolled on the college campus. So when they graduate with their high school diploma they’ll also be graduating with their two year AA degree.

IS THERE A BOOK OR A PODCAST THAT’S GOT YOUR ATTENTION RIGHT NOW ABOUT EDUCATION? Actually, when it comes to my own professional development, I attend a lot of seminars, I listen to a lot of information, but to be perfectly honest, where I get my greatest intel is walking out on campus and talking to students, understanding what they need, what they want, what we can do to help them become successful. They’re going to tell us straight up and with that, we can use our own ingenuity to come up with some interesting strategies. And also I’m very lucky. I think if I’ve done something well, it’s, I’ve hired really outstanding sta and faculty, and they’re always out learning what’s state of the art, what’s working at other institutions, and then trying to fi gure out how we can adapt some of those things to the State College of Florida.

WHAT IS THE MAKEUP OF YOUR STUDENT BODY? We have an incredibly diverse student body. Our Hispanic population exceeds the percentage of Hispanic people in our two-county region. Our Black

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANT

DR. CAROL PROBSTFELD Dr. Carol F. Probstfeld is the sixth president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. She has served in this role since January, 2013. Established in 1957, SCF is the area’s oldest and largest public college with more than 50,000 graduates.

population, same thing. So we’re kind of that open access institution that welcomes everybody. We have students who are the third generation in their family coming to the State College of Florida and we have students who are the fi rst in their family to ever come to college. So when you come to the State College of Florida, don’t be surprised, you see everybody from that sixth grader in our collegiate school to the 67-year-old person who wants to just stay engaged and sit in a biotech class to keep their mind involved.

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS COMPARED TO OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS? I think what makes the State College of Florida unique is that we like to think of ourselves as everybody’s college. So whether you are experiencing college for the fi rst time, right out of high school, we’re here for you. If you’re looking to change careers, we’re here for you. If you’re looking to take various classes that will help you accelerate in the career you’re in, we’re here for you. If you want to start a business, through our Entrepreneurship Center, we’re here for you. So we like to think of ourselves as that sort of one stop for people who are looking for a place where they can continue their education, regardless of where they are in that educational pathway, we’re here for them. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE AREAS OF STUDY THAT YOU’RE BEST KNOWN FOR AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE NEW AREAS GENERATING EXCITEMENT? In general, we o er the two year AA or AS degrees, the four year BAS degrees and certifi cates. So it’s a number of di erent things, but our fl agship program, as I said, is nursing. That’s been with us since the day we opened our doors. New programs that we’re starting are music production technology is coming online in the fall. We’re working on introducing two new baccalaureate degrees in education, elementary education and exceptional student education. We’re working on also launching hospitality management in the fall. So it’s not the culinary aspect, it’s the management part of hospitality that we’re looking to launch. And all of those are in response to requests that we’ve received from our partners out there in the workforce, through the EDCs, the chambers and employers. Business analytics is a really exciting one that we’re also looking to launch in the fall. And all of those so far have had a great number of interests from students as we’ve been recruiting for fall.

MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY. WHAT CAUSED YOU TO FOCUS ON THAT NICHE? We would be the only institution in the Suncoast region that would be o ering that. It is aimed at those individuals who have an interest in music, but are interested in the production thereof. So we have about a hundred students who participate in the music program. Not all of them are looking to be part of performance or teaching. This gives them another alternative to participate in the music industry, but through that music production aspect of it, whether it’s creating music videos, sound engineering, all of those things that go into producing music, whether it’s live or recorded. DO YOU HAVE AN ANECDOTE FOR A STUDENT YOU’VE SPOKEN TO ABOUT YOUR PROGRAM OFFERINGS? One gentleman that I’ve been spending some time talking to lately, Nathan, is a music student and through his connection with the State College of Florida and our faculty, he’s been able to meet a number of other people in the music industry. And he has learned how to be a good composer. We’ve had him compose and conduct for us. And now he’s being commissioned to write music for other institutions in the area and, too, is being hired to conduct, which is really quite unusual for a two-year student to have that kind of experience and have that kind of success and expertise in this area.

ARE THERE SPECIALTIES FOR NURSES THAT ARE PART OF YOUR PROGRAM? One of the things that we’ve been able to do in our nursing program is incorporate telehealth. Not all programs have the opportunity to do that, but we’ve been very fortunate with support from some of our local grantors and funders to have equipment so we can work with our student nurses, so when they graduate with us, they have that experience, that capability. We have one of the best simulation centers in the state. So our nurses are able to simulate various scenarios that their counterparts may not have ever had the opportunity to do before they get out and practice in the fi eld. But when you talk about surgical nursing or pediatric nursing or that sort of thing, that would come more in the fi eld than it would in their two year AS nursing program.

TELL US HOW THE COLLEGE CONSORTIUM IS DOING. The Cross College Alliance is a consortium of fi ve educational institutions in the region. It’s the State College of Florida, USF Sarasota-Manatee, Ringling School of Art and Design, New College, and Florida State University at the Ringling Museum. And collectively what we do is create critical mass for our student bodies, so that they have a larger number of potential colleagues to work with when they partner on projects or to become familiar with in their professional capacities, when they graduate. We also create that opportunity for faculty so they can conduct research beyond their own institution with their own colleagues. So they can have a greater critical mass of, say, science faculty working together on projects. We also look at e ciencies that we can fi nd together by sharing. We still have our cross-registration where students can take courses at another institution with no money changing hands from the students. We’re very pleased. We have a couple of things that we’re working on now with a special program about training students to be able to participate in internships with the arts community. We also have something in environmental science where students can do internships, paid internships, to be working on environmental science projects over the summer.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE LESSONS THAT HAVE BEEN LEARNED IN THE PANDEMIC THAT WILL STICK, THAT WILL CHANGE THINGS IN A POSITIVE FASHION? Well, I think obviously telehealth is one. We’ve started a new modality of instruction, which we call Go Live. So it’s a format similar to this in our platform called Teams where students can actually virtually be on with a faculty member and their classmates in this forum. So it’s a synchronous virtual experience versus the typical asynchronous online. That’s a new modality. Students like that, so we’ll continue to do more of it. SRQ