13 minute read
Pick your perfect Valentine’s Day date with The Avenue’s recommendations
AVENUE RECOMMENDATIONS
The best Valentine’s Day date spots in Gainesville
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS, SUSHI, POOL DATES AWAIT COUPLES
The Avenue Staff
LLove is in the air — and Gainesville is no exception.
This Valentine’s Day, the Avenue staff curated a list of ideal date spots around Gainesville to properly celebrate the holiday. Whether you’re meeting up with a last-minute Tinder match or celebrating an anniversary, each of the Avenue staff’s date night selections will put a smile on your face.
Chun Ching Market and Zeezenia’s International Market: A romantic trip around the globe By Makiya Seminera
For Gainesville’s home cooks, an intimate homemade dinner for two is sure to impress your valentine. But the true way to dazzle your date doesn’t come from fancy cooking equipment or Michelin-star plating — it comes from the top-quality ingredients available at some of Gainesville’s best markets.
Chun Ching Market, a haven for a variety of Asian goods, is located at 418 NW Eighth Ave. Whether you plan to indulge in a do-it-yourself hot pot or butcher a whole squid for a crispy calamari appetizer, Chun Ching has the ingredients you need to make a memorable meal. By strolling down the market’s extensive tea aisle, you and your date can carefully choose a tea flavor that will pair best with the night’s entrée.
Couples can finish off their grocery shopping marathon at Zeezenia’s International Market to find authentic Middle Eastern ingredients to enhance any dish. Stocked with vegetarian ingredients like grape leaves and fava beans, as well as a wide selection of locally raised halal meats, Zeezenia’s, located at 2325 SW 13th St, is an essential food stop. After a day of shopping, growling stomachs can find refuge at Zeezenia Kitchen, a seating area at the back of the market that serves Middle Eastern classics like kefta and hummus.
After visiting each of Gainesville’s finest markets, gather your ingredients and prepare to cook one of the best Valentine’s Day meals ever.
Arashi Yama: Sushi with a modern flair By Eileen Calub
Located in Magnolia Parke, Arashi Yama Sushi & Hibachi Lounge is the optimal place to spend a romantic evening with your Valentine’s Day date.
Opened in December, the restaurant’s modern interior and relaxed atmosphere sets the mood immediately for an enjoyable night. Once you take a seat, you can fill your table with platters of colorful and creatively arranged sushi. Salmon, yellowtail and eel introduces a medley of flavors that dance on the tongue.
If sushi isn’t your vibe, there are plenty of soup and stir fry options to warm the soul during the chilly February weather. Arashi Yama also offers hibachi. Pair your meal with a lychee mojito — one of the restaurant’s most popular cocktails — to brighten your meal.
To finish off the dining experience, choose between one of three scrumptious desserts: coconut pineapple ice cream, mochi ice cream or green tea cheesecake. On Valentine’s Day, the restaurant will also be giving away a limited quantity of Godiva chocolates on a first-come first-serve basis. You won’t regret choosing Arashi Yama, where you and your date can enjoy dishes that are pleasing to the eye and the stomach.
Arashi Yama is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.
The Standard rooftop pool and Piesano’s Stone Fired Pizza: Dinner with a view By Jared Teitel
A night under the stars is nowhere more perfect than upon the rooftop of one of Gainesville’s luxury student apartments, The Standard. The apartment building located at the corner of West University Avenue is home to two rooftop pools and jacuzzis with access provided to residents and friends of. Warm fire pits offer a romantic atmosphere of roasting sweet marshmallows fit for a Valentine’s Day treat.
Piesano’s Stone Fired Pizza, a polite Italian restaurant, sits feet away from The Standard. No better way to enjoy a night out at the pool than indulging in a takeout meal of meatball and ricotta pizza pie or an Italian sausage calzone. Oh, and don’t forget the complementary oil-dripping Piesano’s rolls that go with it!
For football fans, a high-rise swim at a cozy residential complex with a Monday-night game projected on the built-in megascreen is a must-do with your Valentine’s Day date. If watching the game isn’t your style, you can also admire the glowing landscape of Midtown’s strip from the pool deck that looks below.
Arcade Bar: Late night Valentine’s Day fun By Alexis Carson
Drinks and pin ball are the perfect way to spend the night with your special someone. Arcade Bar’s convenient location situated in the heart of Gainesville’s nightlife delivers just that. Ideal for couples 21 and up, the three-story building has all different types of entertainment to impress your valentine. With classic games such as skeeball, arcade basketball and Pac-Man.
Losers have to buy drinks!
You can go upstairs to the bar and dance floor, dancing the night away. Cutouts of famous celebrities decorate the walls including Kid Rock, Prince and Carrie Fisher dressed as Princess Leia.
As the night progresses, couples can move their conversations to the lounge areas, which look like secluded booths located next to the dance floor and the vintage arcade games.
Liquid Ginger, Hear Again Records and The Hyppo: A pleasant stroll through downtown Gainesville By Aurora Jiménez Castro
Sushi makes for a great date, a simple sushi roll being fresh and light enough to leave room for dessert. Downtown Gainesville holds the mecca of sushi in Gainesville: Liquid Ginger. The local spot is a no-frills classic and casual sushi spot, serving a range of meals from a first-rate miso soup to massive sushi boats.
Located in the heart of downtown, Liquid Ginger serves as an ideal spot for an early dinner. Less than a block away is your after-dinner treat: Hear Again Records. Wall-to-wall vinyl, both old and new, fill the storefront. This is the perfect place to browse and get lost in with a date, with endless conversation starters and music for everyone. It's a great place to bond and possibly snag a last-minute gift for your Valentine.
Finally, you can end your night with dessert at The Hyppo, a gourmet popsicle store, about two blocks away from Hear Again. The small popsicle bar has flavors ranging from the classics like strawberry to unconventional flavors like Mexican Hot Chocolate. Downtown Gainesville serves as the perfect vessel to grab food, shop and enjoy the cool weather this Valentine’s Day.
Ashleigh Lucas // Alligator Staff
A worker at Zeezenia International Market delivers Mediterranean food to a customer on Friday, Feb. 11.
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PERSPECTIVES Who will be hoops’ new head coach? SEC coaches think Stricklin’s move is obvious
PROMINENT COACHES ARE IN FAVOR OF KEEPING KELLY RAE FINLEY
By Caleb Wiegandt
Sports Writer
Competing in the SEC under the duress Florida’s women’s basketball program has been through in the past year should be virtually impossible.
Despite the noise, Kelly Rae Finley has the Gators not only winning, but thriving.
The interim head coach’s trial season is deep into SEC play, and to the surprise of many, the Gators are blowing past expectations in a league they were expected to place 11th in. Florida’s success over the past two months has the team on the verge of locking up its first NCAA Tournament bid in six years.
Finley’s path to guiding the program, at least for the time being, is filled with turmoil and controversy.
Former head coach Cameron Newbaeur resigned last summer after a woeful four years leading the Gators. A September report made national news as it unveiled the abusive culture Newbauer created in his time in Gainesville.
A five-year UF staffer and former associate head coach, Finley was named the interim solution to the Gators’ problem. Florida athletic director Scott Strickin chose her to lead the troubled program through the ensuing season.
Florida’s 2021-22 campaign wasn’t always smooth sailing. Early on, the Gators lost nonconference games to Towson and George Mason. Then came the sudden departure of Lavender Briggs to Maryland via transfer Jan. 20. However, since the start of the new year, Finley has flipped the script, and her Gators are stacking wins.
Finley continues to make a case to retain her job, but she’s not the only one; Even opposing SEC coaches, in victory and defeat, have advocated for Finley’s permanent installation.
Louisiana State head coach Kim Mulkey is known for her fiery personality. It’s something she’s built a reputation for long before she arrived in Baton Rouge this season.
That fire was on display when Florida defeated Mulkey’s then-No. 11 Tigers 73-72 Jan. 23. A game-high 35 points from LSU guard Khayla Pointer wasn’t enough to combat Gators Jordyn Merritt, Kiki Smith and Zippy Broughton combining for 53.
In a Feb. 6 press conference, Mulkey praised Finley with that fire unprompted, calling for her hiring at UF before another job comes knocking for the 36-year-old coach.
“I don’t understand why that girl hadn’t been named the head coach yet,” Mulkey said. “I don’t know her, but I know what I see.”
Mulkey’s not alone in that sentiment.
After getting eked out in the final seconds by Broughton’s heroics Feb. 6, Georgia head coach Joni Taylor also had strong words about Finley.
“I’ve been asked a few times what’s the difference,” Taylor said in a press conference clip. “Kelly Rae Finley is the difference.”
The gutsy road win over the Bulldogs was the performance that finally vaulted the Gators into the Associated Press Top-25.
If not outwardly praising Finley by name, other coaches have lauded her team’s performance and the way she’s put Florida in a position to climb the SEC standings.
Finley’s team blistered national powerhouse Tennessee 84-59 Feb. 3. The victory stands as UF’s largest win over a top-10 opponent in school history. The Gators outrebounded the nation’s best rebounding team, leaving Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper perplexed.
“I knew going in this is honestly, watching them play, one of the best teams in the SEC,” Harper said in a press conference clip. “I think they’re that good, and they’re getting better.”
Even after a game where the nation’s top team, South Carolina, snapped Florida’s fivegame SEC win streak, Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley commended Finley’s body of work. She hinted at a new era coming, one where the Gators become a contender again with each following season.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Staley said. “She’s got ‘em rolling.”
In Finley’s year as an interim, she has Florida poised to put not just the SEC on notice, but the whole college basketball landscape. Gator fans can finally circle March on their calendars as meaningful again.
However, the decision still lies in Stricklin’s hands. After all the losing and irrelevancy, compounded by a scandal, Florida women’s hoops has suffered in recent years. The Gator faithful now wait to see if Stricklin will keep a rare winner on campus.
If it were up to Finley’s peers, the decision would already be made.
@CalebWiegandt cwiegandt@alligator.org
GYMNASTICS No. 4 Florida Gymnastics edges out win over No. 5 LSU
By Madeline Lawson
Sports Writer
A sold-out crowd inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center saw double when glancing upon the center-hung jumbotron heading to the final rotation. Florida Gators and Louisiana State Tigers were in a dead heat at 148.350.
Seniors Trinity Thomas and Nya Reed knew the pressure was on. They knew the score was tied when the Gators rotated to the floor.
Florida brought its best when it was needed most.
“I wasn’t worried,” Thomas added.
A 49.800 floor rotation score, including a perfect-10 from Reed and a 9.975 from Thomas, was the second-highest team score on the floor in program history.
UF defeated LSU 198.150197.852 Friday night in a top-five matchup filled with star power.
The Gators’ third consecutive home meet with a SEC rival was a hot ticket and celebrated Florida Women’s Athletics 50th Anniversary. A packed student section played a large part in selling out the O’Dome but not everyone was there just to support the Gators.
Some attendees swooned over TikTok sensation and LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne. The sophomore competed in just one rotation, the uneven bars, but stole the hearts of many UF students in the crowd.
Her social media presence of 4.8 million TikTok followers and 1.5 million Instagram followers drew in more than just gymnastics fans. Her talent and charm bring in more male spectators during every Tiger road meet as they try to be noticed by Dunne.
Signs in the audience invited Dunne out on a date to Gainesville staple Piesanos and even on an upcoming fraternity formal trip. When the Valentine’s Day aspirations were put to rest, all those in attendance got to see a fiery meet.
Florida’s been hot all season and the team seems to have a knack for breaking records. The Gators earned the third-highest team total in the nation this year.
Freshman Leanne Wong earned her second all-around title after having a tremendous night, starting with a career-high 9.900 on vault.
After the second rotation, Florida led the Tigers by only one hundredth of a point before facing the beam.
Wong was captivating on the beam and tied her career-high with a 9.925. Senior Leah Clapper closed out the event, sticking her landing and winning the apparatus with a 9.950.
The drama hit its peak as the night neared an end. Six performances from each team remained as the meet’s results hung in the balance.
“I thought it made it just a little bit more fun, to be honest,” Thomas said.
Graduate student Megan Skaggs, who elected to return for a fifth season after being granted extra eligibility due to COVID-19, took to the floor first for the Gators and put up a 9.900, setting the tone for her teammates.
“I actually told [Skaggs] after floor how grateful this team is to have her here with us for another year,” UF Gymnastics head coach Jenny Rowland said.
Wong went on to record another career-high on the night, a 9.975 on floor.
Reed posted her second perfect 10 on floor this year after attacking her tumbling passes with tremendous power and height. She told UF assistant coach Adrian Burde it wouldn’t be her last.
“I can’t get complacent, I want another one,” Reed said. “I also [told Burde] I want to be a national champion on floor as well.”
The Tigers didn’t go down without a fight and kept it close until the very end. Freshman Aleah Finnegan earned a careerhigh 9.900 on floor while freshman KJ Johnson tied her career-high with a 9.950.
Florida nearly went off course early in the evening, after an off-night from freshman Sloane Blakely led to her first three scores being dropped. The Frisco, Texas, native closed out on floor for the Gators, but her run served as a victory lap as the win was already secured.
“Sloane is very determined,” Reed said. “She is a fighter.”
Blakely had fun on the floor and put on a show that scored her a career-high 9.950. She left on a high note with something to build off of as she looks forward to the next meet.
“I believe my athletes when they say ‘I got this,’” Rowland said of Blakely’s confidence before her floor routine.
The Gators will hit the road Feb. 18 to take on another elite SEC opponent, No.10 Kentucky. The meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. and will broadcast on SEC Network.
@MadsLaws mlawson@alligator.org
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