TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS - 2017

2017

TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

2017

TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS Tampa and St. Petersburg have made loads of national “foodie destination” lists just in the past two years. It’s a new identity for this area, one borne of our vital craft beer scene and a growing number of independent, millennialowned restaurants and artisanal food businesses on both sides of the bay. In a region that used to be a proving ground for chain restaurant concepts (Hooters, Outback, Melting Pot—the list is long), Tampa Bay has increasing hipster cred. There are ramen houses, pop-up oyster bars, cheese and charcuterie galore, vegan and “raw” restaurants, international restaurants representing most parts of the globe and plenty of good old American food to satisfy you and your family (oh, and a remarkable number of dogfriendly cafes these days). Here are our top spots, across our geographic area and covering all price points and cuisines.

Laura Reiley, Times food critic

price key

inside

$ Most entrees less than $10

AMERICAN CASUAL ............... 8 AMERICAN UPSCALE .............12 AMERICAN REGIONAL ..........16 ASIAN FUSION .........................18 BARBECUE ................................ 20 BRUNCH .....................................22 CHEESE & CHARCUTERIE ....24 CHINESE .....................................26 DESSERTS ..................................28 FRENCH ..................................... 30 GRAB & GO ................................32 HAMBURGERS .........................34 ITALIAN ......................................38 JAPANESE ................................. 40 MEXICAN .................................. 44 MISCELLANEOUS .................. 48 PIZZA ..........................................52 SEAFOOD ...................................54 STEAK .........................................56 THAI & VIETNAMESE ...........58

$$ Most entrees in the $20s $$$ Most entrees in the $30s $$$$ Most entrees $40+ On the cover: The Farm charcuterie plate at On Swann.

Photographs by Tampa Bay Times staff and freelancers.

Design by Nikki Life.

The Tampa Bay Top Restaurants supplement to Bay magazine is published by Times Publishing Company.

Copyright 2017.

Have questions or comments?

Let us know. Contact Chris Galbraith at 727-893-8535 or cgalbraith@tampabay.com

TAMPA’S PREMIER SHOPPING AND DINING DESTINATION

Enjoy our exciting collection of restaurants.

Bar Louie - Chic, urban restaurant and bar offering a variety of sandwiches, entrees, burgers, a large selection of appetizers and more.

Martinis headline the drink selection, which also features 48 beers on tap as well as other bottled selections, wines by the glass or bottle.

Bay Street. 813.874.1919 Brio Tuscan Grille - The food is all simply prepared using the finest and freshest ingredients. The menu features prime steaks and chops, homemade pasta specialties and flatbreads prepared in an authentic Italian wood-burning oven. Brio’s villa-like interior features arched colonnades, hand-crafted Italian mosaics, Venetian plaster walls and marble countertops. Bay Street. 813.877.3939 California Pizza Kitchen - A casual-dining restaurant serving up California creativity through its innovative menu items. CPK provides a range of inspired dishes, from hearth-baked pizzas, to creative salads, pastas, entrees, soups and sandwiches.

Lower Level, near Nordstrom. 813.353.8155 The Capital Grille - Nationally acclaimed for dry aged steaks, chops and seafood. Guests enjoy an award-winning wine list of more than 400 selections, mouth-watering appetizers and irresistible desserts.

Gracious service and premier private dining. Bay Street. 813.830.9433 The Cheesecake Factory - Renowned for its signature dessert (available in 50 varieties!), this destination dining experience offers a selection of 200 delicious dishes to satisfy any appetite and please any palate – creatively concocted appetizers, entrees, sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, salads and more. Bay Street. 813.353.4200

Doc B’s Fresh Kitchen - Offering a casual and comfortable setting.

They’re all about innovation, convenience with a focus on fresh, housemade, and locally minded dishes. You’re busy, but you deserve the best. Doc B’s proudly cooks for people who appreciate a great meal prepared by great people. It’s like an extension of your own kitchen.

They also carry an extensive craft beer, wine and spirits selection.

Bay Street. 813.498.6200 Frankie’s Lobstah Trap Raw Bar and Grill - (Opening Summer 2017) Fresh and local clams, lobster and quahogs sit atop shaved ice in the raw bar while guests enjoy a full bar inside the restaurant located on Bay Street.

Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar - (Coming Soon) Harvest was built from the ground up with a no compromise attitude towards using local, all-natural ingredients in all of their offerings.

LifeCafe - Offering only real, wholesome ingredients free of artificial additives, LifeCafe takes the hard work out of eating well. Eat from the menu with total confidence because, truly, if it’s at LifeCafe, it’s healthy.

Life Time Athletic Tampa. 813.262.1300.

Nordstrom Bazille - Full-service restaurant with a casually sophisticated atmosphere featuring bistro cuisine and a full bar. Fresh salads, specialty entrees, signature cocktails, wine list, and house-made desserts.

Level 2, Nordstrom. 813.356.7916 Ocean Prime - The Modern American Supper Club. Enjoy the freshest seafood and prime steaks, wine list and handcrafted cocktails, complete with an outdoor patio, cocktail lounge and piano bar. Serving lunch weekdays and dinner nightly. Reservations accepted. A Cameron Mitchell Restaurant. Adjacent to Crate & Barrel at West Shore and Boy Scout entrance. 813.490.5288 Pelagia Trattoria - Zagat-rated for fresh, flavorful modern Italian cuisine made with a twist, Pelagia Trattoria features seasonal menus, handmade pastas and made-from-scratch appetizers to entrees. Chef Brett Gardiner uses only the highest quality ingredients available, including locally sourced foods. Lobby level, Renaissance Tampa Hotel, just steps from Bay Street. 813.313.3235 The Pub - Inspired by classic British pubs, this gathering spot serves high quality pub fare, as well as authentic dishes from across the British Empire including Fish & Chips, Shepherd's Pie, English Pot Roast and London Broil. Enjoy a wide range of draught, bottled and cask-conditioned beers along with a great wine list and comprehensive selection of the finest spirits available. Bay Street. 813.443.5642 Rocco’s Tacos and Tequila Bar - (Coming Soon) Offering a true taste of Mexico within a fun casual environment. Prepare for a treat, with the authentic Mexican flavors of Rocco’s Tacos. Whether you’re looking for a tasty lunch or late night fun.

TAPS Restaurant & Bar - Proudly offering a 'from scratch' menu focusing on quality, taste and health. Enjoy over 300 of the world's finest beers, 40 wines by the glass, and hand crafted cocktails featuring many small batch liquors. Perfect for lunch, dinner or happy hour!

Bay Street. 812.463.1968

S H O P I N T E R N AT I O N A L P L A Z A . C O M

TAMPA’S PREMIER SHOPPING AND DINING DESTINATION BAR LOUIE BRIO TUSCAN GRILLE CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN THE CAPITAL GRILLE THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY DOC B’S FRESH KITCHEN FRANKIE’S LOBSTAH TRAP RAW BAR AND GRILL HARVEST SEASONAL GRILL AND WINE BAR LIFECAFE NORDSTROM BAZILLE OCEAN PRIME PELAGIA TRATTORIA THE PUB ROCCO’S TACOS AND TEQUILA BAR TAPS RESTAURANT & BAR

NORDSTROM

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NEIMAN MARCUS

200 STORES

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W E S T S H O R E & B O Y S C O U T B LV D S

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S H O P I N T E R N AT I O N A L P L A Z A . C O M

8

AMERICAN CASUAL

Brick and Mortar 539 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-822-6540; $$ Hope Montgomery and Jason Ruhe’s quirky personal vision yielded the kind of intimate independent restaurant for which St. Petersburg is becoming known. Less than 50 seats inside, including 10 at the bar, with another 17 outside, it’s all reclaimed wood and Pinterest-style tableaux of packing pallets and flower pots. The lovely couple have endeared themselves to downtown and even to fellow restaurateurs such that it seems frequently to be clown-car packed. It’s hard to characterize the food for these caterers-turnedrestaurateurs: Ruhe riffs with Spanish ingredients and Italian fundamentals with the occasional Indonesian fillip (his paternal grandmother is Indonesian), all of it with a focus on local sources whenever possible. My beloved dish, and evidently everyone else’s, is the house beef carpaccio carrying a housemade ravioli on its back that, once punctured, seeps out leek and goat cheese mousse and velvety egg yolk, a bad idea in a backpack but serendipitous for paper-thin raw beef. They have solid offerings for charcuterie boards, the best of which is fuchsia-colored beet-cured salmon with assertive notes of juniper and dill. And desserts are among the most cerebral in town, often seesawing between sweet and savory: lavender panna cotta with glistening Marcona almonds, tangy Point Reyes blue cheese and a bit of thin-sliced Iberico ham.

On Swann 1501 W Swann Ave., Tampa; 813-251-0110; $$-$$$ Cafe Ponte’s Chris Ponte and his wife, Michelle Ponte, joined forces with former Outback Steakhouse senior vice president Trudy Cooper and former Bonefish Grill president John Cooper. Décor is absolutely charming, eclectic in the best sense, with long communal tables and little marbletopped rounds, rustic wood floors and bold Spanish tile in the bar area.

Open shelving in the bar was welded locally and boldly spray-painted, the overall effect, especially with a funky tilted mirror behind it, at once edgy and nostalgic. A back wall is painted in a restful blue-gray but edged in an electric color called arsenic for sizzle. Enough about the décor: What about the food? It feels contemporary without cliches. Yes, there is a kale salad, with quinoa, no less, but the grassy shreds of kale are tamed by bits of bacon, corn, drifts of ricotta salata, leaves of Brussels sprout and a handful of sweet, chewy dried cherries, all in a balanced and judiciously applied dressing. The menu draws broadly from exotic parts of the globe — the roasted oysters get a fragrant sambal butter and the scallops’ sweetness is enhanced with a little curry flavor — but there are a number of items that feel squarely Italian.

A casual restaurant with an upscale atmosphere featuring fine wines by the glass and bottle.

Offering charcuterie and cheese platters, along with chef inspired entrees and small plates.

Restaurant & Wine Bar 300 Beach Drive N.E., St. Petersburg, Florida 33701

727.851.9582 | AnnataWine.com

10 AMERICAN CASUAL Stillwaters Tavern 224 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg 727-350-1019; $$ An anchor on Beach Drive in a primo spot just across from the Museum of Fine Arts, the handsome 260-seat indoor/ outdoor restaurant is a tourist and snowbird magnet. That, according to chef Jeffrey Jew, is a mixed blessing. With a plan for a communal Beach Drive valet stand shelved, at least for now, parking woes may be scaring off some locals (Stillwaters and BellaBrava co-valet). And so, the formula has been tweaked a bit to accommodate the customer base: Portion sizes have gone up (one thing I praised about it early on was good use of white space on plates, but then I generally think portion sizes around here are goofy-big), there are more meat-centric dishes and the wine list has been simplified somewhat. Starting chef de cuisine Joshua Breen has departed and now Jew is more hands-on with the coastal New England-centered tavern menu. I’ve been outvoted. The biggest seller is the lager cheese fondue (but they changed the presentation so it’s easier to eat, thus my initial gripe is gone). The short rib burger with redwine mustard is a keeper, as is the trout spread. And for happy hour, one of the best deals of the century is the housemade beer nuts for $1.99.

Z Grille 104 Second St. S, St. Petersburg 727-822-9600; $$ Zack and Jennifer Gross opened in late 2008, when most of St. Petersburg was wobbly mom-and-pops or antiseptic chain concepts. Since then, downtown has been cemented as fertile ground for ambitious independent restaurants. So what’s it like being the elder statesman with longtime loyal customers relying on your signature dishes? Zack, never one to mince words, let fly with some unprintables, but also this: “People have a hard time understanding it’s like wearing the same outfit or playing the same song over and over again.” Maybe it’s because his body is running out of room for new tattoos, but Zack seems perennially in a state of selfreinvention. He went through a healthyfood stage and has come out the other side and reinvested himself in comfort food and a lower price point. A James Beard semifinalist in 2009, Zack built his reputation on an over-the-top “now put an egg on it” mentality, but there’s fresh breadth with spicy shrimp wraps, duck confit pot stickers and tikka masala sea scallops with a foil of curried cauliflower puree and chile-tinged cucumber salad.

Seasonal Italian with Southern Soul

“Fine Italian cooking and southern ingredients come together for an altogether new dining experience.”

WINNER OF:

VOTED BEST BRUNCH

by Tampa Bay Times.

TUES. - THUR. 4-11 PM FRI. 4 PM-MIDNIGHT SAT. 10:30 AM-MIDNIGHT SUN. 10:30 AM-11PM

BAR OPEN ALL WEEKEND!

8300 4th St. North St. Petersburg FL 33702 727-329-6041

Noble-Crust.com OPENING EARLY SUMMER 2017 IN WESLEY CHAPEL

12 AMERICAN UPSCALE Cafe Ponte 13505 Icot Blvd., Suite 214, Clearwater 727-538-5768; $$$ The office phone rings. “Where should I take my wife for our anniversary?”

If I don’t know the caller, Cafe Ponte is my go-to because it dings every bell. Suave service; big-city glamorous setting; not too loud; new American menu that tiptoes from Mediterranean to Southeast Asia without freaking anyone out. Plus, if the lovebirds are a little cash-shy they can opt for the early four-course prix fixe ($36 for soup, salad, choice of entree and dessert, which recently has been a sassy burnt orange-cardamom crème brûlée). If they wish to express their affection in larger denominations, there’s the sixcourse seasonal tasting menu for $90 and an extra $35 for wine pairings.

Steady and exacting, Ponte retains good people (host McKenzie, server Stephen and Ponte’s right-hand man, chef Tony Bonanno), and what’s on the plate is never the work of someone flustered by success. The Tailleventtrained chef is surely sick of making wild mushroom bisque. Sadly, no one is tired of eating it (often as a complimentary amuse). Regulars swear by steaks, such as the espresso-rubbed ribeye at dinner or the shaved ribeye sandwich at lunch (do yourself a favor and make a rez; this place is swarmed with suits during the week), but I have a Pavlovian compulsion to get the Yukon Gold/bacon/truffle oil pizza, offered now only at lunch.

Edison: Food+Drink Lab 912 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa 813-254-7111; $$$ Jeannie Pierola has spent many years getting to this place — with her own early restaurants, hired as a big gun in other people’s kitchens, consulting internationally and then doing a series of guerilla popups so she could gauge in real time precisely where the zeitgeist edges toward pioneering. She is, as Tampa Bay Times photographer Eve Edelheit says, a master architect of the single bite. But even more than that, she seems adept at putting together a killer team. It changes, but with veteran chef Allison Beasman, Melissa Judge in operations and wine director Tyler Wesslund, Edison has big-city self-assurance while still being loud, fun and approachable. I’ve loved her various bone marrow preparations, but recently it’s obsession-worthy, with cute quail eggs lining the plate, an onion marmalade and parsley shallot salad to counterpoint all the unctuousness and ciabatta toasts, crunchy and with just an edge of bitterness. There’s a burrata salad that beats all the other ones that have popped up in our parts lately, with crunchy versus velvety, spicy versus sweet, even hot versus cold (there’s a chipotle lime sorbet at the party). Tip: If you lean toward the small and sharing plates, you can order more things, but even a single dish is enough to get a sense for Edison’s layered, nuanced, playful mojo.

14 AMERICAN UPSCALE Mise en Place 442 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa 813-254-5373; $$$ The restaurant Maryann Ferenc has overseen with partner and former spouse Marty Blitz launched the careers of dozens of chefs in our area, but it continues to innovate and stay competitive even among the impudent whippersnappers. They are busy people (lots of catering and philanthropic works; Sono Cafe at the Tampa Museum of Art; Flight Wine Bar at the airport and others on the way), but the flagship always seems spiff and the food always pushing forward. Service is always assured and timing expert, something that especially comes in handy at lunchtime, when speed is of the essence. That said, I prefer Mise in the evening when Blitz’s menu has more moxie. He will riff on a cuisine or a flavor palette for a while, and then the next year he’ll move on to something else. The best deal is his “Get Blitzed” menu (not sure about that name, but it does come with 3-ounce pours for each course for $89.29; $54.29 without wine), which may come with a beef carpaccio paired with bone marrow and a sweet, crunchy cornmeal-crusted oyster, and then culminates in an elk rack chop with duckfat roasted root veggies. Or, to celebrate 30 years of this icon, you could opt for one of the original dishes: chicken liver mousse with pears.

The Reading Room 6001 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-343-0052; $$$ The building gestures at midcentury modern, more Eichler-practical than Frank Lloyd Wright. The indoor space of this former Christian Science Reading Room is gorgeous and spare, with expansive windows that look out onto a 3,000-square-foot vegetable garden and what will eventually be a patio. It’s hip and warm, with servers who are intimidatingly coollooking but remarkably kind. The Reading Room is a collaboration between Freefall Theatre co-founder Kevin Lane; his husband, Kevin Damphouse; and partners Jessika Palombo and Lauren Macellaro. Macellaro is the chef, coming most recently from a stint at Rooster & the Till in Tampa while the Reading Room came together, but previously from Asheville, N.C., a hotbed of ambitious restaurants that are stone-cold serious about sourcing. The menu is divided into four chapters, loosely from smallest to largest, the second chapter, mostly salad, absolutely stunning (the “roasted and raw roots” salad was prettier than my prom corsage), but zero in on Chapter Three’s bowl of clams and mussels in a winey-vermouthy broth or juicy pork set atop whipped potatoes with smoky grilled greens and pickled onion.

Rooster & the Till 6500 N Florida Ave., Tampa 813-374-8940; $$ I was trepidatious when Ferrell Alvarez and Ty Rodriguez’s tiny Seminole Heights miracle doubled in size. Would it be as special? Yep. The expansion has meant that it’s easier to get in and just as fun to sit ringside at the exhibition kitchen to watch chef de cuisine Brian Lampe hunker over elaborate plates with surgical tweezers. The one-page menu doesn’t list farms of origin, and Rooster doesn’t crow about provenance, but this food is rigorously curated and as locally sourced as anyone is doing it. Sure, their paper towels and some of their oysters may get hauled in from afar, but you won’t see Cheney Brothers, Sysco or FreshPoint trucks out back. Thing is, this food is exciting and envelope-pushing even if you don’t give a fig about where food comes from, with a “Tasting Tuesdays” three-course/four-plate prix-fixe menu for $30 and a happy hour menu with five items every night for $8 or less. Plates come “small” and “slightly larger,” and this isn’t a case of underselling. The benefit of small portions is that, if you’re ambitious, you can taste most of the menu at a single go: sturdy and deeply savory potato and oxtail pierogi, a pork jowl with corn pudding topped with a crispy pig ear and roasted broccoli bedazzled with nutty puffed farro, set on inky stripes of insanely delicious charred bread vinaigrette. Always get dessert.

Everything from the freshest local seafood to bouillabaisse ...

Selected for participation in Goût de France three years in a row.

Join us every month for wine tastings, wine dinners, & cooking classes.

L 12551 Indian Rocks Road, #18, Largo 33774 • (727) 596-6282 Open Tuesday – Saturday 5-10pm • Reservations Recommended CafeLargoRestaurant.com

L

Award-winning French cuisine since 1986

16 AMERICAN REGIONAL Roux 4205 S MacDill Ave., Tampa 813-443-5255; $$ Since Roux debuted in 2014, a number of people have headlined in the kitchen. Some of this is by design — Suzanne and Roger Perry love bringing in guest chefs from Louisiana for the “unique flavors and stories each one brings to our kitchen” — but some is because they’ve been trying to find just the right fit for their upscale modern Cajun/Creole. The big hubbub these days is about the weekend brunch (bananas Foster pancakes, BOGO mimosas and bloodys). I think nighttime is when the restaurant really shows best, with its glammy Bourbon Street pressed-tin ceilings, gilded mirrors and lavish drapes (I hardly ever get to write the word drapes anymore). Oysters are the top-selling dish (prediction: You’ll dispatch six buttery-cheesy chargrilled babies and have that irrational “Should I order six more?” thought) and other seafood seems to be where the kitchen hits high gear (shrimp and grits, seafood Wellington). Then the Olympic-level dismount: bread pudding with a Buffalo Trace bourbon butterscotch sauce. And the cocktail spectrum, from Pink Fairy to Sazerac, is made and presented with finesse.

Ulele 1810 N Highland Ave., Tampa 813-999-4952; $$ Richard Gonzmart’s commitment to the Tampa Heights neighborhood seems to know no bounds. He bought an old furniture store on N Florida Avenue, into which he aims to pour $2 million to transform it into a culinary school for neighborhood high school students. This on the heels of the $6 million he plunked down to overhaul the 1906 Water Works Building that houses Ulele. With that one, though, it wasn’t just this historic but economically beleaguered neighborhood that benefited — locals and tourists on both sides of the bay have flocked to enjoy “native-inspired foods and spirits.” It’s a restaurant with so many notable bells and whistles, it’s tough to shoehorn them in here: Tim Shackton is the brewmaster for the award-winning onsite brewery (Rusty’s Red, Magbee’s Honey Lager); the amazing two-level space showcases the work of a number of local artisans (Gonzmart’s own arrowhead collection is embedded in the bar); partner Keith Sedita oversees a crackerjack front of the house team; and executive chef Eric Lackey interprets early Florida foods in a way that won’t discomfit anyone. The charbroiled oysters on the barbacoa continue to be my go-to, as does the Florida beef from Strickland Ranch (beef that gets fed the spent grain from the brewery in a circle-oflife dealio), especially when it is accompanied by a side of fried, but not breaded, okra with house ketchup.

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18 ASIAN FUSION Anise Global Gastrobar 777 N Ashley Drive, Tampa 813-225-4272; $ Anise seems ever to be evolving, with a new craft cocktail focus and a bar called The Back Room. I hear people fidgeting — no, this does not signal the stinky buns or the truffled tater tots will be eighty-sixed. Partner Xuan “Sing” Hurt says they’ll keep the crowd favorites. Hurt and partners, husband Kevin, Rafael Millan, Ro Patel and Mai Tran, took a chance on downtown, which, with Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, the Riverwalk and a dramatic influx of residents and businesses, has paid dividends. They’re in a great location, but it is the strength of the sprightly Korean-ish/southeast Asian range of flavors, combined with a raft of smart cocktails (kudos to bar manager Ryan Brown) and a live DJ in the late evenings, that has made Anise a happening spot at lunch and dinner. The Hurts ran the Stinky Bunz food truck whence braised pork belly with kimchi buns and red curry crispy chicken buns came. More recently they’ve added a range of burgers, some Asian-accented cheese and charcuterie and a great gluten-free Korean japchae noodle dish to which you can add a protein of choice.

Fusion Bowl 504 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa 813-222-0102; $ When Bamboozle Cafe opened downtown in 2008, you could hear a collective sigh, “Finally, a spunky Asian alternative to pizza and turkey clubs.” Since then, banh mi and pho have become staples for downtown workers, with Fusion Bowl the most charming. Owned by Michelle Vuu (Chinese) and Bao Lai (Vietnamese), it leans most heavily toward Vietnam, but with a smattering of dishes from Japan (udon bowls, teriyaki rice bowls, gyoza) and some classic American morning fare (waffles, toast with eggs and avocado). What lifts it into memorable territory is its wonderful array of muddled fruit teas and exotic hot teas, and its vegetarian menu. Plus, it’s cute as a button, the perfect place to camp out with the newspaper or a magazine (beyond the free Wi-Fi, the bonus is that there’s a huge, fruitinfused self-serve water dispenser). It’s hard to make a vegetarian banh mi with real razzle-dazzle. They’ve managed. The pho rivals that at any of the area’s better Vietnamese spots. Finish lunch with a Viet-French drip coffee and a bowl of outstanding ginger ice cream studded with crystallized ginger.

Take your time, your boss will understand. This is breakfast and lunch only.

Souzou 435 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg 727-823-4050; $$ The idea was to orchestrate a sophisticated Asian fusion restaurant pretty enough for date night and with prices that accommodate families, but containing one extra-rare ingredient: parking. They achieved this by building a bit away from the downtown fray on the ground floor of an office building.

Heavy on the sushi and with noodles and hot dishes that amble between China, Japan and Thailand, the vision has moved slightly away from small plates and sharables and toward more substantial entrees (they’ve added steaks). Bouncy pork and beef meatballs called tsukune get a sweet hoisin glaze and a crunchy, contrasting Asian slaw for a great shared app, but at lunchtime the tempura-fried snapper tacos with cabbage and sriracha aioli will bring a little drama to your work life. (Bargain hunters: These tacos and other nibbles are offered at a discount during the sunset menu, 5 to 7 p.m.) The sake list has gained steam, emerging as the one to beat in Tampa Bay, with more than a dozen in different styles by the bottle, and five by the glass or offered as sake flights.

20 BARBECUE 4 Rivers Smokehouse 607 S MacDill Ave., Tampa (plus other locations) 844-474-8377; $ I got a little mopey when they knocked down the produce stand at the corner of MacDill and Swann. It wasn’t pretty, but it felt like a link to the olden days. I’m over it now — 4 Rivers Smokehouse opened its second Tampa location there and I’ve seldom seen it without a line. It’s better than the location that opened at the end of 2014 in Carrollwood, and not quite as good as the flagship Winter Park location, opened in 2009. John Rivers, who spent the first 20 years of his career in health care, was bitten by the brisket bug and now has a whole mess of locations with more on the horizon. They pretty much operate the same: Queue up at the door and an assembly line of affable young employees serves up Texas-style 18-hour smoked Angus brisket, burnt ends, Southern pulled pork and St. Louis-style ribs, with sides from fried okra to sweet-smoky baked beans and Texas corn bread. The desserts are going to distract you. Oversized layer cakes, extravagantly decorated cupcakes with lurid frosting, homey confections like coconut bombs and pecan bars. Eyes over here: I’ve had the brisket when it’s amazing and when it’s just pretty good. A consistent star is the smoked chicken salad sandwich.

First Choice 10113 Adamo Drive, Tampa (also Plant City) 813-621-7434; $ When I was young and naive, I thought there were four styles of barbecue: Texas-style was brisket and beef ribs shellacked with a sweet, sticky, tomatoey sauce; ‘cue from the Carolinas meant pork smoked and then bathed in a more vinegary, sometimes mustardy sauce; Memphis was all about pork ribs, dry-rubbed and served “wet”; and then there was Kansas City, more of a melting pot, sauce sweet and thick, where they talked about barbecue in terms of snoots, brownies, short ends and long ends. Ah, how quaint I was. There is Florida barbecue and hybrid barbecue and all sorts of barbecue anomalies. The Brandon area tends to be impressive barbecue country (props to Down to the Bone), but First Choice is top dog. They’re not real specific about the provenance of the recipe. When pressed, Florida barbecue sums it up: no dry rub, a lot of smoky flavor and a sauce that is ketchup-based with a kick of vinegar. Ribs are tender, smoky and delicious eaten sauced or au naturel. Spicy macaroni salad has proponents, but the fries are hard to overlook and the beans are good if you like them sweet.

Holy Hog 3501 N Armenia Ave., Tampa (plus other locations) 813-879-4647; $ Danny Hernandez had me at taxidermy, but the burnt ends (a.k.a. barbecue candy) really cemented the deal. He grew up in the restaurant business with his family’s Pipo’s, then masterminded his plot for world ‘cue domination. First he swapped out the Armenia Pipo’s for his first Holy Hog (he says the taxidermy decor was mostly about getting it out of the house at his wife’s behest), then came the Henderson location, then downtown, Amalie Arena and Carrollwood. At any of the Hog Nation outposts, the menu is heavy on Texas-style brisket, a couple kinds of sausage (smoked summer and spicy beef), St. Louis ribs and a whole lot of alluring sides. I’ve had HH cater a couple parties, although party pics have required extensive Photoshop de-saucing. For dining in, the indoor-outdoor downtown location, with its powerful misting fans, is pleasant and has a good beer list, but I still prefer the relaxed atmosphere and broad picnic tables of the flagship. Steer toward the fattier point end of the brisket or the burnt ends, although it’s easy to be beguiled by the sides, housemade chips, corn fritters and jalapeno mac and cheese at the top of the heap.

Sunsets as Beautiful as they are Historic.

Come in for great fresh seafood – including the famous family recipe, Mom’s 1945 Crab Cake Melt – crisp salads, Old Bay peel ’n’ eat shrimp, fresh gulf grouper, calamari steak and a full bar.

BREAKFAST SERVED DAILY

Experience unparalleled sunsets, incomparable dining and the unique beach history of The Hurricane.

9th Avenue & Gulf Way • Historic Pass-a-Grille 727-360-9558 • thehurricane.com Free Hurricane Parking

22 BRUNCH Datz 2616 S MacDill Ave., Tampa 813-831-7000; $ Their hilarious marquee signs alone should scoot them onto “best of” lists (loved the ones about Adele and Star Wars).

Roger and Suzanne Perry never stop innovating, changing things up, sussing out new foods and people to get excited about. They also may be personally responsible for the overexposure of bacon. The single problem at Datz, less so at their next-door Dough, has always been service: They do an absolutely obscene business at brunch, with servers sometimes lacking the hustle and/or disposition to keep up. Thus, practice your mindfulness and deep breathing and brunch will go swimmingly, especially if it’s on the patio on a nice Florida winter’s day. I would like to recommend the Spaaa Blahblahblah cocktail because it is only 150 calories and I like to imagine you ordering it, but the Bloody Mary with bacon (see?) or the frothy Bacon and Eggs cocktail (ahem?) are the way to start, with an order of monkey bread with bacon (seriously?) as finger food for the table to start. The Billy Benedict has the “bene”fit of being on a sturdy, cultish Wolferman’s English muffin from Kansas City, topped with ham, Swiss, poached egg and hollandaise, which you can have accompanied by bacon-infused potatoes or a side order of ... oh, nevermind.

Noble Crust 8300 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg 727-329-6041; $ Weekends in St. Pete are starting to get frantic. Do I start with the Saturday Morning Market, or maybe a belay class at Vertical Ventures? Then there’s that new hobby, dunking a fat strip of ridiculously good bacon repeatedly into a Bloody Mary while playing Name That Tune (Shazam is cheating, obvz) at Noble Crust.

The Italian-Southern fusion pizza-pasta-etc. hotspot feels just right for brunch. In virtually all weather the best seats are on the 800-square-foot patio with its retractable roof and remote-control windows, but the funky-industrial dining room is also sun-dappled and pleasant during the day. This does not get high marks simply because it has a parking lot, but that’s nice. It’s because the brunch menu is the right mix of sweet and savory, breakfast and lunch fare, at a good price point and supported by a friendly staff and good drinks (they offer a free mimosa, but you may have to prod your server to reveal this astonishing fact). How do you feel about naps? If it’s thumbs up, you’ll be wanting the lemon ricotta pancakes with fresh blueberries and lemon curd, the size of a standard ottoman, no syrup required. The fried chicken and waffles are up there with the area’s best (Ella’s; Datz, where it’s offered as a, get this, Benedict), with a bewitching bourbon pecan butter and a little cup of watermelon salad.

When only a

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24 CHEESE & CHARCUTERIE Annata Wine Bar 300 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg 727-851-9582; $-$$ Fact: Delice de Bourgogne is the happiest-making cheese there is. It’s got a bloomy rind that, when ripe, gives way to a melty edge and a silky, fudgy, nutty center that screams “triple cream!” It’s not as salty as lesser triple creams and has an edge of stink and acidity so it’s got enough attitude to stand up to crusty bread. The French cow’s milk cheese is frequently on the list at Annata, opened in 2014 by Mary and Kurt Cuccaro (Mazzaro’s). This glamorous Beach Drive anchor started strong and has kept building, with live music from 6 to 9 p.m. many nights, a range of happy hour specials from 4 to 6 p.m. and frequent wine flight offers of three short pours for $6.

It’s one of the few places in the area where you can wear your little black dress and feel utterly comfortable eating your whole meal with your hands.

I was bereft when the robiola due latte departed the menu (you can get it at Mazzaro’s), but then I got over it (thanks for helping me through, aged sheep’s milk Paski sir from Croatia). “Pick five” means you can choose three cheeses and a couple meats (definitely the fennel salami from San Francisco), and then you can augment with small plates — the kitchen seems big on spaghetti squash, whether accompanying Moroccan lamb or seared tuna. Need more drama in your life? The smoke-infused beef tartare comes under a glass dome swirling like Dumbledore’s pensieve.

Haven 2208 W Morrison Ave., Tampa 813-258-2233; $$-$$$ If you play your cards right, you can stand in the cave, close your eyes and breathe deeply. Whoa, that’s cheesetastic. Haven, the little sibling to Bern’s, which opened in the SideBern’s spot, has the most ambitious cheese program perhaps in the state. Chef Chad Johnson said his initial order was 2,000 pounds of product, and though he wouldn’t put a dollar figure on it, he said it was north of $20,000. Now add to that a charcuterie lineup that keeps expanding, some housemade, some sourced from the great cured meat producers of the world. Here’s the rub: Although it’s tempting to hunker down at Haven to eat only meats, cheeses and accoutrements, the rest of the menu is tremendous. Oh, then add in a remarkable list of more than 300 bourbons, ryes and other whiskeys, plus a great cocktail program and wine list, and the ordering process can be paralyzing. Luckily, Haven has the kind of suave staff that can deftly get you unstuck. By the time you try the 18th cheese, you might be in a flop-sweaty dairy fog, but it’s worth it. The cheesemonger plate ($47) is best undertaken with a couple buddies, the white ceramic tray with divots accompanied by a cheat sheet alongside crusty bread, cornichons, fruit compote and Marcona almonds.

But you shouldn’t vacate the premises without investigating the whole roast cauliflower and the spicy mussels.

The Mill 200 Central Ave., No. 100, St. Petersburg 727-317-3930; $$ I was wowed by Ted Dorsey’s cooking when he was with the Boca/ Copperfish/Ciro’s group of restaurants in Tampa, and then again when he headed up the kitchen at Castile at Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach. What would this hired gun do if he had his own place, his own vision, his own bills? The Mill suggests that Dorsey and partner Jason Griffin might be Jules Verne fans. The place is steampunk-cool, festooned with gears and tooled leather and vintage waterwheels, its menu concerning itself with gamier meats and humbler cuts (boar ribs, braised lamb belly, venison saddle).

The housemade charcuterie board and accessories continue to stretch and expand like the universe itself. Think octopus bacon and plush tongue rillettes to go along with the duck bacon and toro pastrami, surrounded by grainy mustards and baby pickled zucchini on a rustic board planed smooth.

Here’s a tip: complimentary valet on the back side of the building.

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26 CHINESE China Yuan 8502 N Armenia Ave., Tampa 813-936-7388; $ It used to be tiny and a little crusty looking but underwent an expansion and gussying up some years back. There has been a slow accretion of crud since then (amateurish, unframed food pictures tacked to the wall surrounding one perplexing painting of megabuff horses wading in the surf), but it still attracts an in-the-know crowd, often big families spinning the lazy Susans in serious concentration. For this story, I went to Yummy and Yuan back to back. Both great, but I’m going to give China Yuan the nod on a couple things. First, the duck: Gleaming Bain de Soleil-tinted and hanging sadly by the neck, it is offered Cantonese-style, $19.99, for when you’re trying to be fiscally prudent. For $39.99 you can do the whole two-course Peking style, first the little pancakes or buns (they do both) with hoisin and scallion, crisp-skinned boned-out duck, then a second course of the bones in soup.

Magic. And second, their dim sum is noteworthy. They don’t do cart service, the up-side being that dishes are made to order so things are really fresh and hot, some in round metal containers and some on white plates. Get the sweet sesame balls with red bean paste.

Yummy House China Bistro 2620 E Hillsborough Ave., Tampa (plus other locations) 813-237-3838; $ The Yummy House staff, always in high gear, is full of sass and able at a glance to tell whether you’re a sweet-and-sour chicken person or a tripe with Chinese pickle diner. No judgment. Owner John Zhao has been in the restaurant biz since he was a kid, building up his Yummy group since 2008 with the original Waters Avenue location, then Hillsborough in 2011, a Sarasota outpost in 2012, Gainesville in 2013, Ocala in 2014 and Orlando in 2015. I prefer the bistro to the original because the setting is more convivial and attractive (bargain hunters may prefer the other: It’s BYOB, so you can save money with no alcohol markup). Bare bones, no reservations, no booze, the first Yummy House was an instant hit because we’d been starved for authentic Hong Kongstyle food. We still don’t have much of it.

Bright sauteed greens, still-crisp veggies, burnished-skin ducks, cracked crabs redolent of ginger and scallion and whole steamed fish — even if kung pao is your jam, branch out. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: salt and pepper tofu, ong choy (a water spinach) with garlic if they’ve got it, and at lunch (when dim sum is offered), any of the rice porridges or the steamed rice rolls stuffed with beef or pork.

Zen Forrest 4148 Rowan Road, New Port Richey 727-372-9545; $ So much of my job is leaping in the car when I get a lead, a little like Batman but with less latex and a lamer car. On those occasions when I race to New Port Richey, often a restaurant that locals enthuse about wouldn’t pass muster in South Tampa or downtown St. Pete. This is one that has methodically served the area with aplomb for more than 10 years, Victor Wang pushing the envelope with sophisticated Chinese-dominated fusion while being early to accommodate dietary restrictions and alternative eating lifestyles. It had been some time since I’d made the trip, but he’s still making his own kimchee (Korean spicy fermented cabbage), yet there are accessible family-friendly dishes like zhajiangmian, China’s version of spaghetti with meat sauce (thick wheat noodles topped with stir-fried pork lent zest with fermented soybean paste) or these deep-fried Cuban rolls that defy all logic but are still hard to not love.

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28 DESSERTS Chocolate Pi 1205 S Howard Ave., Tampa 813-831-2195; $ Kim Yelvington has had a long run in Tampa. She had a stunning cake and pastry shop called Chocolate Pi in South Tampa long before there was a critical mass of “foodie” destinations. She took over as the dessert impresario at Bern’s Steak House and more recently with her daughter Jade reintroduced her Chocolate Pi shop in the Epicurean Hotel. Next up she debuts a second shop in the Heights Public Market, a 43-acre redevelopment project around the historic Armature Works building that will also include outposts of Ava, Ichicoro Ramen and other Tampa notables. Although parking can be rough (there are some designated self-park spots, but otherwise it’s $5 valet), the shop at the Epicurean is a charmer, with a range of sophisticated macarons, bonbons and marshmallows; layer cakes, mousse cakes and cupcakes; ice creams and coffee drinks (sweets $2-$10).

Fancy boxes secured with festive tapes make any Chocolate Pi package feel like an elegant hostess gift, and Yelvington’s custom birthday and wedding cakes would prompt cold sweat in any Cake Wars contestant.

(swah-rey) 2105 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-767-0523; $ It’s like the French word soiree, only more designed to give Times copy editors fits. Leslie-Ann and Gregg Ciccone opened this dessert bar at the end of 2015. New to St. Pete, they fairly swiftly showed themselves to be strong community partners, sponsoring charity fundraisers and local events (Chelsea Clinton spoke from here on behalf of her mom) and equipping their shop with modern essentials like free WiFi, USB ports and plugs, and “pupcakes” for the dogs, who are resoundingly welcome. Two-bite mini cakes are only $1, but then for 50 cents to $3 more, you can take it upscale with what they call a “hook up,” where the mini hovers at the lip of the shot glass of your beverage choice. (They offer draft beers, wines, teas and intensely good Kahwa coffees made on a very fancy-looking espresso machine.) Once you’ve gotten the lay of the land with the minis, you can throttle up with a full-sized dessert, paying special attention to the coconut cake, carrot and red velvet.

EAT. DRINK. SHOP. Rum Fish 29

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30 FRENCH The Black Pearl 315 Main St., Dunedin 727-734-3463; $$$ What since 1996 was Dunedin’s beloved “continental” date-nighter under owners Tony and Kathy LaRoche was bought in 2014 by young Zach Feinstein (he went there on prom night), who seems to have signaled to longtime chef Christopher Artrip that now it’s time for the gloves to come off. It’s poised for a remodel, but the intimate room is lovely as is, with servers such as Ronald Maupin exhibiting deep wine knowledge and nearly anachronistic social graces.

(Bonus: Noise levels are low enough for easy conversation.) Plates are composed without being fussy, each requiring a pause for visual appreciation — that goes for a cheese and charcuterie plate showcasing foie gras terrine and a wedge of Humboldt Fog, as well as the No. 1 seller, the white truffle lobster risotto, offered as an app or entree.

Watch for wine dinners or Artrip’s next pull-out-all-the-stops evening.

Cafe Largo 12551 Indian Rocks Road, Largo 727-596-6282; $$$ Dominique Christini just had his 30th year in business, one of a small handful of restaurants to traffic in classical French cuisine. His son Sebastien has moved on to start his own business, so Christini presides solo over his monthly Saturday morning cooking classes and a seasonally changing prixfixe menu for $35, much of it now supported by regionally sourced rabbit, pork and game (things he says weren’t feasible just a few years ago because of a lack of vendors or customer enthusiasm). For the exotic stuff, he’s something of a psychologist: Put wild boar or venison chops on the printed menu, no takers.

Make it a special, explicated tableside, and folks will bite. He also traffics in the classics like cassoulet (slow-cooked white beans, duck, sausage and other goodies), warming braises like elk stew with cepes and Grand Marnier souffle, the only dessert that reliably gets a whole room to say “ooh.”

Parts of Paris 146 Fourth Ave. N, Safety Harbor 727-797-7979; $$ Safety Harbor restaurants have an ace in the hole. Most of them are set in lovely, repurposed 1930s bungalows, many with come-hither front porches and tree-canopied front yards. Parts of Paris is the luckiest duck (and yes, they do serve said bird, as confit with braised fennel and a tarragon-cashew brown rice). Like nearby Green Springs Bistro and Southern Fresh, its setting is a central draw. Then add a lineup of classic French fare, from boeuf bourguignon to textbook beef tartare and this is one of Tampa Bay’s bigleague date-night stalwarts. Owner Chris Orrung is Swedish (now there’s a cuisine we’ve gone without entirely), but has had a small handful of chefs in the kitchen willing to bring their focus to bear on careful execution of the dishes Julia Child introduced to so many of us. On a pretty day, brunch cannot be beat (and the addition of a full bar has meant lovely cocktails such as a French 75 are pre-nap options), with dishes that go sweet (crepes Suzette) or savory (moules-frites). Prices are fair-minded, but if you’re looking for a deal, appetizers are 50 percent off on Mondays.

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32 GRAB & GO BT to Go 3215 S MacDill Ave., Tampa. 813-559-1094; $ BT Nguyen opened her seventh and eighth restaurants last year, both offshoots of her flagship upscale Restaurant BT. BT to Go, at the northern end of Bayshore Plaza, is a boon to busy South Tampa families. And nearby Bistro BT is a lovely little casual French-Vietnamese bistro for when you don’t feel like the full splurge that is Restaurant BT. That said, some of the fancy restaurant’s most beloved dishes are right there on the brief one-page menu at to Go: chili chicken salad ($7.95 small, $11.95 large), vegetarian pumpkin soup with coconut milk and peanuts ($8.95 per pint). The bulk of the menu is available preprepared, stacked up in a shiny refrigerator case in black-and-clear plastic containers with white labels, most of the portions very ample for one person’s dinner and many of the ingredients organic, sustainably raised and locally sourced.

Fresh Kitchen 1350 S Howard Ave., Tampa 813-280-0515. 4447 Fourth St. N, No. 2, St. Petersburg. 727-835-8991; $ I run early in the morning, returning from Bayshore Boulevard along S Howard Avenue and past Fresh Kitchen, which seems always, gloriously, to be grilling a mountain of their steak or citrus chicken in preparation for the lunchtime hordes. I think I run faster. The Ciccio Restaurant Group has had a big hit with this one, building on its growing repertoire for healthy, customizable meals-in-a-bowl. Called FK for short (pronunciations vary), the Tampa location started with preset “chef’s specials,” but now, with a second location in St. Pete, focuses mostly on a wholly point-and-choose strategy. There are warm bases (brown rice) and cold bases (kale, sweet potato noodles), veggies (roasted Brussels or cauliflower), proteins (baked almond chicken, chia seed teriyaki tofu), sauces (creamy white ginger, coconut sriracha) and add-ons. Have at it. Two bases, two veggies and two proteins are $9.95, but if you add in one of the impossibly delicious coldpressed juices, you just busted the bank big time. Parking at either location may make you say FK in a certain way.

Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu 8104 W Waters Ave., Tampa 813-249-2222; $ This was my favorite opening of 2016. I went right when it debuted to learn from co-owner Thomas Mang and tofu impresario Michael Nguyen just how it’s done. And it’s not easy. Nowhere else in our area makes its own tofu. In this case, they make seven kinds of pressed tofu as well as a che dau hu, a soft soybean custard with ginger honey syrup. This ambitious newcomer is part attractive sit-down restaurant, part grab-and-go of traditional Vietnamese ingredients (sua dau nanh, a fresh soy milk; cha bo and cha lua, the Vietnamese patelike sausages you find in banh mi sandwiches) and part order-at-the-counter boba teas, milk slushes and novelty drinks with pearl jellies at the bottom. Word to the wise: If you’re having a party and you want to put out a spread that gets the neighbors twitterpated, Thinh An will hook you up with Vietnamese sausage-filled pastries called banh pate so, steamed minced pork rice dumplings, summer rolls with peanut sauce and (this is imperative) fried lemongrass tofu cubes, pretty much everything under $10.

Located on the Gulfport waterfront, Neptune Grill is a cozy restaurant specializing in seafood & Greek cuisine. The indoor-outdoor ambiance is casual, the decor has a definite Greek vibe and the menu is loaded with tasty options for every age and taste.

#2 Recommended on Trip Advisor

5501 Shore Blvd. S, Gulfport 33707 | 727-623-4823

neptunegrillgulfport.com

Voted #4

TOP TEN SEAFOOD RESTAURANTS in St. Pete /CLW from USA Today.

Recommended Re ded on TripAdvis TripAdvisor.com

FOR VARIETY LIKE N O OTHER. •

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5799 Gulf Blvd. • St. Pete Beach • 727-360-1029 Breakfast: MON-FRI 7am -12 pm & SAT/SUN 7am - 1pm • Lunch/Dinner: DAILY 7am - 11pm

34 HAMBURGERS Engine No. 9 56 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N, St. Petersburg 727-623-0938; $ There are two reasons a burger place becomes legendary. One, it’s the place with the super-premium meat, hand-chopped and lovingly formed before it is placed by gossamer-winged cherubs upon the fancy wood grill. Or, two, it’s the place that starts with solid patties and then gets completely bughouse with the toppings. Engine No. 9 is the latter. Burger snobs are going to hound me (“This might be a preformed patty!”), but let’s just look at the menu: the Chubby Duck, the Van Helsing, the Alice in Pain.

Gargantuan burgers with foie gras, burgers with peanut butter, burgers that will make your nose run, and burgers that defy all logic (fried cheese curds with jalapeno bacon? and brisket?). Plus, I’ve never had a bad tater tot, the beer list is as epic as the burger lineup, and every table has its own TV. In the way of cat people versus dog people, there are tater totters and sweet potato fryers. Can’t we all just get along? As per burgers, I may undermine my credibility further by saying I’m a devotee of the shrimp-patty burger topped with crispy slaw, a squirt of sriracha and some Cajun-spiced remoulade. Owner Jason Esposito opened No. 9 in 2012, and in 2015 followed up with the also-burger-focused Engine Rose built around an Airstream on Central Avenue.

Goody Goody 1601 W Swann Ave., Tampa 813-308-1925; $ Restaurateur Richard Gonzmart (Columbia Restaurant Group, Ulele and about a zillion other projects in the works) announced in 2014 that he had purchased rights to the Goody Goody name from Michael Wheeler of Tampa, who had owned it since 1981. The deal also included the recipe to the restaurant’s famous secret sauce, some furniture and the distinctive Goody Goody sign.

Gonzmart’s aim was to open somewhere close to the second and longest-lasting location, which was on Florida Avenue, opened in 1930 and demolished in 2006. He chose Hyde Park Village, a decision that has been echoed by a bunch of other businesses to render it (sidewalks still maddeningly under construction) one of the most exciting restaurant destinations in the area these days. And the fabled POX burger? This is not a shockand-awe burger for which you unhinge your jaws. It’s humansized, wrapped in waxed paper, its patty juicy all-Florida beef, its bun warm, just slightly wrinkly and a little soft. It gets a confetti of onion and pickle, not too much, and a healthy smear of a sauce that’s like ketchup mated with marinara, but a little lighter and more orange, a welcome but barely noticeable swipe of mayo on the bottom bun. Paired with crisp but tender-centered and well seasoned skin-on fries, this burger is going down, 100 percent, and you may have a moment of considering a second one.

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36 HAMBURGERS Pane Rustica 3225 S MacDill Ave., Tampa 813-902-8828; $-$$ Flour, yeast, salt and water. So elemental. And yet, Tampa Bay has never emerged as a bread titan. Kevin and Karyn Kruszewski have been hoeing that row solo (say that out loud) for years, supplying many of the top restaurants with crusty loaves each week. But that’s just one part of what this South Tampa institution accomplishes. During the day it’s a jammed order-at-the-counter lunch spot and bakery, folks grabbing giant triangles of fancy-topped thin-crust pizza or roasted acorn squash stuffed with chicken salad (fun fact: It is former Buc Ryan Nece’s fave). And then Wednesday to Saturday the lights dim, things slow down and it becomes a fancier Italianaccented table-service dinner house. Pane Rustica has changed locations, it has expanded, it has added a full bar. But one constant through it all is a crazy-good burger. The burger is on the specials menu at lunch and dinner, and it’s not cheap (usually $16 or $17), its accoutrements shifting. It starts with all-natural Niman Ranch beef in a fairly coarse grind, the hardwood grill imparting perceptible smokiness, on a bun that changes year by year but is often rustic with an open texture like a pugliese. You may find it topped with Stilton, arugula, sliced tomato and roasted garlic aioli, or maybe sauteed mushrooms, arugula, oozy taleggio and oven-dried tomato. Post-burger, it is essential you order the twin espresso cookie sundae.

The Refinery 5137 N Florida Ave., Tampa 813-237-2000; $-$$ Greg Baker, our zillion-time James Beard semifinalist, and his wife/partner, Michelle, reconcepted their flagship restaurant last year and took things way more casual, with a menu that focuses on extravagance between the buns.

They are still working with regional farmers and food producers, but now it’s less of a date-night and more every-night kind of place. This doesn’t mean

attention to detail has slipped: Burgers come on Jamison B Breadhouse Bakes buns, $4 extra if you want Providence Cattle Co. grass-fed beef (a black-eyed pea patty is no upcharge), with accoutrements like pickled butternut and spiced chicken chicarrones, and then there are Yukon Gold fries and housemade ketchup to consider. Beyond the burgers, the chicken sandwiches are becoming a local legend. Their second concept, Fodder & Shine, originally an early Florida Cracker fare re-creation, has been retooled to serve more mainstream Southern in a casual Seminole Heights hangout.

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38 ITALIAN Cena 1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa 813-374-8840; $$ The Grand Central complex and the whole Channel District have grown up around suave Cena, a 4-year-old Italian anchor that is the personal and distinctive vision of talented chef Michael Buttacavoli (Council Oak, SideBern’s). He and his team (Kyle Martin as sous, Evan Schmidt on pastry) have set a steady course as others — District Tavern, Fabrica Woodfired Pizza, Duckweed Urban Market and Ginger Beard Coffee (which works out of Pour House in the morning when it is closed) — have gotten things bustling. Buttacavoli offers a handful of pastas, risotto and secondi served in a serene dining room dominated by oversized photos of textural rock formations. Name another local restaurant with five risotto options. That should tell you something. With riffs from red wine gorgonzola with tender Kobe beef cheek to a wild mushroom version, this is a part of the menu to scrutinize. And Schmidt’s desserts tend to be architectural and multielement, with keen juxtapositions of texture and mouthfeel. Plus, they sometimes look like spaceships with chocolate wings and propellers.

Il Ritorno 449 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-897-5900; $$-$$$ Every time I scoot in to David Benstock’s little charmer for dinner it feels like some of the most exciting and audacious food around. There’s a vivacious prettiness to his food that feels — he’s not going to like this — very feminine. Salads are always visually stunning: Visualize a fall salad with frisee and apples and pears that, if you squint, looks like Monet’s water lilies.

It’s a small restaurant, that’s in the process of doubling in size, dinner only, with sourcing that can range from West Coast mushrooms and caviar to right-in-our-backyard greens and citrus. One of the big sellers is a composed dish of swaths of American red snapper crudo accented by kumquat rounds, radish, sweet-hot calabrese chile jam and red-veined delicate leaves of lemony blood sorrel. For chilly weather, consider the little pasta hats stuffed with stinky/velvety taleggio and paired with black trumpet mushrooms and a frizzle of fried leeks.

Osteria Natalina 3215 S MacDill Ave., Tampa 813-831-1210; $$ When Michael meets Sollozzo and Capt. McCluskey at Louis’ Italian American Restaurant in The Godfather, I like to put Spartaco Giolito in the role of the proprietor (but I get him out of there when Michael starts shooting). He’s straight from central casting: Big and warm, he has a thick Italian accent and is prone to busting your chops while making you some nice veal scallopini dish he thinks you’ll like. It is the only restaurant I know of that still writes out bills longhand, with Giolito there at his little desk in front working the pencil, carry the 2, then totaling the bill in his slanty handwriting (how many of us now take the time to check the math?). He’s from the coastal town of Rimini, ergo seafood is front and center — unless lasagna features prominently in your daydreams. Your first time, get the strozzapreti alla Bel Sit, a twisty pasta that looks like a Cigar Rolling Camp, Day One, heaped with mixed seafood and either a white or red sauce (go red). Then, branch out. You can get half orders of pasta (menu doesn’t say that) and he’ll do pretty much whatever you want with chicken and veal.

My order? Linguini with clams, white wine sauce but with chopped tomato, extra spicy. Tip: No reservations and the juice glass is for wine (about three reds and three whites) and the wine-ish glass is for water.

40 JAPANESE

Buya Ramen 911 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-202-7010; $$ For about the past decade, “Japanese food” in these parts meant one thing: sushi. For a crack at the hipster izakayas, essentially Japanese gastropubs or taverns, you had to head to California, New York or, well, Japan. Ichicoro debuted in Seminole Heights at the end of 2015, with Dosunco opening its doors in South Tampa around the same time. We’ve had a bit of ramen crop up on the Pinellas County side, but Buya Ramen (pronounced BOOyah), opened in St. Petersburg in 2016, is really this side of the bay’s first izakaya. Their tonkotsu broth is lush, unctuous and nearly opaque, blanched chicken and pork bones simmered with roasted vegetables for 22 hours before it is strained and married with noodles and toppers like bits of duck confit, fatty-edged pork belly or smoky beef brisket. There’s a smart little world-beat wine list, a short list of craft beers, cocktails that rely heavily on sophisticated Japanese whiskeys and house-filtered water that is offered in bottles of still or sparkling.

Ichicoro Ramen 5229 N Florida Ave., Tampa 813-517-9989; $ Noel Cruz and his band of merry men taught us ramen. Many of us were newbs and had only eaten the bowl of sadness that is Top Ramen. Opened at the end of 2015, the Seminole Heights restaurant Ichicoro Ramen is still packed, people willing to wait hours to slurp down spicy abura soba or shoyu in minutes. The champon, with its fatty braised pork and heads-on gulf shrimp, is stunning, as are the chicken-based shoyu ($12) and misobased veggie version ($11), plus there are plenty of nonramen dishes that hit under $10 (like the hilarious but delicious CuBaoNo, Ichicoro’s spin on a Cuban, trademarked no less). After adding lunch and brunch last year, they announced their intention to open a second location in the ambitious Tampa Heights project, in the 68,000-square-foot old red brick Tampa Armature Works building, and Cruz debuted C. 1949, a Florida craft-beer-driven bar also in Seminole Heights.

E N I A M E LIV

R E T S B LO

1 2 8 0 7 W H i l l s b o r o u g h Av e . | Ta m p a w w w. l o b s t e r h ave n . n e t | 8 1 3 . 8 5 5 . 2 8 8 8

42 JAPANESE

Noble Rice 807 W Platt St., Tampa 813-284-7423; $$ What Eric Fralick is doing is a bit different from anything we’ve had around here. True World seafood is bringing him fish species straight from the Tsukiji fish market in Japan; he’s getting Hawaiian fish from Hawaiian Fresh; and he’s sourcing Ora King Salmon, a highly prized farmed fish, from New Zealand. In short, his fish is exceedingly good, flown in several times a week, offered in a range of pristine nigiri, sashimi, hosomaki (the traditional thin rolls), uramaki (the rolls with the rice on the outside) and temaki (coneshaped hand rolls). There’s an uni omakase, the sea urchin served three ways, and specialty rolls that show a deft and nearly spare sensibility so the fish shines (the Tengo roll marries crab, scallop and scallion in a roll and tops it with shrimp). But you’d be missing out if you hewed narrowly to the sushi menu alone. There’s an extensive list of yakitori and kushiyaki, essentially little grilled nibbles. Chicken takes center stage in this lineup (thigh, tail, heart in two preparations), but my favorites included a grilled, scoopable avocado with a citrusy ponzu and swipe of wasabi, a skewer of grilled shishito peppers glossed with a black pepper soy basting sauce, and a couple medallions of super-tender beef tenderloin topped with disks of black truffle and scallion compound butter.

Osaka Sushi and Thai Restaurant 13800 Park Blvd. N, Seminole 727-397-3885; $ Seminole Heights: tattoos and high-concept beards. Seminole: a really cool Public Works Operations facility. That comparison aside, one of the boomingest restaurants around is this chic emporium of crowd-pleasing specialty rolls. The strength here is more-is-more combination rolls, many with suitably embarrassing names, plated attractively and marrying different fishes, garnishes and sauces. The freshness of the fish and quality of ingredients lift it above our area’s other strong contenders. And a familiar lineup of Thai curries and non-sushi Japanese staples such as teriyaki and tempura makes Osaka appealing even for the sushi-phobic. Time to get sexy. The word appears seven times on the menu. I’m not sure why avocado, tuna, tempura eel, scallion and pops of tobiko is the recipe for a Sexy Man, but toothsomeness is in the eye of the beholder (that, and the roll is topped with “sexy man sauce” — ew). I counted 72 specialty rolls, many with the kind of layering of flavors that in lesser hands might be muddy but here seems synergistic.

G ARDEN - I NSPIRED & W OOD - F IRED FRESH, DELICIOUS AND UNIQUE CUISINE!

OUR

MODERN APPROACH TO NOSTALGIC TASTES CREATES NEW TASTE MEMORIES ALONG THE WAY.

C OME BE PART OF OUR STORY & BEGIN YOUR OWN !

6001 Central Avenue, Saint Petersburg, FL 33710 Call for reservations 727-343-0052

RRS T P E T E . C O M

Hours: Wed, Thurs, Sun: 5pm–9pm • Fri & Sat: 5pm–10pm

44 MEXICAN

Bartaco Hyde Park Village 601 W Snow Ave., Tampa 813-258-8226; $ In the increasingly reinvigorated Hyde Park Village, this Connecticut-based chain gets top marks for its novel approach, visual appeal and price point.

Each table has a little ordering chit. You check off the tacos and “not tacos” that appeal, then pop the blue dragonfly card into the metal holder and a server swings by. Need a new drink? Dragonfly card. (Anisoptera fans, they also sometimes offer free temporary dragonfly tattoos.) Opt for shared platter samplers: Paper-lined aluminum trays, small ($26) or large ($38), make the whole experience collaborative and finger-foody, and then you can double up on the tacos you especially like. In all likelihood, you will be doubling up on the roasted cauliflower taco, topped with zingy romesco and toasted almonds, and the fried oyster taco. Where things can get quickly out of hand is with the rum- and tequila-centric cocktails, bartenders ostentatiously squeezing citrus, muddling things and vigorously shaking shakers in the pretty dining room. Who can say no to all that earnest enterprise? Drinks change seasonally, so summer’s chorizo spice-infused margarita gives way to a winter caipirinha.

Capital Tacos 6765 Land O’Lakes Blvd., Land O’Lakes 813-501-4976. 27209 State Road 56, Wesley Chapel 813-973-3777; $ Tacos were the story in 2016: Taco Tuesdays proliferated; American casual restaurants appended short, loosely Mexican taco lineups; and Mexican restaurants opened at a brisk clip. Through it all, Bobby and Kristel Heskett, taco royalty, remained steady. Bobby grew up in his parents’ Pancho’s Villa restaurant in San Antonio and in 2013 peeled off to start his own place. In 2015, Capital Tacos was ranked the third-best taco place in the United States by Business Insider, and Yelp consistently puts it near the top restaurant in the area. At the end of 2015, Bobby opened a second location in Wesley Chapel. The new location has a bit more space, but there’s a family resemblance with Heskett-made furniture fashioned from packing pallets, craft sodas and a whole lot of funky charm (bonus: This location also has pinball machines).

Choose your filling (in order of excellence: Federale, Augari, Austinite, Ranger, Ace Hi Carnitas), then pick whether you want it as a taco ($3.50); burrito, nachos, salad or bowl ($8.75); or monster wet burrito ($10.50).

DU LCET RESTAURANT & LOUNGE

EXPERIENCE DULCET 6220 Grand Blvd.

New Port Richey www.thedulcet.com 727-494-7654

46 MEXICAN Casa Tina 365 Main St., Dunedin 727-734-9226; $-$$ Tina and Javier Avila have just celebrated 25 years in Dunedin.

Their flagship restaurant has moved and expanded and expanded again, the Avilas becoming part of the fabric of the charming downtown with celebrations like Mexican Independence Day, Cena de Nochebuena and Dia de los Muertos (last year complete with fashion show and costume contest), plus loads of fundraisers benefiting local organizations (Tina says, “We tithe with tacos.”). The Day of the Dead decor lasts all year, and the couple makes annual pilgrimages to Mexico for inspiration. If you seek super-cheap but transcendent taco stand fare, this is not your place (for that: Acapulco on MacDill Avenue in Tampa) — this is more upscale, with loads of vegetarian and vegan options and a reluctance to lean too heavily on the deep fryer. With aerialists performing some nights and a deep list of margaritas, Casa Tina is suitable for date night or a bit of carousing. First chips and salsa are free, then they charge. Plan accordingly. Fajitas, always accompanied by that head-turning sizzle in the dining room, get high marks, but I tend to head for the chile rellenos, the chiles en nogado (poblanos stuffed with meaty picadillo, ladled with a brandied walnut cream sauce and dotted with pomegranate seeds) or the sweet-smoldery mole poblano veggie enchiladas.

Red Mesa 4912 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg 727-527-8728; $$ It must be like a game of whack-a-mole, one where the prize is chips and salsa. Peter and Shawn Veytia, their son Pete and chef Chris Fernandez rotate from the flagship 20-year-old Red Mesa south to the sprawling, clubby Red Mesa Cantina, which opened in 2008, and then west to the quick-serve/market Red Mesa Mercado, opened at the end of 2014, with a new special event space gearing up for later this year. Maintaining a small empire of Mexican restaurants, each with its own distinct character, must be challenging.

Hailing from Oaxaca, Mexico, Fernandez’s most ambitious work can be seen at the flagship, where the cuisine is regional Mexican with an emphasis on sophisticated plate presentations at dinner and speedier, more streamlined offerings for businessfolk at lunchtime. While the Cantina boasts an encyclopedic tequila and mezcal list, the flagship offers just beer and wine. Luckily, the house sangria is some of the best in the area. Once fortified, opt for the guacamole sampler so you can chip-shovel the one studded with crabmeat, a corn and chorizo version, or the chipotle-inflected guac. There’s a braised duck with sour orange sauce I remember fondly, but it would be a shame to miss out on the range of enchiladas.

Where East Meets West Dishes from Korea, China, Japan, India, Vietnam and Thailand VEGAN • VEGETARIAN • GLUTEN-FREE DISHES Home of the Banh Mi Sandwich Desserts: Cakes, Cupcakes, Cheesecake, Vegan Panna Cotta, Vegetarian Mousse LUNCH Mon-Sat 11:30 am - 3 pm DINNER Mon-Thur 4 pm - 9:30 pm; Fri-Sat 4 pm - 10pm

Monday Night PHO and $3 drafts

4148 Rowan Rd. | New Port Richey | 727.372.9545 for our full menu and special events, visit

www.zenforrest.com

48 MISCELLANEOUS Bodega 1120 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-623-0942; $ George and Debbie Sayegh were ahead of the curve in the EDGE District.

Now it’s all tra-la-la and foot traffic, but when they debuted their walk-up, mostly outdoor cafe, I wondered how a paucity of pedestrians and a superabundance of summer storms might affect business.

Their lechon and Cuban sandwiches, pollo asado and cafe con leche kept them in the game, and in 2016 they expanded into the former space of Creative Clay and added more indoor seating and a juice bar. Their Cuban is a thing of beauty, crisply pressed and filled with roasted pork, ham, gooey Swiss, pickles and a swipe of mayo. But what’s this? In the brutal Miami/Tampa Cuban sandwich war, Tampa style frequently gets the nod for its addition of Genoa salami. No salami here, and sacre bleu, where’s the yellow mustard?

Hotel Bar 200 N Tampa St., Tampa 813-533-2650; $$ Leslie Shirah, longtime owner of Fly Bar, and co-owner Mark Culbreath have modeled this suave addition after classic hotel bars, with Fly Bar mixologist extraordinaire Daniel Guess re-creating signature cocktails from hotels around the world, some dating back to the 1890s. With a pressed-tin ceiling, lusciously lit booze library (complete with movable library ladder), marbletop bar and antique-looking crystal chandelier, this is currently one of the coolest hangouts in Tampa, one that serves a full menu of very sophisticated fare until 2 a.m. Along with your Sazerac or Vieux Carré, you can have a bread plate of one of the greatest sourdoughs in our area (courtesy of Jamison B. Breadhouse Bakes in Ybor City), a salad of local arugula and shaves of manchego with strawberries and black pepper candied walnuts, or sensuous lamb tenderloin tartare with black mustard seed, a little pool of coriander aioli and crisp rye toasts.

727.461.6617

20 Island Way, Clearwater

727.584.1700

2819 West Bay Dr, Belleair Bluffs

727.593.7625

19325 Gulf Blvd, Indian Shores

727.446.7027 • Clearwater 813.475.5974 • Oldsmar

813.336.4977

3689 Tampa Rd, Oldsmar

727.442.6910

25 Causeway Blvd, Clearwater

727.443.1856

25 Causeway Blvd, Clearwater

50 MISCELLANEOUS Iberian Rooster 475 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-258-8753; $$ Colonial Portuguese fusion. That’s a lot to unpack right there. Let’s just say the food could be African or southeast Asian or sub-Sahara African or South American. So why did Russell Andrade, professional opera singer, bring this vision to St. Petersburg? He says it’s because he was hungry. He hired ska guru and Magadog (a Tampa band) frontman Ed Lowery, most recently executive chef at Skipper’s Smokehouse. He handed him a pile of family recipes and charged him with making them approachable for an American dining public. There may not always be rigorous verisimilitude, but you’ll be back for the minchi. It’s one of the beloved comfort foods of Macau, a jumble of minced beef and in this case chorizo, with onion and potato and a bed of basmati rice, a sunny-side egg perched on the top. Seasonings are hard to nail down: soy sauce and Worcestershire, maybe cinnamon and a bit of curry, a trace of heat that might be cayenne. Equally fun is the Hotchee Dog, something Andrade says is “straight-up Brazilian.” He also hired Brandon Muske, a level-one sommelier, as beverage director and chief architect of one of the most hilarious cocktail lists to ever wet, or whet, a whistle in Pinellas County (The Skinny Dip, I’m told, comes in a terrarium with 144 ounces of rum, vodka, 151 Bacardi, ginger, soda and some other things like Pop Rocks, which make bubbles to simulate a hot tub.)

Little Lamb Gastropub 2475 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater 727-401-3339; $$ James Renew opened this edgy newcomer in December in an unlikely strip mall, having returned stateside after a stint in Sydney, Australia. It’s got a no-frills charm, with just 38 seats if you count the long concrete bar, a rough-hewn idiom that would signal hipster hangout in most of the country’s urban centers. There’s a one-page lunch menu and equally brief dinner menu, the latter divided into “small plates,” “pub grub,” “salads” and “mains,” many dishes playing to our more sybaritic impulses. How about a paper cone of chicharones, salty, super-crispy and airy, served with spicy mayo; or a very solid spin on poutine, the sturdy fries standing up to the avalanche of bouncy cheese curds, gravy and flurry of chives? What makes this little lamb bleat (couldn’t help it) the competition is a secret weapon: pastry chef Kyrie Rotolo. Her desserts have a sophisticated understanding of balance: salty meets sweet, creamy sidles up against crunchy.

Now this is Mexican.

Traditional. Authentic. Healthy. Mexican Cuisine.

At D’Mexican all our food is made fresh daily. Nothing is ever frozen or pre-made. Most of our ingredients are locally grown, and we don’t buy in bulk from food distributors. In fact, most of our ingredients are hand chosen from local markets around Tampa Bay to ensure the quality of what we serve.

What’s more? We have many gluten-free and vegetarian dishes.

Come experience authentic Mexican cuisine.

Like the movie, D’Mexican, your food experience will start with anticipation, followed by an action packed food lover’s adventure and finally, true love. Enjoy!

Open Mon - Sat 11am-10pm Happy Hour Daily 3pm - 6pm

6630 Central Ave. | St. Petersburg | 727.201.9901

52 PIZZA Bavaro’s Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria 514 N Franklin St., No. 101, Tampa 813-868-4440 and 945 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-258-7517; $ Dan Bavaro opened in downtown Tampa in 2009, back when the sidewalks rolled up at 6 p.m. He persevered and is now one of dozens of restaurants doing brisk dinner business. At the same time, he has built a bottled pasta and pizza sauce business with a gleaming 6,500-square-foot facility in Tampa, opened a second location in St. Pete and then a third location at Tampa International Airport. At the core of his success are lovely, mosaictiled, rounded, 900-degree brick pizza ovens handmade outside Naples by Stefano Ferrara and family the same way for the past 100 years. These are thin-crust Neapolitan-style pies about 12 inches wide, with a tender center and a blistery, puffed outer edge, best eaten with fork and knife. Sauce is a bright, chunky puree of hand-crushed and deseeded San Marzano tomatoes, but there are plenty of good white pies, such as a vegetariano I had recently with cow’s milk moz, shaved zucchini and yellow squash, mixed peppers and a swirl of fruity olive oil. The best route at Bavaro’s: share a salad, then a pasta (housemade tagliatelle with slightly spicy 50/50 sauce), then a pie.

Cristino’s Coal Oven Pizza 1101 S Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater 727-443-4900; $ Take a seat. It’s time to learn a little something. Coal versus wood fire? Both good, different styles. A coal oven gets hotter, upward of 1,000 degrees, but because a coal oven doesn’t have high flames, pizzas cook longer (thus, you see more dry mozzarella and less fresh moz, which can’t handle high heat for long). Coal-oven pizzas tend to be big pies, wood-fired are smaller, more individual, with those leopard spots. Coal-oven pies can travel, wood-fired not so much (too delicate and soft at the center so they get sludgy swiftly).

I think of coal oven as more New York style, although there are plenty of wood fires in NYC these days. Cristino’s is the coal-oven champ, with a handful of basic styles: margherita, marinara, bianca, quattro formaggi, etc. With a great online ordering system, it’s easy to get clicking the little boxes (artichokes and capers and sausage ...). Restrain yourself. Cristino’s pies are best with just a handful of toppings. Lenny, Marco and Joe Cristino make consistent, chewy/crunchy pies with a fat, nut-brown cornicione (the border), but I’m also a fan of their panzerotti, something between an empanada and a calzone. Either way, you have to leave room for gelato (best one: chocolate hazelnut bacio).

Pizzeria Gregario 400 Second St. N, Safety Harbor 727-386-4107; $ What Greg Seymour is doing bears no resemblance to Domino’s mad scientist abominations. He texts me pictures of bags of artisanal smallbatch flour with the mill date and farm name on the bags (he’s trying to avoid the herbicide glyphosate). He makes field trips to the farmer growing his produce, collaborates with other farmers in the growth and care of the pigs he buys, and makes his own mozzarella with local curds. He’s a pizza zealot, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything overly fancy or rarefied about his little Safety Harbor spot. No reservations, order at the counter, local craft beer and a handful of California wines (but no soda; it doesn’t pass muster for Seymour), and 12-inch pies with perfect blistery sourdough crusts. Most hover around $17, not cheap but easily split between two people and a steal given that Seymour is a pizza pro. He manned the oven at Tra Vigne’s pizza place next door to the fabled flagship restaurant in St. Helena, Calif. Salads are always vibrantly fresh and interesting (e.g., warm beets with pickled onion, shaved fennel and feta), and desserts are a must, especially if they feature fresh fruit or ice cream.

WELCOME TO GRATZZI I TA L I A N G R I L L E

Where beautiful décor and centuries old recipes combine to produce a true delight of the senses.

211 2nd Street treet Sout South th • D Downtown owntow St. Pete (727) 623-9037 • www.gratzzigrille.com

54 SEAFOOD Big Ray’s Fish Camp 6116 Interbay Blvd., Tampa 813-605-3615; $ Move over, Frenchy’s, there’s new grouper sandwich royalty. Nick Cruz opened this little charmer in an unglamorous former seafood market in an unlikely Ballast Point spot. Immediately, the pilgrimage was on for Floridians pining for old-timey fish shacks. The staff is preternaturally friendly, the tiny room kitted out with glass buoys and customer-supplied “big fish” photos, and all that emanates from the deep fryer are things of beauty. Big Ray’s is mostly lunch-only, with early dinner hours Friday and Saturday, and a limited number of tables means you might end up taking out (I defy you not to eradicate every onion ring while driving, extra points for standard transmission). Fried, blackened or grilled, you choose. The black grouper is fresh and meaty, piled onto a tender bun with a swath of fully ripe tomato, crisp romaine, thick-cut but not fiery onion, and then finished off with a little swipe of tangy homemade tartar. That said, the lobster corndog is what my mind returns to (during staff meetings or meditative yoga, say). It’s a whole lobster tail wrangled onto a fat stick and enrobed in sweet, crunchy cornmeal crust.

Sea Salt Sundial, 183 Second Ave. N, St. Petersburg 727-873-7964; $$$ And on the other end of the seafood spectrum, the end with extra zeros on the bill and a staggering glass-fronted wall of wine presided over by suave sommelier Justin Chamoun, there is Sea Salt, one of three fancy restaurants anchoring Sundial’s second floor. Fabrizio and Ingrid Aielli opened a restaurant of the same name in Naples in 2008, making Esquire’s best new restaurant list in 2009, then following up with the nearby Italian trattoria Barbatella in 2012. The main attraction here can’t be missed: At the entrance to the 12,000-square-foot 300-seater, there’s an L-shaped display of whole fresh fish on ice, decorated attractively with seaweed and lemons like a confusing underwater tableau. Executive chef Kenny Tufo has hit his cruising altitude with just-slightly-Italian-inflected luxe seafood dishes and a notable lineup of oysters, between six and nine types daily, ranging from British Columbia to Massachusetts and the good old gulf, arrayed nicely with little paper identifying tags and taste descriptions. Beyond the seafood, check out the three styles of sea salt that come with bread and butter, and desserts that tend to be elaborately architectural and well conceived.

Snapper’s Sea Grill 5895 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach 727-367-3550; $$ A seafood restaurant on the beach since 1997, right across from the TradeWinds? Gotta be a tourist trap, right? Not on Dan Casey’s watch.

A “loco fisherman” who got his start selling dogs at Dan’s Beachside Grill, he has slowly grown a mini empire, with Snapper’s, nearby MadFish, set in a retro dining car, and a steakhouse, 1200 Chophouse, also close at hand (the guy’s got a decent commute). What sets Snapper’s apart from other local seafood spots is fresh-off-the-boat fish and a tremendous wine list served by a savvy staff that does it justice. It had a major facelift a few years back, but the major focus these days is on the plate, with a commitment to sourcing proteins, land and sea, as locally as is possible. Chef Chris Burghart has a slightly Floribbean palate, with fruity salsas and coconut and such, but the fundamentals are grouper and snapper (and tuna, because you have to have tuna evidently, theirs a very appealing rare, wasabi-edged endeavor with crazy fried noodle antennae).

56 STEAK Council Oak Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, 5223 Orient Road, Tampa 813-627-7600; $$$-$$$$ Since the hotel debuted, this has been the ne plus ultra for high rollers or those who aspire. To get you oriented, butchers cut USDA prime 21- to 28-day dry-aged steaks in a stainless steel and glass exhibition butchery.

Interestingly, the Seminole tribe now has its own Florida-raised beef line, but this isn’t on offer in the sleek, white-tablecloth dining room with just the faintest ding-ding-ding from the 5,000 slot machines nearby. In 2008, the Japanese Meat Grading Association changed its BMS (Beef Marble Score) so it starts at 3 and goes up to 12. You: “Um, what?” You need to know this because Council Oak serves Australian wagyu steaks graded at 9. Akin to when Tufnel’s Marshall amp went up to 11 in Spinal Tap, this means the 12-ounce ribeye ($125) is really, really good. And if you’ve proved to be an exceptional stud at Mississippi Stud, I also recommend the raw bar sampler (king crab, Maine lobster, shrimp cocktail, oysters from both coasts) to start.

Eddie V’s 4400 W Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa 813-877-7290; $$$-$$$$ I like the lakeside patio setting and cocktail list at Ocean Prime. But it is the consistently exceptional service that puts Eddie V’s ahead by a nose.

Clad in starched white jackets and jaunty bowties, servers are polished, knowledgeable and suave, able to detect if you are a diner who prefers lots of hand-holding or sleight-of-hand invisibility.

Orlando-based Darden (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Capital Grille, etc.) bought the chain in 2011, and this was the first one opened on their watch. The concept is now up to 13 locations, its strength an old-school steakhouse sensibility with glamorous dining rooms (moody lighting, snowy linens, dramatic glassed-in wine cellar and suave live jazz in the bar). What distinguishes Eddie V’s is an equal adroitness with prime steaks and premium seafood. I’ve heard that it’s a myth that the bone itself adds depth of flavor to a bone-in steak, so maybe it’s a placebo effect: The 22-ounce bone-in prime ribeye comes lushly marbled with velvety fat, but with good chew and a deep, minerally flavor. Now pair that with pan-roasted wild mushrooms and broccolini with lemon and garlic and it feels luxuriously nostalgic, especially if preceded by shrimp cocktail or a jumbo lump crab cake and finally punctuated with a disk of hot bananas Foster butter cake.

FarmTable Kitchen Locale Market, 179 Second Ave. N, St. Petersburg 727-523-6300; $$ The Michael Mina market-restaurant concept has been in a perpetual state of change since launch. One bit that’s been cemented as truly noteworthy is the Jeffrey Hileman-helmed FarmTable Kitchen upstairs. It draws from all over the store: fresh juices and purees from the phalanx of juicers in the market; crusty rolls from the bakery; extruded and filled pastas from the Cadillac of pasta machines and — this is the biggie — wet- and dry-aged steaks from the beef case where they lounge, flanked by 196 Himalayan salt plates to absorb moisture. I’ve eyed the Flintstone-sized Niman Ranch 56day dry-aged tomahawk ribeyes and then been proud of my abstemiousness when I’ve gone home with a lesser $35/pound steak in butcher paper. They are magical on the grill or pan-seared, but they are rainbow-unicorn magical when cooked by experts over the flywheel grills at FarmTable Kitchen. All that dry aging removes water and breaks down collagen, so whether it’s the bone-in filet or the Kansas City strip, you’re getting a tender but intensely rich piece of beef, easily shared (plus, then you can share a mushroom and taleggio pizza or a local clam chowder).

58 THAI & VIETNAMESE

Wat Mongkolratanaram Thai Temple 5306 Palm River Road, Tampa 813-621-1669, $ Visiting this place is my second favorite thing to do with out-oftowners (the first being to nonchalantly glide by gators in a kayak). Wat Mongkolratanaram is a melting pot unlike any other dining experience in the area. Hipsters and fresh-from-church families, Thai folks and non, all clutching cash and queueing up while the burnished gilding of the extravagant temple, the sun-warmed picnic tables on the bank of the Palm River and the profusion of perfect orchids make everyone feel suitably meditative. The market is open 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sundays, a fundraiser put together by parishioners and community members, with stations that command different levels of devotion. People are preternaturally patient for the brothy noodle soups and the tiny coconut custards. Me? I’ll snake in and grab a sticky rice with mango ($5) (a dish teetering on the knife edge of perfection, creamy, salty, sweet and tart at once), whichever curry is spiciest (different cooks means there is variation week to week), green papaya salad and sweet soy glazed chicken-on-a-sticken.

Restaurant BT (Vietnamese) 2507 S MacDill Ave., Tampa 813-258-1916; $$ We have so few notable female chefs in the Tampa Bay area, and the few we do have are petite. No matter. In the case of BT Nguyen, she lives life large. When I want an unvarnished, from-the-hip (but articulate) chef’s opinion, this longtime Tampa restaurateur (eight restaurants and counting) provideth. She has BT to Go a few blocks from her flagship, the culmination of a lot of thought about how to feed people, especially families, quickly, healthfully and with Viet-French panache. It grew out of dinner guests at Restaurant BT jonesing for her lunch menu items (pho, bun bowls, banh mi), but Restaurant BT at night, with its fancy ghost chairs, chic wall of air plants and suave French-accented service, is about luxe. Year by year you see more regional farms named and “organics” indicated on her menu, even while some dishes endure (the vegetarian galangal-amped chunky pumpkin soup, the filet tartare bo tai chanh, spicy with chiles and dotted with basil and peanut). In recent visits, the splurge items seem the way to go: shaken beef, bouillabaisse or a trio of crème brûlées with an equally sumptuous glass of Sauternes.

Customer

HIGH QUALITY BEST PRICES

Satisfaction

Since 1955, Ward’s Seafood Market has been providing locals and visitors with the freshest fish in town. Our specialty is fresh Florida seafood that is caught and delivered daily by local fisherman we have known for years. We also receive daily shipments of your favorite seafoods from around the world. Our experienced staff will custom cut any whole fish to your specifications. They will gladly prepare, explain how to store and provide cooking suggestions for any seafood selection.

Ward’s Seafood Market Takeout Eatery has a set menu or will prepare your seafood selection while you wait.

FAMIL Y OW SERV NED ING AN

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62 YR FOR O

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COOKED SEAFOOD Take-Out Eatery • You Pick It, We Cook It Heat & Serve Specialty Salads Gourmet Hot Soups • Custom Catering

1001 BELLEAIR ROAD | CLEARWATER, FLORIDA 33756 (800) 556-3761 | (727) 581-2640 | FAX (727) 518-8731 Visit www.WardsSeafood.com

RETAIL STORE HOURS: Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-5pm TAKEOUT EATERY HOURS: Tues-Sat 10am-7pm • NATIONWIDE SHIPPING

SIMPLY PHO ” VIETNAMESE NOODLES & GRILL

Vietnamese cuisine is not only delicious, it’s widely considered the healthiest cuisine in the world.

GLUTEN-FREE, LOW-FAT AND FILLED WITH VITAMINS AND MINERALS.

OFFERING

Kobe Beef, Filet File Fi let Mignon Pho, le Delicious Unique D elic el icio ic ious io us & U niqu ni que qu Appetizers Appe Ap petititize pe zers ze rs

HOURS: Sun-Thurs 11am - 9:30pm Fri & Sat 11am - 10pm

IFT CARDS G O H P Y L SIMP The Perfect Gift!

13149 N. Dale Mabry • Carrollwood (Near Fresh Market, facing Fletcher Ave.) 813.960.5678

www.SimplyPhoTampa.com

AWARD-WINNING CUISINE & SELECT WINES SINCE 1994

THE EXTENSIVE WINE LIST CONSISTENTLY WINS THE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FROM WINE SPECTATOR MAGAZINE GAZINE. ~ GOURMET MAGAZINE GAZINE NE

STEAKS • SEAFOOD CLASSIC TABLESIDE PREPARATION CAESAR SALAD • STEAK DIANE CHÂTEAUBRIAND • BANANAS FOSTER

S t. P et e Be ac h

6 3 0 5 G u l f B lv d | 7 2 7 .3 6 3 .3 7 0 0 f e t i s h e s r estau r a n t.co m OPEN TUES. - SAT., SEATING FOR DINNER FROM 5 -10 PM EARLY DINING MENU AVAILABLE NIGHTLY FROM 5 - 6PM

A Delightful Culinary

EXPERIENCE

Celebrating 50 years!

•T Traditional diti al NNorthern th Italian Cuisine plus New Favorites • Candlelit Atmosphere • Excellent Service • Delivery Available • Full Bar - 4th Street location only

Family Owned & Operated Since 1967

Italian Restaurants

VISIT ANY OF OUR 3 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS

5901 4th St. N., St. Petersburg 727-526-2400 105 Treasure Island Cswy.

Treasure Island 727-360-6905 4399 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach 727-363-3344

www.gigisstpete.com

TOKYO

CHINESE AND JAPANESE CUISINE

ONLY THE HIGHEST QUALITY FISH FOR OUR SUSHI AND SASHIMI

We offer dine in, take out, and delivery WE DELIVER SUSHI

Celebrating our 10th Anniversary TOKYO

C H I N E S E A N D J A PA N E S E C U I S I N E

7911 West Hillsborough Ave., Tampa, 33615 Phone: 813 888 8808 • Fax: 813 888 8878 Website: www.tampatokyo.com

Fresh Fare & Bar

Fresh Mediterranean Cuisine Steaks, Seafood, Choice of Wines, Craft Cocktails, Local Craft Beers, Familiar Domestic.

4945 Gulf Blvd. | St. Pete Beach | 727-317-2064 | Open at 4pm

www.selenerestaurant.com