Tampa Bay Times - 2019 Tampa Bay's Top Restaurants

201 9 TA M PA BAY ’S TOP RESTAURANTS

201 9 TA MPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS Forbes, Food & Wine, Thrillist and dozens of other publications seemed to wake up to one incontrovertible fact in 2018: Tampa Bay is an emerging dining destination. While the area’s craft beer scene continued to rise in national prominence, it was the year food halls made a dramatic debut and celebrity chefs like Fabio Viviani (Osteria), Art Smith (Splitsville) and Anne Kearney (Oak & Ola) put down roots.

For better or worse, “flux” was the buzzword. A slew of notable restaurateurs embarked on new projects, with even more fresh ventures slated in upcoming months from Tampa Bay folks like Chris Ponte, Jeannie Pierola, Marty Blitz and Maryann Ferenc, and Ted Dorsey. Greg Baker announced his retirement at our repeatedly James Beard-nominated Refinery, and Jeffrey Hileman departed FarmTable Cucina and Locale Market. Fly Bar closed in downtown Tampa with the aim of reopening in the Channel District, while cult faves like St. Pete’s Nitally’s closed shop, moved and then announced a second location.

The past few years, I’ve done an annual roundup of the 50 best restaurants. I spend all year dining out, tucking away my thoughts on which restaurants represent the best of their cuisine, price point and ambition level, bearing in mind the enormous geographic breadth of our readership. With such an influx of worthy new places, 50 felt insufficient this time around. What follows is Tampa Bay’s top 80ish, grouped by easy-to-use superlatives.

—Laura Reiley

TOP 10 OVERALL

CATEGORIES

#1 Rooster & the Till......................42 #2 Reading Room...........................42 #3 Noble Rice...................................28 #4 Il Ritorno......................................64 #5 Edison: Food+Drink Lab.........60 #6 Cafe Ponte....................................18 #7 Dr. BBQ.........................................34 #8 Brick & Mortar ..........................44 #9 Ichicoro Ane...............................50 #10 Cena..............................................66

Best places to watch the sunset.........7 Best waterfront restaurants...................8 Best places to eat before a show..... 10 Best boozy brunches............................... 12 Best pet-friendly dining..........................14 Best romantic restaurants....................18 Best food halls............................................. 22 Best tacos......................................................24 Best seafood................................................28 Best cocktail list........................................ 30 Best barbecue.............................................34 Best places to pop the question.......36 Best places to clinch the deal............38 Best small plates...................................... 42 Best places for a sweet tooth........... 44 Best juice bars............................................ 48 Best restaurant design.......................... 50 Best cheese & charcuterie.................. 54 Best Cuban sandwich.............................58 Best (fancy) burger................................. 60 Best pasta......................................................62 Best vegetarian/vegan.......................... 66 Best bowls..................................................... 67 Best pizza...................................................... 69

PRICE KEY $$$ Most entrees more than $25 $$ Most entrees under $25 $ Most dishes under $15 ON THE COVER: Hearth roasted broccoli with pine nuts, truffle pecorino, soft egg yolk and fig balsamic from Steelbach.

The Tampa Bay Top Restaurants supplement to Bay magazine is published

by Times Publishing Company. Copyright 2019. Have questions or comments?

Contact Chris Galbraith at 727-893-8535 or cgalbraith@tampabay.com 2 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

TAMPA’S PREMIER SHOPPING AND DINING DESTINATION

Enjoy our exciting collection of restaurants.

Bar Louie - Your neighborhood bar, where you can kick back and be the real you, with the help of an amazing staff, great music, handcrafted martins and cocktails, 48 local and regional drafts, incredible wines and a huge selection of bar bites, snacks, burgers, flatbreads and sandwiches. 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 - 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.

813.906.3219 Gabriella’s - Craft coffee featuring custom blends, barrel-aged cocktails, local art, tapas and Ybor City cigars. Renaissance International Plaza Hotel. 813.877.9200 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 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 - 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. 813.800.8226 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 Whiskey Cake - A live-wood grill, smoker & spit is used to prepare food at this hip joint with a whiskey obsession. Bay Street. 813.535.9955

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 GABRIELLA’S LIFECAFE NORDSTROM BAZILLE OCEAN PRIME THE PUB ROCCO’S TACOS AND TEQUILA BAR TAPS RESTAURANT & BAR WHISKEY CAKE

NORDSTROM

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NEIMAN MARCUS

200 STORES

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BEST PLACES TO WATCH THE SUNSET 360 ROOFTOP LOUNGE $$$, MEDITERRANEAN, VIEW, ROMANTIC, OUTDOOR, WATERSIDE • Hotel Zamora, 3701 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach. (727) 456-8900. thehotelzamora.com Hotel Zamora underwent some major changes in 2018. It was deflagged by the Kimpton Hotels group in August (that’s when a hotel owner becomes independent of their brand franchiser) and brought management back in house, proceeding with executive chef Louis Scaramuzzi and bringing on seriously pedigreed pastry chef Amy Samples (most recently the executive pastry chef at Olives and at Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio in Las Vegas). Castile is the big-guns restaurant with its own lovely terrace and a menu that broadly traverses Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean. But 360, with its cabanas, ocean views and shareable tapas menu (crispy cauliflower, pork belly mussels), is where to go when the sun is strutting its sherbet-hued stuff.

PAUL’S LANDING $$, AMERICAN, VIEW, KID-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR, WATERSIDE • Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club, 501 Fifth Ave. NE. (727) 824-8007. paulslandingstpete.com One of the most convivial openings of 2018 was part of the $50 million renovation of the Vinoy hotel in St. Petersburg. Far from the gracious hotel lobby and fancy Marchand’s restaurant, Paul’s Landing debuted in February on the pool deck level with drop-dead views of the boats in Vinoy Marina. It’s casual, fitted into a big white glassed-in box flanked by rows of fuchsia beach recliners. Named after William Paul, who helped build a U.S. Navy depot on the site in the 1800s, the restaurant’s culinary focus is on casual, affordable citrus-wood-grilled and smoked items (both the smoked wings and fish spread are noteworthy), as well as raw bar delectables and a nice lineup of local beers like the excellent Paul’s Landing orange wheat made by 3 Daughters Brewing.

LEVEL 11 ROOFTOP LOUNGE $$, SMALL PLATES, VIEW, ROMANTIC, OUTDOOR, WATERSIDE • Grand Plaza Hotel, 5250 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach.

(727) 360-1811. grandplazaflorida.com The Grand Plaza has always had Spinners, a rotating restaurant on the 12th floor that’s a kitschy-yet-actuallyromantic spot with a menu that recalls continental restaurants of an earlier era. (Pro tip: If you go to the restroom, anticipate the room’s rotation and don’t seek your date exactly where you left him or her.) They’ve got Bongos Beach Bar on the ground level, a feet-in-the-sand fun time where cocktails like Alabama Slammers don’t feel injudicious. But the 11th floor recently got a makeover, the result a mostly outdoor small-plates restaurant essentially girdling Spinners, with umbrellas around the building’s perimeter for when it’s sunny, space heaters for when it’s cool and a covered bar area for when it’s rainy. We huddled there one blustery storm-season night and snarfed our way through a dozen buttery escargots and the Big Dipper, a quartet of dips that included tarragon crab dip, salmon dill dip, fish dip and port wine cheese dip, scooped with baguette and crackers. The hotel recently changed hands; no word on what that might mean for the lounge.

TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS • 7

THE CANOPY $$, BAR FOOD, VIEW, OUTDOOR, WATERSIDE • The Birchwood, 340 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg.

(727) 896-1080. thebirchwood.com When the Spanish Mission-style Birchwood opened in 2013 - the tony Birch & Vine at the bottom and the Canopy up top - it seemed to cement Beach Drive as the “it” place for visitors to perambulate. Hotel owner Chuck Prather has another major project on the horizon, a three-story tiki barrestaurant-cafe as an anchor for the 26-acre, $76 million Pier District project.

The Canopy will look out at its rooftop tiki bar called Pier Teaki, while it looks back at the Canopy, a kind of closed loop of rooftop bars, nearly the only ones in downtown St. Petersburg. In the kitchen at the Canopy, Lee Aquino, who previously had a long stint at the Tampa Yacht and Country Club, was appointed executive chef in April. The Birch & Vine menu has undergone some changes that to my mind make it a little more workhorse than the Jason Cline launch menu, but the Canopy still offers a fun lineup of bar snacks, from cheesy tots to Southern fried pickles.

SANDBAR $$, VIEW, WATERFRONT, AMERICAN, COCKTAILS, LIVE MUSIC • Opal Sands Resort, 430 S Gulfview Blvd., Clearwater Beach.

(727) 450-0380. opalsands.com/sandbar Opal Sands is a recent addition to Clearwater Beach’s fancy hotel lineup, its top dining offering called Seaguini. (I get it, seafood plus linguini, but there’s something kind of Disney-villain about that name.)

It took me a while to get around to checking out this more casual offering, Sandbar. It’s a big chickee protecting an inviting square bar, a phalanx of wooden tables and casual chairs assembled to one side in the sand (plus rocking chairs). You can’t enter the water from right here; there’s a low wall and a rocky little dropoff. But it’s a prime place from which to view the sunset. Based on social media, it is imperative to raise a slushy drink, preferably neon-hued, to sit squarely on the horizon line in the photo.

Because the hotel sits at the elbow before it bends toward Shephard’s Beach Resort, the view south is pretty Sand Key Park; west is all blue water. The menu feels just right, with peel-and-eat shrimp, a solid New England clam chowder, fish tacos and a fried grouper basket. For drinks, it’s rum runners and mai tais. (I do wish the drink menu listed the prices.)

BEST WATERFRONT RESTAURANTS SALT ROCK GRILL $$-$$$, SEAFOOD, STEAKS, WATERFRONT, VIEW, OUTDOOR • 19325 Gulf Blvd., Indian Shores.

(727) 593-7625. saltrockgrill.com Before I dive into saying nice things about Salt Rock, I’d like to praise Frank Chivas’ Belleair Bluffs spot Seaweed, which opened in the middle of 2018 where Marlin’ Darlin had been. It’s a smart, edgy boon to that town. Chivas also tinkered with his Marina Cantina complex in Clearwater, with Salt Cracker Fish Camp a late addition and some talk of pizza and a tiki bar to come. He also has two locations of Rumba, with another on the way, Island Way Grill with its monster 8 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

brunch buffet and Salt Rock Tavern in Oldsmar. Salt Rock Grill feels like his crown jewel, though. Looking out over the Intracoastal in Indian Shores, it has been a Pinellas County anchor restaurant for ages, largely on the strength of its dayboat seafood (Chivas has his own boats), in-house-aged prime steaks grilled over a natural oak and citrus wood pit fire, raw bar goodies, a serious big-guns wine list and three-course “supper club” (read: early bird; be seated by 5:30) dinners for $15.90. In high season it gets a bit zooish, and much of the menu isn’t charting new territory, but when it comes to surf and turf with a perfect baked potato, who needs novelty?

WAT MONGKOLRATANARAM THAI TEMPLE $, THAI, ASIAN, OUTDOOR, VIEW, TAKEOUT, KID-FRIENDLY, WATERFRONT • 5306 Palm River Road, Tampa. (813) 621-1669. wattampainenglish.com It may be Tampa’s best opportunity to confuse out-of-towners. (Thought bubble: What is this doing here?!)

It’s open only on Sundays, and it’s not really a restaurant, but Wat Mongkolratanaram offers some of the area’s best Thai food along with the opportunity to meditate in a shimmering gold temple under the tutelage of chanting and berobed Buddhist monks. Volunteers (it’s a weekly fundraiser for the temple) get cooking as early as 6 a.m. so that by 10:30 everything is ready for the hungry hordes. By then, long lines of would-be diners trail from each market stall, brunchers securing their bounty to picnic family-style at the open-air tables along the river. Divide and conquer is the best strategy: Send one person in your party to nab a green papaya salad and, one of the planet’s best foods, an order of mango with sticky rice; another should be sent to the big wok from which batter-dipped plantains, sweet potatoes and taro root are scooped and bagged; and one more should pick up a couple of curries (definitely the spicy one with pumpkin), some chicken-on-a-sticken and fresh rolls with peanut sauce. Bring cash. Also, there’s a weekly plant sale, so before you meditate you can pick up an orchid or bromeliad. After lunch, wipe your hands, remove your shoes and settle into a chair or one of the pillows set up in rows on the floor of the gorgeous temple.

O’MADDY’S BAR & GRILLE $$, WATERFRONT, COCKTAILS, LIVE MUSIC, AMERICAN, PET-FRIENDLY, VIEW, OUTDOOR • 5405 Shore Blvd., Gulfport. (727) 323-8643. omaddys.com Every time I write favorably about a restaurant in Gulfport, someone comments, “What about O’Maddy’s?” I meant no slight. It’s the good-times, bigburger, cheap-beer, late-night, waterside go-to in this laid-back little town, and it has been that way for more than 35 years. People go for karaoke, to watch the fishermen haul their catch onto the Williams Pier out in Boca Ciega Bay, for live bands, for food that doesn’t take itself too seriously (case in point: mahi mahi bananas foster or peanut butter and jelly wings). It’s LGBTQ-friendly, and you’ll encounter regulars who know each other as well as tourists just soaking up a little sun. It’s where the town assembles pre- or post-storm to fill each other in. (It was open after Hurricane Irma the next morning, no power, no water.) You’ll see Stetson students next to old-timers, well-behaved dogs hoping for a little floor snack on the patio.

It’s an Irish pub only in name, the strongest menu items hailing from around Buffalo: wings, beef on weck served on authentic kummelweck rolls.

TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS • 9

BEST PLACES TO EAT BEFORE A SHOW OSTERIA BAR & KITCHEN $$$, ITALIAN, ROMANTIC, OUTDOOR • 903 N Franklin St., Tampa.

(813) 563-5000. osteriatampa.com This past year saw notable celebrity chefs look to our area as fertile ground for new ventures. Fabio Viviani, Top Chef Season 5 fan favorite and prolific restaurateur, partnered with Lanfranco Pescante of the Nocturnal Group (Tampa’s Franklin Manor and the upcoming Mole Y Abuela) to open Osteria at the beginning of October. This is my new no-brainer option before a show at the Tampa Theatre or the Straz Center for the Performing Arts (love the valet parking where you retrieve your car lickety-split via text). Two dining rooms bisected by a big central bar, Osteria is a glamorous space featuring oversized mosaicstyle re-creations of Italian restaurant murals, with a menu that hits major regions of Italy in accessible, vibrant dishes. Exhibit A: braised octopus, the fatter parts luscious, the tips just crunchy, sitting in a splash of romesco sauce and a puddle of burnt lemon butter, with shaved fennel and sauteed celery providing a little snap and curls of olive lending pops of saltiness.

ANISE GLOBAL GASTROBAR $$, PAN-ASIAN, ASIAN, COCKTAILS • 777 N Ashley Drive, Tampa.

(813) 225-4272. aniseglobal.com Kevin and Xuan “Sing” Hurt have a real hit on their hands with North Star Eatery, a Viet-Korean fusion concept inside the Hall on Franklin. Anise is their flagship, really a leap of faith back in 2013 that predated the renaissance of downtown Tampa. The Hurts got their feet wet with the Stinky Bunz food truck, and so pork belly buns with kimchi, or buns filled with lively red curry crispy chicken with cucumber mint yogurt, are the first order of business. Originally masterminded by mixologist Ro Patel, Anise’s tremendous cocktail program continues to shine (check out the Leblon James - killer name - or the Girl Next Door). And Jaime Rogers’ gorgeous design - black-and-white color scheme, oversized chandeliers and Asian-inspired mural work - means Anise remains one of the more chic restaurants in Tampa.

THE REZ GRILL $$, AMERICAN • 5223 N Orient Road, Tampa. (813) 627-8120. seminolehardrocktampa.com Finding a place to dine before concerts at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre (can’t we give it a little nickname or acronym?) has been tricky. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa is logical, but of its restaurants, Council Oak feels too fancy, Jubao Palace Noodle Bar too jammed (though in October, the noodle bar went from 16 seats to 44). In December 2017, the Rez Grill opened, with culinary director Frank Anderson at the helm, and solved all our pre-Ozzie or pre-Hootie woes. With a background at hipster Los Angeles spots like Animal and Son of a Gun, Anderson has brought a sense of fun and play to this 120-seater, with “table participation” dishes like fried chicken and waffles with loads of fixings and St. Louis ribs with Texas toast and house pickles. The bar program follows suit with things like a Capri Sun-inspired sangria blend in a pouch and a gin and tonic with a giant elderflower ice cube and a lemon peel branded jauntily with the restaurant’s name. The hotel’s dynamic president Joe Lupo moved on to Atlantic City recently, but 2019 promises to be another serious growth year for the casino and resort.

10 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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CRISTINO’S COAL OVEN PIZZA $$, ITALIAN, PIZZA, KID-FRIENDLY • 1101 S Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater.

(727) 443-4900. cristinoscoaloven.com Clear Sky on Cleveland is an obvious choice if you’re going to the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater - foods that span all the cuisines of planet Earth, solid beer lineup, half a block away. But I will suggest that Cristino’s, north Pinellas County’s best pie, is a mere nine blocks south of the theater. Brothers Joe, Marco and Lenny Cristino closed their Ybor City location not long ago, but the original outpost has soldiered on with grace since 2007. Tampa Bay has been overrun by Neapolitan-style thin-crusters in the past few years. This is not that. Coal ovens turn out a super-crisp, sturdiercentered pie with those charry black bubbles scarring the crust, the oven’s intense heat giving everything a nuttier, more intense flavor and a chewy texture. Go minimalist with the toppings; too many and their moisture gums up the crust. At meal’s end, the house gelatos are compulsory.

BEST BOOZY BRUNCHES NOBLE CRUST $, SOUTHERN, ITALIAN, BRUNCH • 8300 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg, (727) 329-6041; 28330 Paseo Drive, Wesley Chapel, (813) 703-2602; 11618 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, (813) 463-0193. noble-crust.com With locations in St. Petersburg, Wesley Chapel and Carrollwood (they are scouting Palm Harbor and Safety Harbor, too), Italian-Southern mashup Noble Crust is a smooth-running machine, much of it fueled by lettuces and herbs from its own Fat Beet Farm on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. For brunch, what you need to know is that on Saturdays there are $8 bottomless mimosas, on Sundays you get a free mimosa with the purchase of an entree, and a DJ rotates each Sunday between locations for a musically curated experience. The lemon ricotta pancakes with fresh blueberries have been legendary for some time, as has the fried chicken and waffles with bourbon maple syrup. But I would call your attention to the short rib Benny, the bearnaise and velvety egg goodness heightened by plush, slow-cooked beef.

ELLA’S AMERICANA FOLK ART CAFÉ $$, AMERICAN, BRUNCH, LIVE MUSIC, KID-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 5119 N Nebraska Ave., Seminole Heights. (813) 234-1000. ellasfolkartcafe.com Soul Food Sundays has been a big deal for a long time, but here’s the interesting thing: Proponents include devotees of Kansas City-style barbecue (ribs, brisket and chopped pork) as well as Tampa Bay vegans, who get a whole section of the special Sunday menu. Vegans may want to opt for the giant mimosa instead of the Bloody Ella, which comes with ancho vodka, a barbecue rub rim and a hickory smoked pork rib balanced precariously across the glass lip. Owned by Melissa Deming and cheffed by Suzanne Crouch, Ella’s calling cards are many: a whimsical interior bedecked with the work of outsider or visionary artists, a pet-friendly patio, live music Fridays and Sundays (and occasional Tampa punk rock karaoke nights with a live band) and a menu of more than 100 rare and small-batch bourbons.

12 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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DATZ $$, AMERICAN, BRUNCH, KIDFRIENDLY, COCKTAILS, OUTDOOR • 2616 S MacDill Ave., Tampa.

(813) 831-7000. datztampa.com I’ve written about Datz many times a year since it opened in 2009. Sometimes it’s because a bartender has won an award for kooky-yet-hip cocktails, sometimes because the marquee outside says something hilarious. But mostly because it’s a concept that seems ever embrangled in noteworthy change. Owners Roger and Suzanne Perry have a second location that will open in 2019 in St. Petersburg next to the James Museum (they currently run the small cafe inside the museum), and their big achievement in 2018 was the opening of Dr. BBQ, their collaboration with local ‘cue champ Ray Lampe. At the flagship, though, there are many devoted brunch fetishists. Lines can be long, but you won’t sweat it if you can sip a cocktail of Wild Turkey rye, espresso liqueur, cold brew and black walnut bitters accessorized with a powdered doughnut, right? The brunch menu has always had a “nothing succeeds like excess” motif: cinnamon roll waffles, chicken and waffles Benedict, breakfast corn dogs.

GASPAR’S GROTTO $$, AMERICAN, OUTDOOR, BUFFET • 1805 E Seventh Ave., Tampa. (813) 248-5900. gasparsgrotto.com The decor? Imagine if A&E debuted a very niche show on pirates with a hoarding disorder. This has always been one of Ybor City’s guilty-pleasure good times. What do I mean?

For $39.95, you get to graze from a 50-foot buffet arrayed in a whole lot of fishing netting, with free Champagne and mimosas as well as this: a 3-ounce carafe of vodka for the Bloody Mary bar. Is that three drinks or one? You decide, no judgment. There’s a carving station, waffles and omelets made to order, piles of chilled seafood. This is the kind of place for concerted day drinking, the kind where at 3 p.m. you have to make the call: wind down or rev up? There are two Sunday brunch seatings, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., reservations suggested.

BEST PET-FRIENDLY DINING NEBRASKA MINI MART $, ECLECTIC, PET-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 4815 N Nebraska Ave., Seminole Heights. (813) 2319522. nebraskaminimart.com Ferrell Alvarez says to Ty Rodriguez: shuffleboard, bocce. Rodriguez and partner Chon Nguyen say back: dogfriendly, kid-friendly. I don’t know how it went down, but the owners of Rooster & the Till had an ache to do something different in Seminole Heights, something less foodie and more neighborhoody. Yes, the space was a minimart in the 1950s; now it’s an indoor-outdoor lunch-and-dinner casual spot that attracts local families who have a hankering for Korean cheesesteaks and vegan-friendly fried snackies. I didn’t review it when it opened in 2018 because it was still getting its footing (I had way-overbattered tempura oyster mushrooms and fries with far too much gunk on the top), but it feels more assured now. Dogs and their owners around Tampa Bay are howling about the Pig Mac and dark rum butterscotch ice cream, and parsing the rules of bocce. (Dogs say we can pick the “pallina” back up.) Also: affordable food, live music on Fridays and fun slushies and canned adult beverages.

14 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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w w w. g i g i s s t p e t e . c o m

ULELE $$-$$$, AMERICAN, PET-FRIENDLY, KID-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 1810 N Highland Ave., Tampa. (813) 999-4952. ulele.com Richard Gonzmart always has new stuff going on. Right now, it’s getting the long-time-coming Casa Santo Stefano up and running in Ybor City (they’ve been tinkering with its Sicilian menu items for a while at the Columbia nearby), and after that it’s bringing back the fabled Buccaneer at the old Pattigeorge’s spot on Longboat Key. The Columbia Restaurant Group is his family’s four-generation flagship, Goody Goody harkens back to the burgers and butterscotch pie of Gonzmart’s youth, but Ulele is something different. It was really a lodestar of sorts, the anchor for business growth in Tampa Heights that connects that revitalized neighborhood with Curtis Hixon and Riverfront parks. In a space that was the 1906 Water Works Building, this is a Native American-inspired restaurant with its own on-site brewery and a 10-foot-diameter barbacoa grill especially suited to charbroiled oysters. Additionally, it has been fully canine endorsed: Kids can work up a sweat at the adjacent Water Works Park, dogs can leave their calling cards at the attached Queenie’s Dog Park, then everyone can compare notes on Ulele’s patio and marvel at the gorgeous views.

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN $$, BRITISH, PET-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR, LIVE MUSIC • 4115 S MacDill Ave., Tampa.

(813) 832-3037. maddogs.com Wilton Morley once had to fire a young Russell Crowe in an Australian production of Blood Brothers. (Crowe got in a fight, and fellow thespians said he had to go.) Morley’s maternal grandmother was a three-time Oscar nominee; his father, Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, a famous English character actor; his brother Sheridan also a notable actor, director and writer. How Wilton ended up a restaurateur in Florida is a bit of a long story (it involved mulling over a chain of Australian-themed restaurants and needing to check out Outback), but he has made Mad Dogs a longstanding South Tampa favorite since 1991. I go for the classic British bar staples - fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, shepherd’s pie - and live music on the patio.

Because my dogs are obedience-school flunkies, I do not bring them, but other human-dog parties swear by the convivial patio dining.

THE DOG BAR $, COCKTAILS, PET-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 2300 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. (727) 317-4968. dogbarstpete.com You can’t talk about dog-friendly spots without getting swoony about St. Petersburg’s Dog Bar. For my purposes, it’s an odd choice because they don’t serve their own food - but you can order in from elsewhere in the neighborhood. The first one was in Charlotte, N.C.; this one is a shambling Grand Central indoor-outdoor affair with a bunch of big televisions tuned to sports and lots of cornhole, Jenga and other games.

There are on-leash and off-leash spaces, the latter separated into small dog and large dog areas. Play areas include ramps, tunnels and pools if your dog is more the American Gladiators type. You can rent out a private space for dog birthday parties (of course, then I will mock you, especially if hats and costumes are implemented), and live music is scheduled frequently. There’s a smart craft beer list, perfectly nice wine selections and a full bar. Dogs must be up to date on shots and there’s a one-time membership of $40 to join.

16 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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OLDE BAY CAFÉ AND DUNEDIN FISH MARKET $$, SEAFOOD, PET-FRIENDLY, VIEW, OUTDOOR • 51 Main St., Dunedin. (727) 733-2542. oldebaycafe.com I’ve followed Walt Wickman’s trajectory for most of the past decade, from his ambitious fish-forward fine-dining space Walt’s Seasonal Cuisine (nowdefunct) in Dunedin to the opening of Olde Bay Café at his family’s fish house at the Dunedin Marina to Hog Island Fish Camp several years later. See a theme? Wickman knows and cares about locally sourced finfish and shellfish.

At Olde Bay, you sit out on the rough-hewn wooden deck, watch the boats bob and work your way through a hogfish sandwich or a pound of peeland-eat shrimp. (There’s nothing fried on the menu.) Wash that down with something nice from the extensive craft beer list, and then ruminate on what a lovely city Dunedin is. Also, look around and you’ll probably think: Dunedin really loves dogs. (Some call it Dogedin, plus check out Dogtoberfest and the Running of the Wieners.) Olde Bay is one of dozens of local dog-friendly cafes, but the food here is better than at most.

BEST ROMANTIC RESTAURANTS CAFÉ LARGO $$$, FRENCH, ROMANTIC • 12551 Indian Rocks Road, Largo.

(727) 596-6282. cafelargorestaurant.com Remember when we were all obsessed with the French paradox, galled by the Gallic ability to eat butter and cream and foie gras and still maintain sveltehood? I’m throwing down a new theory: It’s because they eat said butter and foie in the context of romantic tete a tetes, the libido essentially kick-starting the metabolism. Eh, I could be wrong, but French food is undeniably the most romantic - the towering pouf of a Grand Marnier souffle, slithery escargots puddled with garlic-kissed butter, the plushness of slow-simmered coq au vin. Dominique Christini has been bringing his version of French classics to Largo since 1986. It’s the kind of dining room where you can hear yourself talk, there’s space between tables, snowy white tablecloths, chateaubriand with sauce bearnaise and a cheese course with luscious offerings like Mimolette, a deep orange cheese that was illegal in the United States for a while. Christini regularly teaches intimate French cooking classes and puts on edifying special wine dinners.

#6 CAFE PONTE $$$, NEW AMERICAN, ROMANTIC • 13505 Icot Blvd., No. 214, Clearwater. (727) 5385768. cafeponte.com This is no place for marital advice. Or is it?

People get so fixated on getting married that they fail to really ponder being married. Cafe Ponte can help with that. Google “Cafe Ponte” and the first thing that comes up is “Cafe Ponte: Wedding Catering Tampa.” It’s a big piece of Chris Ponte’s pie, surely.

But once the canapes and his-and-hers cocktails have been dispatched, then what? Have a date night once in a while, lean in close, take the time.

Cafe Ponte is a good place to do it, the service staff always professional and solicitous, the food consistent and luxurious. Ponte has other projects - he’s a partner at On Swann in Tampa and will soon open a family-friendly Italian 18 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

❀

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We are a health food eatery with a little Hawaiian twist!

Inspired by our beautiful hometown Hawaii Family owned and operated since 2010 We specialize in organic, all natural, fresh foods!

We make everything with love from scratch!

We never use MSG or high fructose corn syrup Omnivore, vegetarian, plant based and gluten free options abound!

There’s something here for everyone!

Tues.-Thurs. 9am - 8pm | Fri. & Sat. 9am - 9pm | Sun. 9am - 3pm | Mon. Closed

1452 Main Street Dunedin (727) 314-4277

restaurant called Olivia in the South Tampa Carmel Cafe space - but this is his flagship, for 17 years one of the area’s reliable places for business lunches and amorous assignations fueled by wild mushroom bisque, classic steak tartare and short ribs with Moroccan carrot puree and sesame dates. Bargain hunters swear by the four-course prix-fixe dinner for $36 before 6:30 p.m., whereas high rollers endorse the pull-out-all-the-stops $95 six-courser.

CW’S GIN JOINT $$$, FRENCH, CONTINENTAL, ROMANTIC • 633 N Franklin St., Tampa. (813) 816-1446. cwginjoint.com Do you own spats? Or a flapper dress? Do you like movies about Al Capone or bootlegging? If you answered “yes” (or even “no”), I’ve got a restaurant for you.

Carolyn Wilson opened this vivacious paean to the Roaring Twenties near the end of 2017 down the block from the Tampa Theatre and adjacent to her special event space called the Vault. She had the good sense to hire excellent people, famed mixologist Dean Hurst coming on board to design a gin-centric Prohibition-era cocktail list, French chef and instructor Gui Alinat working with Cody Tiner to execute a nostalgic but luxuriously appropriate menu. It’s a date-night place, dozens of twinkly chandeliers overhead rendering your sweetie’s eyes mysterious, live chanteuse crooning in the corner, gleaming domed dessert cart making you feel like a giddy kid (flaming bananas foster! floating islands!). Go pate and rillettes, then raw oysters and braised mussels and caviar blini - a whole meal of finger food makes everyone a little greasy but downright concupiscent.

GRACE RESTAURANT $$$, NEW AMERICAN, ROMANTIC • 120 Eighth Ave., St. Pete Beach.

(727) 317-4770. gracestpete.com They call me. They ask: What’s a great restaurant out at the beaches? There are some good ones, sure. But an independent, smart, sensibly scaled restaurant that doesn’t rely overmuch on the Fryolator - that had been a tall order until Grace burst onto the scene in 2017. Lisa Masterson and Marlin Kaplan moved from Cleveland to Tierra Verde and decided they had one more restaurant in them, joining two smaller spaces and kitting them out with a classy blue-lit, mirror-backed bar and a fairly neutral dining room with pops of lapis lazuli water glasses. It’s a pretty space (my only caveat that it can get loud when full) with a personal and breezy approach to hip New American cuisine that always keeps vegetarians and vegans accommodated. The menu has stayed fairly steady since opening. Some of my favorite dishes include the Middle Eastern-inflected heirloom tomato salad with pistachios and orange blossom water, the lemon- and herb-stuffed chicken and, the height of luxury, the lobster cocktail.

THE RESTORATIVE $$, NEW AMERICAN, ROMANTIC, ECLECTIC • 420 Patricia Ave., Dunedin. restorativerestaurant@gmail.com. restorativerestaurant.com Cricket Plunkett and Jason Borajkiewicz do things their own way. They opened a teeny restaurant far from the Restaurant Row of downtown Dunedin. They did their own kind of food - precise, architectural, but still very fresh and veggie-forward. They opted for no reservations and no phone and eventually they settled on just five nights a week, Monday to Friday. That’s right, they aren’t open to the public on 20 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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Saturday nights. I’ve stewed about them since they opened in 2017. Would enough people find their way there? With only 18 seats and no lunch service, can they make enough to survive? Have a little faith, Reiley, they’ve got this.

They can’t accommodate big parties and they’re not keen on children under 5. What they excel at is preparing incredibly ambitious food in a microscopic open kitchen. (Pro tip: The bar is the place to be if you like ringside.) They have an eye to things that marry sweet and savory (lots of savory dessert elements), every hyper-composed plate a juxtaposition of color and texture without being fussy. Right now it’s five starters, three mains, three desserts.

The menu can trot close to Italy (risotto with foie gras or linguini with black truffle), but fish presentations have a Scandinavian drama and purity. Despite a haiku-short daily wine and beer list, they host frequent wine dinners and reserve Saturday nights for private parties.

BEST FOOD HALLS HEIGHTS PUBLIC MARKET AT ARMATURE WORKS $-$$, ECLECTIC, PET-FRIENDLY, KIDFRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 1910 N Ola Ave., Tampa. (813) 250-3725. armatureworks.com Around the country, food halls are the hottest trend of the past couple of years. They work if the vendor mix is synergistic and not duplicative, if the prices are in keeping with nearby restaurants, if they can draw crowds at shoulder times in addition to traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner, if they can gloriously reimagine a historic old eyesore, if they can accommodate families and hipsters, carnivores and vegans alike. Developers Chas Bruck and Adam Harden have knocked it out of the park with the 22,000-square-foot Heights Public Market and the larger Armature Works project, set in the old Tampa Electric streetcar depot. (Next up is a rooftop bar, an outdoor pavilion bar, a six-floor office building, boutique hotel and huge old salvaged water tower.)

There is enormous private function space and a more intimate demonstration kitchen that have already been put to use for loads of community events, and the market has become a regular hangout for Tampa Bay families and visitors.

Steelbach is the excellent sit-down anchor at one end of the market, Anne Kearney’s Oak & Ola will be the second one later this year. In between are 14 individual vendors, a few of which have rotated since the market’s opening.

The whole place is photogenic, with antique foot-treadle hand-washing sinks and atmospheric old machine parts and chimneys. Cru Cellars, rumor says, is killing it way beyond what its South Tampa outpost does; Union by Commune is a coffee house as busy as I’ve seen in Tampa. Ichicoro Imoto traverses the challenges of quick-serve ramen effectively (don’t wander off; you need to eat ramen pronto); Hemingway’s does a nice job with Cuban classics. The list goes on. My wish for 2019 is a solution to all the disposable food containers.

SPARKMAN WHARF $-$$, ECLECTIC, PETFRIENDLY, KID-FRIENDLY, VIEW, OUTDOOR • 615 Channelside Drive, Tampa. (813) 345-5881. sparkmanwharf.com The name concerned me.

Sparkman, Sparkman - everyone seemed to have a hard time remembering it. And then shipping containers. Orange County, Calif., was doing it, Detroit was doing it, but was Tampa enough of a pedestrian-friendly, take-it-outside audience for what amounted to an outdoor food hall made of linked metal containers? The original Channelside was what aliens would have constructed after seeing a single postcard of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor: hard to use, claustrophobic, terrible use of its waterside location. Opened at the end of November, this food court that anchors the new $3 billion Water Street 22 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

O UR

MISSIO N

Organic, Local and Sustainable Ingredients.

CAFÉ LARGO is committed to cooking with and serving the highest quality ingredients available.

Through our relationships with purveyors such as: Life Farms - Organic Produce Growers Locavore-Micro Greens | Sammy’s Seafood-Gulf Seafood Creekstone Farms & Jurgelewicz Farms-Organic Meats JF Wine Imports-Organic Wines from small Estates ALL OF THIS IS PUT TOGETHER FOR YOU, OUR PATRONS, by your humble Chef Dominique and his staff.

Merci for your continued patronage!

12551 Indian Rocks Rd. #18 | Largo 33774 | 727.596.6282 CafeLargoRestaurant.com Open Tues. - Sat. 5-10 pm | Reservations Recommended

development from Strategic Property Partners (Jeff Vinik’s multi-use project on the waterfront) has been nothing short of a smash. It’s attractive, urban and hip, with an outdoor space that invites lingering. But the real genius is the drawing together of some of Tampa Bay’s most notable restaurateurs: Gallito Taqueria (folks from Rooster & the Till), BT in a Box (BT Nguyen), Edison’s Swigamajig (Jeannie Pierola), Corners Pizza (the Ichicoro peeps), Montados (Mise en Place), Flock and Stock (Dave Burton), Boat Run Oyster Company (Ryan Conigliaro and Scott Roberts), Whatever Pops, Foundation Coffee and Fermented Reality Biergarten (Joel Bigham). Plus it’s dog-friendly and there’s pay-parking nearby. When the University of South Florida’s medical school and nearby apartment high-rises open, Sparkman is going to ignite.

HALL ON FRANKLIN $-$$, ECLECTIC, ROMANTIC, BRUNCH • 1701 N Franklin St., Tampa.

(813) 405-4008. thehallonfranklin.com Tampa Heights hit the jackpot. Jamal Wilson sold his mortgage and real estate company to a local credit union and then looked around for what was next.

From Source in Denver, Revival Food Hall in Chicago, Grand Central Market in Los Angeles and Gotham West Market in New York City, the answer was obvious: Food halls were next. As we saw when Richard Gonzmart and crew developed Ulele, Tampa Heights has gorgeous old buildings that have lingered listlessly until a visionary swooped in. Wilson followed suit, scooping up a lovely 8,000-square-foot space that was once an auto shop and later a dance hall. His vision was a bit different than some of the food halls around the country: He wanted full sit-down service, so you could dine anywhere, order off a multivendor menu and have the food find you. You pay once, you don’t go the hunter-gatherer route with someone in your party staking out your seating. The lineup of vendors has been refined since the Hall debuted in 2017.

It’s got Jason Cline’s Poke Rose, Kevin and Xuan Hurt’s North Star Eatery, Ty Beddingfield’s Kofe, Ro Patel’s the Collection cocktail bar, Mark Traugutt’s new Fork & Hen, Dan Bavaro’s Sorellina pizza, Julie Curry’s Bake’n Babes, Xilo Street Mexican and Dave Burton’s Heights Melts.

BEST TACOS TACO DIRTY $, MEXICAN, KID-FRIENDLY, TAKEOUT, TACOS • 2221 W Platt St., Tampa.

(813) 314-7900. cicciorestaurantgroup.com The Ciccio Restaurant Group has done it again.

They’ve taken the customizable, healthyoriented, point-and-choose, “I-don’t-do-glutencarbs-or-meat-what-do-you-have-for-me” approach they honed at Fresh Kitchen and brought it to bear on tacos and quick Mex. They were originally slated to do a chickenand-doughnuts Better Byrd in this space that once housed Soho Tavern, but based on numbers alone, South Tampa seems thrilled to have Taco Dirty (plus, good name). With a funky, appealing design, it’s an order-at-the-counter affair: You can concoct an all-in bowl, which comes with two bases (things like red quinoa or avocado citrus rice), two veggies (crispy eggplant, Mexican sweet potato hash), two proteins (chicken tinga, grilled lime and sour orange chicken, fried chicken, a couple of eggs on the weekend) and two “Mexi things” such as pickled jalapenos, pickled red onions, radish slices and more. There are individual tacos, three-taco platters, Mexican sandwiches and nachos, all serviced by a range of sauces that get squiggled over the top (creamy lime sriracha, sweet charcoal-infused jalapeno). If I were a betting man, my money would be on additional Taco Dirtys popping up around Tampa Bay. 24 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

Gio’s IItalian talian Restaurant

We are a family-owned restaurant renowned for providing authentic traditional Italian cuisine – prepared fresh daily by our expert and exceedingly experienced chef.

Reservations welcome and encouraged for weekends.

Sharing is caring!

3621 West Waters Avenue | Tampa, FL 33614 813-932-1922 | www.mygios.com TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS • 25

CHILE VERDE $, MEXICAN, TAKEOUT, TACOS • 2801 22nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg, (727) 800-2679 It was among the splashier openings of 2018. Or, more accurately, the gas station had the largest signs of any newcomer: MEXICAN FOOD: BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER emblazoned on one side of the repurposed pump awning, TACOS, QUESADILLAS, BURRITOS, TORTAS on another. The inside still looks a lot like a gas station minimart, two huge plastic Clydesdales incongruously standing guard outside the entrance. It was a fast and furious year for new taco places in St. Petersburg, but Chile Verde rose to the top because it is the holy triumvirate: cheap, fast and delicious. Its wheelhouse is Mexican tacos, $1.99 each, a warm doubled corn tortilla topped with a meat (beef barbacoa, long-simmered pork carnitas, al pastor, simple steak; fancier meats like tripe and tongue are $2.99) and a flurry of cilantro and white onion. They offer tacos American-style for $2.49, a puffy warm flour tortilla packed with your meat choice and lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream and shredded cheese.

There’s also a small buffet of steam trays, rice and greens and soupy chicken curries and shrimp fajitas for a hot lunch rapido. Both hot sauces are good, the green one delicious and mild, the other one nice and face-melty.

ACAPULCO MEXICAN GROCERY $, MEXICAN, TAKEOUT, TACOS • 1001 N MacDill Ave., Tampa. (813) 873-3665. acapulcotacos.net I like the bodega taco. It’s its own category.

There’s Mexico Lindo in Pinellas Park and Clearwater, La Fiesta Mexican Store and El Rancho in Tampa, but my fave is Acapulco Mexican Grocery. Buy some pork rinds, canned goods and lottery tickets, grab a Jarritos soda from the case and sit down in the back room for a fragrant bowl of beef tripe menudo on the weekends or tacos the rest of the time. Taco prices have crept up to $2.25 each (25 cents more for lengua and chorizo), but you’re still going to eat yourself silly for under $10. Two other things you should know: There’s a reach-in full of excellent individual house-made desserts, from flan to rice pudding and tres leches, and most days there’s a Coleman cooler padded with dish towels at the front of the store in which you will find still-warm handmade corn tortillas to take home.

RED MESA CANTINA $$, MEXICAN, TACOS, COCKTAILS, OUTDOOR • Red Mesa Cantina, 128 Third St., S, St. Petersburg.

(727) 896-8226. redmesacantina.com Before I launch into this one, I’d like to give a shout-out to Rene’s Mexican Kitchen. Taco Bus founder Rene Valenzuela, who suffered horrific injuries from a food truck fire in 2018, started a new venture in Seminole Heights, then the city made him move and he was fleetingly on Dale Mabry Highway. Look for him in a new location in 2019 doing regional south-central Mexican cuisine. Chris Fernandez, the executive chef of the Red Mesa group, hails from a similar part of the world, heading back to his home state of Oaxaca, Mexico, each year for inspiration and relaxation. In 2017, the Cantina expanded vertically, adding the Cantinita Bar and the DeSanto Rooftop Bar above that, with an additional banquet space. Red Mesa Cantina has the most extensive tequila and mezcal lineup around, and mixologists wield it well. It’s also where the Tampa Bay Times tends to hold goodbye parties for departing journalists, so I’ve had some sad times there, but that’s no knock against their duck confit taco with grilled pineapple, or the simple grilled shrimp taco with Mexican slaw and a wisp of habanero aioli. On a nice day, a barstool in the open-air Lucha Bar or a table in the courtyard patio with its tinkling waterfall is mighty hard to beat.

26 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

TOMAHAWK Ribeye 2.5 lb.

“MOST MEMORABLE DISH OF 2015.”

–THE TAMPA TRIBUNE

“TRULY A TREASURE.” –TAMPA BAY TIMES

5895 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach, 33706

SnappersSeaGrill.com

727.367.3550

BEST SEAFOOD #3 NOBLE RICE $$-$$$, JAPANESE, ASIAN, ROMANTIC • 807 W Platt St., Tampa. (813) 284-7423. noblericeco.com Eric Fralick is the kind of autodidact who pushes forward, curiosity about this thing leading to wondering about that thing. Since he opened Noble Rice a couple of years ago, he has taken the small South Tampa restaurant in a remarkable and ambitious direction, moving away from an a la carte menu and toward a seven- or 15-course omakase menu ($125 or $200 per person) with optional sake and wine pairings, reservations only. There will be grousers: How can he charge those kinds of prices for raw fish? It’s because he is a zealot about sourcing and care. He buys bluefin tuna from the Uwa Sea in Japan that is fed a diet largely of squid whose internal organs have been removed (there’s high mercury in squid organs), the tuna wrapped in a special moisture-absorbing material and shipped to Miami within 24 hours. When he gets it, it goes through a careful aging process but also a subzero freezing process in a medical freezer for safety. Watch him in the tiny kitchen: He’s reverent with ingredients, each striking plate a study in paring away the inessential. I had the $125 omakase recently, sat at the bar and nibbled a grassy-herbal shiso leaf filled with wagyu marmalade and another of tuna with ginger, then a 10-day-aged otoro nigiri, scored and glossed simply with house-aged soy. There was a pickled kumamoto oyster with smoked butter on toast with shallot and champagne vinegar top notes; an absolutely sumptuous nigiri of highest-grade wagyu marbled into pale pinkness; more tuna; a dessert of an open-faced macaron topped with a bit of tangy-sweet ice cream; a swath of uni and pearly beads of osetra, then another of soy milk panna cotta topped with black sesame, burnt honey and miso caramel, a bit of matcha crumble adding texture. In a fairly casual space, Fralick and his wife, Adriana, are doing some of the most high-flying food around. They are debuting a sake shop and Japanese market on MacDill Avenue soon.

BIG RAY’S FISH CAMP $-$$, SEAFOOD, OUTDOOR, KIDFRIENDLY, TAKEOUT • 6116 Interbay Blvd., Tampa. (813) 605-3615. bigraysfishcamp.com Nick Cruz acquired the abandoned Chubasco seafood building in Ballast Point without the kind of deep pockets usually necessary to launch a wildly popular restaurant, especially one in an off-thebeaten-path location. It flourished by word of mouth - my mouth in particular had a lot to say about the grouper sandwiches and the lobster corn dogs. Big Ray’s Fish Camp feels like an authentic cinder block, slightly unlovely fish shack that sends out exceptionally fresh but straightforward fried shrimp, grouper and smoked fish spread at fair prices, which you eat on splintery picnic tables under an overhang. Since its launch in 2015 it has made national lists of great seafood restaurants. Cruz has a second Big Ray’s location in the works at the Sail adjacent to the Tampa Convention Center at the Riverwalk. Around the same time he will finally open a sideline project that has puttered along for the past couple of years next door to the Ballast Point Big Ray’s, called Teepee Tacos, which has a huge and authentic-looking teepee set up out back.

28 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

An Exceptional Trio

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SUSHI SHO REXLEY $$$, SEAFOOD, JAPANESE • 214 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. (727) 835-8478. rexleysushi.com The Tampa Bay area has plenty of sushi restaurants, many long-standing solid producers: SoHo Sushi, Pisces, Matoi, Samurai Blue, etc.

But with the debut of Noble Rice and this smaller counterpart in Pinellas County that opened early in 2018, we’ve been introduced to a purer, more exacting style of sushi and sashimi, offered primarily as a multicourse prix-fixe omakase. (The word means “I’ll leave it up to you,” essentially, “Chef, I’m putty in your hands.”) Rexley Kwok is your sushi master here, having learned under master sushi chef Hiro Ida San and previously employed at Lazy Maguro in Palm Harbor. Kwok buys fish from the Tokyo Toyosu Fish Market, his aesthetic very classic and unfussy. The base level omakase is $90 and starts with a daily-changing appetizer, then five sets of nigiri: a finger of rice with the fish draped over, arranged in categories like white fish, red fish, flavorful fish, creamy/exotic fish and a final round of shellfish and freshwater eel. Sake expert Arte Kwok will pair each course with a different sake for $50. If this is sounding too rich for your blood, the somewhat bare-bones restaurant offers a range of a la carte nigiri, carpaccio and some cooked fish dishes.

BEST COCKTAIL LIST TROPHY FISH $$, SEAFOOD, COCKTAILS, OUTDOOR • 2060 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. trophyfishstpete.com By all rights I should be mad at Trophy Fish. They don’t offer a phone number for the restaurant, so hundreds of Tampa Bay would-be diners try to look it up online, find my review and erroneously call my office phone instead. I’ve toyed with taking reservations. Ryan Griffin and fellow Mandarin Hide partner Blake Thompson and Bill Griffin (Ryan’s dad) had a fairly simple, yet utterly novel, idea: Let’s open a casual, indoor-outdoor fish shack where fish freshness is everything and accessorize it with a seriously cerebral “boat drink” cocktail list. The overall vibe is breezy nautical, the drinks list following suit with goofy (and not precisely helpful) categories: Shipwrecked, I’m on a Yacht, Dockside and such. No matter, because superstar local bartender Morgan Zuch and crew have come up with some humdingers. It pains me somewhat to order a drink called the Banana Hammock or the Grassy Skirt, but drinks, even when full-throttle tiki, are balanced with amari, other bitters and herbs, never verging on cloying. To accompany your libation, crunch across the shell-floor patio and put in an order at the counter for whatever the catch of the day is, maybe as a salad topper or in a pair of tacos, and share an order of fish spread and hush puppies.

SAIGON BLONDE $, COCKTAILS, ROMANTIC • 265 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.

(727) 827-7577. saigonblonde.com It’s a fever dream, like that time you got the flu after watching Apocalypse Now. You’re not going to see Walter Kurtz or Tyrone “Clean” Miller, but the whole vibe of this bar takes you to ‘60s-era Vietnam: tiki totems, tropical printed rattan furniture, a dim expat bar overhung by an old 30 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

airplane wing, bamboo ceilings, reproductions of Vietnam War propaganda posters and photos of lush Vietnamese rice paddies. Is it in any way cultural appropriation for white owner and St. Petersburg native Peri Bandazian to make this the theme of her incredibly hip nightspot? I don’t know. But the design is absolutely gorgeous. There was some talk of adding food, but for now it’s just cocktails, keenly imagined but not too pricey (most $10 to $12).

The beer and wine lists are nothing special, but you’re not here for that. You’re aiming for a Ring of Fire (Street Pumas blended scotch, simple syrup, bitters, house-made “hellfire water” and Korean chile threads) or a Charlie Don’t Surf (Avuá Cachaca, banana liqueur, caramelized banana and lime).

HOTEL BAR $-$$, NEW AMERICAN, COCKTAILS, LATENIGHT • 200 N Tampa St., Tampa. (813) 533-2650. hotelbartampa.com Leslie Shirah was a pioneer in Tampa when she opened the Fly Bar 13 years ago. She sold the building in September and aims to relocate to the Channel District. (The Fly Bar space became Mole y Abuela, a project of the Franklin Manor folks and celeb chef Fabio Viviani.) Meanwhile, Shirah and co-owner Mark Culbreath have one of Tampa’s other most sophisticated and envelope-pushing bars. It is not in a hotel, but rather the drinks on offer are re-creations of historic signature cocktails from hotels around the world, served in a setting that seems suitably dignified - pressed tin ceilings, huge shimmery crystal chandeliers, enormous librarylike bar with illuminated glass shelves, killer barware. This is primarily a late-night drinking establishment, a place you can order a Sidecar or Sazerac or Vieux Carre and watch it made exactingly by a pro. But it also has remarkably good food, which it serves until midnight. (One quibble: Last time I was there, the check offered helpful tipping amounts of 20, 25 or 30 percent. Really, 30 percent?) At a bare minimum, you’ve got to get the Jamison B. Breadhouse Bakes bread and butter, maybe with a side of marinated olives or an order of deviled eggs and cured salmon. But if you need a little gut-ballast to offset that Queen’s Park Swizzle (see, they even make swizzles! Fancy!), go for the Brie grilled cheese paired with butternut bisque or the house-made tagliatelle with bolognese sauce.

MANDARIN HEIGHTS $, COCKTAILS, ROMANTIC • 5901 N Florida Ave., Seminole Heights. mandarinheights.com This is a newcomer owned by the Mandarin Hide and Trophy Fish people. They teamed up with the lovely George and Debbie Sayegh, owners of St. Petersburg’s fiercely beloved Bodega, together taking over the indoor-outdoor Seminole Heights space across from the Refinery that once housed El Rincon Catracho and Viva La Frida before that. On one side it’s a casual, family-friendly spot for lechon plates, Cuban sandwiches and shuffleboard (what is it with hipsters and shuffleboard these days?), and on the other side it’s a super stylish cocktail bar. Have your friends on Facebook changed their profile pic to one of them fully clothed in an empty clawfoot tub in front of a green leafy wall centered by a painting of a flamingo in a crown? Then they’ve been to Mandarin Heights. And you should go, too. The loosely midcentury modern design is one of the chief draws, with a wall of cool bird cages, great use of neon, more flamingo paintings (I covet all of them), an imposing mounted ram’s head, etc.

But you’re there for the drinks. As at Trophy Fish, the cocktail “lab” is overseen

by Morgan Zuch, a new menu produced each Tuesday. I’ve had an exceptional French 75 there, as well as a memorable tequila and manzanilla sherry drink called a Suzey Q. 32 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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BEST BARBECUE #7 DR. BBQ $$, BARBECUE, OUTDOOR, COCKTAILS, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN • 1101 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. (727) 4437227. drbbqs.com This is where I’m starting: “Mac-A-Phoni” is hominy with sumptuous tequila habanero aged cheddar queso under a capper of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Dr. BBQ, the huge, multifangled collaboration between Suzanne and Roger Perry (Datz, Roux, etc.) and competition barbecue superstar Ray “Dr. BBQ” Lampe doesn’t take itself too seriously. But in other ways it’s as serious as a heart attack. Purists will say that barbecue needs to be in a particular paradigm, representing a distinct geographic or cultural position. To them I say, lighten up. Florida does not have a codified barbecue style, so Dr. BBQ is freestyling, doing a bit of everything. But he’s doing it with Texas pitmaster Lee Jasper at his side and all the resources and smarts the Perrys have amassed in their restaurant years. In an upscale space, they are serving laudable sliced brisket, house-cured and house-smoked pastrami, burnt ends, smoked turkey with a little Korean accent, Asian sticky ribs and St. Louis-style ribs. Now add to this 20-something vegan items, a full bar with funny-kooky but tasty cocktails (imagine Maker’s Mark paired with Yoo-hoo, go on) and big, crowd-pleasing desserts like a doorstop of peanut butter pie. It’s no wonder Dr. BBQ has been one of the most mobbed restaurants of the year. Service still seems a little wobbly but will likely right itself with time.

DEVILED PIG $-$$, BARBECUE, TAKEOUT • 3307 S Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa.

(813) 766-1188. deviledpig.com It was a strong year for new barbecue in the area, and this one has the added accolade of being the work of two women, something rare in the ‘cue world.

Award-winning pitmaster Lee Ann Whippen (you may have seen her on BBQ Pitmasters and Throwdown With Bobby Flay) has partnered with Jennifer Daskevich, the 2013-2014 World Sandwich Champion who has won more than $100,000 in competitive cooking prizes, to open this casual South Tampa order-at-the-counter spot with picnic tables and appealing front-porch seating. With the tagline “meat with attitude,” the most interesting thing they are doing is the restaurant’s namesake dish, a riff on the classic Tampa deviled crab, only this one stuffs the nubby brown breaded football about the size of a baked potato with smoked pulled pork. They also do a “‘Queban,” a Cuban jazzed up with smoked brisket, pulled pork, smokehouse bologna and all the traditional accessories on La Segunda bread. It’s metal trays with paper liners and plastic foam ramekins for sides, nothing fancy, but the range and quality of house-made sauces (one mustardy, one sweet and tomatoey, one noticeably spicy and another one lush and white) will make you giddy.

IRON OAK NEW AMERICAN BBQ $$, BARBECUE, OUTDOOR • 917 11th St., Palm Harbor. (727) 754-7337. ironoakbbq.com Another newcomer, this one opened Memorial Day 2018 at the site of the short-lived Catcher and the Rye. It’s another collaboration of seasoned pros, this time Christina and Zachary Feinstein (Black Pearl and the Living Room, both in Dunedin) and Christopher Artrip (chef at Black Pearl), its biggest draw a wide covered patio with misters 34 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

Since 1955, Ward’s Seafood has pro fresh seafood caught daily by our fi seafood from up north and around 1955, Ward’s 7 daysSince a week where it’s always fre

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Since 1955, Ward’s Seafood has provided locals & visitor Clearwater, FL • 727) 581- 2640 edby locals & (visitors fresh seafood caught daily our fisherman.

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fisherman. We also source seafood from up north and around the world. Come visit us 7 days a week where it’s always fresh and friendly.

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Clearwater, FL • (727) 581-2640 WardsSeafood.com

and the goods that come out of the restaurant’s high-tech-meets-low-tech Oyler barbecue pit. (They say it’s one of only four pits in the state.) The meats they smoke are naturally raised (no hormones, steroids or GMO feed), a laudable commitment, but you’re here to indulge your caveman side a bit.

Maybe start with the amberjack fish spread or burnt ends queso with tortilla chips. The smoked wings are good, too, but then you’re going to want to opt for “The Cycle” as your entree, a sampler of sausage, brisket, pulled pork, St. Louis-style ribs and a couple of those wings, so maybe that’s excessive.

Speaking of excessive, the ham bone collards are seriously hammy and there’s a seasonal boozy slushie that is worth exploring.

AL’S FINGER LICKING GOOD BAR-B-QUE $-$$, BARBECUE, TAKEOUT, KIDFRIENDLY • 1609 Angel Oliva Senior St., Tampa. (813) 956-0675. alsybor.com Plenty of barbecue devotees say there are four basic schools of barbecue: Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City and Texas, with splinter groups, regional anomalies and isolated barbecue malcontents gumming up the works. I would suggest that soul food barbecue - soul food being an outmoded term that verges on either quaintness or political incorrectness - is its own category, with its own identifiers whether you’re eating it in Oakland, Calif., or Camden, Ala. There is a ladle of soupy (sometimes incendiary) sauce, there is white bread for mopping, there is often banana pudding at the end. Al’s Finger Licking Good Bar-B-Que started as a barbecue stand in 2003 and moved into a brick-and-mortar house in Ybor City in 2009. They describe it as Tennessee style: dry rub on the meats’ ribs then smoked for two hours (chicken is smoked for two-and-a-half, pork butts for six to eight, beef for four), followed by tomato-based sauce at the end. The single best item is the spicy collards, but I’m a fan of the ribs - and if you go on a Thursday, look for the turkey legs.

BEST PLACES TO POP THE QUESTION MISE EN PLACE $$$, NEW AMERICAN, ROMANTIC, COCKTAILS • 442 W Kennedy Blvd., No. 110, Tampa. (813) 254-5373. miseonline.com Which question? I don’t know, a big one.

“Can you pass the salt?” is fine. What do you want in a restaurant for the uncorking of significant inquiries? Assured service like Maryann Ferenc’s team has been doling out for more than 30 years, marked by proper pacing but also by deep and wide knowledge like that of beverage director Katie Glenz that turns a meal into something entertaining and edifying. You want a setting that is luxurious but calm, white tablecloths and flattering lighting, the time and space to linger over a delicious cocktail. And food? You want dishes that are lively and engaging and visually arresting but not too heavy or too huge or too garlicky. Marty Blitz had a busy year in 2018 with the opening of a cafe at Tampa International Airport and Spanish-inflected Montados by Mise en Place at Sparkman Wharf, plus Berkeley Beach Club in Pass-a-Grille on the horizon for him and Ferenc. But food at the flagship continues to push forward. Blitz is doing a whole bunch of house-made charcuterie these days (I went to a charcuterie class there at the end of the year - great stuff, but above my pay grade), and I’m still a fan of his ceviches and hamachi, as well as salads, from the current Brick Street Farms little gem Caesar to mixed beets with honey thyme grilled pears and candied pecans.

36 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

CARETTA ON THE GULF $$$, STEAK, SEAFOOD, ROMANTIC, VIEW, WATERSIDE • Sandpearl Resort, 500 Mandalay Ave., Clearwater Beach.

(727) 674-4171. sandpearl.com/dining This top dog at Sandpearl has been on my annual list, then off, on, etc., not because it has ever been bad, but because this is fancy, expensive hotel food - if you can’t make a $54 cowboy ribeye knock my socks off, then you’re doing something wrong. Nearly at the end of 2018 there was a shakeup, with Eric Neri coming on board as executive chef. I was a big fan during his 20-year tenure at the Don CeSar, after which he stepped away from this life to do consulting for a while. I hopped in the car to find out how Caretta is faring under his leadership. While there, I had one of the best entrees I’ve had in months. It was a fillet of Ora King salmon, to my mind the world’s best sustainably farmed salmon, perfectly cooked with a little soft pinkness at its center and a just-crunchy edge, dappled with a caramelized shallot and Dijon vinaigrette. It was paired with roasted fingerlings, still-snappy haricots verts with good bacon lardons and a slick of brown butter, a few oily marcona almonds as garnish and just a hint of dill to the whole thing. It was $32, worth every penny and preceded by a solid baby romaine Caesar with interesting blue corn croutons and a half-dozen satiny, mild Blue Point oysters with all the trimmings. Caretta is one of the most elegantly appointed dining rooms in Clearwater Beach, with expert use of its view. Oh, and valet is free with validation, a rarity in Clearwater Beach.

BLACK PEARL $$$, FRENCH, CONTINENTAL, ROMANTIC • 315 Main St., Dunedin. (727) 734-3463. theblackpearldunedin.com I don’t know this for sure, but I’m betting if you want to hide a ring in an entree or a fancy dessert, chef Christopher Artrip is going to put his back into it.

He is a stickler for dramatic plate presentations in all their squeeze-bottle and Jackson Pollock-splatter glory. And the setting: There are red roses.

There are white tablecloths. It is intimate and not too loud. It has been the go-to romantic place in Dunedin for decades, first as Sabals, then, since 1996, as Black Pearl under the LaRoche family and since 2014 owned by Zach Feinstein. It is splurge territory, but prices seem fair-minded to me (for example, you get a salad with your entree, very old school). Top offerings include appetizers like white truffle lobster risotto (it’s also offered as an entree for $54, but it’s so rich I think the smaller option is better) and the maple-glazed pork belly with cheese grits and a high contrapuntal note of blueberry demiglace. For entrees, the rack of lamb and filet mignon are unswervingly perfect.

BEST PLACES TO CLINCH THE DEAL STEELBACH $$$, STEAK, NEW AMERICAN, VEGETARIAN • 1902 N Ola Ave., Tampa. (813) 693-5478. steelbach.com The difference between a “pop the question” restaurant and a “clinch the deal” restaurant? For the latter, a little bustle is okay. You want to be in the room where it happens, where the big dogs are fressing. And right now, this is Steelbach, the anchor restaurant at Heights Public Market at Armature Works. It has an extensive whiskey selection stored dramatically 38 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

DINING DECADES of the

This summer, Maritana Grille celebrates the decades of dining at The Don CeSar. As we countdown to the restaurant’s complete transformation happening Fall 2019, we invite you to join us for a historical selection of featured gourmet items by Chef Emily Ferrari.

These items provide a taste f rom past decades, including the 1920’s f rom The King Charles Room.

FOR RESERVATIONS bit.ly/decadesofdining | 727.367.0888

3400 Gulf Boulevard St. Pete Beach FL 33708 Located in the Don Cesar MARITANAGRILLE.COM | DONCESAR.COM

in a 100-year-old brick vault. It has its own herd of wagyu cattle naturally raised in Kenansville, Fla., aged four to seven weeks, grilled at 1,000 degrees over Florida oak, then served on rugged boards with a swipe of butter, a caramelized shallot and several kinds of salt. The decor is all brick and rustic dark beams and industrial ductwork. Sounds like a manly-man kind of place, eh? That’s where chef Nathan Hardin and his crew surprise you. Some of the most memorable dishes are veggies: the charred heirloom carrots with tangy yogurt, the hearth-roasted broccoli with a perfect soft egg yolk, the kale and apple salad - all rock star. Service can be spotty, but they have exceptional desserts and very solid brunch offerings.

BOB HEILMAN’S BEACHCOMBER $$$, CONTINENTAL, NEW AMERICAN, STEAK, ROMANTIC, COCKTAILS, OUTDOOR • 447 Mandalay Ave., Clearwater Beach.

(727) 442-4144. heilmansbeachcomber. com There’s a definite Mad Men atmosphere here, and with 700 bottlings on the wine list, many of them deep-pocket Burgundies, California and Oregon pinot noirs, this 70-year-old classic is suitably served by an expense account.

That’s not to say it’s pricey across the board: One of the biggest sellers is the Back-to-the-Farm Chicken dinner, a half Bell & Evans chicken golden and batter-dipped, served with mashed potatoes, dusky pan gravy and a daily veg, preceded by a soup of the day, creamy slaw and the fabled relish tray, all for $19.48. I’ve eavesdropped on a lot of men in suits talking shop while slicing into rosy prime New York strips (maybe it’s all the corporate acronyms these days, but some of this talk reads like stone-cold gibberish to me), although it’s equally prized as a date-night spot and there seems to be a deep bench of longtimers at the bar. There are a couple of dining rooms with dramatically different personalities, plus an outside patio with sailcloth tenting, festive strings of white lights and space heaters that makes for prime seating in ideal weather. Heilman’s is a textbook example of a restaurant that has shifted with the zeitgeist but always stayed true to its core vision; it feels relevant.

EDDIE V’S PRIME SEAFOOD $$$, SEAFOOD, STEAKS, ROMANTIC • 4400 W Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa. (813) 877-7290. eddiev.com I’m going to make a prediction: In the high-end steakhouse space, we’re going to see a contraction.

Maybe I’m anticipating a market correction and all the belt-tightening that goes along with it, or maybe I’m just taking the temperature of millennials and it’s not a $50 center-of-the-plate protein entree. In Tampa, especially clustered along Boy Scout Boulevard, it’s steakhouse row, with lots that I think do a great job (Ocean Prime, Fleming’s, Del Frisco’s Grille, etc.), but the reason Eddie V’s rises to the top for me is service. It has been a tough couple of years for restaurants intent on maintaining excellent front-of-the-house professionals. Too many shiny new possibilities for folks with talent. Eddie V’s is a chain concept launched in Austin, Texas, sold to Darden for $59 million cash in 2011 and opened in Tampa in 2013. It has maintained its commitment to menu training, reading the room, effective pacing, the art of kibbitzing. The restaurant has doubled down on its oyster program, loads of offerings from both coasts: Champagne pairings, caviar, the Big Eddie shellfish tower when you’ve got something to celebrate. (For the record, they claim “prime” seafood, which is not a legal standard.) But prime steaks still seem to be the menu’s sweet spot.

40 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

BEST SMALL PLATES #1 ROOSTER & THE TILL $$-$$$, NEW AMERICAN, SMALL PLATES • 6500 N Florida Ave., Seminole Heights. (813) 374-8940. roosterandthetill.com Why is it some of my very favorite restaurants fit into the small plates category? It’s because it’s how we are eating.

It mirrors famed chef Thomas Keller’s thoughts on the law of diminishing returns. You order a huge, remarkable dish: First three bites are amazeballs; 20th bite is meh. Share a small plate with two people you love, each of you carefully retrieving three forkfuls, plate-scraping essential? It’s the stuff of decades-later reverie. I know Ferrell Alvarez and Ty Rodriguez. I know they are good employers and kind humans. They opened Nebraska Mini Mart in 2018, as well as Gallito at Sparkman Wharf. They also hosted a guest chef series with an all-female cast of noteworthy chefs from around the country.

Meanwhile, they sent out consistent and thought-provoking food. They have an amazing team, they keep engaged with national trends while honing their own style, they source responsibly within the limits of our growing region, and like all my favorite restaurants around the country, they continue to detonate the three-quadrant meat-veg-starch expectation of what a dish should be.

Some of my favorite dishes are meat and vegetable in equipoise, sharing the limelight. This is starting to sound too esoteric: Rooster is fun, lively, an easy place to see why Tampa is a culinary star, not super expensive, likely to be the setting for good conversation and always the provider of thought-provoking sweet-savory desserts.

#2 READING ROOM $$-$$$, NEW AMERICAN, SMALL PLATES • 6001 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. (727) 3430052. rrstpete.com Lauren Macellaro is the bold chef, Jessika Palombo the dynamic front-of-the-house manager, Freefall Theatre co-founder Kevin Lane and partner Kevin Damphouse the owners.

Together they have turned what was once a humble Christian Science Reading Room into one of the most ambitious restaurants in the area.

(Bonus: Far from downtown, it has an entire parking lot.) Reading Room has its own on-site garden, from which it sources veggies, herbs and flowers; its dining room is airy and spare, with a hint of wood smoke perfume. Food is served in rustic glazed pottery, silverware is funky black stainless and the menu is tucked into an old hardback book. Attention to detail is nowhere more evident than with the food. It is not tweezer food, nothing precious or hyper-manipulated: There are small shareable nibbles, slightly larger plates that tend to be a little more appetizery, then larger plates still that are more entree-ish, but it’s all mix and match. Macellaro and Palombo brought some staff with them from Asheville, N.C., hired the rest here, but as a group they are cohesive, knowledgeable and deeply committed to making sure you have a good meal. And you can hardly help but do so. Start with the house bread and butter, or the chicken liver mousse as another jumping-off point.

Salads are uniformly gorgeous, often pairing roasted veggies with their raw corollaries for maximum texture. Because the menu changes frequently, it’s not helpful to suggest entrees, but chicken and pork dishes seem especially deft.

42 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

Deep South Italian

Fine Italian cooking and southern ingredients turns traditional Italian dining into a whole new experience.

SOUTHERN WEEKEND BRUNCH

WINNER OF:

AWARDED BEST BRUNCH

by Tampa Bay Times.

Barrel Fresh Wednesdays 1/2 off all Barrel Fresh Wines.

Saturday Brunch $8 Bottomless Mimosas

Noble-Crust.com St. Pete

Wesley Chapel

N. 4th Street

Shops at Wiregrass

(727) 329-6041

(813) 703-2602

Carrollwood N. Dale Mabry

(813) 463-0193

ON SWANN $$$, SMALL PLATES, NEW AMERICAN, ITALIAN, MEDITERRANEAN, OUTDOOR, KID-FRIENDLY • 1501 W Swann Ave., Tampa.

(813) 251-0110. onswann.com I stopped in, nabbed the little marble table in the tiled vestibule serviced by two deep bluegray armchairs. The table quickly filling with orange- and rosemary-scented marinated olives, “the Butcher” plate of charcuterie, crisp roasted cauliflower with currants and golden raisins, and a beet salad, I sipped a walnut-maple old fashioned, eavesdropped on a gaggle of girls-night-outers and thought, “Wow, this is the new normal in Tampa.” Ten years ago a restaurant like On Swann would have been anomalous, so Big City. It’s a testament to how far the food scene has come that South Tampa takes it in stride, making it a neighborhood watering hole and brunch staple for families out shopping, business folks and everyone else. This collaboration between Cafe Ponte’s Chris Ponte, his wife, Michelle, former Outback Steakhouse senior vice president Trudy Cooper and former Bonefish Grill president John Cooper has matured gracefully. The design is as stylish as when it debuted in 2016, the staff an interesting mix of seasoned pros and fresh-faced younguns. From the quartet of boards to dishes like the oh-so-rich mushroom tartine or lively tuna crudo, it’s an easy place to graze, especially if you’ve got the aspiration to share a beef ribeye with crushed potatoes and bourbon onion rings that feeds two or three.

#8 BRICK & MORTAR $$, SMALL PLATES, NEW AMERICAN, OUTDOOR, ROMANTIC, HAMBURGERS • 539 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. (727) 822-6540 Hope Montgomery and Jason Ruhe took the plunge in 2015, shifting from full-time caterers to full-time restaurateurs and part-time caterers. Their “brick and mortar” effort was smallish and homespun, lots of repurposed wooden pallets and funky terracotta flower pots, but it almost immediately took off, St. Petersburg diners charmed by their distinctive and effervescent Cal-Ital aesthetic. Montgomery coyly says they’ve got some new irons in the fire but isn’t ready to say what; Ruhe spent 2018 invested more in seafood-focused menu items like whole fish and scallops and perfectly crisp-skinned cobia fillets. There are some anchor items that would prompt revolt if removed from the menu (the excellent burger with truffle fries, carpaccio of beef tenderloin topped by house ravioli filled with soft poached egg, the slow-braised octopus two ways), but they have otherwise built their reputation on a smart lineup of easily shared small plates and a shorter list of mains that lean to homemade noodles and slow-cooked meats (oxtail, short ribs). This is not splurge territory, most dishes between $11 and $24, but it makes a fine date night, especially if the weather is good and you can sit at one of the sidewalk tables.

BEST PLACES FOR A SWEET TOOTH HARRY WAUGH DESSERT ROOM $$, DESSERT, ROMANTIC • 1208 S Howard Ave., Tampa. (813) 251-2421. bernssteakhouse.com/Harry-WaughDessert-Room Bern’s Steak House won the James Beard award in 2016 for the nation’s most outstanding wine list and is a longtime 44 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

Tasty Food from Scratch Late Light Dining

1809 W Platt St Tampa, FL 33606

CBD Infused Cocktails DJs Fri-Sun Nights!

theetreehouse.com 813.855.5778

POOL & GRILL POOL & GRILL

7700 W Courtney Campbell Cswy Tampa, FL 33607

www.wtrgrill.com

813-281-0566

recipient of Wine Spectator’s grand award. Why is this relevant? At the dessert room upstairs from the fabled Tampa steakhouse, diners can avail themselves of more than 1,000 after-dinner drinks, dessert wines, cordials and scotches as part of their sweet excess. There are 48 private booths encircled by repurposed old redwood wine casks, each booth with a sixchannel stereo system from which you can put in a request with the live piano player down below (said piano player’s repertoire is laudably catholic). My mother, daughter, niece and I crowded in, dolled up and reading selections from the 50-item dessert menu, giddy with the sheer number of chocolate options (“chocolate peanut butter truffle!” one yelled, “framboise macadamia decadence,” I rebutted). You’re going to pay a little bit (many desserts hover around $13), but there are very few places like it. It’s nostalgic and a little weird, intimate and grand at the same time. No reservations, but if you’ve dined at Bern’s below you get dibs on dessert room spots.

(SWAH-REY) $, DESSERT, PET-FRIENDLY, TAKEOUT • 2105 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, (727) 767-0523; 625 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, (727) 767-0527. swah-rey.com Gregg and Leslie-Ann Ciccone opened their first location in St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District in 2015, and then a second more grab-and-go location farther east on Central Avenue in 2017. You go here for mini cupcakes and other desserts paired with wine, beer, Kahwa coffee and such; your dog goes here because he’s your captive on a leash, and also because they serve pupcakes.

The coin of the realm is a “hook up,” a mini iced cake perched on top of a shot glass of something (espresso, prosecco, etc.), just a couple bites and a down-the-hatch. I’ve worked my way through the cakes and am a big fan of the chocolate salted caramel, the zesty lemon and the strawberry lemonade, baked daily. Thing is, you can start with a mini and once you’ve found your bliss trade up to the full size. Call it market research. The original location is more convivial for hanging out, with free Wi-Fi and USB ports and plugs.

BEANS & BARLOUR $, DESSERT, ROMANTIC, COCKTAILS, ECLECTIC • 538 First Ave. N, St. Petersburg. (727) 440-4540. beansandbarlour.squarespace.com My theory is this trend is Instagram-driven.

Dessert-only or dessert-forward concepts have been one of the nation’s hot growth areas the past couple of years. Desserts are just so photogenic. Get a lot of them strutting their stuff in one place and it’s like the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show with more buttercream. On the other hand, the trend could be fueled by the popularity and growth of places like Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar. (It snagged an eight-figure investment round in 2017.) Beans & Barlour opened in summer 2018, the brainchild of Story Stuart, who previously had Story Brooke Craft Coffee Bar. Right next to St. Pete Brewing Co., one of the big draws here is booze-infused ice cream (whiskey cheesecake, chocolate-chocolate liqueur, etc., offered as scoops, shakes or floats), supported by a menu of cocktails, wines and thoughtful coffee and tea drinks. With great wallpaper and one of those gleaming espresso makers that looks like a steampunk spaceship, the little cafe also traffics in flatbreads, salads, cheese plates and panini for when your sweet tooth has been sated.

WILLIAM DEAN $, DESSERT, AFTERNOON TEA • 2790 West Bay Drive, Belleair Bluffs. (727) 5930656. williamdeanchocolates.com These chocolates have had a cameo on The Tonight Show and The View. Whoopi Goldberg is a big fan. They’ve been featured 46 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

in the Hunger Games movies. Perhaps we don’t think it odd that we have one of the nation’s most celebrated chocolatiers in our midst, but Bill Brown is just that. Pause for a second. Great chocolate is from Switzerland, from Paris and Brussels, or even from Oaxaca, Mexico. Tampa Bay seems too hot and humid, maybe not fancy enough. Brown founded his shop in 2007 and has won numerous national awards for his truffles, each one made by hand and hand-painted or airbrushed. He runs regular classes so you can learn to make fancy chocolate desserts, too. William Dean also sells individual desserts, pate de fruit (fruit jellies), macarons, candied popcorn, gelato and bar chocolate. The shop has been offering high teas Thursday to Sunday with two seatings (reservations required; $22.50), with scones, petit fours and tiny tea sandwichest.

BEST JUICE BARS SQUEEZE JUICE WORKS $, JUICE, VEGETARIAN, TAKEOUT • 675 30th Ave. N, St. Petersburg, (727) 821-1095; 18 22nd St. S, St. Petersburg, (727) 324-3039. squeezejuiceworks.com Remember when green juice was only something you could stomach if you kept your eyes closed? We’ve all matured so much. Proponents of juicing say it reduces the risk for many leading causes of death (cancer, heart disease) while simultaneously helping with weight management. The new wave of juicers don’t freeze or heat the fruits and veggies in questions, thus the “live” juice is thought to increase metabolism and boost immunity. Squeeze was early to the party, opening in 2013 with an original location in St. Petersburg, a second in South Tampa and a third in St. Pete. Kelly Lessem and Amy Losoya have built their brand with all cold-pressed juices made in small batches and sold in 16-ounce glass bottles. They do a couple of pressings each day, and the juice stays alive (meaning all the vitamins and minerals are intact) for up to three days. There are 16 flavors on any given day, as well as “mylks” (hemp, hazelnut, cashew, coconut, etc.), a small food menu and three varieties of cleanses.

SWAMI JUICE $, JUICE, VEGETARIAN, KID-FRIENDLY, TAKEOUT •2832 S MacDill Ave., Tampa, (813) 245-1957; Heights Public Market at Armature Works, 1910 N Ola Ave., Tampa, (813) 812-4765. swamijuice.com The first one of these was in Boca Raton; now they are up to five Florida locations. They are in the business of cold-pressed juice with a shelf life of 96 hours, packaged in glass bottles, but they also make a mean acai bowl. At the original Tampa outpost, they produce the juice in the back and have a small shot bar up front (different energy shots like ginger, turmeric and wheatgrass) with a grab-and-go case for bottled juices. For a while they had a location inside Kodawari Studios, but now their second spot is inside Heights Public Market at Armature Works. The Zeus juice is dreamy, with bok choy, fennel, turmeric, parsley and other green goodies in perfect balance, and acai options like the Rio bowl draw Plant High School students like catnip. Both locations are mostly to-go, and it’s not inexpensive - bear in mind that a lot of veggies are spindled and mutilated in the name of a 16-ounce juice.

48 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

KARMA JUICE BAR AND EATERY $-$$, JUICE, VEGETARIAN, TAKEOUT • 209 First St. NE, St. Petersburg, (727) 896-4000; 2095 Drew St., Unit B, Clearwater, (727) 223-9688. karmajuicebar. wordpress.com Karma debuted in 2015 in a tiny space that has since been expanded, with a second location in Clearwater. I first fell in love with its avocado toast (before all the toast-shaming started and I got spooked) and fresh-squeezed green juices, but since then I tend to stop in for a salad (buckwheat soba noodles with seaweed or Asian chicken salad) or the Brainiac acai bowl, the acai blended with strawberry, banana and almond milk for a lush texture, on top of which are more bananas and strawberries, granola, pumpkin seeds, raisins, chia and a little sheen of local honey. If you opt for a salad and a 20-ounce Beets Me juice (at juice bars, puns are essential), you’re looking at a bill that’s more than a Hamilton. But aren’t you worth it?

BEST RESTAURANT DESIGN

#9 ICHICORO ANE $$-$$$, JAPANESE, LATENIGHT, COCKTAILS • 260 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. (727) 300-0281. ichicoroane.com It’s almost unfair. Steve Gianfilippo’s five-story Station House was already super cool and hip-looking before the Ichicoro crew negotiated to take over the downstairs restaurant space. I was chagrined at the time that they gutted the handsome existing restaurant to do something minimalist and edgy. The result has an Asian aesthetic to tie into the ramen-and-small-plates menu, but it’s also got a DJ booth, a graffitied nook for selfies, outrageous martialarts-seafood-and-psychedelia wallpaper by Half Sumo Collective and a huge Banksy-ish octopus mural. All of the dining spaces are defined by horizontal blondewood slats so you can peek through. In 2018, I went there before a concert, I went there after a lecture, I went there in jeans for a quick soup slurp and I went there in lady clothes for more leisurely izakaya (Japanese gastropub small-plate snackies), and it always felt just right. The team behind this place has so many balls in the air (their original Seminole Heights Ichicoro, Ichicoro Imoto at Armature Works, the Corners Pizza, probably some other things they haven’t told me about yet), but this outpost manages to feel like the best kind of controlled chaos, a restaurant that could break out as a party at any moment.

50 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

ELEGANT. CREATIVE. WITH A DASH OF WIT.

grace

120 8TH AVE | Pass-a-Grille Beach 727-317-4770 Monday 4-10pm Tuesday closed Wednesday-Sunday 4-10pm

THE LIBRARY $$, NEW AMERICAN, BRUNCH, ITALIAN, TAKEOUT • 600 Fifth St. S, St. Petersburg. (727) 369-9969. thelibrarystpete.com There are 7,000 hardback books, sleeves removed to reveal all-blue spines (well, and three red ones, very Architectural Digest). It’s a paean to books, a tribute of sorts to the George Peabody Library on the Johns Hopkins campus in Baltimore, which dates to 1878. (And yes, this restaurant used to be called the Peabody until early 2019.) This new space in the research and education building of All Children’s Hospital has herringbone tile floors over here, black-and-white checkerboard marble tile over there, outrageously high ceilings and dramatic globe pendants. The wood paneling is dotted with re-creations of portraits like the John Singer Sargent oil of Baltimore suffragist and philanthropist Mary Elizabeth Garrett, and there are pretty blue wingback chairs in which you’d need to be wearing tweedy jodhpurs and flicking a riding crop idly to feel fully comfortable. Gorgeous and dignified, it is the sibling of Oxford Exchange in Tampa and actually has excellent food, overseen by young dynamo Rachel Bennett. She focused on breakfast, lunch and brunch to start and has added enormously to her dinner offerings recently. It feels like a clean, lively fresh take. Check the fried Brussels with ricotta salata and capers.

OXFORD EXCHANGE $$, AMERICAN, BRUNCH, KID-FRIENDLY, AFTERNOON TEA • 420 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. (813) 253-0222. oxfordexchange.com When it debuted in 2012, it was just about the most visually dazzling restaurant ever to open in the area. And that’s still the case. Blake Casper and his sister, Allison Adams, had a vision for something multi-use and oh-so-Anglophilic. (He attended the London School of Economics in the mid-1990s and fell under the sway of the club and cafe culture there.) In a historic building that dates to 1891 and is purported to have originally been stables for the Tampa Bay Hotel, they have fashioned a place that hosts weddings and meetings, offers co-work spaces, has a highly curated little bookstore and housewares boutique, operates the independent and ambitious TeBella tea shop and Buddy Brew coffee house and functions as a full-service restaurant with a central glassed courtyard. Casper has other big endeavors on his horizon, including a private club and bed-and-breakfast in the old Stovall-Lee estate on Bayshore Boulevard, but that doesn’t mean OE has gone neglected.

This is the power spot for business breakfasts and lunches, as well as the convivial setting for afternoon high teas with finger sandwiches, scones and such. (They do a Champagne tea and a couple of other spins.) At lunch, top offerings include the grilled cheese and tomato soup combo and the spicy chicken burger and solid sweet potato fries. While it started dry, OE now offers a full bar; dinner was attempted but never seemed to gel.

52 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

RESTAURANT BT $$$, FRENCH, VIETNAMESE, ROMANTIC, OUTDOOR • 2507 S MacDill Ave., Tampa. (813) 258-1916. restaurantbt.com A restaurant is a stage set, what happens there a performance, different every night. In a career that spans more than a couple of decades, at least eight restaurants and a wild ride, BT Nguyen is a master at setting the stage. Nguyen, who after the fall of Saigon was a refugee from Vietnam, worked in the fashion industry after college before switching gears and opening her first restaurant, a late-night cafe called Exodus. In Tampa, each of her concepts, without seven-figure design budgets, has a “take,” an aesthetic that signals what your expectations should be. At her flagship in South Tampa, she brings in the natural world - driftwood, orchids and other epiphytes, little bouquets of herbs from the patio outside - then juxtaposes it with glamorous things like midcentury modern Philippe Starck ghost chairs and chilled metal martini glasses. The message? Pay attention, celebrate the sensual pleasures of the natural world without compromising standards? I don’t know. What I do know is that her motto is “eat local, think global,” her own sourcing exacting, her own travels extensive. Her expertise is classical French techniques, with plate presentations that verge on early nouvelle cuisine, zinged up with Vietnamese flavors. I love her pumpkin coconut milk soup, her grass-fed spicy bo tai chanh and her escargots capped with a buttery pastry round.

BEST CHEESE & CHARCUTERIE HAVEN $$, SMALL PLATES, CHEESE AND CHARCUTERIE, PET-FRIENDLY, COCKTAILS, HAPPY HOUR, OUTDOOR • 2208 W Morrison Ave., Tampa. (813) 258-2233. haventampa.com I’m guessing chefs Chad Johnson and Courtney Orwig are inundated with hundreds of requests to cook for fundraisers, to donate meals and their time to good causes. And darned if they don’t say yes to the lion’s share. In 2018, I saw them and their team sweating on behalf of a James Beard scholarship, Feeding Tampa Bay, the Frogman Feast and others. Meanwhile, Haven continues to shine, with 60 cheeses in the gleaming glass-fronted cave, 300 bourbons and ryes, 40 wines by the glass and one of the area’s buzziest happy hours from 5 to 7 p.m.

Monday to Saturday. There are a bunch of new faces at the bar (it used to be all male mixologists, now it’s swinging to the XX-chromosome side) and lots of dynamism with new cocktail offerings. In the stylish space that used to house Bern’s spinoff SideBern’s, Haven has refined a menu that is largely small plates and shareables, and an array of house-made and imported salumi and pates. Haven also welcomed a stunning new mural in 2018, done by the famous L.A.-based muralist Faith XLVII, that depicts a majestic ram with the full moon rising behind its horns.

54 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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ANNATA WINE BAR $$, CHEESE AND CHARCUTERIE, NEW AMERICAN, ITALIAN, LIVE MUSIC, ROMANTIC • 300 Beach Drive NE, No. 128, St. Petersburg.

(727) 851-9582. annatawinebar.com Before I ditched anonymity as a food critic, I declined to be Facebook friends with chefs, restaurateurs and readers. I tell you this because I now realize what I was missing. The past few months when I have an idle moment, I see what Annata’s executive chef Joshua Breen is posting, snaps of plate presentations as artfully composed as any Dutch Golden Age still life. In upcoming weeks, Breen with Mazzaro’s owners Kurt and Mary Cuccaro will open seafood restaurant Alto Mare in the space next to Annata. Annata is still the place to go if you want to concoct a board of cheeses and salumi (pick three for $14, five for $20, 12 for $50, etc.), served with excellent accoutrements and crackers. But don’t neglect the rest of the menu, from really lively salads, a good bowl of mussels with melted leeks and a winey, buttery broth, to the daily fish special that seems to be one of Breen’s chief social media muses.

ARMANI’S $$$, CHEESE AND CHARCUTERIE, ITALIAN, VIEW, ROMANTIC, LIVE MUSIC • Grand Hyatt, 2900 Bayport Drive, Tampa. (813) 207-6800. hyatt.com Perched on the 14th floor of the Grand Hyatt, this has been the site of countless proposals, business deals and important dates largely on the strength of its killer panoramic views, live piano players and suave Italian fare. But it’s also because of this: They had a long antipasti bar that for many italophiles was like being a kid in a candy store; point to these roasted peppers, those marinated artichokes and, prego, they are yours. I visited recently and noticed that the long U-shaped antipasti bar has skewed much more to charcuterie and cheeses recently, the gentlemen behind the counter able to discourse fluidly on precisely how this bresaola was air-dried and where that cheese hails from. We did the “medio” for four people, $60, and had a hard time soldiering on to entrees and desserts. Chef de cuisine Jonathan Wilson’s menu leans toward wild game in the colder months, rack of elk or elk meatballs, wild boar sausage, but classic pastas like a spaghetti carbonara with duck egg or pillowy little ricotta gnudi with butternut squash and walnuts remind me of the glories of Italian carbs. Tip: Take your cocktail to the terrace and watch the sunset between courses; you may see roseate spoonbills in the nature preserve below.

BROOKLYN SOUTH $, SANDWICHES, CHEESE AND CHARCUTERIE, TAKEOUT • 1437 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.

(727) 914-4967. brooklynsouthcheese.com Matt Bonano is an expert in affinage. He likes to wash rinds. His idea of a good time is to be a cooler captain 56 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

for the American Cheese Society Judging & Competition. I feel you looking blankly at this text. For years, Bonano has spent several days at a clip in a 45-degree trailer filled with tons of American farmstead cheeses, stacking them, cataloging them, preparing them like a trainer at the Westminster Dog Show. He also owns Brooklyn South, a small cafe storefront in St. Petersburg.

He has worked with the biggest cheesemongers in the country, slogging through cheese books and learning how to carefully age and ripen cheese to bring out its fullest potential (that’s affinage). He left the New York area and struck out on his own with this little shop, humble at first, just a few tables, the core of the business a big handful of sophisticated sandwiches requiring many napkins (rosemary ham with caramelized apples and Brie; corned beef with roasted peppers and Peter Luger sauce). He also does charcuterie and cheese boards, and it’s a great place to buy ripe-and-ready-to-rumble cheeses for your next soiree.

BEST CUBAN SANDWICH THE COLUMBIA RESTAURANT $$-$$$, SPANISH, CUBAN, KIDFRIENDLY, SANDWICHES • 2117 E Seventh Ave., Tampa, (813) 248-4961; and six other locations in the state. columbiarestaurant.com Richard Gonzmart spent $30,000 on a multiyear quest to replicate precisely how Cuban immigrant Casimiro Hernandez Sr. made the archetypal Tampa Cuban sandwich in 1915. His version of this Spanish-Cuban-Sicilian-German-Jewish mashup has been demonstrated on ABC’s The Chew; it has been the topic of a CBS News Sunday Morning lengthy tutorial.

You can find it at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. It’s layers of Tampa history: ham on the bottom, then pork, salami, cheese, two pickles and yellow mustard, pressed hard between two La Segunda bread slices. I witnessed Hyunmin Cho and Geunmin Kang, owners of the Tampa Sandwich Bar in Seoul, South Korea, travel halfway around the world to eat this sandwich.

“We’ve only seen it on YouTube. This is so exciting,” Cho said breathlessly, hefting a sandwich half and peering into its hammy depths. Gonzmart, the ultimate glass-is-half-full guy, is not going to get into a spitting match with Miami over who invented this sandwich, but we could probably get him fired up if we needed him to speak on our behalf.

LA SEGUNDA BAKERY $, CUBAN, SANDWICHES, BAKERY, KID-FRIENDLY, TAKEOUT, OUTDOOR, SANDWICHES • 2512 N 15th St., Tampa, (813) 248-1531; 4015 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, (813) 540-9119. lasegundabakery.com Step into the new location of La Segunda on Kennedy Boulevard, peer at the blackand-white photos and a couple of things occur to you. No. 1: People used to have a lot more gravitas. No one did duck lips or the bathroom-mirror, hand-on-hip selfie. No. 2: This multigeneration bakery has been baking a whole lot of Cuban bread (18,000 loaves a day) for a whole lot of time (since 1915). This location is fancier than the Ybor City original, which focuses more on wholesale, with shiny concrete floors, a community table up front, an area of couches and lounge seating near the barista bar and covered patio seating.

You’re going to get a cafe con leche, then the decision is between the Cuban sandwich and the media noche, essentially the same filling - marinated pork, ham, genoa salami, Swiss cheese, pickle - the former on a crusty pressed 58 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

length of Cuban loaf, the latter on a softer, sweet egg dough bread akin to challah. It is also a source for scachatta, that Tampa oddity, a Sicilian-Cuban collab that reads like something between a pizza and a focaccia with a smear of tomatoey-ground beefy goodness on top. Both bakeries close at 3 p.m.

BODEGA $, CUBAN, LATIN AMERICAN, PETFRIENDLY, KID-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR, SANDWICHES • 1120 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, (727) 623-0942; 5901 N Florida Ave., Tampa, (813) 533-3333. eatatbodega.com Debbie and George Sayegh took a big chance in 2018, opening a second location of Bodega in Seminole Heights, sharing a space with new cocktail bar Mandarin Heights. And they are gearing up to open a Greek-Lebanese restaurant on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg later in 2019. Nonetheless, this early EDGE District stalwart continues to tiller a steady boat, with a strong lineup of juices and a dependable menu of what they call Latin street food. Both locations serve mostly the same menu (Sem Heights has shuffleboard as an added allure), with the Cuban and the lechon sandwiches beloved far and wide (they do their Cuban Miami-style, no salami), vegetarians vociferously adding that the grilled and pressed tempeh sandwich with its sweet and spicy slaw is another barn burner. If you are wearing clothes that do not require dry cleaning, another avenue to investigate is the frita of the month, a shock-andawe Cuban-style burger of different proteins, always topped by a passel of crisp shoestring potato sticks.

BEST (FANCY) BURGER #5 EDISON: FOOD+DRINK LAB $$$, NEW AMERICAN, COCKTAILS, HAMBURGERS • 912 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. (813) 254-7111. edison-tampa.com I’m guessing Jeannie Pierola is not going to be thrilled to be in this category. She’s one of the area’s most celebrated chefs, pushing the envelope with her own globetrotting-but-still-somehow-uniquely-Floridian culinary take. She has been busy, opening Swigamajig at Sparkman Wharf at the end of 2018, with her Counter Culture opening soon at the iconic Pach’s Place location in South Tampa. Food, service, cocktails and the wine program at Edison continue to dazzle. There has been a great deal of menu change (the potato-crusted oysters remain, ditto the roasted bone marrow and the sugar-crusted butter cake) and there have been some exceptional seafood options recently (snapper, grouper and a memorable charred achiote octopus). But one of the best dishes I had there in 2018 was for lunch: a grilled all-natural burger with Mexican chorizo topped with an organic fried egg and white cheddar, the whole thing elevated by a finger lime crema and little zings of pickled red onion, served on a lush toasted brioche and accompanied by rustic but textbook fries. It was $16 and I’d spend every penny again.

60 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

Slow cooked Sl ked Prime Prim Rib Carving board with assorted meats & sausages Hand breaded fried shrimp Calamari and Fish n’chips St. Louis Ribs Steamed mussels & clams Live action Wok station Fresh rolled sushi station Peel n’ eat shrimp Oysters on the half shell Lobster bisque & soup of the day Assorted sides and Salad bar Huge dessert station & more!

SUN-THUR: 5pm-9:30pm FRI: 5pm-10pm | SAT: 4:30pm – 10pm $36.95 adults | $12.95 children (3-10) Menu items & pricing are subject to change.

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PANE RUSTICA $$-$$$, ITALIAN, PIZZA, HAMBURGERS, TAKEOUT, KIDFRIENDLY • 3225 S MacDill Ave., Tampa. (813) 902-8828. panerusticabakery.com I’ve been writing about Pane Rustica since I moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2004.

It was anomalous then, so much more sophisticated than most of the restaurants around it, with big city breads and pastries, thin-crust pizzas with fancy toppings. It was Tampa’s smartest lunch spot, supplementing its business as a wholesale bakery. Then they annexed the produce section of the Village Health Market next door, added a full U-shaped bar attached to the cafe, added a couple of private dining rooms, added dinner Wednesday to Saturday. Owners Kevin and Karyn Kruszewski still deliver about 7,000 pounds of bread to area restaurants weekly, and at lunch the coin of the realm is a huge triangle of elaborately topped pizza followed by a chocolate espresso cookie. At dinner, my modus operandi is to sit at the bar, share the truffle potato chips, then a salad (often the field greens with Danish blue and apple), then whatever the burger of the moment is. These days it hovers around $18, a noticeable price, but the grind on the Creekstone all-natural beef is satisfying, its accoutrements careful - arugula, avocado, bacon, blue cheese and a sriracha aioli. It previously was Niman Ranch beef on focaccia with Brie and blackberry jam, also good.

LITTLE LAMB GASTROBAR $, GASTROPUBS, HAMBURGERS • 2475 N McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. (727) 401-3339. thelittlelambgastropub.com James Renew globe-bopped, working at restaurants in Las Vegas and Sydney, Australia, before putting down roots in Clearwater and opening this little charmer a couple of years ago. There’s an expansion and a full bar to be executed in the next six months, but with rough plank walls inset with sconces made of industrial piping, concrete floors and an open kitchen, it’s currently got a no-frills edginess with just 38 seats if you count the long concrete bar (which is where you should sit to watch all the action). This place is a conundrum: Some of the best dishes are unabashedly meat-forward (paper cones of chicharones, super crispy and airy, served with a ramekin of spicy mayo; char siu ribs capped by an herb salad, candied peanuts and lime vinaigrette), but salads are some of the prettiest composed plates in Clearwater. They do a Creekstone angus burger and an Australian lamb burger that are both excellent, served on paper-lined metal trays with rustic, skin-on fries and wrinkly-shiny brioche, their rounds of tomato and red onion always snappy and fresh. The beef burger, juicy and not overworked, is paired with sharp white cheddar; the lamb version gets a cap of feta and sits on lush tzatziki.

BEST PASTA PIA’S TRATTORIA $$, ITALIAN, PASTA, OUTDOOR, ROMANTIC, KID-FRIENDLY, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN • 3054 Beach Blvd. S, Gulfport. (727) 327-2190. piastrattoria.com Something is going on at Pia’s. Since 2006, it has been Gulfport’s anchor place for moderately priced straightforward 62 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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Italian pastas, salads and more substantive fare on a weekly changing seasonal menu. The past couple of times I’ve visited it’s clear that the menu is inching its way toward the vegan side. This likely says something about the overarching desires of their Gulfport clientele, or maybe about owners Pia and Tom Goff themselves. These days you might find vegan tofu- and farro-stuffed peppers or vegan curried butternut squash soup with walnuts.

Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to avail yourself of the skillet lasagna (recently Pia is using Seminole Pride beef, the cows’ whole life cycle spent in Florida), penne pesto and spaghetti bolognese, now all of the house pastas made on the snazzy Arcobaleno pastamaker and offered in a gluten-free version. The air is perfumed just slightly with garlic and the paraffin from dozens of drippy, flickering candles; the covered patio is rustic and hung with string lights. There are faded floral tablecloths and somebody’s black-and-white baby pictures, spills of fuchsia bougainvillea filigreed down the wall. It’s like Under the Tuscan Sun without Diane Lane’s annoying This Old House-but-sexier smugness.

#4 IL RITORNO $$$, ITALIAN, PASTA, ROMANTIC • 449 Central Ave. N, No. 101, St. Petersburg. (727) 897-5900. ilritornodowntown.com Review restaurants in a market long enough and you see audacious young chefs grow up, expand their families, buy their first house, grow and renovate their restaurant, reflect on what they learned from mentors and distill their own personal style into something as distinctive as a thumbprint. I just learned that David Benstock’s middle name is Lazer, and it feels appropriate because he increasingly has laserlike focus. Since its expansion and remodel in 2017 (Fisher Price-sized kitchen blown out, new private dining space, great exhibition-kitchen bar seating), his restaurant Il Ritorno has dialed its service level and wine program way up and has offered one of the area’s most incisive signature five-course tasting menus (a reasonable $75, $45 more with wine pairings). Benstock can’t walk away from some of his signature dishes - the short rib mezzaluna, capellini nero, white truffle risotto - but he continues to push ahead with innovative seafood and game presentations. To all the Yelpers who grouse “this is too expensive, the portions too small,” I would ask you to watch Benstock plate a dish, watch how his squad assembles around him to assist, really look at the finished product in all its carefully composed glory. Thoughtfully sourced, expertly prepared food is not cheap. It can’t be. He also does a pull-out-all-stops chef’s bar menu; it’s now full bar and recently opened for Sunday dinner.

DONATELLO $$$, ITALIAN, PASTA, ROMANTIC • 232 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. (813) 875-6660. donatellotampa.com I ordered the food. I selected the wine. I asked for the check. I paid the bill. And yet, every time our waiter came to the table he addressed only my husband. I fumed. My husband rolled his eyes, slunk out to the car; I was going to make a scene. (We’ve been married a long time.) When I asked the waiter, he shrugged his shoulders and in a thick Italian accent said, “Ninety-five percent 64 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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of the time the man orders and pays the bill.” Ladies get long-stemmed red roses, their dates pick up the tabs, it’s the way things have always been at Donatello. It’s hard to know how to put that in context, especially given that the very best pasta I ate in 2018 was here, one that I think back on as a perfect dish. It’s the tagliatelle alla Kathy, a standard for years, with velvety but toothsome house-made green noodles, mushrooms and ham in just enough slightly pink cream sauce, the whole thing causing the pasta itself to take center stage, a rarity in American restaurants. Their linguini al pesto is excellent, as is their linguini with clams, as is their Caesar salad (no longer made tableside), as is their ricotta cheesecake. Donatello feeds about a thousand foster kids and families every Thanksgiving; they host live opera from Opera Tampa; they have the most flattering pink-hued lighting of any restaurant around. But here’s a thought in 2019: Maybe give the check to he, or she, who requested it?

#10 CENA $$-$$$, ITALIAN, PASTA, ROMANTIC, OUTDOOR, DESSERT • 1120 E Kennedy Blvd. #112, Tampa.

(813) 374-8840. cenatampa.com Chef Michael Buttacavoli has a lot going on these days. He’s going to New York to promote the new Tampa’s Table cookbook in which his recipes appear. He’s going to Spain to hunt truffles, and to Sicily to get together with a Michelin-starred chef. Meanwhile, on the home front, Cena, the Channel District restaurant where he has been the executive chef since its launch in 2013, completed a lovely renovation in April, trading somewhat antiseptic decor for warm pigeon-gray walls, black-and-white photos and restful monochromatic design features. Buttacavoli was the chef de cuisine at SideBern’s for eight years under Jeannie Pierola and was the chef at Council Oak at the Hard Rock after that, where he hooked up with dynamo Cena pastry chef Evan Schmidt. Together they have honed an effective and affecting short menu of Italian regional dishes, from punchy antipasti to pastas and risotti, many offered in half portions, and secondi that are as stylishly pretty as any around (also, almost everything is under $30). The dolci change frequently, but there’s often something that’s a riff on a macaron, something trifle-ish or tiramisulike, maybe a cheesecake, all of it with flying buttresses and molded chocolate wings and spaceship add-ons.

BEST VEGETARIAN/VEGAN THE CIDER PRESS CAFE $$, VEGETARIAN, VEGAN, BRUNCH • 601 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.

(727) 914-7222. ciderpresscafe.com Co-owners Johan Everstijn and Roland Strobel opened this 66 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

lovely location in 2015 (their first one was in Naples, but closed) and it has morphed quite a bit since its launch. In the past year it has gone from a strictly raw restaurant to one that is vegan but split equally between cooked and raw food. Why does this make a difference? Perhaps ironically, raw food can be more expensive and more time consuming to produce. I’m not sure what the rationale was for the change - perhaps it was that they placed in the top 12 in the nation in 2017’s James Beard Blended Burger Challenge with their Kale-lemon Me Softly Burger, a nonraw entry - but it’s quicker to get in and out at lunch and some of the food is more calorically dense. One big beef people, and that includes me, had with Cider Press Cafe initially is that you would be starving two hours after eating there. These days the lineup of juices and dishes like spiralized veggie pad Thai and breads made of dehydrated gruels have been augmented by accessible vegan comfort foods that include a range of burgers and things like empanadas and vegan shepherd’s pie. Their nonalcoholic drinks list is impressive.

GOLDEN DINOSAURS VEGAN DELI $, VEGETARIAN, VEGAN, SANDWICHES, PETFRIENDLY, OUTDOOR, TAKEOUT • 2930 Beach Blvd. S, Gulfport.

(727) 873-6901 A vegan Cuban sandwich with a side of vegan potato salad.

How good could it be? Hold Brian and Audrey Dingemans’ beer. They opened a vegan deli in August in the space that used to be Mangia Gourmet. There’s a glass cake case next to the order counter that features Audrey’s truly good cakes and desserts. But the real draw is the from-scratch vegan sausages, cutlets, seitan and straight-up solid vegan hot dogs, taken all-the-way Chicago style. They have a beer and wine license (local offerings like Green Bench and Pinellas Ale Works), serve a lot of excellent kombucha and local Bandit coffee, and have a large, light-strung outdoor patio that is robustly pet-friendly.

Beyond the crunchy pressed Cuban with seitan “mojo pork,” they do two versions of a Reuben sandwich that are laudable, both heaped with lively, lovely St. Pete Ferments sauerkraut. And you have to finish things up with a chocolate chunk sea salt cookie, the chocolate sourced from nearby Pinellas Chocolate Company. For such a tiny, casual spot, the Dingemans’ attention to local and regional sourcing is impressive.

BEST BOWLS GRAIN & BERRY CAFÉ $, DESSERT, BOWLS, TAKEOUT, KID-FRIENDLY • 33840 U.S 19 N, Palm Harbor, (727) 771-7795; 2784-A E Fowler Ave., Tampa, (813) 631-0676; 11622 Countryway Blvd., Tampa, (813) 818-2929. (Carrollwood) 14308 N. Dale Mabry Ave., (813) 265-9922; South Tampa) 1155 S. Dale Mabry Ave., (813)281-1011; grainandberry.com Acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) is a Brazilian-grown grapelike tropical fruit from a palm tree, with loads of fiber and other purported health benefits. It is often served as a frozen puree, not a whole fruit. On top of this pureed base you choose to heap berries, seeds, nuts, granola, oatmeal, nut butters and goofy chocolate things (unnecessary).

A pitaya bowl is basically the same, but its base is a puree of neon-pink dragonfruit, more like kiwi in flavor and texture. This newish chain does smoothies with pretty much real food (not the frozen fruit chunks in sugar TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS • 67

syrup that passes for “health food” at some juice bars), as well as stunning acai and pitaya bowls (also kale, oatmeal and yogurt bowls). Decor is lovely, like a great coffee house with long wood tables, a wood-paneled order counter and a series of punny signs (“I like big bowls and I cannot lie,” “Oh, kale no!”). Half the customers seem to be getting some work done in a desultory fashion, the other half are taking selfies with their acai bowls. Top offerings include Relax, Eat, Repeat (acai, granola, banana, strawberries, honey, peanut butter, Nutella, crushed nuts) and a Dragon Berry (pitaya, granola, banana, blueberries, strawberries, peanut butter, Nutella, coconut flake), both beautifully composed, and with complementary flavors.

SWEET SOUL $, DESSERT, ICE CREAM, BOWLS, TAKEOUT, KID-FRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 1101 S Howard Ave., Tampa. (813) 575-7100. facebook.com/sweetsoulsoho White subway tile, a wall of yellow and pink plastic bananas, picnic tables with strings of little white lights on the covered patio — this is an adorable “superfood bar” brought to you by the Ciccio Restaurant Group, set in what once was a carwash in SoHo. Managing partner Taylor Winter is super connected with the local high school crowd, which keeps this place hopping. It fits with CRG’s fitness-healthy food mission (they have Camp Tampa fitness studio nearby and bowls-concept Fresh Kitchen up the street), but this one is all sweetness, with acai bowls, smoothies, soft serve and such. The anchor here is a build-your-bowl system: Pick a base (dragonfruit blend, overnight oats, protein chia pudding, etc.), then choose three sweets (berries and other fruit, cookie crumbles), two toppings (goji berries, hemp seed) and a drizzle or dusting (almond butter, electric pink dragonfruit powder). It can take a bit of time to get in and out of here, but the staff seems deadly serious about getting your vegan coconut whipped cream just right.

POKE ROSE $, BOWLS, ASIAN, TAKEOUT • Hall on Franklin, 1701 N Franklin St., Tampa, (813) 405-4008; 13100 Seminole Blvd., Suite 103, Largo, (727) 475-8860. pokerose.com I’ve been following Jason Cline’s career for a while. I’m pretty sure I ate his food when he was executive chef at Ondine in Sausalito, Calif., in the mid-aughts, then I was a big fan of his work at Bin 27 Bistro in South Tampa and then again when he (and his dad) were at the Birchwood in St. Petersburg. He peeled off to start his own thing, an attractive poke stand in the Hall on Franklin, which he runs with his cousin, Daniel Cline. He has since opened a second location in Largo, a funky little storefront with an order counter and a wall of fish, both two- and three-dimensional, a school of guitars swimming ahead of them. Eat in with pretty black lacquer bowls, take out in clear plastic. At either location, one of the best dishes is the signature Poke Rose, warm jasmine rice nearly obscured by rosy tuna cubes, scallion, radish, edamame, hijiki (a cool, bouncy brown sea vegetable that is mostly texture), radish, avo, sesame seeds, spicy ginger, spicy aioli and a sprinkling of chia seed. You can take your bowl in a raw direction or flip it a bit upscale with sweet-spicy tamarind-curry crab.

68 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

PACIFIC COUNTER $, BOWLS, TAKEOUT • 660 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.

(727) 440-7008, pacificcounter.com The 600 block of Central Avenue in St. Petersburg has had a dazzling makeover the past couple of years, one of the upbeat newcomers this mostly grab-and-go bowls spot with loads of gleaming white tile and royal blue accents. The tagline is “roll it or bowl it,” which is a helpful if brief user’s manual - sushi rice, fishy things and veggie things in a sushi burrito or a bowl, either available as a build-your-own or one of their “counter creations.” The brainchild of Tanner Loebel, Eric Bialik and Chitt “Tock” Noythanongsay, Pacific Counter’s strong game is punchy sauces and a great lineup of dispenser beverages (pineapple mint aloe limeade, coconut matcha limeade, sparkling pineapple ginger lemonade, frostee Kirin).

I was less wowed by it in the beginning - there was a frenetic quality and I felt the ingredients were rammed too tightly into the bowls to be easily eaten. But I’ve since zipped over for lunch and they seem to be in a groove. Walk down the line, point and pick a base, then two proteins, five veggies, fruit or other toppers, then a sauce. That’s $12, ample for lunch, very wholesome.

BEST PIZZA PIZZERIA GREGARIO $-$$, PIZZA, ITALIAN, VEGETARIAN • 400 Second St. N, Safety Harbor. (727) 386-4107. facebook. com/PizzeriaGregario Early in 2018, Greg Seymour asked me if I’d like to learn to make pizzas in a wood-burning oven. Although eager, I was not skilled. Too thin, too lopsided, too much sauce, not the right flick of the wrist as it left the peel and went into the maw of the orangeglowing oven. I can’t say that Seymour makes it look easy. Sure, he’s got the muscle memory, the deft wrist movement, the ability to bank the fire just so, the finished pizzas chewy-crusty with just the right bubbles. He’s really a one-man symphony orchestra at his little Safety Harbor original, but if you pay attention you realize how much he sweats for his art. He buys whole, local, naturally raised pigs and breaks them down, making his own sausages and charcuterie. He buys organic wheat and ancient grains and grinds them himself, has a buddy from whom he buys water buffalo milk, another from whom he gets produce. He’s careful about his sauce tomatoes, militant about no refined sugar and eating “clean.” He sends me pictures of bread he’s tinkering with made from red fife wheat, einkorn, spelt and hulled barley or a slow-cooked hog’s head he’s turning into something delicious. All this thought brought to bear on a pizza that will cost you around $17. It’s an order-at-thecounter, menu-on-the-chalkboard place, perfectly family-friendly and casual, but this is expertly made, wild-culture pizza, the best in our area.

TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS • 69

BAVARO’S PIZZA NAPOLETANA & PASTERIA

$$, PIZZA, ITALIAN, KID-FRIENDLY • 514 N Franklin St., Tampa, (813) 868-4440; 945 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, (727) 258-7517; 1701 N Franklin St., Tampa, (813) 405-4008 (this is the Sorellina location);TIME TO E and Airside C/Southwest Airlines at Tampa International Airport. Sarasota location opening soon. bavarospizza.com A MAGAZINE OF

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Like the universe itself, Dan Bavaro’s scope keeps expanding. He just recently opened Sorellina (“little sister” in Italian) at the Hall on Franklin, a smaller and abbreviated version of Bavaro’s, which he has already downtown in Tampa, in St. Petersburg, at the airport and soon in Sarasota. He has a big production facility that produces his pizza and pasta sauces. (You can buy them at Publix, Amazon, Costco, etc.) In 2018, he got a pizza tuneup of sorts, training with Antonio Langone in Sorrento, Italy, a gentleman who holds the World Championship Gluten-Free Pizza title. (It’s a thing.) He started his Neapolitan pizza empire in 2009 when no one knew precisely what that meant. This was not street pizza you fold along the vertex angle to make a skinnier triangle as you walk. It was not coal oven or deep dish. It was made with super-fine 00 flour and a 100-year-old yeast culture brought from Naples, zapped for 90 seconds in a 900-degree wood-fired oven. It is its own thing: crispy, puffed crust, with a tender, soft middle nearly requiring a fork. Tampa Bay has warmed to the style and it has proliferated, but Bavaro was the gateway drug for us.

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AVA $$, PIZZA, ITALIAN, KIDFRIENDLY, OUTDOOR • 718 S Howard Ave., Tampa, (813) 512-3030; Armature Works, 1910 N Ola Ave., Tampa, (813) 250-3725. avatampa.com When Ava opened in 2014, a collaboration between South Tampa restaurateur Michael Stewart and then-Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon with pizza superstar Joshua Hernandez imported from Los Angeles, it was my topranked restaurant of that year. It was that magical balance of great food, hip design and a palpable buzziness that money can’t buy. My ardor has cooled just slightly, perhaps because the playing field has become more dense with notable restaurants at a similar price point, and perhaps because some of the best dishes have changed somewhat. (The wood-fired veggies were ho-hum on my last visit and the whipped ricotta has become too runny.) That said, at the original and also at the kiosk at Armature Works (one of 14 vendors), the pizza is still very, very good. This is Neapolitan-style, best eaten with a fork and knife, tender at the center with big blistery bubbles at the cornicione. I recently shared a mushroom pizza with friends at the flagship and wandered around Armature Works pecking away at a filetto pizza with swaths of prosciutto and sweet cherry tomato halves. Both great.

70 • TAMPA BAY’S TOP RESTAURANTS

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