Hungry? Good!
Grab your appetite and let’s go for . . . Greek food! Or Spanish. Or barbecue. Or knishes. Or steak and shrimp. Or Thai. Or a Chicago dog. Or—we’d probably better stop listing the types of foods you can find in the Tampa Bay area or we’ll never get to the eating part.
Let’s just say that whether you want to get all gussied up and visit Tampa’s world-renowned Bern’s Steak House—where they grow their own organic vegetables, age their own beef, and keep a saltwater fish tank in the kitchen for really fresh catch-of-the-day—or whether you want to eat just-off-the-grill barbecue at a picnic table under the trees alongside the Pinellas Trail in Dunedin, we’ve got you covered. We know that breakfast meals can be an art unto themselves, so we’ll make special note of places where the morning meal is an event.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. St. Petersburg is home to Florida Trend magazine, which has issued the Golden Spoon Awards to top restaurants around the state since 1977. Over the years, several of those awards have gone to Tampa Bay area restaurants. Go to www.floridatrend.com/dining_spirits.asp where you can read the reviews and columns by Florida Trend’s restaurant editor, Chris Sherman, who previously reviewed restaurants for the St. Petersburg Times.
Or check out Tampa Tribune writer Jeff Houck’s “Restaurant” page at TBO.com (http://tboextra.com/dining/). From there, you can follow Houck’s food news blog, “The Stew” (on Twitter, if you like) or click on the Restaurant Report Card icon to get health inspection and other reports. www.Tampagold.com is another source for restaurant reviews. And Laura Reilly, food critic for the St. Petersburg Times, writes “The Mouth of Tampa Bay” at http://blogs.tampabay.com/dining/.
You’ll find most of the usual chains here, but a few deserve up-front recognition because here is where it all began for Hooters, although they are now headquartered in Atlanta, for Outback Steakhouse (which also owns Carrabas, Bonefish Grill, and several other chains), and for Checkers (which was founded in Mobile, Alabama, moved to Clearwater, and now has headquarters in Tampa). You’ll also notice another chain in this area that you might not find in other parts of the country. Crispers is a soup-salad-and-sandwich eatery owned by Lakeland-based (just east of Hillsborough County) Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Another local chain, whose flagship restaurant just happens to be the world’s largest Spanish restaurant, is based in Ybor City. Look for a close-up on Columbia Restaurants later in the chapter.
For the most part, this section is devoted to the local one-of-a-kind restaurants that make the Tampa Bay area a food lover’s delight. We’ll take you to tea lounges and taco stands, delis and dens of decadently delectable delights. But we can’t take you to them all. Our greatest regret is that we’re leaving out many really good places to eat. Pick up a copy of the latest Restaurant Guide for each area, distributed free at most hotels, area attractions, welcome centers, and at other merchants. You’ll find many more great dining adventures waiting for you—and coupons!
Don’t forget all the food festivals listed in the Festivals and Events chapter. Taste of Pinellas, in particular, features dozens of different restaurants all in one spot—a good way to sample foods from many different eateries.
You’ll find Greek food listed along with burgers and fries in many non-Greek sounding restaurants, so we’ve included a glossary to help you figure out what’s on the menu.
Note: Po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to—omelet, omelette. Whichever spelling the restaurant uses on their menus is the spelling we’ve used in referring to that scrambled egg creation stuffed with veggies, meat, and cheese that is good any time of day—no matter how you spell it. Conversely, we’ve seen a number of spellings for prix fixe (sounds like “prefix”), meaning a multi-course meal at one set, or fixed, price. We’re sticking with prix fixe.