Daily Loaf

The World Series of Beer Pong — “the largest, longest-running organized beer pong (aka Beirut) tournament in the world, created by beer pong players, for beer pong players” according to the WSOBP website — will start in less than two months, on Jan. 1 at the Flamingo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

But you knew that, right? You’ve been single-mindedly training since 2008, when team Chauffering the Fat Kid managed to snatch the suds from an all-but-victorious  Iron Wizard Coalition by completing an amazing four straight sinks. Cinderella story? Yes. Biggest come-from-behind victory in the history of sports? Probably.

Don’t get the wrong impression about beer pong, though: it’s not all about beer consumption. Read the rest of this entry »

The Table Restaurant in St. Pete, which has flirted with two new names recently — The Place and St. Pete Brasserie — as well as different culinary themes, will begin serving its French-inspired menu this weekend, according to GM Andrew Wilkins. Almost all the prices, excepting a ribeye and bigger portions of lamb and filet mignon, are decidedly under $16. Wilkins is also planning to offer a free cocktail with the purchase of an entree, as well as a 4-course prix fixe menu from 5-7 p.m. for $19.

The menu lists the name of the restaurant as The Table Brasserie, so that back-and-forth saga is obviously still ongoing. Wilkins says that his funding still hasn’t come through, so he’s just moving ahead with the changes he can make in the short term. Hence, the new menu. Check it out.

Full menu after the break (be aware that details may change before this weekend): Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Sherman was the St. Pete Times restaurant critic for 17 years, until he decided to give up the gig at the end of 2006 because of ongoing health problems. He remained a staff writer for the Times and became the restaurant editor and travel writer for its sister publication, Florida Trend Magazine, where he hands out the generically illustrious Golden Spoon Awards.

Now, as of November 1, he’s blogging for big Bay area wine and spirits shop B-21. Does that constitute a conflict of interest, considering his work at Florida Trend? Eh, it certainly wouldn’t here at CL, now that we’ve trended towards giving a voice to people in the community on our blog and in the paper. Although it is curious that in his first post, when he mentions his work at the St. Pete Times, the outgoing link goes to B-21’s weekly newspaper ad, not the Times site.

Thai-style Chicken Flatbread

(Read our profile of Steamy Kitchen’s Jaden Hair.)

I make my own pizza dough from time to time, but when I want to make an impressive appetizer last minute, I buy a ball of pre-made pizza dough or, even easier, a package of naan or flatbread from the supermarket. This chicken flatbread is inspired by one of my husband’s favorite restaurants, California Pizza Kitchen. When we were still dating in San Francisco, we’d just hop on the subway and walk to the CPK near Union Square. Those were fun times as many sweet nothings were whispered in my ear over a shared pizza. These days, with two loud, yappin’ giggly boys at the dinner table, there’s no more whispering! (Okay, replaced by footsies!)

SERVES 4 AS APPETIZER OR SNACK

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium flatbreads or naan
1/2 cup Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe below)
8 oz fresh shredded mozzarella
1 1/4 cups fresh bean sprouts
Few sprigs fresh cilantro (coriander)
1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Read the rest of this entry »

Three Pea Stir-fry

(Read our profile of Steamy Kitchen’s Jaden Hair.)

My family loves peas every which way except for canned. What better way to please all than to stir-fry a combination of sugar snap, snow peas and shelled peas? Sometimes I’ll stand in the kitchen and just eat them straight out of the wok.

The peas cook at different times, so I add the sugar snap peas first. At my markets, fresh shelled peas are hard to find, so I often grab a bag of frozen peas. No need to defrost—just add them frozen right into the wok!

SERVES 4 AS SIDE DISH

1/2 lb sugar snap peas
1/2 lb snow peas
1/2 lb shelled peas (fresh or frozen)
1 teaspoon high-heat cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Pinch of sugar
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

1. Wash all the peas. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dalmore is a classic name in Scotch — located way up in north Scotland, just past Inverness and the Highlands — but one that has received little credit here in the colonies over the past decade or so. With a change from Jim Beam to a new marketing company, and an alliance with big daddy Southern Wine and Spirits for distribution, The Dalmore is trying to change its image here in the States.

Which is why I found fully-kilted Richard Patterson — Master Blender of The Dalmore’s parent company Whyte & Mackay — in my office, pouring much of The Dalmore’s line. Although most Scotch distilleries try to maintain a “house style” that’s consistent through the years and across different varieties, this was different. Each pour opened up a whole new range of textures and flavors, with a few subtle notes tying the line together.

Here’s the rundown: Read the rest of this entry »

(Read our profile of Steamy Kitchen’s Jaden Hair.)

Lettuce Cups

This dish is an experience in textures and sensations…the cool, crisp lettuce cups cradles the warm filling. As you take a bite, you’ll first taste the bright, sweet, juicy mandarin orange, then the savory chicken and then the crunch of water chestnuts and the mild bite of red onion.

The best part of this recipe is that the ingredients are so flexible. You can keep it light and use ground chicken or turkey, or try it with ground pork or ground beef—it’s totally up to you. My kids love this when I substitute diced green apples for the red onion. Try to dice the vegetables into roughly the same size so that they cook evenly and are easier to eat.

To make this dish a full meal, include 1 cup of cooked jasmine rice per person. My kids like to spoon the cooked rice along with the filling into their lettuce cups.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Look for three exclusive recipes from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook to be posted on the Daily Loaf today and tomorrow: Three Pea Stir-Fry, Thai-Style Chicken Flatbread, and Lettuce Cups.)

I first met Jaden Hair two years ago, in the drizzled, muddy parking lot of an organic farm stand. She came to my attention thanks to her blog — steamykitchen.com — which had hit the local Sarasota scene a mere six months before and had already garnered a national following. She had brought Spam-fried rice to the CL offices just because we commented on her site.

The two of us bought produce, hit the grocery store for seafood, then retired to a teaching kitchen at the now defunct Chef’s Table in Sarasota, where she whipped up Seared Scallops with Mango-Melon Salsa & Coconut Rice for our $20 Menu Challenge. I didn’t write about it then, but the scallops didn’t have a good sear, the rice was undercooked and the kitchen, by the end, was an unholy mess. A week later, I asked her to write a recipe column for CL.

Jaden has never been a restaurant chef, and never went to cooking school. Until just a couple of years before she started steamykitchen.com, in January 2007, she wasn’t even much of a home cook.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you didn’t know, Creative Loafing recently relocated its offices from Howard Ave. to Ybor, and staffers are psyched. No disrespect intended to SoHo, but our new digs are an easy walk from coffee, alcohol, food and music, not to mention the ample natural light and old-Florida brick architecture. It’s like waking up from a black-and-white dream.

But, like any large group of disparate individuals, the CL staff can’t settle on which bar should be our new home away from home (away from home). So you get to pick for us.

A few considerations before casting your vote: it has to be open by 5 p.m. at the latest, although earlier is better for those afternoon pick-us-ups; it has to be more a bar than a club — although live music is a plus; no cover charge.

Knowing that, where will you send us for our daily medicine? Vote after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

According to this Reuters article, “Hog producers have lost, on average, nearly $23 for each hog marketed since September 2009, ‘and things look bleak going forward,’ said NPPC president Don Butler at House Agriculture subcommittee hearing.”

You might want to blame this porcine problem on idiots who believe that they’ll contract H1N1 from ham, but the National Pork Producers Council website actually says that the industry has lost $23 per hog since September, 2007. What? Amidst the greatest outpouring of love for the humble pig by restaurant chefs, television food celebrities and people like me, pig ain’t selling?

Actually, sales haven’t been the real problem until recently. Grain prices started rising dramatically during the international food crisis that started a couple of years ago, thanks to the rise of environmentally unstable bio-fuels. And that grain makes up 60 percent of the cost of raising a hog, according to the NPPC. Add in a ban on U.S. pork imports by China and Russia — ostensibly because of H1N1, but more likely political maneuvering — and the industry suffers.

Why, you may ask, should I care? Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, maybe the recently launched Dunkin Donuts Kimchi or Lentils Curry Croquettes aren’t exactly donuts, per se, the fundamentals are there: stuffed, fried dough. And they take a spot right in the middle of the rest of the company’s sweet stuff.

Imagine if our domestic Dunkies took a more progressive stance and started offering international street food versions of their usual banal fare.

Here’s my fantasy menu: Read the rest of this entry »

Cafe Dufrain
3 stars
707 Harbour Post Drive, Tampa, 813-275-9701 or cafedufrain.com

One glance at Cafe Dufrain’s new menu — which is still evolving — and you can see where new chef Ferrell Alvarez has come from. Alvarez spent the last seven years next to Marty Blitz in the kitchens of Mise En Place, Chef de Cuisine in Tampa’s grande dame of modern American dining. He moved over the bridge to Harbour Island this summer to serve his own brand of cuisine in the casually elegant restaurant with expansive views across the water, at prices that are much more comfortable to the pocketbook than his former home.

I can recognize Blitz’s influence, though, just by reading Alvarez’s entree list, each entry topped by a bland protein — veal flank steak, Korean short ribs — followed by a procession of fabulous-sounding concoctions that always seem more interesting than the headliner. Polenta sandwich, duo of kimchi, “loaded” frites. Ordering becomes a gut-wrenching choice between groups of side dishes you don’t want to miss. Can I order several plates of accompaniments, hold the protein?

Those sides, which list ingredients and techniques that range from North African preserved lemon to the aforementioned kimchi, illustrate Alavarez’s excitement and vision. It’s modern food that flirts with trends without being trendy, unique enough to stand out in Tampa’s stifled dining scene, with a flair for gorgeous presentation on the table. All of that sets the bar rather high, however, for when you finally put fork to mouth. Read the rest of this entry »

The Food Network’s first mainstream video game — Cook Or Be Cooked ($39.99), for the Wii — is almost out. Just a glance at the title might make you think that it’s a cooking game, likely with a nasty cannibalistic undertone probably injected by Rachael Ray’s know predilection for “long pig”. But no, it’s both more and less than that.

Hitting stores on Nov. 3 — you have yours pre-ordered, I assume — Cook Or Be Cooked “is designed to teach players real, practical cooking skills using their Wii Remote and Nunchuk.” That means it will have a number of Wii-style mini-games where you flail your arms about attempting to Read the rest of this entry »

California will soon be host to the world’s smallest wine appellation, or legally designated wine region. The U.S. is already home to the largest appellation in the world, the ever-popular Upper Mississippi River Valley American Viticultural Area, which covers almost 30,000 square miles spread across four states, approved earlier this year by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Maybe they’re going for a Guinness Book of World Records spot?

The newly approved Happy Canyon AVA (happycanyonava.com), located inside California’s Santa Ynez Valley AVA and the huge Central Coast AVA, only encompasses eight vineyards, and only six of those — Cimarone, Grassini, Vogelzang, HCV, McGinley, and Star Lane — actually make wine. Why such a fiddling little designation, when the wineries involved could easily use the Santa Ynez Valley branding? Different micro-climate, different soil and, well, Happy Canyon sounds so much nicer than Santa Ynez, doesn’t it?

(Want to follow all of CL’s Food, Drink and Restaurant news? Bookmark the food section of the blog, add the CL Food RSS feed to your reader of choice, follow @BrianRies on Twitter, or check out the Food Section page multiple times daily.)

Gratzzi’s not dead yet! CineBistro ups the ante on beer and fries theaters! The Table will not be The Spot, or will it? Primi changes owners, but not much else!

Read on for all the details!

Gratzzi closed up shop in Baywatch a few weeks back, right around the same time that Pacific Wave closed on the other side of Downtown St. Pete. For Pacific Wave, the closure was about revenue, and the economy, and being tired of struggling in an industry that’s tough in the best of times. For Gratzzi, though, it was more about the fact that Baywalk is on life-support, with relatives eager to pull the plug and divide its meager posessions. Don’t count Gratzzi out. The Italian restaurant is planning to re-open in the former home of Pacific Wave before the end of the year, if things go well. Owner Domenic D’Angelo will scale back his upscale menu to concentrate on homier dishes that cater to diners’ reduced budgets, with the smaller space a better match for the more casual fare. Read the rest of this entry »

World Pasta Day? Sheesh, another holiday rammed through the legal system by those Hallmark lobbyists. I guess I better start working on my homemade dried pasta sheets printed with happy pasta day sentiments now, so they’ll make it through the mail system in time for the big day. How will you be celebrating this important holiday.

You could just send people over to Buca Di Beppo in Brandon and let them do the work for you.

On Monday, Oct. 26, diners will receive a free Read the rest of this entry »

Do not use the word inexpensive. It conveys entirely the wrong sentiment. Inexpensive is a word marketing gurus spout when selling low-end versions of high-end products. It’s a tool the wealthy use to determine socio-economic pecking order, to know when to sneer or raise an insouciant eyebrow, to peg poseurs striving for more than they can afford.

Inexpensive implies reduced quality.

Cheap, on the other hand, is a bargain. Getting something for less than it’s worth. The hallmark of value. And a prime criterion for students in search of dinner.

All three of these restaurants, scattered conveniently across the Bay area near local campuses, proudly serve flavorful, filling and — most importantly — cheap food. Nothing inexpensive about them.

Reviews after the break:

Ricky P’s Po Boys
3.5 stars
6521 4th St. N., St. Petersburg, 727-525-2023 or rickyps.com

Damn, if Ricky P’s Po’ Boys ($5.99-8.99) doesn’t just look the part. The tiny storefront on N. Fourth Street in St. Pete has barely enough parking to accommodate a lunch rush, a counter that’s so close to the front door you’ll likely be lining up outside, and just enough tables to tease you into thinking you’ll be able to eat your sandwich in comfort. It feels exquisitely cheap.

For a po’ boy joint, Ricky P’s has a fairly expansive selection of non-po’ sandwiches and hot dishes, including better than average gumbo based on a seriously expressive roux, beans and rice spiced by a prodigious amount of cayenne-infused andouille sausage, and the best jambalaya I’ve had in the Bay area. Maybe that’s not saying much, considering the lack of Big Easy eateries around town, but this moist, tomatoey rice would likely compete on equal footing with non-cheap options.

Ricky P’s sloppy roast beef is loaded with salty gravy that’ll soak the bun by the time you get your take-out home, like a Chicago beef dip that’s soaked from the inside out. Get it “ferdi”-style — with added ham and melted cheese — because, well, why not? The muffuletta is slathered in a damn fine spicy olive salad, the Cuban is typical and the cochon de lait — pulled pork topped by “cajun” slaw — is a backyard barbecue treat with almost enough juice to compete with the drippy beef sandwich.

Ricky P’s eponymous traditional po’ boys, although tasty, are actually the least exciting items on the menu. Stacked with lettuce and tomato and slathered in dressing, the fried shrimp or oysters are often cooked a little earlier to be ready for the lunch rush. When the seafood is fresh, hot and crunchy, the sandwiches are excellent. After a short rest in a steam tray, however, the sandwiches are merely good. Still cheap, though.

Tun-Du-Ree
3 stars
1506 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 813-251-2111 or tunduree.com

We originally wrote about Tun-Du-Ree ($3.99-7.99) several years ago, back when the little Indian take-out joint was still housed in a trailer in an empty lot near Interbay. Owner Bhava “Pat” Saravana spent a year looking for a permament spot, eventually finding one to his liking on Kennedy, between SoHo and Downtown. Gone was quaint and rustic in favor of Tun-Du-Ree’s new look: vibrant, well-designed and positively chain-like. The website even has a tab for “locations.” Plural.

The menu expanded as well, but on the whole the changes were more physical than culinary. Tun-Du-Ree’s food is still simple, tasty and cheap.

The restaurant’s heartier entrees — like vindaloo or korma — are stripped-down versions of what you’ll find at your neighborhood sit-down Indian spot, flavorful enough, but without the depth. Fast food.

You’re better off ordering the kinds of dishes that fast food joints do best, like Tun-Du-Ree’s deep-fried samosas, the dumplings covered in a crackling-crisp shell and stuffed with deeply spiced potatoes, or spinach and cheese. Parantha — a flatbread stuffed with lentils and griddled — is flaky and rich, with an immense amount of spicy heat that works wonders with bright mint sauces.

Tun-Du-Ree’s real bargains are the “snack” wraps loaded with seasoned and stewed chick peas, or the restaurant’s trademark roast chicken, stacked with fresh veggies and slathered in more of that mint sauce. Those are the kinds of sandwiches that’ll keep you from driving through the McD drive-through next door.

Jerk Hut
3 stars
207 E. Twiggs St., Tampa, 813-223-4473; 926 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, 813-977-5777 or jerkhut.com

The Jerk Hut ($5.99-12.99) was always a hidden gem in Tampa’s downtown business district, a dark den of flavorful foods stocked with rickety furniture and colorful characters. Then, they moved their northern location — out by USF — to a big new spot. Suddenly, that Jerk Hut has a mojito bar. Sunday brunch. Regular live music in a festive party-atmosphere.

Thankfully, the food is the same cafeteria-style Jamaican stews and curries that still make the downtown location a non-secretive secret hang-out.

At both spots, jerk is a worthy choice, the Hut’s take on the classic spice rub uncompromisingly potent in both spice and herbaceous punch, conveyed by chicken that manages to be juicy and tender no matter how long it appears to have sat in a steam tray.

Venture away from the chicken and you’ll find luscious oxtail stewed slowly until the bones’ gelatin infuses the tender meat and veggies; curried goat coated in fragrant spices that temper the pungent meat; and stewed veggies that make you understand how Rastafarians can endure being vegetarian.

Although the $15 cover charge almost breaks the “cheap” barrier, the Sunday brunch at the Fowler location is still an incredible deal if you plan on hanging out and eating all that you can eat.

(Want to follow all of CL’s Food, Drink and Restaurant news? Bookmark the food section of the blog, add the CL Food RSS feed to your reader of choice, follow @BrianRies on Twitter, or check out the Food Section page multiple times daily.)

Alton Brown is an odd poster boy for the modern Food Network. His Good Eats cooking show, which debuted on the network in 1999, is quirky. Incredibly informative. Culinarily wonky, even. Not the kind of thing you’d expect from the sanitized, simplified, housewife-friendly cooking channel that counts Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and Giada DiLaurentis’ cleavage as its primary stars.

But, somehow, Brown has been able to carve out a home on the Food Network as the resident Mr. Wizard of food, perfect as the knowledgeable color-man on Iron Chef America, or whenever the honchos need to trot out someone with both credibility and charisma. Good Eats continues to garner solid ratings and the recently released Good Eats: The Early Years ($37.50), a collection of recipes spanning the first six seasons of the show, will likely be a holiday cookbook success.

Back in 2002, after three solid seasons of incredible recipes based on serious culinary and scientific principles, Read the rest of this entry »

(Check out these other pumpkin recipes: Cassava Pone from Sayroo West Indian Market, Pumpkin Cheese Pie, Baked Pumpkin Pudding.)

Maybe you don’t want to the fuss of cutting into a pumpkin for homemade pie — those cans are so damn easy — but chances are you’ll be carving a jack-o-lantern for the front porch. Instead of scooping the slimy innards directly into the trash, save the seeds for a roasted treat that almost makes handling the slippery stuff worthwhile.

Here’s a basic technique to get you started, with a list of seasoning options to jazz up the seeds: Read the rest of this entry »

Pedigree:
Created in the 1930’s, this cheese is named after the famed violinist, capital punishment advocate, magistrate, food writer and wanted man Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. It’s de rigeur at this point to quote one of Brillat-Savarin’s famed culinary one-liners, so let’s go with: “A meal without some cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.” He loved his cheese, so it makes sense that a versatile triple-creme, Brie-ish cheese like this — which is easily worked into a variety of dishes and serving styles — should bear the man’s name.Brillat-Savarin is made from cow’s milk and comes in fresh versions and slightly aged styles that develop a natural, soft rind.

Taste:
If brie, Philly cream cheese, fresh chevre, and farmhouse butter engaged in unholy procreation, they would spawn a cheese like Brillat-Savarin. It is intensely rich, but with just enough zing to fool you into forgetting that you’re ingesting a massive amount of fat. Think Boursin, but refined, without all those fussy herbs and seasonings.

Uses:
Fresh Brillat-Savarin is one Read the rest of this entry »

WineBurgers
3 stars
1110 Pinellas Bayway, Tierra Verde, 727-865-0633 or wineburgers.com

If you want to eat out on Tierra Verde, there’s just one place to go. Smack dab in the middle of the island, right on the Pinellas Bayway, is downtown Verde, a strip mall and a half of restaurants that run the gamut from Chinese take-out to German schnitzel. And tucked into a hidden corner on the second floor of one of the buildings, next to a realtor and a spa, is WineBurgers.

It used to be Crazy Conch, a typical island-fine-dining spot most well-known (to me, anyway) for crab cakes good enough to win a Best of the Bay Award back in ‘08. Earlier this year, owners Michael Peel and Sally Herb closed down their seven-year old restaurant, rebranded, refocused and re-opened as WineBurgers.

It’s a simple concept — take hamburger standards, mix with great ingredients, execute well and serve with a wide variety of adult beverages. The formula has worked well over in Tampa at Square One, and has been all the rage in big cities for well over a decade. And WineBurgers has the basics of the concept down pat. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who’s seen Food, Inc. has witnessed the terrifying process by which some ground beef finds its way to supermarket shelves. Your backyard burger could come from different parts of several different cows, sometimes killed at separate slaughterhouses, perhaps mixed with a “mash-like product derived from scraps,” according to a recent NY Times article. Many of the cuts used for grinding by big producers like Cargill come from less popular parts off a cow, parts that may have more contact with the E. coli bacteria in feces. To fight contamination, some producers treat the meat with ammonia. Yum!

Unless you ask the grocer to grind the meat for you — using a slab of meat you pick right out of the case — it’s nigh impossible to determine what went into the grinder for your future meatballs, how long ago it was ground, and what it was treated with. Your best, cheapest, and tastiest choice is, as always, to do it yourself.

Here’s a simple guide to the fine art of home-made ground beef: Read the rest of this entry »

Sierra Nevada 2009 Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale
6.7% ABV, 24-ounce bottle

Sierra Nevada has always been the safety date for craft brew lovers, when they’re forced by circumstance to buy beer at grocery and liquor stores with limited selections. Partly, that’s due to this brewery’s amazing success at penetrating the market — it’s ubiquitous at almost any retailer that branches out even a little from American mega-brews. Partly, that’s because Sierra Nevada has been able to maintain craft-brew style throughout its 29 years of business, even as the brewery’s production has risen over 800,000 barrels per year.

The Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale represents both Sierra Nevada’s small-batch quality and its ability to market a schtick. The brewery has been making fresh hop beers for over a decade, shipping in newly-picked flowers from Washington State every fall that haven’t been dried or pelletized like much of the hops used for beer. Theoretically, that means more pronounced floral and drying notes from the fresh oils and resins, resulting in an annual ale that’s bright and bitter and distinctly seasonal. Turns out, once a year isn’t enough.

In 2008, Sierra Nevada expanded its fresh hop line to the spring, sourcing the powerful buds from South American growers (with their opposite growing season) to produce a brother for fall’s fresh beer. With the brewery a few weeks away from releasing the latest domestic version, it seemed time to put a cap on the Southern Hemisphere variety. Or, well, pop a cap, I guess. Read the rest of this entry »

Pedigree:

Beecher’s began in 2002, less like a farmhouse start-up than the cheesemaking equivalent of a brew pub. Owner Kurt Beecher Dammeier took over a space in the popular Pike Place Market in Seattle, complete with a fully exposed cheese kitchen and cafe. Now, using local milk from herds around Seattle, Beecher’s has racked up a wide array of national and international awards for its cheeses.

Beecher’s Flagship is stored covered, in 40-pound blocks, but every year some of the curds are set aside to make 18-pound reserve “truckles” (small wheels), which are aged in open air and develop a natural mold rind. Although almost identical to cheddar, the Flagship has an added culture (often used in Gruyere and Emmental cheeses) that diminishes bright acidity and accents richness.

Taste:

The first taste of Beecher’s Flagship Reserve is a slap in the face for all those pounds of supermarket cheese you’ve bought over the course of your life, a multitude of flavors and textures assaulting your senses. Read the rest of this entry »

St. Pete’s The Table has ridden a rollercoaster of ups and (mostly) downs since it opened just two years ago. (The long tale, in chronological order: here, here, here, and here.) The original owners walked away from the place, then a new team of owners stepped in, chefs came and went, then the ownership shifted again.

It looks like more change is on the way. According to newish operating partner Andrew “Wilko” Wilkins, the restaurant will cease using The Table as its moniker after tomorrow night, and will close for approximately one week before re-opening as a “new restaurant tentatively named ‘THE’ Place, along side its new companion ‘THE’ Place To Go.”

Chef J. Ward will remain in the kitchen, and will spearhead a menu change that will Read the rest of this entry »

Since revamping CL’s online food section at the beginning of the year, we’ve been lucky to recruit a cadre of talented home cooks and serious chefs to contribute their favorite recipes. If you’re a regular of the site, you’ve seen them stream through every week, often with gorgeous food-porn-worthy photography to illustrate the potential rewards of your kitchen labors.

Now, it’s even easier to find something good to cook for dinner. We’ve taken all of the recipes CL has printed online and in the paper over the past five years and compiled them in a comprehensive CL Cookbook with over 200 tasty, ready-to-make treats. Browse through and plan a week’s worth of meals before your trip to the grocery store, or just search out something special to spice up an upcoming dinner party. It’s even divided into categories to make things easier.

Whether you’re looking for a simple breakfast frittata for a weekend brunch (there are four different versions listed), need a special dessert to compensate for a particularly trying day, want tips on cooking the perfect steak, or would rather see a professional chef do a video demo than read a dry recipe, The CL Cookbook should be your first stop.From rabbit to chicken, Ethiopian to Italian, we’ve got you covered.

To inaugurate the launch of The CL Cookbook, Read the rest of this entry »

That’s right, food is the biggest draw at the Florida State Fair, according to a survey by Wilson Media Group. Rides, being fleeced by carnies, and that weird exhibition hall filled with odd home-based businesses didn’t even make the top two. In fact, more than 50% of the respondents claimed they go to the fair for the food and livestock (which is really pre-processed food, if you think about it).

Bigger version of the pie chart (mmm, pie) after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

Marrakech Restaurant
2.5 stars
2402 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa, 813-258-9100

Philippe and Nassira Coriou, husband and wife owners of Marrakech Restaurant in Tampa, come from separate continents, across the Mediterranean Sea. She’s Moroccan, he’s French, two nationalities that have an entwined history apparent to anyone who’s seen Casablanca. And, although Philippe is a classically trained French chef, the menu at Marrakech is almost entirely devoted to the cuisine of his wife’s homeland.

That means rich dishes that blend sweet and savory on the same plate, often using dried fruit like prunes, aromatic spices like cinnamon and less common ingredients like preserved lemon. Entrees are divided between humble couscous topped with rich meats and stewed vegetables; elegant pastry pockets called pastilla, stuffed with vegetables, chicken or seafood; and an array of dishes served in the impressive, portable clay ovens called tagine.

And, like Tampa’s recent flirtation with Ethiopian food at Queen of Sheba and the defunct Abol Bunna, it’s traditional. Perhaps too traditional. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of its survival-mode restructuring campaign, Conde Nast announced today that it is shutting down production of four of its magazines, including big name brands Gourmet and Modern Bride, as well as Cookie and Elegant Bride. There have been rumors about Gourmet’s demise for almost a year now, and in the first half of this year its ad pages had fallen by almost 50%.

So what becomes of Gourmet honcho Ruth Reichl? Maybe she can don the drag again and usurp Sam Sifton as the new NYT restaurant critic for a second tour of duty?

Here’s a sad note: There’s still a pop-up on the Gourmet site asking if you want to subscribe. And where will I go to find absurdly complicated, poorly designed recipes?!

Pedigree:
Ubriaco — Italian for drunken — originated in the Veneto, when wine and must (the crushed grape leavings after juice has been drained out for wine) from local wineries was an easier and cheaper way to preserve cheeses. This particular version of the cow’s milk cheese is soaked in must and wine from local moscato production for few days and then aged for around 8 months, giving the previously soft cheese a firmer texture and a golden rind flecked with dried grape skins.

Taste:
This ubriaco starts with a surprisingly sharp bite that immediately mellows into a tropical sweetness that tastes markedly of pineapple. Near the rind, the intensity of that fragrant fruit is almost overwhelming, while the center of slices from a wheel of Ubriaco al Moscato Read the rest of this entry »

Ybor brewery Cigar City has rocked the beer world since its first release last year, with ratings on beer review sites that put some of its brews at the top of the heap, along with widespread critical acclaim. Now the local brewery can add another bauble to its trophy case.

In the annual Great American Beer Festival National Beer Competition, Cigar City’s Cedar-aged Humidor Series India Pale Ale took a gold medal for the Wood Aged Beer category. Here’s a quote from judge and UK beer writer Melissa Cole that sums up why: Read the rest of this entry »

400 Beach Seafood and Tap House
3 stars
400 Beach Dr., St. Petersburg, 727-896-2400

An estimated 2,000 people reportedly showed up for the opening celebration at 400 Beach, suggesting that this new restaurant on Beach Drive in St. Pete was destined to become a hip, upscale mecca for movers and shakers, not for the hoi polloi. But the latest project of Parkshore Grill’s Steve Westphal — housed in a bayfront spot briefly infamous as the aborted home of a restaurant from lying Food Network chef Robert Irvine — isn’t that kind of place. A few weeks after the opening, on a typical weekday night, there are young kids bouncing in booths, strollers parked next to outdoor tables, and a wide gamut of St. Pete residents drinking beer and downing fish in a spot that is suprisingly more mid-range than chic.

The biggest surprise is the price: dinner entrees range from $12 to $30 with most firmly in the mid-teens. When it comes to the decor and the drinks, the surprises are a tad less happy. Read the rest of this entry »

India Grill — the popular St. Pete Indian restaurant — is back in downtown, on Central Ave. in the spot formerly occupied by Leafy Greens Cafe and The Kitchen. It’s the same as before, just moved a few blocks. Check out some of the dishes below (many more pictures — by jamesostrand.com — after the break):

Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, craft and macro-brewers alike have seized upon a formula that’s worked for the greeting card industry and the Food Network for years now: holiday-themed product. It’s an easy sell for Hallmark and its ilk, and televised cooking shows have made a good go of showcasing cooking focused more on big holidays than seasonal ingredients. But beer? Shoehorning iconic flavors into brews — available for a limited time only! — seems more of a stretch.

Which brings us to the spate of pumpkin ales hitting the market right about … now. There are dozens available, with flavors derived from fresh pumpkin, pumpkin puree or the usual formula of scientifically-derived pumpkin essence. And, as usual, the better the ingredient, the better the beer.

Post Road Pumpkin Ale — from the exciting Brooklyn Brewery — and Wolaver’s Will Stevens’ Pumpkin Ale both go the all-natural route, using whole pumpkins blended directly into the mash. Read the rest of this entry »

400 Beach Seafood and Tap House (400 Beach Dr., St. Petersburg, 727-896-2400)
This new restaurant by Steve Westphal (of Parkshore Grill), is in the the spot made famous as the potential home of a restaurant by lying Food Network chef Robert Irvine. 400 Beach’s focus is on seafood in almost all its forms, from baskets of fried clams to raw oysters to fish en papilote.

Take a look. (Pictures by jamesostrand.com.)

Many more pictures after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

Nola Cafe
2 Stars
301 W. Platt St., Tampa, 813-258-8778 or nolacafe.com
(See all recent restaurant reviews.)

You can see Nola Cafe from the Crosstown Expressway, if you’re looking at the right spot, but finding it while cruising down Platt is tough unless you happen to see the rustic, handpainted signs promising “Po’ Boys!” and “Jambalaya!” The little cafe is hidden in an awkward strip mall facing the pharmacy drive-through of a Walgreens, tucked into the back, the kind of spot you hear about and track down. In the Bay area, New Orleans cuisine is like that — rare, almost secret, with little of the fanfare that sprang up a few years ago after Katrina.

In unfortunate good timing, Nola opened a year before the hurricane devastated owner Louis Robert Jr.’s Louisiana home town. After the storm, the restaurant easily turned into a hub for New Orleans expats and well-wishers who wanted to eat and talk their way through the tragedy. It has the right vibe for that, with a newsstand tucked into a former closet, well-worn furniture and jazz standards playing through the speakers. Robert works his way through the closely arranged tables, talking up his restaurant’s inspiration and letting “le bon temps rouler.” With his help, Nola feels like the Morning Call Coffee Stand that was the restaurant’s New Orleans inspiration.

The food, however, is a much paler homage to New Orleans. Read the rest of this entry »

Toasted Pheasant Bistro (14445 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., Tampa, 813-265-6700 or toastedpheasant.com) has always been generous when it comes to wine dinners, but this one reaches new lows. Or highs? The only caveat is that the wines are all from Virginia — Kluge Estate, to be exact — which may be either a positive or a negative, depending on your personal level of wine snobbery.

Full details and menu after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

There’s only one of Harold Seltzer’s (of Sam Seltzer fame) new Cuban sandwich chain concept, but it’s already good enough — and authentic enough — to put Tampa’s handheld icon on the map the way Outback popularized Australia’s traditional deep-fried whole onion.

4424 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 813-287-6662, finestcubansandwich.com.

Really, just take the time to step a half-block off your downtown St. Pete Central Avenue restaurant crawl and you’ll find, or rediscover, one of the best restaurants in the Bay area. Primi’s inexpensive, classic Italian cuisine — filtered through the South African heritage of owners Arno and Irene Von Waltsleben —­­ is simple stuff, founded on chef Arno’s ability to squeeze deep flavor into every sauce. The sun-dried tomato tapenade is worth killing for. We’ve done it. 27 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg, 727-895-4909, primiurbancafe.com.

Although chef/owner Zack Gross has dished up fine food at Z Grille for years, this year saw such a quantum shift in the downtown St. Pete restaurant that it deserves rookie status. First, a move down the street and around the corner to beautiful digs in the Signature Place building, where artful interpretations of Gross’ love for tattoos and skateboards give the place a casual but refined vibe. Then, the food, which has morphed from Baja-Mex to imaginative, modern American cuisine that ranges from elegant to playful. With those changes, Z Grille has become the destination for foodies in the crowded St. Pete restaurant market.

104 Second St. St. Petersburg, 727-822-9600 or zgrille.net.

He’s been profiled in Southern Living, garnered the highest Zagat food rating in the Bay area, and owns three restaurants and a chocolate-making facility. But have you ever heard of David Miller? He is a humble culinary wunderkind still in his 20s who produces exceptionally beautiful and tasty fare at his high-end prix-fixe Savant Fine Dining and the more casual Cities Restaurant next door in Clearwater. Check him out and you’ll start singing his praises, too.

The meat at Council Oak — stacked in a gigantic, glass-walled room in the foyer — is prime, aged and exquisite. Here, though, that’s just a starting point. The rest of the food, from subtle, brothy soups to classic steakhouse sides, easily competes with the finest non-steakhouse restaurants. And once you navigate past the obstacle course of Hard Rock slots, Council Oak will soothe your soul with a modern dining room that few non-casino restaurants in the area can compete with.

5223 Orient Rd., Tampa, 813-627-7625 or hardrockhotelcasinotampa.com.

It takes an obsessive to impress and obsessive. Peter Taylor’s pies may be the culmination of two decades of research and development, but it’s the love he puts into crafting each one that shines through. He cultivates his own yeast, makes his own mozzarella, grows his own herbs and won’t trust anyone else to man the wood-fired oven that gives the joint its name. The result are thin pies that are near perfect, from the simple margerita to interesting combinations like pistachio and rosemary. Count us impressed.

Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar, 2822 E. Bearss Ave., Tampa, 813-341-2900

Yesterday, the USDA announced a new initiative — called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” — aimed at linking consumers with local agricultural products. The organization said that there’d be $65 million in funding for the program announced within the next week.

Impressive? Sure, but keep that number in perspective. The USDA’s 2010 budget will likely top $134 billion, making KYFKYF a meager .5% of total expenditures. And that’s only if we assume that $65 million will be spent in a single year, which, likely, it won’t.

Perhaps the most exciting quote from the press release, however, is a promise to Read the rest of this entry »

Wear yellow from head to toe and cluck like a chicken for a free 1/4 chicken value meal at Pollo Tropical today, September 15. Why? Just because.

I have to give kudos to this chicken chain for their constant and unrelenting free-food promotions. Finally, they’re rewarding the small percentage of people who look good in yellow and practice barnyard imitations.

Press release after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

• The Table is in the midst of another shake-up, with 717 South Michael Stewart, former GM Joe Moledo out and Andrew Wilkins (formerly of Mad Fish and Ceviche) in as GM. This comes after a long history of turmoil, including the loss of chef Pedro Flores earlier this year. Looks like the restaurant’s new thrust will be for lower price points and fewer staff changes. (Mouth)

• Ella’s Folk Art Cafe, the first of a new generation of restaurant slated to open in Tampa and Seminole Heights, started serving this past weekend.

The Columbia, OktoBEERfest, Domenica Macchia, and Grattzi’s after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

After a long wait, the first in a series of new restaurants slated for Seminole Heights and Tampa Heights opened over this past weekend.

Ella’s Folk Art Cafe (5119 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa, 813-234-1000) looks like it has the right funky vibe to fit in with the Seminole Heights crowd, along with outdoor seating (albeit next to Nebraska) and an eclectic American menu that ranges from beer-battered, deep-fried jalapenos stuffed with pulled pork, cheddar and cream cheese to “beet box and veggie pot pie”, whatever that is. There’s also pizza, salad, and soups; a small but very capable beer list; and a Sunday brunch/neighborhood barbecue.

Open for dinner, Tuesday-Saturday, with daylight hourse on Sunday.

In last night’s episode of Top Chef Las Vegas, Atlanta chef Kevin Gillespie became cheftestant royalty as he sat down for dinner alongside a panel of crazy famous French chefs, including the chef of the century “unicorn” Joel Robuchon. Kevin’s take on snails paired with southern inspired bacon jam (“I think you could put bacon jam on anything and you’re golden”) won him the affection of guest judge Daniel Boulud and, in a very cool twist, the opportunity to clean up, don a suit (production actually bought him a new one), and eat rather than cook during the elimination challenge.

Bacon didn’t work as well for Frenchman Mattin, whose embarrassing bacon infused veloute landed him at the loser’s table. While it was too obvious Mattin would fail the challenge (just how much country-pride pressure can you put on one neckerchiefed man?), it was surprising that he didn’t take more heat, or responsibility, for his role in the dish. After lying at judge’s table about his level of input on Ashley’s ideas (he volunteered his disapproval of the asparagus, but didn’t cop up that he vetoed putting it in the sauce, a suggestion Tom had liked), Mattin showed that even in a challenge geared towards his strengths (“I think they make a challenge just for me”), he wasn’t much of a chef. At least Robuchon complimented his French.

The rest of the evening’s French sounded too Americaine Read the rest of this entry »

After a break for the past couple of weeks, Brian invites Grayson and Alex from GNATV.com to come in and talk about their new season of video restaurant reviews and such. They’re embarking on a four-episode adventure into the fine art of backyard gardening, mainly so Grayson can sate his incredible appetite for parsnips.

We also talk about Brian’s Smorgasbord IKEA stories, and next week’s Best of the Bay debut party. Buy your tickets now!

Download the episode here.

(This is the third installment of our week-long Smorgasbord IKEA series.)

After a week eating out of IKEA’s grocery store, I was impressed by the amount of food I tried that I’d actually make a trip to buy again, whether or not I’m picking up an area rug or cartload of picture frames.

Here are my picks for must-haves, must-nots and must-experience for yourself:

The Good

Frozen desserts: Across the board, these Swedish versions of Mrs. Smith’s were tasty enough to justify the purchase, although perhaps not enough to make Ikea a weekly stop. Standouts were Tarta Mork Choklad — a dark chocolate-covered thin cake with hints of espresso, reminiscent of tiramisu — and balls of fluff and chocolate that are essentially gigantic mallomars the size of your fist.

Candy: Read the rest of this entry »

(Part 2 of our Smorgasbord: IKEA series.)

Lingonberry and elderberry syrups take up a lot of space on the IKEA grocery shelves, for good reason. The tart, cranberry-like flavor of lingonberries is perfect when dropped into a glass of sparkling water, while the elderberry will produce a more fragrant, softer spritzer that’s sweeter and more delicate. Both are also incredible ingredients for cocktails. IKEA’s lingonberry syrup is powerful stuff, so works best with bland liquor like vodka, while elderberry’s subtle herbacious, floral perfume works best with gin (and some gins use elderberry as one of the botanicals that give that British quaff its flavor).

Experiment, but here are a few recipes to get you started at your next Swedish-themed happy hour or crayfish party:

The Allen Wrench
1 part lingonberry syrup
1 part vodka
Squeeze of lime
Soda water
This is a simple, refreshing quaff suitable for quenching the mighty thirst and incipient frustration that results from furniture assembly.

Bergman Royale
3 parts inexpensive Champagne or sparkling wine
1 part elderberry syrup
Like the actress, this cocktail is subtle, multi-faceted and will melt the hearts of even the most grizzled North African nightclub owner.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Read the rest of this entry »

My nightly meal is brought to you courtesy of IKEA, food served on simple, gleaming white ARV plates, cut and delivered using SVIT utensils, with lemonade sipped from chunky POKAL tumblers. If we’re feeling saucy, or it’s a weekend night, there may be Cotes Du Rhone or Spanish grenache in OPTIMAL stems, or shaken Bombay Sapphire poured into a curvaceous SKIR.

My young son prefers the brightly colored KALAS ensemble, demanding a different hue for each utensil — although the plate and glass can match, if necessary.

But the food? Never Swedish.

We eat the Swedish meatballs doused in creamy gravy when we visit the store, sure, but I’d never made the leap to actually shopping for food at IKEA, as if it was an ethnic grocery store instead of a temple to inexpensive, northern European apartment design. Until this week. Read the rest of this entry »

Domenica Macchia is on the move. Again. This week, my favorite fast-talking, passionate chef will take over the kitchen at Bella Brava, replacing outgoing chef  Trevor Lyman at the modern Italian restaurant on downtown St. Pete’s Central Avenue.

New Bella Brava co-owner Mike Harting (fresh from a long career with Outback Steakhouse), started looking for a new chef a couple of months ago. Macchia — who’s first generation Italian, and tried to get a job at Bella Brava in the restaurant’s early days — was the right fit. She left Diner 437 this past weekend, after opening the gastro-diner to pretty much universal local acclaim a few months back.

So, of course, I woke her up this morning to get her thoughts. She’s worried about people thinking she’s switching jobs too much, and doesn’t want to say anything bad about her previous employers, but most of all she’s happy. Excited. Even when she’s groggy from sleep, talking to Macchia is like talking to a culinary machine-gun:

Why’d you leave Diner 437? Read the rest of this entry »

Swing by the Ravioli Company on your way home and order your favorite shape; they’ll pull fresh pasta from the fridge and slice it to order, all for less than $5 a pound. Throw in a salad and a container of sauce and you have a home-cooked meal actually cooked (largely) in your home. And, likely, it will be better, cheaper and quicker than if you tried raid the pantry.

Ravioli Company, 3413 S. Manhattan Ave., Tampa, 813-254-2051

[About Daily Best of the Bay: From now through mid-September, CL writers and editors are providing sneak peeks of some of their selections in advance of the Best of the Bay Issue Sept. 16. The polls are now closed for the Readers' Poll portion of Best of the Bay, but you'll find all the winners in the BOTB issue. See you at The Loafies on Sept. 15!]

We blind-tasted American Wagyu, Prime, organic and Choice from several different stores and Sweetbay’s basic New York strip  — the cheapest of the bunch — was our judges’ clear favorite. Great beef flavor, tender texture and enough fat to satisfy. Go figure.

[About Daily Best of the Bay: As we approach the Best of the Bay issue on Sept. 16 (and The Loafies the night before), CL writers and critics are posting some of their Best-of selections for 2009. You've still got time to vote for your own favorites; the Readers' Poll deadline is tomorrow at noon.]

That’s right, Domino’s Pizza will commemorate the latest triple number repeating date with free $25 gift cards to people celebrating birthdays on that vaguely historic date. Don’t think you need to buy the company’s ubiquitous and forgettable pizza with that free cash, though. Domino’s has also added Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes to their repertoire –

“oven-baked chocolate cakes, crunchy on the outside, with rich warm flowing chocolate fudge inside. Inspired by a combination of chocolate and textures, Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes satisfy chocolate cravings.”

But, this free food comes with a catch:
Details after the break – Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: Voting extended to Noon on Wednesday!

Most of the races are still so close, anyone can win! (Except best steakhouse — it would take a beefy miracle to unseat Bern’s.) Vote now!

Here are some of the categories you should pay especial attention to: Read the rest of this entry »

Linguine with a pink shrimp sauce
From Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta.
(Read our interview with Giuliano Hazan.)

This is a very elegant sauce that is traditionally served with seafood-filled ravioli. A portion of the shrimp are chopped very fine, giving the sauce a consistency similar to meat sauce. Parsley at the end adds lightness and fragrance.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

¾ pound large shrimp
2 medium cloves garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup dry white wine
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound linguine
6–7 sprigs flat-leaf Italian parsley
1 cup heavy cream

Read the rest of this entry »

Tagliatelle with chickpeas
From Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta.
(Read our interview with Giuliano Hazan.)

One of the restaurants we enjoy going to when we are in Valpolicella, the wine country outside of Verona, is Alla Rosa Alda, in the tiny hilltop town of San Giorgio. One of their specialties is a pasta dish they call “tagliatelle embogonè” in the local dialect. It is homemade egg noodles with a sauce of fresh cranberry beans. When I was growing up, my mother made a soup with chickpeas, tomatoes and rosemary that I loved. Taking inspiration from Alla Rosa Alda’s dish, I’ve adapted that chickpea soup here, into a pasta sauce that is now one of our favorites at home.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Read the rest of this entry »

It would be easy to paint Giuliano Hazan’s success as an appendix to his mother’s career. Marcella Hazan penned the seminal Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which Jeffrey Steingarten predicted would “become the essential Italian cookbook for an entire generation.” He was right.

But it wasn’t — quite — his mother’s name that allowed Giuliano to carve out a career as a cooking instructor and cookbook author. Although this Sarasota resident has won multiple awards for both his teaching and writing, instructed thousands of people in the art of cooking at home, and has become an authority on Italian cuisine in his own right (Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta hits shelves next week), he never planned on a life in the kitchen.

“I GREW UP eating well,” Hazan explains, “but I didn’t really start cooking until I went away to college.” While an undergrad, Hazan planned to follow in his mother’s footsteps in an entirely different fashion — as a biology major. Marcella has doctorates in natural sciences and biology, and worked as a researcher before she embarked on a cooking career. That mother-son similarity — in science, at least — was short-lived.

“I was interested in theater,” says Hazan, “but I ended up majoring in French literature almost by default.” He pursued a theater career for a couple of years in Providence, R.I., but barely got his feet wet before he stepped back into the family business and started teaching cooking classes of his own. It was familiar territory after spending some of his teenage years assisting at his mother’s cooking school in Italy’s culinary capital, Bologna.

Read the rest of this entry »

Voting is hot and heavy whenever hardwood smoke and succulent pork get into the mix. After a lot of votes cast, Best Barbecue is still up in the air, with two frontrunners and a whole lot of possible upset contenders close behind. Voting ends monday, so get on the ball, wipe your hands, and vote for the ribs you can’t live without!

Leaders and vote tallies after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

Folks who might not think twice about who has the best pizza or where to go for a splurge meal are passionate about the best places to stop by for a cold one after work. Where everybody knows your name. And, maybe, they’re always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same.

Where is that for you? See the frontrunners after the break — and the voting is damn close in this race — or just make your mark before voting ends on Monday! Read the rest of this entry »

Unlike many of the races in our ongoing Best of the Bay Readers’ Poll, this one isn’t all that close. With an astounding 200+ votes, Cappy’s is running away with the prize. However, there’s still time for the other big vote-getters — like Sally O’Neal’s, Mellow Mushroom, Joey Brooklyn’s, and Westshore – or even spots who haven’t tried, to mobilize support and get the vote out over the weekend, before voting ends Monday.

Just three days left to support your favorite pizza joint — plenty of time to tip the scales. Vote now!

Oops, she did it again. And she really, really shouldn’t have.

In last night’s Vegas-style battle of the sexes, the girls served up a heaping helping of repeats – an impressive feat for the second episode – practically handing fuel to Michael Isabella’s fire. Eve, the Midwest complicated/simple girl, served the judges and a cabana full of bachelors underseasoned and over-complicated (not to mention over-cooked) shrimp, this time with salsa instead of curry, and still couldn’t explain a lick of it. Jesse came up with another decent idea for chicken and did everything wrong again. Not even Jennifer’s snotty octopus ceviche could save the day for the girls’ team, Read the rest of this entry »

This is the time when all the spectacular new restaurants that have opened in the past year can shine and all of Tampa Bay can snub our collective noses at the poor economy. But only one worthy spot can win, and the race is close.

Two St. Pete spots — Diner 437 and Queenshead Eurobar — are in the lead, but there’s still plenty of time to shift victory in this close race to another restaurant. Time to mobilize and vote!

Is your favorite spot in the running? Here’s are the leaders in the race so far, with their current tallies: Read the rest of this entry »

I reviewed the new Queenshead Eurobar — essentially more a gastropub than a bar, Euro or otherwise — yesterday, and liked the place quite a bit, thanks to food from chef Chris Greer and gregarious owners Paul Smith and Darren Conner. It’s a great addition to the Grand Central district with a distinctly neighborhood vibe to the clientele, although the place is good enough to become a destination for other St. Pete residents.

Here’s a more expansive look at the new place, and its food, thanks to photographer jamesostrand.com and amateur videographer David Warner:

Queenshead is housed in a '50s era gas station, which means covered seating in the former home of the pumps.

Read the rest of this entry »

Queenshead Eurobar
3.5 stars
2501 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-498-8584
Photos by JamesOstrand.com. Also check out our photo and video montage of Queenshead.

How lightly do I have to tread in this review? For a straight writer, reviewing a largely gay bar and restaurant owned by two gay men — called Queenshead, for God’s sake — is tough to do without resorting to stereotypes and puns. Thankfully, the food is good enough — and the scene inclusive enough — to make all that filler moot.

The owners are British ex-pats Paul Smith and Darren Conner. Conner has experience working in the restaurant and bar scene across the world, from England to Cambodia, while Smith has a past life as an art director for tabloids like the National Enquirer and The Daily Mirror. Queenshead’s menu is more straightforward than either of those former careers might indicate.

It’s largely British gastropub fare peppered by American fine-dining influence, with dishes that range from seared scallops with brussels sprouts and bacon to chicken curry with a corn fritter. And, considering that many people will see Queenshead as more of a bar and scene spot, much of the food is better than expected. Props to chef Chris Greer, who worked under Domenica Macchia last year at MJ’s. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the culture surrounding celebrity chefs that’s sprung up in recent years worldwide, our own local culinary heroes usually spend much of their time behind the line instead of in front of the cameras. Our annual Best of the Bay Readers’ Poll is your chance to recognize your favorite knife-wielding madman (or madwoman)!

Right now, the race is tight. Here’s a rundown on the top vote-getters so far: Read the rest of this entry »

The GammaTesting.com guys dive deep into this ’90’s-era, comic-inspired, morally-devoid, open-world, super-dude action game and revel in the freedom of movement and wide range of epic combat options. Of course, no amount of car-throwing, copter-jacking or disease-tendrilizing can overcome brutal and blatantly manipulative boss fights, like the final one in Prototype.

Still, epic is good. Listen up! (Then check out all the other Gamma Testing episodes.)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep15: Prototype

Jackson Street Bistro
2.5 stars
401 E. Jackson St., Tampa, 813-412-5777

People have long lamented downtown Tampa’s forlorn nighttime dining scene, but now that dinner is on a comeback thanks to places like Rawbar, what’s next for urban dining? Jackson Street Bistro — a new spot recently opened in the SunTrust building by the owners of East Lake Cafe in Palm Harbor — might hold the answer.

Although casual downtown restaurant options have been on the rise over the past few years, there are few spots for a classy breakfast or lunch unless you want to head to a hotel. That may explain the sort of shocked surprise on my face the first time I stepped into Jackson Street Bistro. I expected a simple salad-and-sandwich cafe and found a place that was chic enough to be fine-dining, with a long bar, floor-to-ceiling windows and a nice outdoor courtyard. It was loud, the kitchen was in the weeds, and the servers were scrambling to stay ahead of the tide of people that mobbed the place. On a Tuesday. At noon.

One of the reasons for the crowd might be Read the rest of this entry »

Malio Prime’s: Finlandia martinis are $2, every weekday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., along with half-price steaks that range from the 8-ounce filet ($17) to the bone-in ribeye ($21). That special also runs during Saturday night early bird, from 5-7 p.m. From 3-7 p.m. on weekdays, there’s also a new bar menu special with shrimp, burger, fried mozzarella, onion rings or bacon for $5 each.

Now of any other great restaurant deals? Let us know.

Now, the events:

Tuesday, August 18: The Lobster Pot
Dinner and Fine Wine Tasting. Chandon Wines (yeah, the Moet folks of rap video fame) host this lavish tasting that includes a menu of lobster ceviche, oysters, Jamaican jerk shrimp and scallops, pan seared sea bass, grilled lamb chops and key lime pie, each accompanied by specially selected varietals from the Chandon family of wines. $75. 6:30 p.m., 17814 Gulf Blvd., Redington Shores (727-291-8532) Read the rest of this entry »

Saigon Deli’s four varieties of Vietnamese Banh Mi — meatball, beef, roast pork, pate — all have the same garnish piled on crusty French-style bread: lightly pickled carrots, cucumber and daikon radish; a heaping mass of bright green cilantro; sliced, fresh jalapenos. A simple combination, but those ingredients contain three of the four fundamental facets of most Southeast Asian cuisine: spice from the jalapeno, sour from the pickle, sweet from the veggies. Add savory and salty meat, and you’ve hit the jackpot, all for a mere $2.99. It almost justifies the years of French colonial influence over Vietnam.

Saigon Deli, 3692 W. Waters Ave., Tampa, 813-932-0300

[About Daily Best of the Bay: Creative Loafing is posting writers' and editors' picks for Best of the Bay 2009 each day until the BOTB issue is released on Sept. 16. Vote now for your own BOTB choices in our Readers' Poll!]

The McDonald’s Mega Tomago Big Mac alternative: three beef patties, one Egg McMuffin-style egg, two slices of bacon. I though the Japanese were supposed to be healthy eaters.

Although Lenny’s (in Clearwater) has dominated this Best of the Bay Readers’ Poll category in recent years, current vote totals peg this race as one of the closest in the Food and Drink category. Lenny’s, Frog Pond, Daily Eats, Nicko’s, Pach’s Place, Pink Flamingo, Pinky’s, Skyway Jack’s, and Village Inn are all neck-and-neck for second place, while national chain First Watch has a commanding (but beatable) lead.

Are Tampa Bay’s morning-food fans going to let a chain (albeit one that started in Florida) win this award? And where is Lenny’s notorious get-out-the-vote campaign?

There’s still two weeks to propel your favorite spot to the top in this hotly contested race (the poll ends Aug. 31).

Vote now, and tell your personal Best Breakfast restaurant to get out the vote!

(Photo from Fin Fahey/Flickr.)

Can a game succeed solely because of pop-culture fandom? Thankfully, Ghostbusters manages to capture enough ghost-wranglin’ gameplay that we don’t have to answer that question. We love the plot, find some fault with the repetitive — occasionally brutal — gameplay, and appreciate the light hand with Ghostbusters 2 fan service.

So, does bustin’ make the GammaTesting.com guys feel good? Sure. Good, but not great.

Listen up! (Then check out all the other Gamma Testing episodes.)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep14: Ghostbusters

Datz Deli: Salt of the Earth. Despite what some may say, Datz wants to teach you that “from fleur de sel to kosher, all salts are not created equal.” Learn how to use this humble ingredient to enhance the flavors of every bite you eat. Free. 6 p.m., 2616 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa (813-831-7000)

Z Grille: Offers 1/2 price bottles of wine every Monday, to go with its fantastic food, which you can enjoy on the cheap as well with this new happy hour food deal: Read the rest of this entry »

This week, Brian and Taylor invite CL editor David Warner in to talk about his bandwagon-jumping Beef Bourgignon experiment — and why the Bourgignon part should be ignored. Brian raves over Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar — despite the lack of wine — and Taylor goes stream of consciousness about a chardonnay and steak matchup.

Download the episode here.

Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar
4 stars
2822 E. Bearss Ave., Tampa, 813-341-2900

It’s tough to maintain a passion for food when confronted with the daily grind of running a restaurant. But some people manage to maintain the joy that comes with working in something as artistic, useful and necessary as food, even amidst the nagging details of the business. Usually, that passion is reflected in what comes out of the kitchen.

You can taste it in every pie served at the new Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar in northeast Tampa. Owner and pizza-maker Peter Taylor has a stock phrase to sum up his goal in starting the small shop: “I’m monetizing my passion.” Read the rest of this entry »

(This is the first in a series of posts where we look behind the curtain at how omnivores, vegetarians, vegans and raw-foodists justify what they eat. No value judgments, just information.)

If you chose a vegetarian lifestyle to avoid playing a part in the millions of animal deaths necessary for meat production, you’d better put down that hard-boiled egg. If you eat mass-market, free-range, organic or local eggs — or even raise some chickens in your backyard — you are contributing to the slaughter of potentially hundreds of millions of chickens every year.

Eggs only come from hens — female chickens. Seems obvious, but have you stopped to think what happens to all the roosters born in hatcheries? Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve expressed my disdain — if not actual dislike — for flavored drinks, and for vodka in general, so perhaps I’m not the ideal person to review this newish flavor from Finnish liquor company Finlandia. Or maybe my love for the hearty Fins and the frozen tundra they call home will counteract those ill feelings towards anything as silly and inappropriate as cramming aromatic nonsense into bland ethyl alcohol.

Oh, um, perhaps I betrayed my feelings there. It’s just difficult to have sympathy for any nation that can concoct a flavor as profoundly odd as the one that wafts from a glass of Finlandia Tangerine Fusion. The first whiff comes across as an orange scratch-and-sniff circa 1985, the kind of concentrated faux-citrus flavor that seems more appropriate, these days, for infomercial cleaning solutions or truck stop air fresheners.

But wait, Finlandia uses only natural flavors in its Tangerine Fusion. Of course, when they say natural flavors they’re likely talking about atoms stripped from plants and recombined by chemists in a lab, not a few pounds of tangerine run through a food processor.

With the first sip of the vodka, I immediately peg the flavor thanks to a long childhood of aches and pains: Read the rest of this entry »

This week, Brian and Taylor invite PoHo Wayne Garcia in for a special food-related recession session. We drink vodka flavored with baby aspirin and discuss the reduction in creamy splooge at Dunkin Donuts, SoHo Sushi’s so so sushi, Taylor’s list of recession wines, and the problems restaurants are having in this economy.

Download the episode here.

SoHo Sushi
2.5 stars
3218 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 813-873-7646 or sohosushi.com

I was taking CL contributor and local food blogger Jenna Weber to lunch and needed a place close to the office. Easy enough, but it also had to be healthy. That’s Jenna’s thing and, despite my devotion to bacon peanut brittle and beef in all its forms, I tend to eat healthy meals as well. Have to justify the occasional binge, after all. Sushi is a safe choice, especially with frequent Best of the Bay winner SoHo Sushi just a mile or two away.

Despite the awards, its popularity and its location in the heart of one of my stomping grounds, I’d never been to SoHo Sushi. I’d tried, on occasion, to visit after the restaurant moved from SoHo proper to Franklin Blvd. after a dispute with its landlords. Problem is, every time I stopped by I’d either find the small parking lot full, or the tables full, or both. Popular place.

Thankfully, this time we quickly found a seat in the restaurant’s pleasant dining room loaded with wood furnishings and the usual Asian decor accents. At lunch, SoHo has the usual array of bento boxes and cooked meat rice bowls which, it turns out, are the way to go despite SoHo Sushi’s name. Read the rest of this entry »

Seven days of food and drink coverage, shortened to a series of pithy links. Eat it up.

Holley Sinn’s Stinky Drinkers combine alcohol and running!

Chef Gui improves your cooking with ten tips, then helps you with plating techniques!

CL’s Top Chef Masters podcast continues its obsession with sex! And food, I guess.

Lael Hazan loves Israel’s food and restaurant culture!, and relates a perfect day in Venice, Italy (with a recipe for fried zucchini blossoms from her husband Giuliano Hazan).

Rishi Ramkissoon eats and fights his way through Bangkok!

Chef Cristian Ferer tells you five things you may not know about food!

Taylor loves Argentinean malbec!

Bethany Sherwin reviews Avery’s Ellie’s Brown Ale and interviews the founder and brewmaster of Terrapin Brewing!

Erica Miller previews Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar!

Colleen Sachs makes locally-raised braised rabbit!

This week, GammaTesting.com fails to forget to smash the state with Red Faction: Guerrilla. We love the entirely destructible environments, open world environment and varied gameplay. Almost as much as we love bashin’ stuff with our mining hammer. And, for the first time in a while, we actually felt like we were doing some good while playing a game. At least until Red Faction: Guerrilla 2 comes out, featuring us ruling Mars with an iron fist.

Listen up! (Then check out all the other Gamma Testing episodes.)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep13 – Red Faction: Guerrilla

Brian’s busy, so Rick and Matt run down inFAMOUS without the help of his dulcet tones. Still, their take on this open-world-third-person-super-dude-sim-with-lightning Playstation 3 exclusive barely suffers without him. Surprisingly.

The Hermanos Dakanos love the inFAMOUS gameplay so much, the dozens of minor annoyances are barely noticeable. Although they do wonder at main character Cole’s twin vulnerabilities: water and chain-link fences. Give it a listen, then check out all the other GammaTesting.com episodes.

Listen up!

Gamma Testing Ep12 – inFAMOUS

Want to see new conscious-eating movie Food, Inc. but strapped for cash from your big backyard garden summer renovation? Chipotle’s got your back.

At 7:30 p.m. this Thursday, July 30, at Tampa Theater, Chipotle Mexican Grill is sponsoring Read the rest of this entry »

This week we take a look at the re-do of 1980s cult classic Bionic Commando. Turns out that fun gameplay trumps terrible story and unlikeable characters, yet again. Even if that gameplay has a steep learning curve. Still, once you get it down, swinging on your extendable bionic appendage is damn fun — especially if you turn the sound down and blast Matt’s music suggestion.

We also send a challenge out to Grin – Bionic Commando’s developer — to hire us to write their next game. If BC is any indication, they could use some fine content-generators like the GammaTesting.com crew. And, we work cheap!

Listen up! (And check out all the other Gamma Testing podcasts!)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep11 – Bionic Commando

I wasn’t surprised when the flavored vodka market exploded in the 1990s. It seemed appropriate that a spirit desired primarily for its “clean” — or nonexistent — flavor would try to reposition itself as something a little more useful. Over a decade later vodka producers and neighborhood mixologists are still having a ball devising ways to use a line-up of infused spirits that seems more like a list of jelly bean flavors.

The problem is, manufacturers of other spirits are looking on with envy at the balance sheet of the vodka industry. That’s why we’ve been forced to confront atrocities like the defunct Dirty Olive Gin or Captain Morgan Parrot Bay Mango. Perhaps it’s inevitable that the most elegant and refined of America’s spirits would eventually get in the act.

That’s right, flavored bourbon. Read the rest of this entry »

Choice. Angus. Natural. Organic. Humanely raised. Grass-fed. Prime. Wagyu. Kobe. These days, there are more marketing terms associated with beef than ever before, all of which attempt to separate you from your food budget with promises of better quality or better moral character. And it’s important to know what those terms mean, especially if you’re concerned about greening your meat.

But for most folks, taste is the deciding factor. We might buy prime for the intense marbling, or Kobe and Wagyu for the promise of massaged, beer-drinking cows with intensely tender flesh. Grass-fed beef provides more old-school beef flavor, while organic gives us happier — and possibly more tasty — cows.

We cut through the marketing lingo straight to the meat of the matter by pitting six different, readily available, supermarket steaks against one another: Angus from Sweetbay, choice from Publix, humanely-raised from Publix Greenwise, humanely-raised from Whole Foods, prime and American Wagyu from Mazzaro’s.

Each steak, all NY strip, with one exception, was simply seasoned with the same amount of salt and pepper (by size) and each was grilled to medium-rare (although the thickest gave us a few problems). We then assembled a crack team of CL carnivores — foodies and amateurs — to sample the steaks in a blind tasting and rate the meat.

The results surprised the hell out of us. Find out the winner after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Among people who are concerned about where their food comes from, and how that affects the daily lives of everyone in the world, there are some fundamental issues that are a given: the ills of factory-farming animals; the insidious prevalence of corn-based products in almost everything we eat; the consolidation of our food supply under just a few corporate entities; what happens when organic goes corporate; the looming specter of Monsanto; and the causes of the West’s diabetes epidemic. Everyone’s already up on all that, right?

Then again, considering the growing market-share of fast food dollar menus, maybe not. That’s where the newish movie Food, Inc. comes in handy with its glossy and shallow take on the usual suspects in America’s maimed relationship with food. Think of it as the Greatest Hits of our disfunctional food supply, complete with legends Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) back to reprise their roles as the last decade’s most influential food figures. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, CL’s food blog is devoting itself to fine art of buying, preparing and enjoying that most red of red meats — beef, and lots of it. Along with a boatload of recipes, we’ll give you the results of our comprehensive taste-test of a wide ranges of beef styles — from supermarket standards to imported Wagyu — along with a guide to Tampa Bay’s best purveyors.

If you’re worried about the environmental impact of your cow consumptions, we’ll allay your fears with a guide to greening your meat, including sources for tasty local options. But don’t think we’ll gloss over the troubles that beef production causes for our world — we firmly believe you need to know the impact of your dining options.

You can help! Drop us a comment about where you like to buy beef, what kind of cuts you enjoy, and give us your favorite recipes for this cud-chewing domesticated animal. Don’t like this carnivore’s treat? Tell us why.

(Photo courtesy of JelleS/flickr)

Although it may not be the most grotesque image in food production — that’s reserved for industrial chicken houses and pre-skinny Paul Prudhomme — it’s difficult to think happy thoughts when confronted with gavage. This traditional method of fattening goose or duck livers usually starts with a funnel filled with corn-based feed attached to a long metal tube. Grab a bird, shove the tube down its throat, release the right amount of food, then send the animal waddling away. No matter where you stand on animals as foodstuff, it’s not a pretty sight.

Problem is, gavage is the only way to produce foie gras, one of the most prized and delicious of the world’s luxury food items. And, for the past decade, one of the most contentious. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, Brian and Taylor just drink and chat about whatever comes to mind, like Taco Bus owner Rene Valenzuela’s new restaurant, or St. Pete’s Buona Vita, or how to chill your wine consumption this summer.

Downland the episode here.

Buona Vita
3 stars
330 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg, 727-823-2100.

Buona Vita was born out of tragedy, albeit a tiny one. When Local Coffee + Tea owner Michael Duranko decided to pull out of St. Petersburg, three of the coffeeshop employees took over the place, almost ad hoc. They were on a week-to-week pay schedule with the landlord, with no formal lease. One day, after splurging on two weeks of supplies, the three found that the locks had been changed and they were done with their brief stint as business owners.

The main reason, according to building owner Andy Wallace, was that he wanted something in the space that would better serve the local worker bees in surrounding downtown buildings. There’re already a lot of coffee shops. He had been approached by Allan Galleano, one of the investors in the defunct Desanto restaurant down the street. Galleano was ready to replicate the success he’s had with Italian restaurants in other locations.

Well, there are already a lot of Italian restaurants, too, Read the rest of this entry »

Taco Bus owner Rene Valenzuela has bought the former Malena’s space on 2320 Fletcher Ave. and plans to open an outpost of his Taqueria Monterrey, which has another location in Plant City. According to Valenzuela, “we’ll have a lady in front making tortillas fresh, and all the items that are difficult to do in the Taco Bus.” There will be a larger menu of vegetarian and vegan items, a salsa bar, and more complex food at the new spot, and the prices will be slightly higher than the Taco Bus’ incredibly inexpensive fare.

Sounds like good news, but Read the rest of this entry »

Brian and Taylor chat with Gui Alinat — local chef and recent CL food contributor. We also run down Brian’s obsession with Domenica Macchia of Diner 437, the closing of Ybor’s The Nest, the re-opening of Wild Shrimp Company, and Taylor’s love for white wines from Bordeaux.

Download episode 21 here.

When I reviewed The Nest a couple months back, it seemed like the restaurant had enough going for it to make a run during this shitty economy, especially considering the potential of Gaybor’s resurgence. There was interesting tapas, a good wine list, a nice setting and an experienced restaurateur in Sidney Sakho, a guy who’s managed and owned several restaurant in Washington, DC and elsewhere. Then I talked to Sakho, who was less optimistic than I expected. Read the rest of this entry »

Diner 437
3.5 stars
437 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-822-4370

I freely admit that I’m a Domenica Macchia stalker. I first encountered this former Redwoods chef at MJ’s Martinis and Tapas last year, when she wowed me and the rest of the Bay area food scene with her interesting and precise take on small-plate fine dining. Then, soon after the place opened, Macchia was fired by the owners of MJ’s. And yes, I feel a little satisfaction that the jazz lounge/restaurant is now on a possibly permanent “hiatus” while it looks for a new location.

After a few months of looking, and some concern over her mortgage, Macchia hooked up with Dan Soronen — former owner of the Old Northeast Tavern — and concocted a gastropub menu for his soon-to-open Shackleton’s Folly in south St. Pete. “Soon” became months, and finally Macchia left to find another new opportunity. Fortuitously, Greg Pugh — owner of Ringside Cafe — was interested in opening a new place. Fast. Diner 437 started slinging hash within a couple of weeks.

I love Macchia for her food, sure, but also for how she lays everything on the table when you talk to her, whether it’s for a CL interview or just gabbing with strangers the counter at her new restaurant during a slow moment. She’s frets — about herself, about her food, about the past and the future — and she’s unabashedly candid about herself and her path to Diner 437. You can read all about it on CL’s food blog.

The problem with love — familial and otherwise — is that it comes with expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

We reminisce about the early days of the UFC, and how incredibly dull it was compared to this game. Think of UFC: Undisputed as a typical fighter and you’ll have some fun. Delve into the combat system — which is vastly deeper than any other out there — and the game is a long-term keeper.

Better yet (at least for the UFC) it does a hell of a lot for promoting the franchise outside the sport’s usual fan base.

(Check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or via the Gamma Testing podcast RSS feed.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep10 – UFC: Undisputed

The Bloody Mary is one of the few acceptable — or even desirable — morning cocktails, perfect as a hair-of-the-dog hangover tonic, or as a way to get the day started off right. Better yet, done right this pungent example of savory mixology is almost a meal in a glass, loaded with the vital nutrients, roughage and vodka that are essential parts of a balanced breakfast.

Problem is, very few people have spent the time to perfect nature’s perfect breakfast cocktail. It’s a complicated endeavor that is usually beyond the amateur mixologist, with a list of ingredients longer than most morning recipes. And don’t even think of reaching for store-bought mixers — you might as well throw some vodka in a can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup and call it a day.

With a little preparation, some experimentation, and a fair amount of gratifying taste testing, however, even Bloody Mary newbies can learn to make a mean mix. Here are a few tips: Read the rest of this entry »