Daily Loaf

During the holiday season people look for all kinds of ways to find unique, memorable, and innovative gifts. Because the modern world seems to be flooded in a sea of consumable products it isn’t often easy to find things that are unusual, earth-friendly, and affordable. At GoGreenItems.com, however, a shopper can get their hands on some excellent finds at fantastic prices.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the assortment of recycled jewelry, hand bags, purses, pouches and clutches they offer. Currently the site has bags made from recycled juice boxes and telephone books, jewelry crafted from sea glass and old LPs (records), and much more.
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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.

We put it to you, the readers, to help us fill out our list of Tampa Bay’s Top 50 Restaurants, and you spoke. Repeatedly.

Through the six days of voting, many people left heartfelt recommendations in support of their favorite spots, with restaurants ranging from Sarasota to Tarpon Springs. Some were neighborhood haunts, while the big names like Bern’s or Pelagia Trattoria received a few nods from the faithful. But in the end, only five restaurants could ascend to the list.

In first place — thanks to an obvious, perfectly legal, incredibly effective ballot-stuffing campaign — is Paci’s Pizza of Tampa. There were some negative comments about the profusion of Paci’s votes, but there’s no denying the volume.

Second is new (and old) cuban sandwich shop The Floridian, which recently expanded to Tampa from Treasure Island. Bin 27 in South Tampa mounted a final push to easily take the third spot, but the final two spots were much tighter. In a tie, with runner-up Green Springs Bistro a mere single vote behind, was Backfin Blue in Gulfport and Bamboozle Cafe in downtown Tampa.

The full list of Tampa Bay’s Top 50 Restaurants will appear this Wednesday at our Top 50 landing page, a full week before it hits the newstands. Why so early? We want your help, again.

We’ve split the Top 50 into five categories, and need your votes to determine the best in each. Check back this Wednesday to support your favorite restaurants and propel them to victory. Voting will end Monday, June 15, at 3 p.m.

You eat, so you make the call.

We love Sarasota resident Jaden Hair’s Steamy Kitchen blog so much, we asked her to write for us a couple of years ago. Now she writes for these guys. Still, there’s no arguing with her beautiful food photography,  penchant for food-related double entendres and damn fine recipes.

The UK’s Times of London pegged her very sucinctly: “modern Asian cuisine by media savvy blogger.” See the full list here.

Everyone in the Bay area needs to pay attention to this if we’re going to win Most Caffeinated again this year:

Need to curb your $5 daily coffee habit, or need a desk-top alternative to crappy office Joe? After testing 34 different coffee makers, Consumer Reports has picked the unlikely, curvy, blue-adorned coffee maker from Target (inevitably designed by Michael Graves) as the best of the bunch. And it clocks in at a mere $40.

See below for CR’s take on coffee grinders and 100% Columbian coffee, too:

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AOL’s Digital City site has named their picks for the best 27 burgers in the country, thoughtfully divided into nine different categories. Under the “Hometown Representatives” tag (whatever that means) St. Petersburg’s own El Cap has made the grade.

Here’s what they say about our own famous burger joint: Read the rest of this entry »