Daily Loaf

An unexpected but enthralling update from Phil Bardi of Routes Music:

Austin is a city with a long tradition of many things, from mass murders to good music. So, it’s no surprise that many claim the state capital of Texas is haunted.

On Saturday, while coming down Brazos Drive in downtown Austin, I snapped some photos of Driskill Hotel.

While looking through my pictures tonight, I came upon these two similar photos:

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 »

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 »

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.

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 »

July 2-5. GaYBOR Days 2009.

-Thur. July 2. Weekend Kick-off Social Party. 2 hours of GameWorks fun card. Drag Show. Drinks & Tapas included! Families and adults welcome. $15. Gameworks.
-Fri. July 3. VIP Party at The Nest. 6-9pm. 1430 E. th Ave. Ybor City.
-Fri. July 3. DJ Manny Lehman and Pistol Pete Underwear Fashion Show. 10pm-3am. Steam Fridays 1507 E. 7th Ave. Ybor City.
-Sat. July 4. GaYBOR Poolside Beach Party. 4pm-8pm. $15. Tampa Howard Johnson Riverfront Plaza.
-Sat. July 4. Derrick Barry as Britney Spears. 9pm-3am. G Bar. 1401 E. 7th Ave. Ybor City.
-Sun. July 5. GaYBOR Brunch. 11am-2pm. Streetcar Charlie’s. 1811 N. 15th St. Ybor City.
-Sun. July 5. The GaYBOR Bar Crawl. $20. 5pm- Read the rest of this entry »

Bruce Marsh, Riverwall (detail). Photo by Megan Voeller.

Downtown Tampa’s Riverwalk gained a public art cornerstone recently with the installation of Bruce Marsh’s Riverwall– a 40-foot long mural composed of photographic images of the Hillsborough River. Fired into porcelain enamel on steel plates, the images show the river– a 54-mile long waterway integral to the region’s ecological health– in a variety of incarnations, from a forking artery seen from above to a forested stomping ground for boaters.

Marsh, who taught art at the University of South Florida from 1969 to 2003, is well known in the region and beyond as an outstanding landscape painter. Though the Riverwall relies mainly on photographic depictions of the river, some of his paintings appear as pictures among the 550 featured images (each 8-inches by 9-1/2-inches). From afar, the grid forms a purposely enigmatic, river-like shape based on a photograph of floating water lilies.

“The whole idea [was to make] something that would offer a visual hook… that would entice and draw people… and function as a gathering point,” Marsh says.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rawbar
3.5 Stars
777 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, 813-422-5220

It’s interesting to see Taps and Rawbar anchoring adjacent corners of downtown Tampa’s Skypoint building. Both are owned by the same man — James DeVito — and both are attempts to fill niches in downtown Tampa nightlife. The jury’s still out as to whether DeVito is meeting a need, or creating one in a “build it and they will come” moment, but the results are shockingly different at the two joints.

Taps always seemed unfocused, a beer bar with lounge aspirations. DeVito’s brand new Rawbar is entirely different, the concept distilled to the bare essentials, which are then taken to extremes. It’s a Miami scene bar built around an updated sushi menu, the decor almost self-consciously hip, the entire package almost veering into poseur territory. Almost. Read the rest of this entry »

Below, is an interview I just conducted with Arlen Slobodow, a local filmmaker who just completed a documentary about air pollution caused by fossil fuels in the Tampa Bay area and how it affects our health and the health of our planet. Also, see my last post which goes more in depth about the film.

The following interview was conducted by phone on the evening of Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

Matt De Vlieger (M): How did you get involved in documentary filmmaking?
Arlen Slobodow (A): I have always been interested in social change work and have found mass media a good way to accomplish that. Read the rest of this entry »

Fri. June 5. Party with Playboy Playmate Candice Cassidy. Hang out with June’s Playboy Playmate, Candice Cassidy while listen to the DJ styles of Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Playmate, Colleen Shannon. Free. 21+. 8p.m.-10p.m. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa Pool.

Fri. June 5. St. Pete’s First Friday. The first Friday of every month St. Pete throws a block party in the heart of the downtown bar district. Wondering how this qualifies as a Sex and Love event? After the music dies around 10p.m., thousands of drunk, single people flood the bars around Central Ave. for a night of debauchery. The 1st Friday of every month. 5p.m. – 2a.m. Free. Downtown St. Pete. Central Ave., between 2nd St. and 3rd St.

Sat. June 6. Caliente’s Summer Sizzle Caribbean Beach Party. 9pm. Caliente Resort 21240 Gran Via Blvd. Land O Lakes, FL 34637.

Mon. June 8. Miss St. Pete Pride 2009 Pageant. Registration at 6pm. $250 cash prize. 10pm Club Nautico 4900 66th St. N. St. Petersburg, FL 33709. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I ate lunch at Cafe Hey, a small hole-in-the-wall cafe downtown. My first thought was I can’t believe I’d never heard of this place before! Vegetarian and vegan options, free trade coffee and tea, house-made baked goods — it had my name all over it. Plus, the price is right. Most sandwiches range around $6.99, and for only a $1.50 more you can have yourself a steaming hot cup of authentic cuban coffee. Hell yeah.

Of course I had researched Cafe Hey’s menu online the day before, when I found out that was where my friend and I would be headed. I love the names of the sandwiches — Turkey in the Grass, the Ric Ross and Summer Lovin’ are a few that jumped out at me. In the end, however, I went with a cup of the soup of the day and half of the hummus vegetable sandwich wrap. Read the rest of this entry »

Red Mesa Cantina is a downtown offshoot of St. Pete’s ever-popular Red Mesa (which has already moved to the the Savory Sixteen). Zapata is another downtown spot that wants late-night traffic to its tequila bar. Can Red Mesa Cantina’s pan-latin fusion tacos get the job done? Which taco deserves to move up to the Savory Sixteen?

I’ll reveal my pick tomorrow, but you still have a say. Vote below for your favorite in this taco-a-taco showdown and we’ll track the results in our readers’ poll. And if you haven’t tasted these two worthy competitors, this is a perfect excuse for an extended, taco-tasting lunch.

Check out all of CL’s Tournament of Tacos coverage here for past and future matchups, daily results, contact info for contenders and updated brackets.

So who wins: Red Mesa Cantina or Zapata’s? (And don’t forget to vote in today’s other matchup!)

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Check out the full Tournament of Tacos bracket after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

Aaahh, the drama. Once, there was The Table, a Sarasota restaurant that I named Best Restaurant of 2006. When chef/owners Pedro Flores and Rafael Manzano opened a second location in downtown St. Petersburg, things started to go downhill. Both locations were forced to close last year, on the day the new location was named Best New Restaurant by our Best of the Bay voters.

Then, a few months ago, The Table re-opened, with new owners, the same name and largely the same menu. The new regime brought in Pedro Flores to helm the kitchen, a smart move since he was always the better chef of the two previous owners.

Just today, I heard that Pedro is no longer cooking at The Table. Not that they’ll tell you that. Read the rest of this entry »

This was a busy week for the Street Team!

We went to downtown St. Pete and downtown Tampa handing out Super Bowl supplements to out-of-town visitors, we hit the St. Pete Times Forum, we saw Al Roker Thursday morning at Teatro in Ybor (and even got our CLTampa.com sign on the Today Show!), we rocked out to the Pink Floyd Orchestra at the Mahaffey Theater, saw Snoop Dogg and 3 Doors Down at Bud Bowl and finally tailgated outside RayJay for Super Bowl 43.

Here are some pics from Bud Bowl to hold you over. More pics and video of Super Bowl weekend to come.

Along with just about everyone in St. Pete (and possibly the entire Bay area), I was ecstatic to hear that Red Mesa would be opening another restaurant in the old DeSanto spot in downtown and couldn’t wait to get down there. Last Saturday night I ventured in to sample fare at the one-week old “modern Mexican taqueria and ceviche bar” that is the new Red Mesa Cantina.

The restaurant is in the bottom floor of Push Ultra Lounge at 128 3rd St. S. the decor is bright and fun: Mexican-themed artwork arrayed inside and luchador wrestler masks lining the outside wall across from the bar (with more kitschy luchador posters in the bathrooms). The dining room inside is large and open, with a hip vibe, and there’s still outdoor dining on the patio. Read the rest of this entry »

Lights Up: Editor David Warner and art critic Megan Voeller welcome artist Will Pappenheimer and the City of Tampa’s Robin Nigh (L to R in the photo above) to talk about Lights On Tampa 2009, the illumination celebration that will transform the Convention Center, the St. Pete Times Forum and other downtown sites starting January 10.

Download.

Earlier today I detailed the re-opening of The Table (535 Central Ave. St. Petersburg, 727-823-6372) under new owners Michael Stewart (of 717 South in Tampa) and building owners George and Linda Rahdert, with former Table co-owner and awesome chef Pedro Flores in the kitchen.

Check after the break for the new menu, featuring lower prices and the same innovative, “Atlantic Rim” cuisine of Flores: Read the rest of this entry »