Half your meal is on us
Jeannie’s been replaced and it looks like it’s all going to be promotions from within the organization.
Duties at Bern’s Steak House will be shared by long-time kitchen guys Andy Minney and Habteab Hamde (both labeled Chef De Cuisine). Youngster Chad Johnson will be jumped from sous to the new SideBern’s Exec and Courtney Orwig will be moving up to Chef De Cuisine.
Full Bern’s press release after the jump.
Chef Jeanie Pierola left Bern’s this past weekend after ongoing disagreements with Bern’s scion David Laxer came to a head. All I can say is that it looks like good news for the rest of us. C’mon, who out there wasn’t getting a little tired of the relentlessly eclectic menu and overweening bar crowd at SideBerns?
Now, likely, we’ll get a brand new place with the accomplished Pierola behind the menu. And it’s not likely the ever-static Bern’s itself will change for the worse now that she’s gone.
I don’t actually know what the news is, but it’s big! OSI — the Outback folks — are trying to drum up interest in a Lee Roy Selmon’s press conference this afternoon. Lee Roy will be there, as will OSI CEO and all-around big-shot Bill Allen. But really, what kind of big news would necessitate an honest-to-goodness White House-style press conference?
Here are some headlines you might be seeing tomorrow morning:
I guess we’ll see soon enough.
UPDATE: Turns out that the press conference was just about Selmon and Selmon’s president — Peter Barli — buying the chain back from OSI. Big whoopty-do.
Nature’s Harvest, a 23 year old fixture in Tampa’s organic and natural foods community, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a few weeks ago. The south Tampa store was suffering under a conflict with the bank that holds their mortgage and, according to President David Taylor, “the only way to go forward with that relationship was to use the judicial system.”
Nature’s Harvest will remain open, according to Taylor. He plans to use this as an opportunity to re-organize the store to better compete with big chains like Wild Oats/Whole Foods and the new Publix Greenwise market opening less than a mile away.
“We’ve always taken the position of bringing natural and organic foods to customers in an affordable way,†says Taylor, who will be streamlining Nature’s Harvest’s inventory and decrease the wide breadth of products. His goal is to focus on commodities, “the kinds of products people use every day,†and offer those items at more competitive prices.
Taylor recognizes that Nature’s Harvest’s biggest asset is it’s interaction with the community, so the store will also try to emphasize their customer service and education programs. He wants customer to know that no matter what Nature’s Harvest does, none of the important things will be changing.
“These days in Tampa, it’s tough,†explains Taylor. “Sometimes you have to change your business model or close.â€Â
Don’t really know what that title means, but I have news about celebrity chef and all-around scary fella Robert Irvine’s poorly named restaurant in St. Petersburg. Ooze and Schmooze was originally scheduled to open this month at 400 Beach Dr., but that’s not going to happen. According to the building’s developers, the earliest they expect the restaurant to be ready is March, due to the complexity of the construction and permitting.
Perhaps Ooze and Schmooze should be the next episode of Dinner Impossible.
I will now go into hiding to avoid a beat-down from the burly chef.
Painters are busy covering the atrocious pink facade at Soho’s Chateau France outpost; the number for the N. Dale Mabry location is disconnected; both locations have vanished from Chateau France’s website. Looks like impressario Antoine Louro is in complete retreat to his base in St. Pete.
According to former Chateau France (SoHo) chef Tony Savage, the partnership between Louro and the owners of the SoHo property (Barry Smith and MaryAnn Stiles) was dissolved last week. There won’t be much interruption of service, though, since the spot will immediately re-open as Chateau SoHo, with Savage as executive chef and a more appetizing exterior.
“I was in New Orleans for 23 years before Katrina,” says Savage, who will be sliding some French-inspired Creole and Cajun favorites onto the menu, along with more medium- and lower-priced French dishes to temper the previously ultra-expensive fare.
A call to Louro’s Chateau France St. Pete to confirm returned this helpful advice – “I can’t help you. Goodbye.” That may be because of this. Or this. Or this.
UPDATE: I just received a return call from the ever-gregarious Antoine Louro. He confirmed that the North Tampa location was closed — he sold it about six weeks ago — and that his partnership with Smith and Stiles was over. “Partnership doesn’t work if you’re not in the business,” he said, explaining that Stiles’ is a lawyer and doesn’t understand restaurants.
After the aborted expansion of the past two years, he has no plans on opening any more outposts. “Every person wants to open a Chateau France,” he said, “but I’m done with it. I’m happy here in my house in St. Pete.”
The NoHo Bistro will start doing brunch on Sunday, Oct. 14 which, by itself, is news of a sort. That section of Tampa is a bit starved for decent restaurants, especially since NoHo’s neighbor Vivia’s closed earlier this year. But brunch? Not terribly exciting.
Unless you have a “southern grits bar”. I can imagine a burbling pot of engorged cornmeal surrounded by bowls of butter, cheese, chili, sausage, peppers and onions, with fruit and sugar for the sweet fans. Maybe even shrimp. I’m salivating.
Blueberry-cinammon sausage and fruit sushi also sound intriguing, but only in small portions. More room for grits.
UPDATE: A copy of the first menu is after the break. (more…)
I’d like to believe that someone would concoct a huge array of recipes, merely for one Larry Craig bathroom sex/cuisine joke, but this looks like the real deal. Which makes it even more hilarious.
When asked for a recipe for an online cookbook called “Congress Cooks”, Larry Craig’s (soon to be former) wife Suzanne submitted Super Tuber. The gist? Step 1: Cut hole in potato. Step 2: Insert hot dog.
Nothing in the instructions about caressing the potato’s loafers.
Local Coffee & Tea – the Sarasota-based minichain of coffee houses – has joined forces with Susan Huff of Integrity Organic. For a while, Local owner Mike Duranko had avowed to CL that he wasn’t going to get in the food business at the St. Pete location. Well, he isn’t. Susan is, using his kitchen. She’ll be managing 330 1st Ave. S location and preparing the home-made, largely organic fare that she’s become known for.
Both Duranko and Huff share eco-sensibilities, so her food combined with the best coffee in the Bay area should be a good match.
Well, maybe not naked, but that freckled train wreck will be taking shifts as a supermarket checkout girl at Sundance, Utah’s Smith’s grocery store. Ostensibly, this will help ground her during those long hours of yoga and equine therapy at a neighboring rehab clinic.
I know. This has very little to do with food, but can you imagine what would happen if this becomes a trend? You might be buying a plunger from Britney Spears, a pair of slacks from Robert Downey Jr., or a cheesesteak from David Hasselhoff. There could be an entire strip mall devoted to re-habbing celebrities working minimum wage jobs for their spiritual well-being. The Orange Julius would be managed by Paula Abdul. I’ll take a bananarilla, Paula.
Yeah, just try to tell me you wouldn’t shop there.
“I’m not dead,” she said, in a not-so-ghostly voice left in a message.
A few weeks ago, we pointed out that Vivia’s Kitchen had closed, which was true. What we didn’t know was what she was going to do next.
“I’m closing soon on a place on MacDill,” she explained to me later. It seems the regulatory hurdles of serving dinner at her tiny place on Armenia were too high. Plus, she was getting worn out by the pressures of running the business all by herself. “I cant produce the food I want doing so much alone.”
So, she’s got some partners and a bigger space (”ink is almost dry”). The new Vivia’s should be opening by the beginning of November.
I talked to Chef/Owner Darwin Santa Maria of downtown Sarasota’s Selva Grill this weekend to get the skinny on his new endeavor.
Santa Maria will be taking over the former home of California Bistro Grill on Ringling and replacing the bland sandwiches and soups with casual Peruvian fare like rotisserie meats and, well, different sandwiches. “It’ll be fast food, but high quality,” he said. There will be scooter delivery, a “spicy bar” and more downscale versions of the upscale modern Peruvian-inspired cuisine Santa Maria has made popular at Selva.
“I think Peruvian is going to be the next Mexican,” Santa Maria told me, when I asked him why he thought there was a seemingly disproportionate number of Peruvian joints in town. “There are actually a lot of Peruvian restaurants everywhere.”
Sangria is adding the former home of Grey Flannel Gallery to its Main Street Sarasota location. This expansion will add over 2100 square feet (roughly doubling the space) and should be completed sometime in the Fall. The restaurant will remain open for most of that time, with a short week to two week closure just to complete the renovations.
This comes on the heels of Selva’s expansion (which will not be at the old DJ’s/Munroe’s spot, we have it on good authority) and the oncoming Ceviche juggernaut (scroll to the bottom). Looks like downtown Sarasota is going to be awash with Rioja this winter. Let’s hope the dining public is ready for a tapas glut.
The latest rumors had Sarasota’s Selva Grill seeking a new location for it’s kick-ass fancy Peruvian cuisine. The truth is so much better.
Selva is negotiating a location for a brand-new restaurant. According to chef/owner Darwin Santa Maria, “we’re working on a whole new concept.” No details until he closes on the property, hopefully next week, but the place will definitely be downtown.
According to Santa Maria, the restaurant could open in as little as a month, which is way too quick if there is going to be much of a remodel. Maybe an existing place? Let’s start the guessing with – the old Munroe’s/DJ’s? Just noticed this morning that there is a Leased sign in the window. That would give us back the clubby upstairs bar area, but likely with a South American twist.
If that’s the case, Selva might need to start worrying about the massive complex St. Pete’s Ceviche will be opening on 1st Street in just a few months.
Looks like Vivia’s Kitchen didn’t have the stamina for Tampa’s summer doldrums, although there may be other reasons the short-lived but tasty spot headed by Vivia Grier has closed its doors. Nothing has been confirmed, but the For Sale sign in the window and the fact that the phone is disconnected speaks volumes. (Thanks to Chris Madalena for the info.)
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
We broke it open yesterday and here’s The Table’s official press release released today (after the break).
Just confirmed that The Table, one of my favorite restaurants in Sarasota, is planning on giving birth to a twin in downtown St. Pete. The new place will be on the 500 block of Central — although I haven’t yet driven by to see what space they’re taking over.
Anyone not familiar with the “Atlantic rim” cuisine Rafael Manzano and Pedro Flores should check out The Table immediately. For those of you in the Bay area, it’s worth a drive down to SRQ so you can be prepared for The Table’s St. Pete debut in 3-5 months.
South Tampa’s St. Bart’s and Chateau Prive closed down on July 13. The restaurant was formerly owned by Ceviche’s Gordon Davis, but was taken over in 2005 by Ocala businessman Phillip Glassman, who had plans to turn the restaurant and adjoining building into an exclusive private club. With membership fees quoted at $5,000 per year, the price always seemed a little steep to residents, and the club turned out to be a tough sell.
Although the closure isn’t a surprise to many SoHo natives, it was abrupt. “They came in the middle of the night and cleaned the place out,†said Davis, who maintained ownership of the building. “Fixtures removed from the walls and everything. It’s crummy. Nasty. We’re in our second day of clean-up.â€Â
Davis doesn’t have immediate plans for the 11,000-square-foot property. “I don’t think I’m going to re-open St. Barts,†he said, adding that he has met with his partners to bounce around ideas. “We’ve always wanted a larger Ceviche.â€Â
Davis and his fellow Ceviche owners have their tapas plates in a lot of fires, with a huge remodel of an historic building in Sarasota and a newly announced space in Orlando’s Church Street Station scheduled to open as soon as October. “It’ll be the largest tapas bar in the country,†he said, “over 20,000 square feet.â€Â
Just had a scouting report on Rand Packer’s Mariposa from our own wine maven Taylor Eason (as well as this blurb from the Times). She’s not too impressed:
“Didn’t eat there since it really looks like an upscale Tijuana Flats (and we wanted sit down, upscale service that night)… You order at the counter and they bring it to you. He spent a fortune on décor but uses plastic trays, forks, etc. Kinda shocking actually… But maybe it reflects what he wants at this stage in his career…”
I guess you can’t blame a guy for wanting to take a more casual route. She could at least have tried one of his popsicles.
Wow. She says everything that servers think and still comes off sounding like a petulant fool who shouldn’t be in the service industry. Really, this thing reads like an Onion Op-ed piece.
“If you are the only table or customer in a restaurant you should consider leaving because the servers do not want you there, which will result in you not having a pleasurable experience.” Well, yeah, with that attitude I’m sure you’re correct.
