Tampa SP Restaurants
Apr 21st, 2005, 07:48 AM
#22
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You can order these off the main menu inside the regular restaurant too, I do believe, so one of you could get a steak with all the trimmings and the other the salad or sandwich (with fries). Their lobster bisque is soooo good. We ordered a bowl and split it with everyone just to taste it.f
Apr 21st, 2005, 10:29 AM
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My wife and I have also gone into Berns and dined at the bar on occasions when we didn't want to eat a complete meal. Their appetizer list is amazing. I especially enjoy the various Steak Tartar preperations---great with a glass of wine from their incredible by the glass list (maybe the largest of it's kind in the world).
Regardless of what others might say, if you are visiting the area and never been to Bern's you should definitely consider it among your "splurge" restaurants. I honestly don't think that there is another restaurant anyplace in the world quite like it.
The wine cellar is one of the largest in the world and when you get upstairs not only will you have the ability to choose from an enormous selection of deserts, you also can try desert wines, ports, cognac's etc. that you could never find anyplace else.
Regardless of what others might say, if you are visiting the area and never been to Bern's you should definitely consider it among your "splurge" restaurants. I honestly don't think that there is another restaurant anyplace in the world quite like it.
The wine cellar is one of the largest in the world and when you get upstairs not only will you have the ability to choose from an enormous selection of deserts, you also can try desert wines, ports, cognac's etc. that you could never find anyplace else.
Apr 21st, 2005, 01:00 PM
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These bar recs are great ideas for trying Berns. FYI you do order the steaks by weight, so can avoid overeating by ordering the smallest. There is also a recommendation on the menu to share cuts - for example it suggests you get one huge NY Strip instead of two smaller ones, they cook and taste better that way. And the wine cellar is THE largest "restaurant wine cellar" in the world. But it's not AT the restaurant, it's down the block in a huge concrete block building. The one inside the restaurant is their holding spot. During the tour, I was told that patrons order the really really expensive wines (we're talking over $1000 here) days ahead of time so they can be brought over to the restaurant for the reservation. Wow. I guess that's how the Big Players do it huh?
Apr 22nd, 2005, 03:35 AM
#26
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I can't wait to try your recommended places! My wife and I just made an 8:30pm reservation for Bern's, but will play it by ear (or stomach) as to opting for the bar vs. the full dining room. Sounds like we should try it once so we can understand what all the "you either love it or hate it" fuss is about.
Besides Chattaway and Tangelo's Grill, are there any lunch recommendations for downtown SP nearby or on the way to the Dali Museum from Gulfport?
Besides Chattaway and Tangelo's Grill, are there any lunch recommendations for downtown SP nearby or on the way to the Dali Museum from Gulfport?
Apr 22nd, 2005, 05:16 AM
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Yes, Joan's place!!! The no-nonsense freshest-around Mid-Peninsula Seafood. I can't remember the street. Joan? If you like seafood, this is a great spot. And very easy on your wallet.
BTW, the Floridian on Treasure Island makes a fairly good standard cuban sandwich.
BTW, the Floridian on Treasure Island makes a fairly good standard cuban sandwich.
May 1st, 2005, 05:40 AM
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Thanks for all of your comments and helpful suggestions. Here is a trip report of the places we were able to visit for lunch and dinner. We stayed at the Lido Beach Resort, near Sarasota for 3 nights. With a full kitchenette and a lovely balcony overlooking the downtown bay area, we prepared our own breakfast of tea and cereal with fresh fruit.
Sunday (April 24th) – Drove our rented white Ford Taurus from the Tampa airport to the Sarasota Whole Foods Market on the corner of 1st and Lemon and to pickup cereal, milk, oranges, a bottle of wine, and a light spinach salad with tomatoes, blue cheese and balsamic vinegar.
Cha-Cha Coconuts (Dinner): My wife and I were very tired, and had a craving for a simple meal at a super-casual place. Our expectations of this place were very low, as the scent of beer was everywhere. But the grilled grouper sandwiches were delicious and seemed quite fresh. Is it possible to go wrong by ordering any dish with grouper in Sarasota? We liked the elegant yet tourist-friendly atmosphere of St. Armand’s Circle. Parking was easy on a Sunday night.
Monday (April 25th) – Visited the Ringling Art Museum, which is free on Mondays, for a guided tour of the mostly baroque and renaissance collection. We admired the view of the bay from the backside of Ca’d’Zan and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the rose garden.
Café L’Europe (Lunch): My wife was craving fried oysters ($12), which were quite good. I had the shrimp chinoise ($14), which consisted of 5 delicious Gulf shrimp with bright-red angel hair pasta that was infused with beets. Creative and visually striking dish! The soy-ginger vinaigrette added a sweet and tangy flavor to the shrimp.
El Habanero (Dinner): After an afternoon of lazing at the beach, we were in the mood for Peruvian or Cuban food, but Javier’s on Siesta Key was closed on Monday nights. In Sarasota, we drove to this little house on Burns Court. The interior was very simple – and inviting. A good sign was the freshly squeezed mango juice ($2). My wife ordered the pot roast chicken special ($9) with plantains and of course, black beans and rice. We agreed this was delicious and the better choice. I had to try the Cuban sandwich ($6) – which was very good, but not as great as the chicken. But the shared dessert combination ($7) of a café con leche with a tres leches sponge cake was superb. Our dessert was the culinary highlight of the entire vacation trip!
Tuesday (April 26th) – Visited the Mote Aquarium, which was very fun and educational. I didn’t know that sharks and horseshoe crabs were essential parts of biomedical research on cancer and toxicity tests for vaccines. The manatees were amazing to watch up close. Why do so many visitors find these creatures repulsive? I couldn’t understand why, since they are gentle vegetarians of the sea. Perhaps some people dislike the small eyes and elephant-like features.
Old Salty Dog (Lunch): My wife ordered the fish n’ chips special ($10) – which was batter fried grouper. I enjoyed the blackened grouper sandwich ($10) which was good, but not as delicious as the first grouper sandwich at Cha-Cha Coconuts. The outdoor setting overlooking the bay and proximity to the aquarium were fantastic – it’s a very child-friendly atmosphere.
Whole Foods Market (Dinner): After a long drive up to Anna Maria Island via Longboat Key and Coquina Beach, we had an ice cream ($4) at Mama Lo’s by the fishing pier, and were too tired to go to a restaurant. So we stopped by Whole Foods Market for a large salad ($5) and dined there. With sheets of rain coming down, we visited the cat-friendly Main Bookstore for an hour of book-browsing and then retired to the hotel for the evening. I read a good portion of the mystery novel, “Double Whammy” by Carl Hiassen. It’s an entertaining book filled with bizarre but memorable characters. Another short and fun book is his entertaining critique of Disney in “Team Rodent”.
Wednesday (April 27th) – The morning was cloudy with drizzle. We checked out of the hotel, and drove down I-75 to Sanibel Island via Ft. Myers. Great tram tour of the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge where we saw ospreys, cormorants, and egrets. No alligators, however, which had their traditional resting area disturbed by Hurricane Charlie, which caused much damage in August 2004. There were plenty of shells everywhere at Bowman’s Beach.
Ann’s Over Easy Café (Lunch): My wife enjoyed a Gulf shrimp omelette ($10) with tomatoes and provolone cheese and grits. I had a very satisfying egg reuben sandwich ($7) with a side of bland and overcooked potatoes. The place is very casual, and feels more like a diner. However, we had to wait about 15 minutes for an empty table during the peak lunch hour.
Backfin Blue Café (Dinner): After a 2 hour drive up I-75 north to Gulfport near SP, we checked into the Sea Breeze Manor B&B. This was a relaxing alternative to downtown SP. Lori, the proprietor who moved here in 2002, was very kind, and prepared a delicious eggs benedict and quiche for us. It’s a good option for independent travelers and couples without kids who seek a laid-back and quiet escape from the world. At the café, my wife ordered a crab cake sandwich ($9), which was quite good – almost as delicious as Maryland crab cakes. I had a baked grouper sandwich ($9) that was OK, but nothing special. We shared a huge spinach salad appetizer ($4), and finished the meal with a very sweet key lime pie ($4), that seemed like it had too much sugar or lime juice. The café had a relaxed atmosphere for casual dining on the outdoor porch, but the inside smelled like grease and fish. The evening view of the Peninsula Inn next door was relaxing as some people were sitting on the porch enjoying drinks. Gulfport itself is a laid-back haven for artists and free spirits. Beach Avenue feels like a movie set of a town from 1950s Florida. After reading the works of Carl Hiassen, I imagine it’s what Florida might have been like before Disney arrived, and the big money of commercial tourism and high-rise condos sprang up everywhere.
Thursday (April 28th) – We ventured to Pass-a-Grill beach for a morning stroll along the gulf, and collected more pretty shells. Then we witnessed a huge 9 pound grouper being weighed and filleted from a recent charter boat. The brown pelicans were hovering like crazy scavengers for the remains. Skipped lunch today and took an afternoon nap before driving into SP and stopping by the Mirror Lake Library to check email. Then we enjoyed an excellent docent-led tour of the Dali Collection. This was our cultural highlight of the entire vacation trip! It’s a real coup that SP was able to attract this collection that was started by an Ohio entrepreneur. It was amusing to learn that the Cleveland Museum of Art was to inherit the entire collection, but a stubborn and conservative museum director there refused Dali’s surrealist works as “utter rubbish”.
Bern’s Steak House (Dinner): My wife and I just had to try this place for a splurge meal, given all the “you’ll either love it or hate it” comments on the Fodor’s website threads. The décor is a bit tacky, and the place seems tailor-made for men to conduct business. With two limos waiting in the parking lot, I was expecting a baseball player celebrity or a real-estate tycoon to be in the restaurant. We ordered a medium-rare 18oz. thick Delmonico rib-eye steak for 2 people ($66 but came with many sides). Our waiter was rather bossy and aggressive in recommending things for us. My wife did not like this at all. Yet it seemed to be part of the whole Bern’s experience. Reading the wine list book was worth the trip – I enjoyed an $8 glass of 2003 Serghesio Zinfandel after our pushy waiter insisted on it instead of a medium-bodied Cab. We rolled ourselves up to the dessert room, and had an OK key lime pie ($9). The mini-jukebox where you can select your background music in a semi-private booth was nice. Joan - I agree with you that the place is not great in terms of the quality of its steaks or bossy service, but the atmosphere is unique to Tampa. You really do get a sense of how some Tampa folks view “fine dining”. With an all-male waiting staff and tacky decor, I can see why some women hate this place, but guys find it appealing. Why does the dining room add a 12% service charge in place of a salary? Our total bill came to $100 with tax, tip, and service charge. Is this a gimmick to get customers to pay more in tips – or is the restaurant so cheap in keeping its labor costs down?
Friday (April 29th) – After checking out of the B&B, we drove to Fort DeSoto Park for a lovely afternoon at the pier, museum, fort, and the pristine North Beach. This was the prettiest and most natural beach by far on our trip as there were no high-rise buildings and condos in sight. The sand was pleasant, and the gulf breeze was a welcome respite from the searing heat of the sun. We can’t wait to return for our next vacation trip in a year!
Tangelo’s Café (Lunch): We were pressed for time before returning to the airport, so we drove to downtown St. Petersburg. My wife ordered a Cuban sandwich ($6), with chips and black beans and rice. I had a roasted pork sandwich ($6). Both were decent, though not as delicious as El Habanero in Sarasota. I imagine that better Cuban food can be had in Tampa. The freshly squeezed lemonade was very refreshing after our afternoon at the beach. Our USAir flight had an electrical wiring malfunction that delayed us for more than an hour. Many passengers missed their connecting flights and were anxious and unhappy the entire flight. Do any of you think USAir will still be in business a year from now?
Sunday (April 24th) – Drove our rented white Ford Taurus from the Tampa airport to the Sarasota Whole Foods Market on the corner of 1st and Lemon and to pickup cereal, milk, oranges, a bottle of wine, and a light spinach salad with tomatoes, blue cheese and balsamic vinegar.
Cha-Cha Coconuts (Dinner): My wife and I were very tired, and had a craving for a simple meal at a super-casual place. Our expectations of this place were very low, as the scent of beer was everywhere. But the grilled grouper sandwiches were delicious and seemed quite fresh. Is it possible to go wrong by ordering any dish with grouper in Sarasota? We liked the elegant yet tourist-friendly atmosphere of St. Armand’s Circle. Parking was easy on a Sunday night.
Monday (April 25th) – Visited the Ringling Art Museum, which is free on Mondays, for a guided tour of the mostly baroque and renaissance collection. We admired the view of the bay from the backside of Ca’d’Zan and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the rose garden.
Café L’Europe (Lunch): My wife was craving fried oysters ($12), which were quite good. I had the shrimp chinoise ($14), which consisted of 5 delicious Gulf shrimp with bright-red angel hair pasta that was infused with beets. Creative and visually striking dish! The soy-ginger vinaigrette added a sweet and tangy flavor to the shrimp.
El Habanero (Dinner): After an afternoon of lazing at the beach, we were in the mood for Peruvian or Cuban food, but Javier’s on Siesta Key was closed on Monday nights. In Sarasota, we drove to this little house on Burns Court. The interior was very simple – and inviting. A good sign was the freshly squeezed mango juice ($2). My wife ordered the pot roast chicken special ($9) with plantains and of course, black beans and rice. We agreed this was delicious and the better choice. I had to try the Cuban sandwich ($6) – which was very good, but not as great as the chicken. But the shared dessert combination ($7) of a café con leche with a tres leches sponge cake was superb. Our dessert was the culinary highlight of the entire vacation trip!
Tuesday (April 26th) – Visited the Mote Aquarium, which was very fun and educational. I didn’t know that sharks and horseshoe crabs were essential parts of biomedical research on cancer and toxicity tests for vaccines. The manatees were amazing to watch up close. Why do so many visitors find these creatures repulsive? I couldn’t understand why, since they are gentle vegetarians of the sea. Perhaps some people dislike the small eyes and elephant-like features.
Old Salty Dog (Lunch): My wife ordered the fish n’ chips special ($10) – which was batter fried grouper. I enjoyed the blackened grouper sandwich ($10) which was good, but not as delicious as the first grouper sandwich at Cha-Cha Coconuts. The outdoor setting overlooking the bay and proximity to the aquarium were fantastic – it’s a very child-friendly atmosphere.
Whole Foods Market (Dinner): After a long drive up to Anna Maria Island via Longboat Key and Coquina Beach, we had an ice cream ($4) at Mama Lo’s by the fishing pier, and were too tired to go to a restaurant. So we stopped by Whole Foods Market for a large salad ($5) and dined there. With sheets of rain coming down, we visited the cat-friendly Main Bookstore for an hour of book-browsing and then retired to the hotel for the evening. I read a good portion of the mystery novel, “Double Whammy” by Carl Hiassen. It’s an entertaining book filled with bizarre but memorable characters. Another short and fun book is his entertaining critique of Disney in “Team Rodent”.
Wednesday (April 27th) – The morning was cloudy with drizzle. We checked out of the hotel, and drove down I-75 to Sanibel Island via Ft. Myers. Great tram tour of the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge where we saw ospreys, cormorants, and egrets. No alligators, however, which had their traditional resting area disturbed by Hurricane Charlie, which caused much damage in August 2004. There were plenty of shells everywhere at Bowman’s Beach.
Ann’s Over Easy Café (Lunch): My wife enjoyed a Gulf shrimp omelette ($10) with tomatoes and provolone cheese and grits. I had a very satisfying egg reuben sandwich ($7) with a side of bland and overcooked potatoes. The place is very casual, and feels more like a diner. However, we had to wait about 15 minutes for an empty table during the peak lunch hour.
Backfin Blue Café (Dinner): After a 2 hour drive up I-75 north to Gulfport near SP, we checked into the Sea Breeze Manor B&B. This was a relaxing alternative to downtown SP. Lori, the proprietor who moved here in 2002, was very kind, and prepared a delicious eggs benedict and quiche for us. It’s a good option for independent travelers and couples without kids who seek a laid-back and quiet escape from the world. At the café, my wife ordered a crab cake sandwich ($9), which was quite good – almost as delicious as Maryland crab cakes. I had a baked grouper sandwich ($9) that was OK, but nothing special. We shared a huge spinach salad appetizer ($4), and finished the meal with a very sweet key lime pie ($4), that seemed like it had too much sugar or lime juice. The café had a relaxed atmosphere for casual dining on the outdoor porch, but the inside smelled like grease and fish. The evening view of the Peninsula Inn next door was relaxing as some people were sitting on the porch enjoying drinks. Gulfport itself is a laid-back haven for artists and free spirits. Beach Avenue feels like a movie set of a town from 1950s Florida. After reading the works of Carl Hiassen, I imagine it’s what Florida might have been like before Disney arrived, and the big money of commercial tourism and high-rise condos sprang up everywhere.
Thursday (April 28th) – We ventured to Pass-a-Grill beach for a morning stroll along the gulf, and collected more pretty shells. Then we witnessed a huge 9 pound grouper being weighed and filleted from a recent charter boat. The brown pelicans were hovering like crazy scavengers for the remains. Skipped lunch today and took an afternoon nap before driving into SP and stopping by the Mirror Lake Library to check email. Then we enjoyed an excellent docent-led tour of the Dali Collection. This was our cultural highlight of the entire vacation trip! It’s a real coup that SP was able to attract this collection that was started by an Ohio entrepreneur. It was amusing to learn that the Cleveland Museum of Art was to inherit the entire collection, but a stubborn and conservative museum director there refused Dali’s surrealist works as “utter rubbish”.
Bern’s Steak House (Dinner): My wife and I just had to try this place for a splurge meal, given all the “you’ll either love it or hate it” comments on the Fodor’s website threads. The décor is a bit tacky, and the place seems tailor-made for men to conduct business. With two limos waiting in the parking lot, I was expecting a baseball player celebrity or a real-estate tycoon to be in the restaurant. We ordered a medium-rare 18oz. thick Delmonico rib-eye steak for 2 people ($66 but came with many sides). Our waiter was rather bossy and aggressive in recommending things for us. My wife did not like this at all. Yet it seemed to be part of the whole Bern’s experience. Reading the wine list book was worth the trip – I enjoyed an $8 glass of 2003 Serghesio Zinfandel after our pushy waiter insisted on it instead of a medium-bodied Cab. We rolled ourselves up to the dessert room, and had an OK key lime pie ($9). The mini-jukebox where you can select your background music in a semi-private booth was nice. Joan - I agree with you that the place is not great in terms of the quality of its steaks or bossy service, but the atmosphere is unique to Tampa. You really do get a sense of how some Tampa folks view “fine dining”. With an all-male waiting staff and tacky decor, I can see why some women hate this place, but guys find it appealing. Why does the dining room add a 12% service charge in place of a salary? Our total bill came to $100 with tax, tip, and service charge. Is this a gimmick to get customers to pay more in tips – or is the restaurant so cheap in keeping its labor costs down?
Friday (April 29th) – After checking out of the B&B, we drove to Fort DeSoto Park for a lovely afternoon at the pier, museum, fort, and the pristine North Beach. This was the prettiest and most natural beach by far on our trip as there were no high-rise buildings and condos in sight. The sand was pleasant, and the gulf breeze was a welcome respite from the searing heat of the sun. We can’t wait to return for our next vacation trip in a year!
Tangelo’s Café (Lunch): We were pressed for time before returning to the airport, so we drove to downtown St. Petersburg. My wife ordered a Cuban sandwich ($6), with chips and black beans and rice. I had a roasted pork sandwich ($6). Both were decent, though not as delicious as El Habanero in Sarasota. I imagine that better Cuban food can be had in Tampa. The freshly squeezed lemonade was very refreshing after our afternoon at the beach. Our USAir flight had an electrical wiring malfunction that delayed us for more than an hour. Many passengers missed their connecting flights and were anxious and unhappy the entire flight. Do any of you think USAir will still be in business a year from now?
