Are You Ready To Rumble? “The Midnight Chef Fight” Series Begins This Saturday Night, May 4th

A take down in the 'Burg...Spinning a take on the Esquire Network series, Knife Fight, IL Ritorno is bringing some Saturday night fun into our downtown culinary scene with their newest concept the "Midnight Chef Fight" series which will pit two Tampa Bay chefs against each other in an hour long, "after hours" cook-off to create…

Downtown St. Pete’s largest Kentucky Derby Party is returning to Intermezzo Coffee & Cocktails on Saturday, May 4, from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. Guests will enjoy a live projection of the race at Churchill Downs, a mint julep bar in addition to the full-service bar, and a raw bar featuring oysters from Modern Brine.…

World Fusion Gourmet Meets Fast Casual Brass Bowl Kitchen & Juicery is set to open April 1st...finally. We have all watched and waited. Unfortunately, they encountered some of the same set backs most new restaurants do during build out, which pushed their hopeful opening date of August 2018 back to now. Beginning March 27th, Brass…

I don't make fried chicken at home, but as a child my mother did, and from what I recall it was finger licking good. My mother is from Georgia so she knows southern cooking. Did she way over cook vegetables? Definitely, but I think most moms in her era did. So when I see fried…

On Thursday night, we were invited to a pre-opening party for No Vacancy. Quite honestly we weren't sure what to expect. No Vacancy currently occupies the former King's Street space and is the brainchild of Stephen Schrutt of The Hunger + Thirst Group which also includes The Avenue and Park & Rec. Schrutt said that…

A couple of months ago Rococo Steak started opening at 11am for Sunday brunch. Kevin and I were invited in to photograph and taste a few of the brunch items. Brunch is done a lot downtown and we have covered quite a few of them, so I was really not quite sure what to expect.…

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PIECE WAS WRITTEN WHEN THE NAME OF THE RESTAURANT WAS THE PEABODY, IT IS NOW THE LIBRARY. From the minute you walk thru the doors of The Peabody, you feel transported back in time. A serene setting of tables within an old fashioned library surrounding a bar. All of this located in…

That's right! IL Ritorno will now be open on Sunday at 5:00, for dinner only (except for private events), starting on January 7th, 2019. So to thwart the inevitable question in advance, they will not be serving a brunch. They have had such a high demand for Sunday reservations and are constantly having to turn…

We sat down with Jason Saal, GM, of La V Vietnamese Fusion, Asie and Nouvelle Beauty Bar, and were given some exciting news. Asie's last day will be Wednesday, November 21st. The restaurant will shut down for a week and then reopen as Luna Loca (which means Crazy Moon in Spanish) on Friday, November 30th.…

Mazzaro's owners, Kurt and Mary Cuccaro, are set to open a new restaurant named Alto Mare Fish Bar, mid-November/early December right next door to Annata. (Alto Mare means deep sea in Italian.) It will be located where the Hooker Tea Co. used to be. The restaurant is a seafood concept with a Hamptons seaside coastal airy…

The Left Bank Bistro is a new St. Pete restaurant in the Historic Uptown / Crescent Heights area of town. It's located on MLK a couple of blocks north of Hook's. It's best described as "accessible French cuisine, coffee & cocktails in an intimate, inviting setting." They are now open for business in phase 1, which…

Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi is a fast-casual Pan-Asian restaurant that is opening its first Tampa Bay area location in downtown St. Petersburg. The 2,700 sq. ft. location is located at 320 Third Street South – in the base of the Camden Pier District apartment building, formerly AER. The grand opening is tomorrow, October 5th.…

Saigon Blonde recently opened to great acclaim several months ago on Central Ave in the old LUX location. Currently it is a bar that transports you to an atmosphere that is most assuredly Asian and makes you feel like you are on vacation on a lush tropical Asian Isle. But they were missing one thing…

Arriving on the St Pete scene in 2005, BellaBrava has been a mainstay in downtown for many years. Well before the restaurant boom that has hit us now. Originally occupying the space on Central Avenue, where The Acropolis Greek Taverna is now, they moved to their iconic Beach Dr location in 2010. After Chef Jeffrey…

Quietly, back in April 2018, 23 Restaurant Services, while in town for their buildout of Ford's Garage and Yeoman's Cask & Ale, stumbled upon Souzou Asian Kitchen and bought it. They've been running it as Souzou for months. The transformation is now complete, and Saké 23 debuts this weekend with their Grand Opening Events: Friday, 9/21…