“When the World Seems to Shine Like You’ve Had Too Much Wine”…That’s Sophia’s

The highly anticipated opening of Sophia's Cucina + Enoteca, brought to you by the owners of Lolita's Wine Market, Chef Alex and Kelly Rodriguez, is Thursday, May 23rd at 5:00pm. Yes, that's tomorrow. I would say run don't walk to Sophia's! You can make your reservations on Opentable. Read the original article we wrote about…

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…

The Big Catch at Salt Creek (named as an homage to Jon La Budde's former night club in downtown St Pete), located in the former Fishtales space next to the Harborage Marina, is set to open May 3rd with new executive Chef Kyrie (pronounced Keery) Rotolo at the helm. We sat down with one of…

Wepa Cocina de Puerto Rico Opens Today - Across From 3 Daughters (Wepa is an exclamation that can mean great, good job, what's up, wow, etc.) It takes a lot of balls to go from amateur food critic to professional restaurateur—especially when you've ruffled a few feathers along the way with some of your critiques.…

Kelly and Chef Alex Rodriguez, owners of the extremely popular Lolita's Wine Bar, are dipping their talents into a new concept in the Grand Central District. Their new restaurant, Sophia's Cucina & Enoteca, is located in the space formerly occupied by The Hive, which closed in May 2018. Following in the footsteps of Lolita's named…

The Independent Bar, a downtown St Pete institution, will be adding an Outdoor Café to its location at the corner of Central and 11th St. in the EDGE District. “We are very excited to bring our Café fare to The Edge District. We have been planning this expansion for two years, and now we have…

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…

Capital Tacos Tyrone Location to Open Spring 2019 After opening their first St. Petersburg location this past summer, Capital Tacos found out that St. Petersburgers are big fans of their unique Tex-Mex fare—big enough to open another St. Pete Location. The new location will open "within the next few months" at 6802 22nd Ave. N.—across…

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…

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.…

The Crafty Squirrel is hosting a grand opening event tonight, Thursday, September 13th from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. There will be a formal gathering with Mayor Rick Kriseman, a complimentary sampling of menu items, $250 in raffle prizes, and more! [caption id="attachment_12183" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Interior[/caption] Guests will have an opportunity to taste items on the menu…

Pacific Counter officially opened yesterday, Tuesday, Sept 4th. Kevin and I were invited for a sneak peek last Thursday, the day before their soft opening. We originally reported on them back in March. Pacific Counter is the culmination of a dream between partners, Tanner Loebel, Eric Bialik and Chef Chitt Tock. Tanner was the founder…