St. Petersburg Pier - the final days

I am proud to be born and raised in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. The colorful inverted pyramid that sits on our gorgeous downtown waterfront has been a source of many memories for me and millions of others - tourists and residents alike. This May, the St. Petersburg Pier as we know it will be closed forever. It is a bittersweet feeling for me and my peers who have known nothing else in that spot.

1973-2013

I am making a big push to remind everyone to get out to the Pier and see it one last time before it's gone. What better way to do that than to make a toast to the St. Pete Pier! While almost all of the food at the Pier is forgettable, the sights of our beautiful city are not. Each of the 3 main restaurants at the Pier have a gorgeous view. I encourage you to get out there, grab a drink, make a toast, and enjoy the view!

The 3 dining destinations at the Pier:

Jonny Reno's is a surf themed restaurant on the first floor, with indoor and outdoor seating, and a full bar outside. Sit outside and watch the bikers, rollerbladers, and couples strolling hand in hand around the perimeter of the Pier. This is a good place to grab a drink with friends.

The Columbia, St. Pete's branch of the famous Florida chain, is located on the 4th floor and features 360 degrees views. Day or night, grab a seat by the window and enjoy the view. The Columbia features Cuban food, sangria, and the famous 1905 Salad.

Cha Cha Coconuts is on the top floor (#5) of the Pier, which is also the observation deck. They have indoor and outdoor seating with one of the best views in the 'Burg. Cha Cha Coconuts serves casual Caribbean style food.

As many times as I have been to the Pier, I had never tried Cha Cha Coconuts. I can now say that I was not missing too much! The food was ok and the scenery was amazing, but for the same price I could have had a better lunch at The Columbia. I will certainly miss my local connection to 1905 Salad between now and the opening of the Lens in 2015!

Dining outdoors at Cha-Cha's

Observation deck on the top floor

What a view!

Grilled grouper sandwich 

Smothered chicken sandwich

Fish spread

The current St. Petersburg Pier will open and close for the last time on Friday May 31st. Whether you have never been to the Pier, or you've been a thousand times, everyone owes the Pier a final farewell visit. While it will be strange to no longer have our famous Pier, we can only hope that the Pier of the future, The Lens, will make us proud in the years to come!

Walking away from the Pier one last time

Cheers to the future of downtown St. Petersburg!

What is your favorite memory of the St. Petersburg Pier?

Check out the Pier restaurants on UrbanSpoon: 

Jonny Reno's

The Columbia

Cha-Cha Coconuts

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La Crêperia Cafe

Crêpes are back in the Burg! A few years ago, where The Ale and the Witch sits today, was a French restaurant and crêperie named L'Olivier. After a relatively short span, L'Olivier closed up shop and crêpes were gone. Sure there are plenty of restaurants with crêpes on the menu - usually as a dessert - but nowhere has a full menu of sweet crêpes, savory crêpes, and everything in between. Enter La Crêperia Cafe on Central Avenue... After a successful location in Ybor City, La Crêperia Cafe expanded with a second location in St. Petersburg. Have you seen that shiny silver Airstream as you've driven down Central Avenue? That's where the crêpe magic happens!  

Crêpes are actually incredibly easy to make at home, but always taste better when you get them at a real crêperie. The base of a crêpe is made with flour, eggs, milk, butter, and a touch of salt. A professional crêperie uses a large flat hot plate and spreads the batter evenly over the surface. After 1 flip and a few minutes, the crêpe is ready to be filled with whatever your heart (and tastebuds) desire. Here's a video of how the pros in Paris make a crêpe: 

Some of my fondest memories of food, travel, and life involve crêpes in my other favorite city, Paris. Happiness is a Nutella crêpe fresh from the crêpe stand across from the Eiffel Tower. And having an egg topped crêpe for lunch with a Parisian and some of your best friends at a local diner. And impressing your new boyfriend with your French skills by ordering a "Jambon et fromage crêpe, si vous plait." You get the picture!

I am happy to have La Crêperia Cafe in my backyard now, so those crêpe cravings come at a cheaper price than a flight to Europe. I recently met up with Jenn from Jenn Likes It and Nikki from SandBookWich for dinner. Even though I had looked at the menu many times before, I still had to look a few more times before I placed my order. There are just so many options to choose from. And if they don't have what you want, you can customize anything! 

 

The only bad thing about our visit to La Creperia Cafe was that only 1 person was working. 1 person to take orders and to cook orders. A little strange, and hopefully not the norm. But hey, it's a small business and sometimes those things happen. C'est la vie, right?

Anyway, on to the food! I ended up ordering the Croque-monsieur, a toasted ham and cheese sandwich topped with melted cheese. Jenn and Nikki ordered some savory crêpes, and we shared the Romeo y Julieta (banana, strawberry, and Nutella) for dessert. It is best to visit La Crêperia with friends, so you can mix and match or share your crêpes. There is a lot to choose from and you will want to try everything! We were stuffed, and the dessert crêpe shared 3 ways was plenty! There are some tables outside to dine at, or a small inside area decorated with Paris flare. 

The next time you want a different kind of breakfast, or a dessert date with your sweetheart, head down to La Crêperia Cafe. I am happy to welcome crêpes back to the Burg and I hope you are too! Bon appétit, mon ami!

Check out what others are saying about La Crêperia Cafe on UrbanSpoon:

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EATS! American Grill

Sometimes you just want to go where everybody knows your name. Or maybe just to a spot where you can go as you are and be enveloped in a warm easy-going environment of good food and good drinks. That spot is EATS!

Eats American Grill is a casual American eatery in Tampa that serves up classic American comfort foods. I visited EATS on a Saturday afternoon and there were plenty of regular customers on hand. These frequent EATS diners had nothing but wonderful things to say about this Tampa eatery! 

My meal started with Saratoga Potato Chips. While many restaurants are eliminating the complimentary bread basket, EATS is serving up housemade fresh potato chips to their guests. The chips are served with a cool Saratoga dipping sauce. It is hard not to fill up on chips while you ponder over the menu! 

EATS has a big variety of dinner salads, sandwiches, and entrees to choose from. I knew I wanted to try one of the new menu items EATS offers. This was a really tough choice! I wanted to try the Houseblend Burger (bacon and Angus beef on a brioche bun), the Rib and Mac sandwich (rib meat, mac and cheese, and onion on Texas Toast), and the Tree Dog Mad Sweet Chicken (grilled chicken breast with Tree Dog onion salsa and cheese, baked). Don't they all sound amazing? These are just a few of the new menu items EATS recently added to their lineup. Once my eyes found the new Mahi Fish Tacos, my mind was made up. 

The Mahi Fish Tacos can be ordered blackened, grilled, or fried. The fresh fish is served on a warm flour tortilla with cabbage, fire roasted corn salsa, and EATS signature spicy sauce. A rice pilaf accompanies the tacos. Here are some close-up shots of the tacos. As you can see, the mahi is fresh and flaky, and the corn salsa is filled with diced peppers for an extra kick. The EATS spicy sauce is definitely spicy. Maybe not for you big heat seekers but it's spicy enough for me - a big wimp when it comes to seriously spicy food! Speaking of spice - did you know EATS was featured on a Food Network episode of Heat Seekers? Pretty cool! 

While I was at EATS I also wanted to try some of their macaroni and cheese. When a restaurant has a good homemade mac and cheese, you can't pass it up. Check out this fresh baked dish of deliciousness! I could have eaten a whole meal of this mac and cheese and been happy. It was topped with crispy bacon bits. 

Even though I was full at this point I wanted to make sure I tried one of the new dessert items, an Ice Cream Truffle! I can't resist ice cream. EATS offers 3 truffle choices: The Manhattan, Cookies and Cream, and Strawberry Cheesecake. This was another very hard decision! I decided to go with the Cookies and Cream truffle. The truffle is ice cream in a crispy chocolate shell with whipped cream. It was a perfect ending to an afternoon meal. On my next visit to EATS I look forward to trying the Fried Oreo Sundae and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. 

EATS is located near Gandy and Dale Mabry - a short drive for us St. Pete folks! EATS will welcome you with whatever you're in the mood for. Whether it's a cold beer, a BLT, or some classic Apple Pie, EATS serves up good classic American comfort food with a lot of heart!

Special thanks to Tracy from My Other City by the Bay for introducing me to EATS!

Check out what others are saying about EATS on UrbanSpoon

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