Eating at the beach
So here I am, home again. I've been in St. Petersburg (the Florida one) for the past week.
The reason you haven't heard anything about my trip was that I had nothing to gloat about. It was cold (down to the 30s for a couple of days) and very windy. More important for the purposes of this blog, the eating is not good where I was, officially St. Petersburg, but in a friend's condo very close to St. Pete Beach.
Maybe I should move there and open what the area desperately needs: a good local seafood restaurant that isn't a bar. In some ways, it's like Baltimore. I always say we may not have that one great seafood place but any good restaurant here has good seafood, so what does it matter? The difference is that St. Pete Beach doesn't have that good restaurant that has good seafood -- at least not that I've found. ...
The best I came up with on this visit was Patrick's Bayside Grill. It had all the charm I was looking for, small (maybe 15 tables), great low-key staff, an idiosyncratic menu. But look at that sign. Where at the beach here would you have a restaurant that advertises one thing on its sign -- crisp roast duck?
I did try the duck, which was the old-fashioned half, cooked well done. These days that preparation seems a bit dry to me, but I knew what to expect. The problem was that it was served with a delicate orange beurre blanc sauce. It was a lovely orange beurre blanc, but the duck needed a sauce with a lot more punch, like the classic orange or other fruit sauce that usually goes with it.
Still, I liked the place a lot, so the next night I tried the black grouper piccata. Good, fresh fish, not overcooked, but (I'm not exaggerating much here) probably half a bottle of capers on top of it. The dish was a bit salty, to say the least. I wish I had tried the hog snapper with a tomato beurre blanc.
Next time.
The weirdest meal I had was on Super Bowl Sunday because almost all the restaurants were closed in the game's honor. This was at a place called Silas Steakhouse & Bayside Bar on St. Pete Beach. I won't bore you with the details except to say that between courses the place serves a "palate-cleansing sorbet" -- in a miniature ice cream cone, the old-fashioned kind that I think is called a cake cone. It looked really stupid. (I had a good grouper sandwich, though.)
I do have to give a nod to the Black Palm, a Latin restaurant in Pass-a-Grille, which I wrote about last year. It would be my first choice if I had to give you one recommendation for the area; but I was a little disappointed in my red snapper this year. It was tough. I'm not sure how you cook fish so it's tough without drying it out.
Oh, well. At least I've come back to good weather here. But let me warn you, if those temperatures plunge I'm taking off again. I've got a lot of unused vacation to burn, a cousin in West Palm Beach and a brother in Los Angeles.
When I finished writing this much I put the headline on the post, expecting to send it on its way. But my headline reminded me of a Top 10 idea that someone -- I think MD Canon -- suggested: best places to eat at the beach off-season.
I like the idea, although this Tuesday, of course, the Top 10 has to be romantic restaurants of some sort. And it looks like it's going to be romantic restaurants for this economy by popular acclaim. If you have any suggestions for either Romantic Restaurants for This Economy or Best Places to Eat at the Beach Off-Season, please post below.
Comments
It sure was cold here last week! Today its going to be 75 here.
St. Pete's restaurant scene sounds a lot like the way it is around here. We have only a couple really good restaurants. They all tout the "freshest seafood", but only a couple really have the good stuff.
One place, Captain Anderson's, advertises "Dine Early and Watch The Fleet Come In". The fishermen come in and dump that day's catch on the pier, supposedly for the chef to come out, pick out your fish and cook it.
Now if you are already dining there, wouldn't it be too late to get the fresh-caught fish? Anyway, the long-time locals don't think that much of the place, but the tourists flock to it.
Posted by: PCB Rob | February 8, 2009 9:41 AM
For really great grouper sandwiches and beach atmosphere, you need to head to Frenchy's on Clearwater Beach.
It's hard for me to leave St. Pete Beach at night, even though I always mean to. EL
Posted by: Elliott | February 8, 2009 11:31 AM
We gotta get you out of St. Pete Beach at night....there's a world of restaurants out there and you need to be trying them or not :)
Posted by: Kitchen Goddess | February 9, 2009 7:46 AM
Thanks for this post; I forwarded it to my parents who are visiting St. Pete Beach. (psst, I hear it's warmed up)
Posted by: Sheila | February 10, 2009 8:03 AM
We were in St. Pete Beach three weeks ago to run the St. Pete Beach Classic 10K. The weather was about the same as you describe it, but it was warmer than Baltimore. We found a couple of great places - Ted Peters Smoked Fish (we just happened upon it - turns out it's legendary!), Gigi's - Italian. A great restaurant we have been to in St. Petersburg is Cafe Cibo. The owner is from Baltimore! Wonderful tiramisu!http://www.cafecibo.net/
Thanks! EL
Posted by: Joe & Joan | February 10, 2009 12:54 PM
There's your excuse for burning more vacations days, EL. You've got to go report on the smoked fish place, so I can get the mental image of a dreadlocked, Rasta tuna with a giant spliff out of my head.
Posted by: Lissa | February 10, 2009 1:27 PM
I have also been to Ted Peter's Famous smoked fish. My wife and I had to check it out after seeing it on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! The smoked fish spread was terrific!
Gennaro's in the Passe-Grille part of St. Pete Beach is hands down the best Italian place in town. Small dining room and located in a tiny strip center next to a laundromat, but wonderful pasta.
Posted by: NickinEC | February 10, 2009 2:49 PM