Good deals at The Table in St. Petersburg

Joe Moledo over at The Table (539 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, (727) 823-3700) says business has been good the past couple months, largely because they've instituted some new promotions. First up, on Monday nights it's "guest bartender night," drawing from other downtown St. Pete restaurants and local luminaries to keep things shaken and stirred (each guest bartender choosing a charity for some of the proceeds). Then Monday to Thursday it's buy two entrees, get a complimentary bottle of wine, and happy hour runs 4 to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday with all drinks offered 2 for 1.

There's been a bit of a shakeup in the kitchen. After Pedro Flores left (turns out he just headed south to Sarasota where he's the chef at Big Sugar, which will soon be renamed Ole, with a corresponding new concept), Steven O'Brien, previously of the Tradewinds, took over. He's no longer there and the reins have been handed off to Jay Ward, who used to work at Mise en Place in Tampa. Ward has added a number of dishes, including a flank steak that sounds good.

Fleming's, Raw Bar Sushi and Snoballs

Things that are swirling around my head right now:

Fleming's recently introduced a new bar menu called 5 for 6 'til 7. That's 5 wines by the glass, 5 cocktails and 5 signature appetizers, all priced at $6 each until 7 p.m. Not a bad deal.

Raw Bar Sushi (James DeVito's--owner of Taps--new project at 777 N. Ashley, Tampa) which I wrote about here, is just getting up and running. But here's a nice touch: The rest rooms have European-style dual-flush toilets. Need a half flush or the full thing? You decide. It's great to see restaurateurs thinking green.

And I swung by Beach Snoballs (10927 Gulf Blvd., Treasure Island) the other night. OMG, you gotta go. Here are a couple stories explaining just what makes a New Orleans-style snoball different from, say, a Hawaiian shave ice. Or, if you don't feel like reading, head over and talk to James (Daddy Sno) about it while he shaves down a block of purified-water ice (very fluffy, not grainy like a snow cone), then pours special chocolate syrup over it, maybe some condensed milk, then some ice cream, then another syrup (cherry goes pretty well with the chocolate). The allure is primarily about layered texture and flavor, all of it summery-quenching, but different levels of richness and viscosity.

Most popular wine varietals in restaurants

Thought this was an interesting graphic, from Dataessentials Menutrends Direct 2008, determined by polling 4,840 U.S. chains and independents.

Are we inadvertently being tightwads?

Restaurants all over are offering specials. Two for ones; buy one, get one half off; free apps or desserts with a regular entree; happy hour and early bird deals. The list goes on--all in the name of keeping tushies in the seats. But what do you tip on? If you've bought one entree at full price and a second entree at half price, does the server get hosed in the deal? Shouldn't we be taking into account any coupon/special discount we've received and tipping on what the total should have been without the discount?

Ethel's Cafe new at the Jewish Community Center

A new eatery, Ethel's Café at the J, recently opened in the Carrollwood/Citrus Park area. The café is located on the Gunn Highway Campus of the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Federation. Ethel Pila, owner and manager of the cafe, is serving up bagels and schmear, Belgian waffles, soups, salads, wraps and paninis, with dinners to take home, too. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. For more info, call (813) 961-7565.

 

Anthony's Pizza opens May 27

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza to open in Clearwater May 27. The new location at 2532 McMullen Booth Road marks the 16th location for Anthony’s and the second in the Tampa Bay area. I reviewed the Carrollwood location here. Pretty worthwhile pie in my opinion.

Chappy's owner explains location shuffling in St. Petersburg

James Connell and Craig Chapman spoke with me today about their restaurant projects. As of last Friday, Grillside Central was sold operationally to Bob Churuti (he became the managing director, replacing Chapman). Churuti has brought in Greg Pugh, owner of Ringside Café, who in turn has hired Domenica Macchia to oversee the food at the new Diner 437.

Over at Chappy’s Louisiana Kitchen, Craig Chapman’s second restaurant, opened last July, business continues as usual. According to Connell, they are courting more catering and group reservation business (weddings, organizations’ events), but the Louisiana culinary concept remains the same: “Everything is status quo and we have a great lease on that property.”

Meanwhile, a couple weeks ago Chapman and Connell signed a lease on the old Bonefish location at 5901 Fourth St. N., which has been empty for the past several months. It will become Chappy’s Martini Bar and Grill, open for lunch and dinner, continuing the Chappy’s brand but not accenting the Louisiana style quite as much.

According to Chapman, at the new location they “will do more seafood and add some shellfish, and focus on more upscale cocktails (even some low-cal martinis).” Aiming to be open the first week in July, “it will look like a spin-off on Chappy’s, but not as much a fine dining restaurant with white tablecloths.”

And what went wrong at Grillside Central? 

“I decided I didn’t want to juggle two brands,” says Chapman. "I need to focus on the restaurant that I’m going to grow a brand with.” Still, Chapman says he’s looking for another location for Grillside Central, a bigger space in which to do Southern “low country” cooking.

Appetizers less appetizing?

A new study was released today from Chicago-based consulting firm Technomic. It seems the recession is stalling appetizer sales. The study looks at consumer purchases in appetizers, soups and salads. According to the reports, heavy purchasers of salads dropped from 51 percent in 2007 to 33 percent in 2009. Similarly, heavy purchasers of appetizers fell from 40 percent in 2007 to 24 percent in 2009, and heavy purchasers of soups slipped from 25 percent to 15 percent in the same time period.

Because of my job I always order appetizers, but I can say anecdotally--given the amount of time I spend gazing at fellow diners in restaurants--I see fewer appetizers purchased and more shared apps. What can restaurants do to deal with this downward trend?

More on closure of Hip Hop Soda Shop

My esteemed colleague Jay Cridlin got all the skinny. Check it out here.

Also, the 4th annual Savor Sarasota restaurant week gears up June 1 to June 14. Participating restaurants offer $15 three-course lunches and $25 three-course dinners. More than 25 restaurants are participating, including Vernona, Michael’s on East, Derek’s, Harry’s, The Colony, Mattison’s and more. For the full list, go here.

How many of you are eating hotdogs as you read this?

Seems there's a wiener brouhaha brewing. See this story for details. Bottom line, everyone is vying to be top dog. Oscar Mayer is giving away $1 million worth of hot dogs this week, Sara Lee (owner of Ball Park franks) is doing mad in-store promotions and Hebrew National is giving away 45,000 hot dogs today in Times Square in New York.

Having just eaten a whole bunch of hotdogs (doing research for a food at the Trop story to run Thursday, but also, somewhat coincidentally, for kicks), I'm on the fence right now. Nathan's and Hebrew National are seeming too salty to me at this moment. Like you start drinking revenge-of-the-dog gallons of water immediately. Oscar Mayer and Ball Park are less salty, but the ingredient possibilities are a little grimmer. Maybe I'll have to keep going today and have a little hair of the dog that bit me, so to speak.