Wine/food deal at SideBern's

Rawbar Sushi changes chefs, menu

Today Rawbar Sushi introduced a new menu of sushi, cooked dishes and bento boxes, for lunch and dinner. Owner James DeVito also announced the hiring of chef James Lee, Rawbar’s new executive chef. Chef Lee, a Tampa local, has served sushi in Tampa for over 30 years. DeVito describes the transition from the prior menu as bittersweet, “Former chef Nao Higuchi is very talented with experience at the highest caliber of restaurants such as Nobu, but for various reasons, it just didn’t work out.  Keeping a kitchen staff was a challenge and that limited us from offering a full and flexible menu.” 
 
 DeVito admits, “We had a complicated opening but in this business you have to move fast. In six months we’ve identified opportunities to improve, acted on them and persevered. Our new menu is here, we are open for lunch offering $10 bento boxes, takeout and catering are now available, and we have an aggressive happy hour Tuesday to Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. offering a $4 bar menu, $5 martinis and $3 draft beers. 777 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa; (813) 422-5220.

The Table makes shift to St. Pete Brasserie

I was walking by the other day and saw the guys putting up the new sign at 539 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; (727) 823-3700. And here's the new menu. 

Panera Bread donating big to Children's Cancer Center

Panera Bread is donating $100,000 to the Children’s Cancer Center of Tampa. The money was collected through the company’s Community Breadbox donation program in 24 bay-area bakery-cafes and matched by Covelli Family Limited Partnership, a franchisee of Panera Bread. A ceremony takes place at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Children's Cancer Center, 4901 W. Cypress St.  

With the $100,000 donation, Panera Bread will kick off its next Children’s Cancer Center benefit through its Giving Tree campaign. From Thanksgiving through the end of December, 24 Tampa-area Panera Bread bakery-cafes will display Giving Trees filled with wishes from bay-area children who are battling childhood cancer. This year, customers will receive a free gingerbread man cookie for every gift purchased for a child on the tree. In its six-year partnership, Panera Bread’s Giving Tree program has provided gifts for 400 families.

Belleair Grill and Wine Bar changes hands

Mark Marone recently sold Belleair Grill (formerly the Peppermill, 1575 S. Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater, (727) 449-2988) to Matt Camp. Camp is new to the area, having just relocated from Massachusetts. He has brought chef Cathryn Peplowski back (a good move, as she's a very talented chef) and his primary objective is to maintain the restaurant's base of more mature customers while attracting a younger audience, as well. How, exactly? Half price apetizers after 8 p.m., more inexpensive wines by the glass and bottle, more nightly specials and, starting Dec. 6, Sunday brunch.

Parkshore turns three, celebrates tomorrow

Parkshore Grill’s third anniversary party is Thursday, Nov. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. They will be pouring the first bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau and passing complimentary hors d’oeuvres from chef Tyson and the crew. Sister restaurant, 400 Beach Seafood & Tap House will also offer complimentary hors d’oeuvres and wine to join in this celebration. 

Ruby Tuesday thinking way outside the box

I read last week about Ruby Tuesday's new thinking: In the midst of all this doom and gloom, use the time to reposition the restaurant further upscale, with the aim of capturing new customers as we all begin to eat out again.

Ruby Tuesday is rolling out a new menu with 27 new items – it’s one of the biggest overhauls of the menu in the restaurant's history. From new entree salads to seafood dishes, the menu changes are in direct response to the latest food trends. There are 20 Ruby Tuesday restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.
 
For years Ruby Tuesday has been known for its burgers, but the new items reflect a seafood orientation. From lobster dishes to salmon, there are more seafood items on the new menu than ever before. That’s a huge shift. In the Tampa restaurants, the specialty items make up nearly 25 percent of sales. Tampa Bay patrons order the New Orleans Seafood dish more than any other item on the menu.

It will be interesting to see how these changes impact the restaurant chain's popularity going forward.

A stew of new

Kona Grill is now open on Boy Scout in Tampa. La Cachette in Clearwater on Cleveland Street is open and, according to my sources, very beautiful, with several rooms to accomodate different-sized parties. At the site of the old La Cachette on Gulf Blvd. in Indian Rocks Beach, Tapas Garden Restaurant has opened, with nice outside dining space. Taverna Opa is going into Channelside in the space that was once Grille 29, while downstairs a new Irish 31s Pub and Grill is going in. Angelinos in Palm Harbor is now Jonny Garlic's. Taqueria Quetzalcoatl 402 S Howard Ave. in Tampa will open shortly as Mateo's Fresh Mex. And Dutchy's, a sports bar on Mandalay on Clearwater Beach, will open early in January.

On a sad note, Edyth James' Callaloo's (705 Court St., Clearwater) appears to be out of business.
The phone is disconnected, the Web site is down and the sign says "Closed for Repairs."

Sushi Rock Grill new chef

St. Petersburg’s Sushi Rock Grill has announced the hiring of Jouy (pronounced "Joy") Techo as executive sushi chef. Techo, who has more than 16 years of food industry and sushi experience, returns to the community where he started his career as a sushi-chef after eight years away learning and improving his craft under the tutelage of top sushi-chefs in the Southeast.

“We are thrilled to have Jouy come home to share his unique talents with our customers,” said Nouc Phanthavong, general manager of Sushi Rock Grill, located at 1163 Martin Luther King St. N in St. Petersburg.

Techo began his sushi training in 1997 under Daniel Sung of Kiku Restaurant in Clearwater Beach and Kinjo Sung of St Petersburg. Prior to joining Sushi Rock Grill, Techo was executive sushi-chef at Misono Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar in Alpharetta, Georgia, in 2003 and Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse in Stockbridge, Georgia from 2004 to 2007. Most recently, he was executive sushi-chef at the Eenoco Japanese Steak and Sushi on Lake Oconee in Eatonton, Georgia.  

Look for a new Sunday brunch menu and available corporate lunch meeting accommodations in 2010.

Gigi's and Chappy's update

Craig Chapman is entirely out of the Chappy's Louisiana Kitchen project (247 Central Ave., St. Petersburg) since some unpleasantness in September. Investors Jim Connell, the Hamiltons and the Cerutis have taken over full ownership and Michelle Reeves is manager of the restaurant. Reeves says the menu remains the same at Chappy's, with less emphasis on the Cajun/Creole dishes.

Meanwhile, the former Bonefish Grill space on 4th Street (5901 Fourth St. N.), which has been empty for the past several months and was slated to become Chappy’s Martini Bar and Grill, will open as Gigi's Italian Restaurant around December 15. This will be a fourth location for the S. Pasadena-based restaurant group owned by the Newberne family.