Pizzaiolo Bavaro - Tampa, FL

Walking by Pizzaiolo Bavaro in downtown Tampa, we found ourselves drawn in by the delicious scent of Italian food drifting out the open door. Inside was a cozy restaurant with brick walls and a wood fire burning in the oven in the back corner of the restaurant.

We ordered a few drinks and decided to try the Margherita pizza. Soon our pizza came to our table and looked lovely with its melted cheese topped with basil. The pizza was delicious and I especially liked the tomato base on the pizza, which really makes the difference between a good pizza and a great pizza. If you like, they also offer some nice pasta selections on their menu. This is a great find in downtown Tampa.

Pizzaiolo Bavaro

514 North Franklin St

Suite 101

Tampa, FL 33602

813-868-4440

Mise En Place - Tampa, FL

Mise En Place is a lovely restaurant located in Hyde Park. After a fun afternoon at the Tampa Bay History Center, we stopped over for a bite to eat. The best way I can describe the restaurant is quietly elegant. We arrived shortly after the restaurant opened for dinner, so it was very quiet at that hour. We were quickly given a table along one of the comfy padded benches.

After ordering a couple of drinks, we looked over the menu. We tried a couple of items from the second plates menu. First, there was the Moroccan Fried Quail with preserved lemon honey. The quail had a hint of spiciness and was nice, but I felt the taste of the quail was somewhat lost underneath the coating. The other dish we chose was the L.A. Pizza with rock shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives, cipolinni onions, and arugula salad. The pizza was excellent and all of the components of the pizza worked well together. Finally, we tried the homemade ice cream that they make daily. We tried the lemon ice cream which was pure bliss. This is a nice place with a lot of creative dining options on their menu.

Mise En Place

442 West Kennedy Blvd

Tampa, FL 33606

813-254-5373

Mellow Mushroom - Tampa, FL

My son and I were over in Tampa, and we needed something to eat, like immediately. Driving down the road, we noticed a Mellow Mushroom, which we have never tried, even though it is a chain that we have seen in various cities that we have traveled to in the past. So, being VERY hungry, this seemed like a good time to try them out and see how they stack up against other pizza chains, which we avoid because chain pizza is generally very bad. Heading inside the restaurant, the Mellow Mushroom appeared to be going for the hippy scene theme. Yes, it was kind of cheesy, but appealing. We were given seating at one of the booths.

We ordered some soda and made a quick choice of basic cheese pizza. For those of you who have read previous posts of mine, we almost always order cheese pizza. I can't remember the last time I ordered a pizza with other toppings because we love our pizza basic. After a short wait, food arrived and we loved the pizza. The crust was unusual, and had a buttery taste to it. I even liked the crust at the back that was dusted with parmesan cheese and slightly garlicky tasting. I would rather go to a mom and pop shop to get my pizza, but it is good to know that there is some good options out their for chain store pizza. The Mellow Mushroom definitely beats some of those other pizza chains, hands down. (No, this is not a paid advertisement.)

Mellow Mushroom

11955 Sheldon Road

Tampa, FL 33626

813-926-3600

Mocha Vida - St Petersburg, FL

I stopped over at Mocha Vida to check out a drum circle jam and open mic that they host every Thursday night. Little did I know what a cool place this would be and my only regret is that they aren't close enough to me to be a daily coffee shop stop. This is a place you want to grab your drink and sit down and get comfortable with a good book for a couple of hours. The drum circle they host there is awesome and perfect in such an intimate setting. They have plenty of chairs to gather around in a circle and a cozy couch. In their pastry case, they offer a tantalizing assortment of chocolate fudges and chocolate treats. We tried a latte that was very good along with an ice tea, also very good. To satisfy our sweet tooth, we tried the vanilla cupcakes that had a scrumptious layer of chocolate on the bottom. Try this one, I don't think you will be disappointed!

Mocha Vida

10468 Roosevelt Blvd

St Petersburg, FL 33716

727-656-8275

Snapper's Sea Grill - St Pete Beach, FL

Snapper's is a cozy and intimate little seafood restaurant located on St Pete Beach. They are open for dinner only. If you are dining on a budget, they offer a early bird special from 4 pm to 5 pm ranging in price from 8.95 to 11.95. The early bird special includes coffee or tea, salad, entree, and a petite slice of their key lime pie (call ahead to confirm the early bird special is still in effect). The night we dined there was later in the evening, so I would love to hear any feedback from anyone who has tried the early bird dining special. When we arrived at Snapper's, we took a seat inside, but as the air conditioning was running a bit cold, we quickly decided to dine at one of the tables outside.

In addition to their regular menu, Snapper's offers a nightly menu of specials that includes wine on it. They had a lovely Bordeaux Clairet that we had never tried before that turned out to be a nice surprise. For one of our entrees, we chose the grouper topped with shrimp, scallops, and a crabmeat stuffing with champagne cream sauce that was served along with vegetables and a potato puff pastry. Next, was the Asian Orange glazed salmon, which my son opted to have served with fries, rather than the rice that was included in the dish. The final entree we chose was the Coconut-Cashew Crusted Mahi-Mahi served over mango chutney with a grilled banana and a potato puff pastry. Prior to the entrees, we enjoyed a spicy hummus with crunchy flat bread and a salad with a delicious, smoky tasting dressing. After that, we were served our nicely presented entrees. The seafood was wonderful and if I was going to pick a favorite, it would have to be the grouper. The potato puff pastry was absolutely divine, too. After all that, we tried the key lime pie, with a chocolate cookie crust. I loved the key lime filling, but I guess I am a traditionalist, when it comes to key lime pie. The chocolate crust was too overpowering for the filling. However, this is my only complaint in an otherwise great experience.

Our server was very attentive and we never lacked for anything throughout the evening. If you want to enjoy great seafood, this would be a definite winner. If you don't happen to be a big fan of seafood, they offer a few meat and chicken entrees on the menu.

Snapper's Sea Grill

5895 Guld Blvd

St Pete Beach, FL 33706

727-367-3550

Mr. Dunderbak's - Tampa, FL

A bit of a drive over to north Tampa from St Petersburg, and I found myself at Mr. Dunderbak's, which is a German themed restaurant. I encountered cases of beer and small beer kegs all down the entranceway to the restaurant. In fact, it looked like there was beer stacked throughout different areas of the restaurant. And that's not all. This is a restaurant, but they also have beer for sale along with candy, meat, cheese, chocolate, beer steins, etc. Besides the main room with small tables and long tables for larger parties, there is another room with beer and long tables and a room with a small bar and a couch and chairs. We were seated at a small table in the main room.

The first order of business was to check out the menu of draft beers that numbers around 55 draft beers on tap. The beer menu may be disappointing if you come to Mr. Dunderbak's and expect that a German restaurant might have a large selection of german beers. They had a few german beers, but pretty much stuff you can see on offer at other places along with a few belgian beers. It seemed like a large portion of the draft selection was made up of american beers. There is nothing wrong with american beers, but if you are going to a german themed restaurant, you might hope to try out a few more german beers.

After ordering beer, it was on to the food. We ordered the reuben, which is supposed to be their number one seller. Along with the reuben, we ordered the sauerbraten with red cabbage and potato pancakes and the veal schnitzel sandwich. The schnitzel sandwich was good, but a bit tough. The reuben was very good and tender. Both of the sandwiches were served with potato chips and pickles. Finally, the beef sauerbraten was very tender, and I loved the red cabbage and the potato pancakes served with applesauce. It was a very fun experience and I liked the german music playing over the speakers. If you have a large party of friends, this would be a fun place to gather them all together and enjoy a few beers. Cheers!

Mr. Dunderbak's

14929 Bruce B Downs Blvd

Tampa, FL 33613

O'Bistro - St Petersburg, FL

I just had a wonderful breakfast this morning and I am sure I just ate more than was good for me, but it was sooooo good that I couldn't help myself. The O'Bistro is located in a rather blah strip of shops that looks rather uninspiring and an unlikely source of good food. However, appearances can be deceiving, so we continued inside the restaurant where things began to look a bit more promising and you kind of forget at that point that you are in a strip mall. We were given seating at one of the booths in the middle portion of the restaurant.

O'Bistro offers mimosas and martinis if you like, but it was a latte and a plain coffee for us. We ordered the Creme Brulee French Toast, the smoked salmon omelette, and the reuben omelette. With the omelettes, there is a choice of potatoes or grits and a raisin muffin is also served with that. The french toast was made with thick slices of challah bread and served with hot syrup. It was fantastic and it brought to mind warm caramel rolls. The reuben omelette was also good with its corned beef and cheese, and just like your classic reuben, it too includes sauerkraut. I wasn't sure about sauerkraut in an omelette, but it was surprisingly delicious. Then there was the salmon omelette, which was perfect and bursting with a generous serving of smoked salmon inside. I don't want to overlook the sides because the grits, potatoes with onions and peppers, and the raisin muffin were excellent. We had a great breakfast and if I was going to pick on anything it would have to be the latte. If you are going to serve espresso drinks, they should be done right, or not at all because my latte was not very good at all. However, everything else was so very good that I would avoid this next time by sticking with regular coffee because I will definitely be back again sometime to try their lunch or dinner.

O'bistro

6661 Central Avenue

St Petersburg, FL 33710

727-381-1212