Burger 21 - Tampa(Westchase), FL

After observing that Burger 21 has been the talk of the town forever, I decided it was time to pay a visit. When I first arrived there, I had a bit of a let down because I didn't realize that it was barely removed from being a fast food joint and it is part of a franchise with another location in Carrollwood. Instead of being seated, you place your order at the cash register and you are given a number that you insert into a placeholder, then your food is brought to you. I didn't let it faze me too much, though. We ordered our food, paid, and then grabbed a spot at the stools at the counter. While waiting for our food, I went to grab some ketchup. If you want something other than the usual to cover your sandwich with or dip your fries in, they had ordinary ketchup, mango ketchup, chipotle mayo, a spicy ketchup, among others.

The first thing to arrive was our chocolate shake and root beer float that we watched them make, while sitting at the counter. They were yummy and just the right thing to go along with our burgers. The next thing to come out were our basket of fries. They were good, but not the greatest and although we skipped the small and medium fries and ordered the basket, I thought it was rather small. One thing I wasn't happy about was that they brought the fries out to us before our burgers were done, so that by the time our burgers arrived, our fries were just about gone. For burgers, we tried "The Cheesy Burger," with cheddar cheese, minus the vegetables. The other burger we tried was "The Shroom," which was covered in crimini mushrooms, fontina cheese, and garlic butter. Both of the burgers were delicious and I loved the soft and toasted brioche bun that they were both served on. Both burgers were cooked as ordered and they were juicy and just awesome. A great burger alternative to mainstream fast food.

Burger 21

9664 West Linebaugh Avenue

Tampa, FL 33626

813-475-5921

Five Bucks Drinkery - downtown St Petersburg, FL

The Five Bucks Drinkery is located right in the heart of downtown St Petersburg on Central Avenue. The name of this little spot says it all, in that nothing is over five dollars, which is great when you are on a budget. When I went there with my family, it was a bit quiet, and we were able to take our pick of seating at one of the bar tables inside. We ordered a couple of beers and were disappointed when our beers arrived in plastic glasses, which is part of their whole money saving theme. However, we did learn later on that you can get your beer in a real glass, but you have to ask, which we did after the first drink. For food we ordered some burger, fries, and tots. Each item is priced separately, which is probably what keeps the costs under five dollars. The burger was ok, but nothing exciting. Even so, this is not a bad place to hang out and have inexpensive drinks and food, especially when on a budget.

Five Bucks Drinkery

247 Central Avenue

Saint Petersburg, FL 33701

727-896-5118

Sweet Divas Chocolates - downtown St Petersburg, FL

Sweet Divas is a wonderful addition to downtown St Petersburg, and I have already been there a number of times to partake of their delicious chocolate. I was told that they get their chocolate from Belgium that they use to make their chocolates, maybe that is why they taste so good. Not only do they have chocolate, they have an assortment of yummy cupcakes. There is a vanilla cupcake that I especially love that is covered with fudge frosting that has shavings of white chocolate all over it. Then, there is the muffins and if you come on the weekends, I believe they have some sort of muffin and mimosa special. Oops, did I forget to mention that they serve wine and champagne here? If you want to skip the wine, they serve coffee and tea. Finally, they have artisan ice cream that is out of this world. Sweet Divas is just off of Beach Drive on Fourth Avenue and you don't want to miss it!

Sweet Divas Chocolates

400 Beach Drive NE

St Petersburg, FL 33701

727-379-4567

Ohana Cafe - Palm Harbor, FL

One Friday evening, my family and I headed over to Ohana Cafe in Palm Harbor to hear a friend, Rebecca Zapen sing. It was quite a hike over to Palm Harbor, but it was well worth it. The Ohana Cafe has a Hawaiian influenced theme going on and you will see that reflected in their food, as well as, the Hawaiian Hula dance that happens between the music performance on Friday and Saturday nights. We were lucky to get the last remaining table on the patio, so we could see the Hula dance and the music. As this was a chilly December evening in Florida, we were glad there was a covering over the patio, along with some gas heaters.

We were given a wine list that had quite a few organic wine offerings on the menu. After choosing drinks, we looked at the menu, which featured a variety of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options, along with options for meat eaters. We decided to order the Hawaii 5-0, which is a buffalo patty served on Ciabatta with cheese and a variety of toppings. Also, we ordered the Ohana's Kalua Chicken and cabbage served over rice and the very veggie omelette with home fries. The burger was delicious, but we didn't like the veggie straws that were served along with it. I liked the Ohana's Kalua Chicken with Chicken and cabbage, but I did add a little sriracha sauce to kick it up a little. The veggie omelette was very good, but on the small side. For dessert, we had to try the popover, which was covered with macadamia nut sauce. This was very good, and a great way to end the meal. I enjoyed our experience and it was nice to have a large selection of healthy dining options.

Ohana Cafe

306 Orange Street North

Palm Harbor, FL 34683

727-787-1234

Laughing Cat Bar - Ybor(Tampa), FL

One Friday afternoon, my family and I decided to head to Laughing Cat Bistro for lunch. This restaurant is a friendly little place located just off the main drag in Ybor. Nothing fancy, just great food. We were quickly seated at a table and given a description of the wines. Then our server told us we had a choice of dining from the lunch buffet or from the dinner menu. I took a quick peek at the lunch buffet, which looked really good, and was very reasonable priced, but I decided I wanted to order from the dinner menu.

While waiting for our wines, we looked over the menu. We decided to start with an Eggplant Rollatini, which was eggplant wrapped around ricotta cheese and covered with a lovely tomato sauce. For our entrees, we chose the penne alla vodka and the farfalle al granchio, which was a crab and cream based sauce. While waiting for our food to come out, we were served with a huge basket of bread. Then, our appetizers and entrees came out and they were huge, but more importantly, delicious. The eggplant appetizer was great and by the time we were done with that, we were already full. Then the entrees arrived and they were just as good, but we could barely make a dent after the appetizer. However, this was fine as we had leftovers for lunch the next day. All during our meal the service was very attentive and we never lacked for anything. I would have liked to try dessert, but did I mention I was full?

Laughing Cat Bistro

1811 North 15th Street

Tampa, FL 33605

813-241-2998

Moscato's Bella Cucina - downtown St Petersburg, FL

One Saturday afternoon, my family and I decided we wanted to try Moscato's for lunch. An art show was happening on Central Avenue, and Moscato's is located right on one of the blocks where the art show was happening, so we were expecting it to busy, and it was. Nevertheless, one of the tables were open, so we were able to get seated right away. Even though the place was hopping, our server wasn't too long in getting to us to take our drink order and she gave us the abridged menu that they were having for the art weekend. The menu had more than enough options and we decided to order Grandma's Pizza, which was a basic cheese pizza, and the cheese lasagna. While waiting for our food, we were given some bread and dipping oil, and the cheese lasagna came with a nice side salad with cucumbers, almonds, tomatoes, and cranberries. After that, it was a bit of a wait, but it was pretty much what we had expected after eating at another restaurant during last year's art show. Our food arrived and we were very happy with everything. The pizza was a nice sized rectangle with a lovely thick crust, a rich tomato sauce, and a generous cheesy topping. Everything turned out wonderful and I would not hesitate to pay a visit again.

Moscato's Bella Cucina

449 Central Avenue

St Petersburg, FL 33701

727-322-4313

The Avenue Eatery - downtown St Petersburg, FL

Driving down 2nd Avenue south in downtown St Pete one evening, my family and I spied a new restaurant. Having time on out hands, we decided to stop in and give it a try. When we were greeted at the door, we found out it was only their second night open. The restaurant has a cozy appearance of a cabin with a fireplace on one wall. There is some funky looking see through pails filled with corks that hang from the ceiling with lights in the bottom. For seating, there is a number of options. First, there is the outside seating in the back patio, seating on the sidewalk out front, a long bar with bar stools, big booths along one wall, or tables in the rest of the restaurant. There are flat screen tv's on every wall for your viewing pleasure. After checking out the back patio where music was playing, we decided to grab one of the huge booths.

Our server took our drink order and gave us a few minutes to check out the menu. The house made potato chips with barbecue sauce and blue cheese looked intriguing, and we also decided to try the Lucy Juicy cheeseburger, and the Cajun Crab cake sandwich. Everything came out delicious. The chips were addictive, the burger was just what a burger should be, and the crab cake sandwich was yummy and the server was obliging enough to bring us extra sweet pickles to put on top of our sandwich. This restaurant is the perfect addition to the downtown scene. We liked it so much, that we stopped a few days, and they had started serving the cupcakes that are part of their dessert menu. The cupcakes are provided by an outside caterer and they are a mini cupcake that is just the right size indulgence for ending an already calorie laden meal. They come in some traditional flavors and some flavors that I haven't seen before. You can order three flavors for $5. We tried the chocolate chocolate, the strawberry shortcake, and the apple pie. They were all yummy and I loved the strawberry shortcake with its bit of strawberry inside the cupcake the apple pie with its bit of pie crust in the frosting, and you can never go wrong with chocolate. This is sure to be a great local hang out to grab a drink and a bite.

The Avenue Eatery

330 1st Avenue South

St Petersburg, FL 33701

727-851-9531