Tell me about St. Pete/Tampa

[CoachEmUp64 79]

Wife is speaking at a conference and I’ll tagging along as trophy husband at the end of July. We are staying a week at St. Pete’s on the bayside. I’ll have a rental and don’t mind driving to explore. 
 

I’m looking for recommendations golf courses, things to do, bars, breweries, restaurants, hole in the walls, best beaches, etc. 

TIA 

[tx 3 putt 76868]

Dali muesem is great, I’ve been multiple times. Done guided tour, wander. Knock out emails sitting among true greatness. Solid little cafe 

bodega for lunch. Love this place ….

https://maps.app.goo.gl/e9oV2oFiku7x6Fsq8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
 

brewery across the street for sure, green bench

catch a rays game ?

 

 

Edited July 8 by tx 3 putt

[HornOnTheBayou 8905]

Bodega is fantastic. That area of Central Avenue has a ton of great restaurants/bars. And it's very walkable.

[Litig8r 414]

It's a hike to Tampa and you have make reservation way in advance BERNS Steakhouse.  500,000 bottle wine cellar.  The reservations can (must be) made 60 days in advance,  but you must do it on the first day it is available. 

 

https://bernssteakhouse.com/  

 

Agree on the Dali

[C-Man 27184]

7 hours ago, Litig8r said:

It's a hike to Tampa and you have make reservation way in advance BERNS Steakhouse.  500,000 bottle wine cellar.  The reservations can (must be) made 60 days in advance,  but you must do it on the first day it is available. 

 

https://bernssteakhouse.com/  

 

Agree on the Dali

My wife lived for 4-5 years on Clearwater Beach after graduating from Clemson. I went with her to a wedding and she took me to Bern's for my birthday. There are no doubt better steakhouses in Dallas but the entire experience was off-the-charts fantastic. The waiters train for two years as understudies before they're allowed to actually wait tables. They have the entire winebook memorized. It's incredible. Bern's has the third-largest wine collection in the world, at least it did back in the mid 2010's. If you go, make sure you adhere to the dress code. Oh, and get a tour of the kitchen and wine cellar after dinner before heading up to the dessert room upstairs.

Also, make sure you get a fried grouper sandwich at one of the Frenchy's in town. The beaches are just gorgeous white sand with crystal clear blue water.

[midtown 3345]

My sister has lived in st Pete for a year. Was just there a few weeks ago and plan on movimg there in a few years. Lots of fun spots.

Hawkers Asian
Green Bench Brewing
And something sisters Brewing
Brick and Mortar

I liked all those

[creeper 98]

21 hours ago, Litig8r said:

It's a hike to Tampa and you have make reservation way in advance BERNS Steakhouse.  500,000 bottle wine cellar.  The reservations can (must be) made 60 days in advance,  but you must do it on the first day it is available. 

 

https://bernssteakhouse.com/  

 

 

Bern's is a trip.  The wine list isn't what it was... picked over and remaining stock has largely been marked to secondary market pricing, but there are still some gems.  They were pouring a red from my birth year last summer for like $16/glass... you won't see that anywhere else.

[Zepol87 9185]

Another rec for Bern’s, I was just talking about that place last night with some random people in Atlanta. 
Just walk around Central Ave and pop into places, you’ll have a decent time. 

[jimmyjazz 45881]

I stayed a week or so at Don CeSar (the giant pink hotel).  The hotel itself wasn't that great, but the beach is awesome, and to my knowledge it's public.

[Baboontyme 2809]

The aquarium in Tampa is pretty ok and I hear there's a big cat sanctuary in town if that's your thing. Just don't piss off the owner. 

[CoachEmUp64 79]

Thanks for the recs! Keep em coming 👍

[creeper 98]

B-21 in Tarpon Springs is one of the better independent wine retailers in the country.  Looks like a shithole, but they'll usually have some stuff on the shelves that would be hard to find elsewhere.

[Litig8r 414]

On 7/8/2024 at 5:09 PM, C-Man said:

My wife lived for 4-5 years on Clearwater Beach after graduating from Clemson. I went with her to a wedding and she took me to Bern's for my birthday. There are no doubt better steakhouses in Dallas but the entire experience was off-the-charts fantastic. The waiters train for two years as understudies before they're allowed to actually wait tables. They have the entire winebook memorized. It's incredible. Bern's has the third-largest wine collection in the world, at least it did back in the mid 2010's. If you go, make sure you adhere to the dress code. Oh, and get a tour of the kitchen and wine cellar after dinner before heading up to the dessert room upstairs.

Also, make sure you get a fried grouper sandwich at one of the Frenchy's in town. The beaches are just gorgeous white sand with crystal clear blue water.

The dessert room is a marketing wonder.  It works like this... you enjoy your $$$ meal and wine downstairs, pay the check and then go upstairs to the dessert room. It makes you feel like you are on new money..

[royiv 9247]

On 7/10/2024 at 1:15 PM, Litig8r said:

The dessert room is a marketing wonder.  It works like this... you enjoy your $$$ meal and wine downstairs, pay the check and then go upstairs to the dessert room. It makes you feel like you are on new money..

And over the course of a night it probably allows them at least one extra turn of the table in the dining room. Pretty good business model.

[Mack Tripper 696]

My hot take is Bern’s wine list is good but the food is nothing special that you can’t get at any good steakhouse here.

You have to go to Ybor City. Go eat Spanish food (combined with Cuban etc) at Columbia. If you’re into cigars there are places down the block that have been making them for a century.

La Segunda Bakery for Cuban sandwiches.

Cigar City Brewing (known for Jai Alai IPA and Florida Man double IPA)

[creeper 98]

5 hours ago, Mack Tripper said:

La Segunda Bakery for Cuban sandwiches.
 

And guava pastries.