Crab Shack – St. Petersburg, FL

 

While Brandi & Jeremy were in town, they wanted to spend as much time at the beach and eat as much seafood as possible. 

The last day they were here, we headed to Caladesi Island.  And even though my Apple Maps seems to think that Caladesi is completely separated from Clearwater Beach, it actually is connected, so we hiked from North Clearwater to the end of Caladesi and back (about 9 miles total…which is much more beach walking than I’m used to!) 

 

The last time I went to Caladesi was back in 2011.  Lance and I had only been dating a couple weeks at that point, and the beach was completely deserted.  We didn’t know about the connection to Clearwater, so we took a ferry over from Honeymoon Island to the north (there might not have even been a land bridge at that point…supposedly it has only been connected in recent years…) This time, Caladesi was packed with retirees and spring breakers – totally different than our last visit. 

 

Anyways, after our long beach walk, we were pretty hungry.  We planned to eat at The Bait House, but with all the beachgoers, it had an hour wait.  Instead, we stopped at Crab Shack on the way back over the Gandy bridge.   

We’ve dined there a couple times – it’s very casual and a bit divey, but the crab there is fantastic.  They don’t have much of a beer selection though unless you’re into Budweiser or Coors Light. 

We started with the Tater Skins with Bacon, Crab Meat, and Cheddar along with the coconut shrimp.  The coconut shrimp was great, but the potato skins didn’t seem like anything special (I’m sure it was real crab, but it didn’t seem like it…)

I always get the same meal there – the 1 ½ pounds of Alaskan Snow Crab, which comes with a potato or rice, and either salad or slaw. 

The salads are simple but very fresh. We were so hungry we all devoured ours before I got a picture.  The potatoes are pretty basic, served with sour cream and fake butter, but they are cooked just right.  The thing they really specialize in of course is their crab.  It’s served with some bright yellow butter dip (like what you’d pour over your movie theater popcorn), but the crab is so flavorful on its own, you really don’t need to add anything to it.  

They bring you buckets with scissors, metal crackers to break the legs, and thin wooden seafood picks to get every bit of crab meat out.  It’s a lot of messy work, but it’s worth it.  Just know that at some point you’ll probably get hit by a flying bit of crab shell – it’s not really a great place to go on a first date. 

We were all covered in sand, sunscreen, butter, and crab juice by the end of the day – but after some quick showers, we finished our evening with dessert at Yogurtology.  I especially liked their new flavor of the month, PB&J! 

Crab Shack is located at 11400 Gandy Blvd N, St Petersburg, FL 33702 and is open 11am – 10pm Monday – Thursday, 11am – 11pm Friday – Saturday, and 1pm – 10pm on Sunday.     

Yogurtology has several locations.  Tonight we visited the one at 3017 W Gandy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33611 and is open from 11am – 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11am – 11pm Fridays and Saturdays. 

SS Hookers – Fort Myers, FL

 

The past 4 Christmases, Lance and I have divided our time between Fort Myers and Tampa to spend time with both our families for the holidays.  This year we drove down the morning of Christmas Eve and ate lunch with Lance’s family as soon as we got in town. 

There is a new restaurant in Fort Myers called SS Hookers right before the toll to get over the bridge to Sanibel Island.  It has a modern nautical theme with a giant boat propeller at the bottom of the stairwell (to give you an idea of the scale, Lance is 6’1”).  It has beautiful tile floors made to look like wood, and subtle accents to remind you of being on a boat.  Since it was a nice day out (besides being a bit windy), we ate out on their patio, which has a nice view of the water across the road. 

 

We knew we had a large Christmas Eve dinner planned at Lance’s aunt & uncle’s home, so we ate pretty light.  They had several local Florida beers.  Our bartender was very nice, but she didn’t seem to know much about beer when we asked her about the different options…maybe she’s still learning since it’s such a new place. 

Lance and LG both had the Cajun Crab and Corn Chowder (which was delicious).  Rita had the Sweet-N-Spicy Pecan Spinach Salad, which had pears, apples, roasted peppers, onions, and bleu cheese crumbles.  And I had the Cajun Shrimp appetizer, which consisted of huge Gulf shrimp coated in spices served over a salad with tomato and garlic aioli. 

 

There were plenty of entrees that sounded amazing, but the appetizers were the perfect size for us.  That evening we had a huge feast of ham and pineapple, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and more. 

SS Hookers is located at 17501 Harbour Pointe Drive, Fort Myers, FL 33908 and is open 6am – 2am every day.  

Ulele – Tampa, FL

Ulele (pronounced you-lay-lee) opened exactly 6 weeks ago today; and even years before that there has been buzz about this restaurant.  It was developed by Richard Gonzmart (who owns the Columbia restaurant) in collaboration with Keith Sedita (from Carmel Café).  It is located in an adapted pump house in Tampa Heights overlooking Ulele Springs, one of Tampa’s original sources for fresh drinking water.  The neighboring Water Works Park is a new addition to Tampa’s Riverwalk.

 

 

Ulele is named for the daughter of a local Tocabaga Indian chief who saved the life of Spanish explorer Juan Ortiz (pretty similar to the Pocahontas/John Smith story).   The cuisine is inspired by the food of Florida natives.  They use locally sourced products fresh from Florida.  In an interview, their executive chef Eric Lackey said that they bring in fresh food every day – and that the only frozen food is their ice cream. 

 

My parents and brother were anxious to try it as well, so we tried to make reservations a week or so ago for this past Saturday, but they were completely booked.  So we settled on Tuesday night (tonight) instead. 

The park itself is beautiful – we took a walk around it when it first opened two months ago.  I had really never been to this area of Tampa before, but now it’s a destination worth visiting.  And the architects did a fantastic job keeping the history of the original Water Works building, while adding their own unique touches to adapt it for the restaurant.  I especially love the doors to the front entrance! 

 

The interior is artsy and industrial, with stained glass panels (which used to be in Gonzmart’s parents’ home), sculptures throughout, and exposed brick from the original building near the large 10 foot barbacoa grill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were seated at a table overlooking the patio, which had large bi-fold doors that were opened later at night once it got cooler out.  The only downside to our table was that it had a view of the rear end of their large horse sculpture.

 

We started our meal off with their charbroiled oysters with garlic butter, Parmesan, and Romano.  My dad liked them so much though that he ordered another round as part of his entrée. 

 

Ulele has their own brewery, so we were excited to try their beers.  They offer flights if you want to try a couple at once (only $3 for 3 small samples).  I actually started off with the Water Works Sunset cocktail – a mix of Fontana Pisco, elderflower liqueur, ruby red grapefruit juice, and lime.  It had a nice gradient to it, and the flavor was a balance of tart and sweet. 

 

I enjoyed their Wedding Beer – a berry fruit lager.  The brewer, Tim Shackton, calls it that because he brewed it for a friend getting married 12 years ago, then everyone loved it so much that all his friends started requesting it for their own weddings.  It was subtly fruity – not overly sweet. 

 

Next we ordered about half the appetizers on the menu – the Lobster Claw Cocktail, Lobster Cake, Florida Jumpers (frog legs), and Alligator Hush Puppies.  The cocktail had a generous portion of crab, and the presentation was great! 

 

My favorite appetizer was the hush puppies – and I’m not always a fan of them.  They had a mix of alligator, ham, duck bacon, corn, and jalapeno, so unlike some hush puppies that are mostly breading, they were loaded with flavor.  

 

 

 

 

For my dad’s entrée, he ordered several more appetizers (the Crab Mac & Cheese, White Limas and Collards, Chilled Florida Avocado Soup, and more oysters.  My mom and David split the Deconstructed Seafood Pot Pie and that night’s special – strip steak topped with shrimp.  Lance had the Crackling Pork Shank, and I had the Yellowfin Tuna. 

 

 

We all enjoyed bites of my dad’s mac & cheese, and he loved the limas & collard greens.  His avocado soup was good, but to me it was a bit like drinking guacamole. 

 

 

 

 

The seafood pot pie was wonderful – really filled to the rim with chunks of shrimp, octopus, grouper, and oysters.  It was served with a side puffed pastry. 

 

The steak was unfortunately a bit overcooked.  We agreed it was our least favorite of the entrées.

 

Lance’s pork shank was HUGE!  1½ pounds with a firecracker apple craisin chutney.  It fell right off the bone, and he took at least half home.  The mashed potatoes on the side had little bits of popcorn mixed in which gave it some interesting texture.

 

And finally, I was so happy with my tuna!  I was on the fence between that and the mahi mahi, but our waitress told me the tuna has been a big hit.  It was seared with a pumpkin-seed crust over a ginger soy grapefruit reduction.  Wow – I would order this in a heartbeat again.  And the portions were very generous. 

 

Despite all we ate, we were still tempted by the dessert menu.  We ordered the Candied Duck Bacon Maple Fried Ice Cream.  We also got scoops of the toasted coconut and a coffee flavored ice cream on the side (we were warned that the coconut wasn’t very strong, but we decided to try in anyways). 

 

The fried ice cream presentation was great!  It had a corn flake crust and was garnished with a strip of duck candied bacon and a sweet potato waffle crisp.  My dad was a bit hesitant on the bacon & ice cream combo since he hadn't tried that before, but after trying it he agreed the sweet and salty mix was a good idea. 

The coffee ice cream was really good, but the coconut was more mild than I'd have liked – it could have been vanilla.    

 

We all took home plenty of leftovers – while they were getting wrapped up, several plates fell off the server’s tray and shattered, but luckily none of the food was lost!  And they cleaned up the mess very quickly and professionally. 

After the feast we ate tonight, we took a stroll around the park since the weather has been so nice in the evenings lately.  It was a night filled with amazing food and I’m happy to have more of it leftover to enjoy tomorrow as well! 

 

Ulele is located at 1810 N Highland Ave, Tampa, FL 33602 and is open 5pm – 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 5pm – 11pm Friday and Saturday.