Locale Market – St. Petersburg, FL

 

We spent the day on Tuesday wandering St. Petersburg with our friends Laura and Thu.  We started the afternoon off at Locale Market – which just opened in the brand new Sundial shopping mall (previously called Baywalk). 

The market is led by chefs Michael Mina and Don Pintabona and consists of 11 different food stations in a gorgeously designed space.  When I was in college studying interior design, one of our school projects was to design a gourmet grocery store.  This is everything I could have imagined and even more!  The signage, artfully arranged displays, and even the plating of the food are all so thoughtfully crafted – it is clear their designers were attentive to the little details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It spans two stories and has everything – including a butcher, bakery, freshly made pasta, cheese, and charcuterie stations, produce, wine, beer, kitchen gadgets, and even ready-to-eat meals that can be enjoyed on their outdoor patio. 

 

 

 

 

While wandering, Thu enjoyed a grapefruit sorbet that was tart and refreshing.  We were given free samples as we walked around – including mozzarella that had just been made, sausage, and some delicious cheese. 

 

We ordered some lunch at the counter to eat out on the patio – the smoked St. Louis ribs with guava BBQ sauce came with an almond, molasses and marshmallow filled sweet potato and braised greens.  Lance had the Commander Hileman’s fried chicken, with potato & mushroom gratin and also served with greens. 

The seasoning on the ribs was incredible – and the fried chicken was surprisingly light with a bit of citrusy flavor.  The sides were equally as delicious.  We were blown away by our meals. 

It reminds me of Mazzaro’s Market (although it is definitely on the higher end for prices…)  It has only been open since December 17^th, but it has already had rave reviews.  The quality of everything they sell is top-notch.  If I had tons of money to splurge, I would buy this place out. 

Locale Market is located at 179 2nd Ave North  St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 and is open 10am – 9pm Monday – Saturday and 12pm – 8pm on Sunday.   

Wrights Gourmet House – Tampa, FL

My friend Juliet was in town today, so I caught up with her over lunch.  When deciding where to eat, we thought it should be a Tampa staple that she can’t have in Boston (where she lives now). 

Wrights Gourmet is a Tampa landmark – it’s a family owned sandwich shop that’s been around since 1963.  They serve signature sandwiches and salads with quality ingredients, and they also provide catering.  They have classic sandwiches like pastramis & reubens, along with unique creations like their Beef Martini sandwich (rare roast beef, mushrooms marinated in white wine, and bacon with garlic herb spread on buttercrust bread). 

They are renowned around Tampa for their decadent cakes.  I’m not a huge fan of regular cake (like sheet cake from Publix), but these cakes are to die for!  They are incredibly rich and moist. 

Today I got the Golden Gate sandwich (another one of their specialties).  It is one of their grandmother’s recipes – roast pork, bacon, Jarlsberg cheese, and lettuce, topped with their homemade mustard and peach chutney on pumpernickel bread.  If you can believe, the photo below is ONE sandwich. 

Juliet and I split slices of their lemon and chocolate cakes.   The lemon is a tart bundt cake topped with a sweet glaze.  And the chocolate cake certainly deserves its name: two layers of chocolate cake with chocolate icing & chocolate chips!  So extravagant – it makes me think of that scene from Matilda when Ms. Trunchbull makes the fat kid eat an entire cake.   

Needless to say we had a lot leftover to bring home (which means I’ll have an amazing lunch at work tomorrow too!) 

Wrights Gourmet House is located at 1200 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open 7am – 6pm Monday through Fridays, 8am – 4pm on Saturdays, and closed Sundays. 

Rooster & the Till – Tampa, FL

Last night my friends Kate, Laura, and I decided to try a new restaurant we’ve never been to before called Rooster & the Till.  It was featured on Tasting Tampa’s Top 10 list for best restaurants in the Seminole Heights area so we knew it must be good.  The outside of the restaurant is a bit nondescript, so we drove right past it while trying to find it. 

Their website describes the food as “modern American cuisine cooked with love and sourced from nearby farms and gardens.”  It also says that they used local craftsman and reclaimed materials in the construction of the restaurant.  It seems that all new restaurants I’ve gone to lately have the same look to them – industrial pendants with filament bulbs, exposed ceiling, wood accents, and subway tiles.  I’m not complaining though – I love that the rustic modern style is so trendy now.  It looks like a sophisticated restaurant you would find in New York. 

We were seated at the bar – I could tell it was a classy restaurant because there were hooks incorporated underneath the bar to hang purses.  The chefs prepared food directly in front of the bar, so it was a great vantage point.  It is clear that they are all well trained on plating and presentation because each chef spent time to meticulously plate each dish in a precise way. 

Our server explained the whole concept to us and advised that we order several plates to sample and share since it is meant to be a communal dining experience.  I do love food, but I am in no way a culinary expert.  When scanning the menu, I was unfamiliar with the names of about half the ingredients.  However, the chefs were very knowledgeable, so they answered a few questions for us before ordering. 

We ordered the Charcuterie Slate – which included chicken liver pâté, gelée candied walnut crumble, coffee cured guanciale, cocoa aioli, bbq spiced pork pâté, smoked onion marmalade, beef heart bresaola, b&b pickles, and a hibiscus allspice mustard.  Most of these were brand new to me, but everything I tried was incredible.  The portion size was quite small though, especially for the price.  However, it is clear that they focus much more on quality than quantity. 

We actually received the Cheese Slate on mistake before receiving the Charcuterie – but they told us to just keep it and try the cheeses as well.  That plate included cabrales, honeycomb, cacetto sardo, golden raisin chutney, bucherondin, fig mostarda, idiazabal, and pepper jelly.  It definitely wasn’t the typical cheese sampling of cheddar and pepper jack – these were all gourmet cheeses that wouldn’t be at your typical grocery store.  Again, relatively small portions but each bite was amazing. 

We also ordered two small plates to share.  The first was gnocchi with short ribs, smoked ricotta, san marzano’s tomatoes, and spicy pickled peperonata (I didn’t get a photo of that one but you can see a photo above right from the blog Eat a Duck.)  There wasn’t much short rib, but the handmade gnocchi were very tasty.

The second small plate was the house smoked yogurt, vinegar soaked tomatoes and cucumbers served with flax seed pumpernickel crackers. We were intrigued about this dish after we learned about their process of smoking yogurt to infuse it with flavor.  The dish tasted like a very upscale caprese salad.

The staff was very friendly, and the executive chef, Ferrell Alvarez, spent a lot of time getting to know us and telling us about the locally sourced ingredients and his previous experiences at Mise en Place and Café Dufrain.  You can tell that he takes pride in his restaurant and really cares about the customer experience. 

I think it is definitely worth checking out – maybe go when you aren’t quite as hungry though since like I said, the portions are relatively small for the price.  And go with an open mind to try everything – I grew up as a picky eater, but over the years I’ve become much more open to trying almost any food.  It was a totally unique dining experience that you couldn’t have anywhere else in the Tampa Bay area. 

After our dinner, we headed down the street to Bo’s Ice Cream for dessert.  It reminded me a lot of Dairy Joy.  I had a soft serve vanilla cone dipped in chocolate.  It was a great night catching up with friends!

Rooster and the Till is located at 6500 N Florida Ave, Tampa, FL 33604 and is open with a limited menu Monday – Saturday 3:30 – 5pm, Monday through Thursday from 5 – 10pm for dinner, Friday & Saturday from 5 – 11pm for dinner, and closed on Sundays. 

Bo’s Ice Cream is 7101 N Florida Ave, Tampa, FL 33604 and is open 11am – 11pm every day.