Bavaro's Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria – Tampa, FL

 

Last night our friend Josh was in town, so Lance and I met him for dinner at Bavaro’s in downtown Tampa.  I helped design Josh’s condo in Longboat Key when I was working for BoConcept, but since then he’s moved to Dallas.

I’d never been to Bavaro’s before that – but it seemed to be a popular restaurant.  It was pretty crowded when we got there since a whole crowd of teenagers were dining there before prom.  The dining room is pretty small, but the atmosphere is nice – they have exposed brick walls and a large wood-fired oven.  The food is authentic Italian – and the ingredients are either imported from Italy or locally grown and organic. 

Lance and I split a salad and a pizza.  The Mediterranean salad had baby spinach, pine nuts, red onion, grape tomatoes, feta, and fig vinaigrette – it was very fresh.  Our pizza was the Carne – with San Marzano tomatoes, fior de latte (mozzarella), soppressata, Italian olives, and extra-virgin olive oil. 

I personally prefer crispier crusts – theirs was a soft-crust style pizza that they recommended you eat with a fork and knife.  But the ingredients again were very flavorful.  Josh had the Diavola pizza – which was similar to ours, but with peppers and homemade spicy sausage.  I think next time we’ll order that one. 

Bavaro’s is located at 514 N Franklin St #101, Tampa, FL 33602.  They are open 11am – 3pm and 5 – 10pm Monday – Friday, and 5pm – 10pm on Saturday & Sunday. 

The Oyster Bar – St. Pete, FL

 

Last Friday was our 4 year anniversary, and months ago we had booked tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld live at the Mahaffey Theatre.  For dinner before, we tried The Oyster Bar in downtown St. Pete.  We had bought a CL deal awhile ago, so we had a discount too. 

 

 

 

We made reservations since it was a weekend and thought it could be busy, but we didn’t realize it was First Friday, which meant the entire road that The Oyster Bar is located on was shut down for the event.

We were walking from the restaurant to the show, so we tried out some of their drink specials.  The Moscow Mules weren’t anything too special, but the Oyster Shooters were great (and the beer shooters were only $1 – the classic vodka shooters were a bit strong for me). 

 

I had the seared diver scallops with risotto, crispy pancetta, and arugula.  Lance had the bacon-parmesan crusted local red grouper with tomato butter sauce and mashed potatoes.  The grouper could have used a tiny bit of something green for presentation on the plate, but besides that both meals were amazing.    

We split a slice of chocolate peanut-butter pie for dessert.  I can’t believe we hadn’t eaten here before, but we really enjoyed it and will be back for sure!

Jerry Seinfeld had a hilarious set that night, so it was the perfect way to spend our anniversary.  

 

The Oyster Bar is located at 249 Central Ave, St Petersburg, FL 33701.  They are open 11am – 12am Monday – Thursday, 11am – 3am Friday – Saturday, and 10:30 – 12am on Sunday. 

Coconut Cashew Chicken with Mango Dipping Sauce

 

It’s been an exciting couple of days off work – we spent the afternoon yesterday at Philippe Park in Safety Harbor, and I came home with a ring!  Lance and I will have dated 4 years as of tomorrow, so obviously I knew I wanted to spend my life with him, but I’m so happy to finally make it official!

 

Luckily, I had Wednesday/Thursday off work this week, so I had time to share the good news with my friends and family.  And tonight I made us a pretty simple dinner, but Lance swears this is the best food I’ve ever made (he’s said that a few times now, but I think this topped the other meals…he said I should make this dish once a week he loved it so much). 

We bought a mango and some limes at the Clearwater Farmer’s Market yesterday, so I knew I wanted to make something tropical.  I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest and was happy I could use our ingredients in the dish. 

The dipping sauce was amazing – we actually ended up using the rest like salsa and eating it with chips.  It is sweet, but the red pepper flakes and lime also give it some spice and tartness.  Even if I wasn’t making the chicken, I’d eat the dip on its own.  You could even add some jalapeños if you really wanted to give it a kick.   

I halved the recipe since it’s just the two of us, but I wish I’d made the whole thing.  I’d recommend doubling my amount so you have leftovers – you’ll want them. 

Coconut Cashew Chicken with Mango Dipping Sauce (adapted from Carlsbad Cravings)

Ingredients:

Tenders:

·        About 1 pound chicken tenders

·        1 egg

·        Juice of 1 lime

·        ½ cup cashews

·        ¼ cup sweetened coconut flakes

·        ½ cup panko bread crumbs

·        ½ T brown sugar

·        ½ t garlic powder

·        ½ t onion powder

·        ½ t cumin

·        ½ t salt

·        ½ t pepper

·        ¼ t red pepper

Dipping Sauce:

·        1 mango, chopped

·        2 T honey

·        Juice of 1 lime

·        1 t apple cider vinegar

·        ¼ t cumin

·        2 cloves garlic

·        2 green onions, chopped

·        1 t red pepper flakes

 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400. 

2. Add cashews and coconut to a food processor and blend until about the size of the panko bread crumbs.    

3. Add the cashew and coconut mixture to a shallow dish with the bread crumbs, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and red pepper.   

4. Place the flour in another shallow dish.  Whisk egg with the lime juice in a 3^rd dish.  Dredge each chicken tender through the flour, dip in the egg, then coat in the coconut/cashew/panko mix, pressing to make sure it sticks. 

5. Top a foil-lined baking sheet with a rack prepared with cooking spray.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, then broil for about 2 additional minutes until the tenders look crispy.    

6.  Place all the ingredients for the mango dip in the food processor and blend, leaving it just slightly chunky.  Add more spice (or jalapeños) if desired.   

 

 

7. Dip the chicken & enjoy!!!