Beach Fyre BBQ Grille – Clearwater, FL

 

Lance bought a groupon to Beach Fyre BBQ Grille awhile back, so we headed to Clearwater Beach on our day off last week to try it out.  We were just in that area a few weeks back for Treasure Island’s Sanding Ovations sand sculpting competition.

 

Beach Fyre was a few blocks north of the busy area of Clearwater Beach off Causeway Boulevard. But that meant it was easier to find a parking spot than the more popular areas. I was hoping that it would have a beach view, but it was facing Mandalay Avenue in a shopping strip. 

It was beautiful weather out, so they had the doors open with a nice breeze coming through. We were there in the middle of the day, so it was pretty quiet, but it sounds like it’s a popular spot in the evenings for live music, karaoke, and open mic nights.   

 

 

We had a few beers, and since it had BBQ in the name, we figured we’d try out their ribs.  They are slow cooked in the oven, finished in an open pit, and basted with smokey-sweet BBQ sauce.  We split a full rack which came with 2 sides (we had the tossed salad and the mac n’ cheese). 

 

 

I’m glad we split the meal because it was a huge portion.  It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was pretty good food and the people were very friendly. 

Beach Fyre BBQ Grille is located at 608 Mandalay Ave, Clearwater Beach, FL 33767 and is open 12pm – 2:30am every day.    

Green Mint Asian Grill & Rita's Ice - Clearwater, FL

My friend Thu and I spent the afternoon in Clearwater today.  We read great reviews (and saw mouthwatering photo) for Green Mint Asian Grill, so we went there for lunch. 

It is a casual restaurant located in a shopping plaza off US Highway 19.  They serve a variety of Vietnamese cuisine, including banh mi sandwiches, pho, lettuce wraps, and boba teas.  They have a large chalkboard menu – along with a gallery of photos of the menu items. 

While ordering we noticed a little box at the cashier’s counter.  We asked what it was for, and we were told to put a coin on it and press the button.  A cat peeked out of the box and grabbed our coin – very funny! 

Thu is Vietnamese, and she said one of her favorite things is bún noodle salad.  We both ordered the Green Mint Bún – which is made of grilled shrimp, pork, and spring rolls served over vermicelli rice noodles, fresh mint leaves, bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers, pickled carrots & daikons, crushed peanuts, and sweet chili sauce.  It was incredibly fresh and had the perfect mix of ingredients – I think that bún is now my favorite Vietnamese dish as well. 

We also each ordered boba tea – ice blended fruit smoothies with sweet tapioca pearls.  Mine was coconut and Thu’s was Thai Tea flavored.  We took them to go with us and headed to the beach. 

It was a hot afternoon, so after a few hours of tubing and laying out at the beach, we were ready for something else to cool us down.  We stopped by Rita’s Ice on the drive home and got some kid-sized Gelatis – a blend of Italian ice and frozen custard.  Thu had mango and I had lemonade.  The creamy custard mixed with the slush tasted a bit like a creamsicle. 

Green Mint Asian Grill is located at 25821 U.S. 19, Clearwater, FL 33763 and is open 10am – 9pm Monday through Saturday and 11 – 4pm on Sunday.

Rita’s Ice has various locations – we visited the drive-thru at 1010 Court Street

Clearwater, FL 33756 which is open from 12pm – 10pm every day. 

The Bait House Tackle and Tavern – Clearwater, FL

Today we spent the afternoon at Sand Key Park on Clearwater Beach.  We saw good reviews on Yelp for the Bait House Tackle and Tavern, so we decided to check it out for lunch. 

We couldn’t find it at first – the entrance was a little wooden shack that was dwarfed by a nearby yacht.  If we hadn’t read about it online, we would have thought it was just a bait shop.

Once you walk through the main shop, there is an outdoor bar and deck with a beautiful view of Clearwater Bay.  It was extremely hot out today – especially after an afternoon of tubing at the beach, so it was nice to cool down with some Sam Adam’s Summer Ales.  They served us our drinks with nice Bait House koozies. 

I ordered the peel & eat shrimp and Lance ordered the grouper sandwich with kettle chips.  The shrimp were gigantic and served over ice so they were nice and chilled.  The grouper sandwich was excellent as well.  We weren’t expecting to have such high quality seafood at this unassuming little restaurant, but I’d recommend it to anybody visiting Clearwater. 

If you spent the day fishing, they will actually prepare your catch for you if you’d like!  They also offer weekly baskets of fresh organic produce through the Caladesi Co-op which supports local farmers – if I lived in the Clearwater area I would love to participate. 

The Bait House Tackle and Tavern is located at 46 Causeway Blvd, Clearwater, FL 33767 and is open Sunday  through Wednesday 7am  - 9pm and Thursday through Saturday 7am – 10pm.