South Tampa evenin' - CDB's Southside and Stuff!

Another great work week come to an end...last night we decided to check out the new CDB Southside on Westshore Blvd in South Tampa. What a GREAT place. With all the cars outside, and limited parking, you would think it was packed, but they had the upstairs and downstairs open, and outdoor balcony overlooking Westshore Blvd open. They did a great job with the two bars, and very classy, but casual atmosphere. Eating outside was on tap for us, so at 7pm, we were able to be seated promptly on the 2nd floor balcony, they even set a fan up on the floor next to our table, as the breezes were limited this evening. Very friendly service, prompt and always checked up on us, but not intruding, and best of all, great tasting food. the menu reminded me a little of Bella's on South Howard, but the portions are huge, real tomatoes in the sauce! Some of the best Pizza in the area as well. All our dishes were cooked to perfection and tasty(Chicken Parm, Chicken Bianco, and Seafood Pasta). It was nice just casually sitting outside above Westshore, listening to some tunes, having some drinks, and eating great food. Will be back for sure! It was than on to the Green Iguana Westshore down the street, packed house, and a good band playing, again we sat out in the tiki bar area. It was getting late, and some of us wanted to check out some 'alternative' bars. The last days of the Male Room were this weekend, so some of us headed there, only to learn that they were moving to Ybor City as a bar on 7th Ave and 14th Street called '7 at 14' another alternative bar was opening in Ybor(this makes 6 now, and overheard that there were three others in the works, all on 7th Ave)..seems to be turning into a mecca for the gay bars, like a mini boystown. For the heck of it, we then decided to keep the alternative bar crawl going in South Tampa, so we headed to The Rainbow Room on MacDill Ave, a lesbian bar that is male friendly - they had great jello shots, kick ass juke box, and a huge back area with volleyball sand courts....we ended at City Side on Henderson Ave, about a couple dozen late night peeps listening to great tunes as they played the videos to the songs simultaneously on the video monitors throughout the bar. Interesting diverse evening with lots of laughs, and great people watchin'.