Treasure Island Mexican Eats, Sandsculptures, USF Football, Wine Lunch

After another great Ethiopian meal at Queen of Sheba in South Tampa, on Friday, we ventured out to the beaches to Treasure Island...a quick 30 min drive across the Bay from Tampa, and settled into VIP Mexican, next to Ricky T's and across from the Thunderbird and Bilmar Resort Hotels....hole in the wall, casual, bar...AWESOME AWESOME Mexican food....no frills, you may get friendly service, you may not, you may have to get up and go in the kitchen to get your silverware, its all in the fun...if you park in the back, you have to actually walk thru the kitchen to get in the place...I love dives like this, its been a local beach establishment for over 30 years. After feeding ourselves we all walked across the street through Sloppy Joe's at the Bilmar for the Annual Sand Sculpting contest...over 21 tons of sand was dumped for artists to create some amazing sculptures..there were live bands also playing on the beach, there is nothing like being on the beach at night, such a different experience.

Saturday was the the USF Homecoming Game against Louisville...we started with a GREAT brunch at Brio in International Plaza's BayStreet, I commented a few weeks back that I was not a big fan, but at 10am, brunch was something else...nice table outside, Mimosas in hand, and most Brunch items were under $10....very tasty Fritatta's, Eggs Benedict's, French Toast....USF won their game, and the loong day continued to Ybor City and a few places downtown Tampa.

Sunday, watching the Bucs, we headed over to the Wine Exchange in Hyde Park Village where Vanessa took care of us at a great table outside....ive always had consistently great friendly service, and good food over the past few years here...hope they keep it up.

Short week with the Turkey Day Holiday, trying something very different this year, going to the Columbia Restaurant for Thanksgiving...should be interesting.
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Downtown Tampa, Hockey and Ybor

Buddy came back to town from LA this weekend, and finally purchased a condo in Downtown Tampa at Skypoint...beautiful building with plenty of first class amenities, he'll be enjoying one of the bigger one bedroom units on the Western end, overlooking the new Curtis Hixon Park, Museum of Art, Hillsborough River and UT Minarets with incredible sunsets..I look forward to visiting lots! After the big purchase, we all ventured over to Hyde Park Village, and since the weather was perfect, had a nice table outside at Restaurant BT. Lunch here is very good, service prompt and friendly.....mostly salads and a few sandwich's, but it was the Noodle Bowls and Pho that we each tried. Grilled Pork, and Ginger Chicken were both very good, and very large helpings of the noodles and vegetables, but I felt they could have spared a little more meat...it was very tasty though. The last day of 'Chalk Walk' was happening, so afterwards we walked around the village, taking a look at some of the very creative designs themed "Tampa's Future", we also stopped by the 'Sweet Treats' shop, took in some homemade fudge and all kinds of great candy, the owner did some remodeling, and added a small lounge type area with couches....very nice.
Saturday night we were invited to the Lightning game, another friend of mine has a Suite, the game went into a shootout, and Atlanta was able to pull this one off tonight. Afterwards, we attempted to take the trolley to Ybor, but the whole Channelside are and streeetcar stops outside the Forum after the game were packed...so a quick cab ride up to Ybor, and we ventured out to spots like Spurs, Reservoir Bar - where we met lots of others, and also was busy due to the SkateBoard championships in Tampa this weekend, over to the Ybor Social, and concluding with GBar, and NY NY Pizza....

Wine Lunch in the Village

Met up with some friends in Hyde Park Village Friday, to get together over some wine and eats. At Timpano's, we waited about 10 min for a table to open up outside, since it was another great day in paradise, and we could do some great people watching of all the shoppers out in the Village on this Black Friday. We started with some Mussels, came out sizzling and hot with drawn butter...very tasty but kind of small. We also all dined on some Sliders, I know they are supposed to be small, but there was barely any meat at all on the soft buns; the 4 cheese pizza was very thin wafer like bread with some cheese melted on it; and some chopped salads with grilled chicken, in which the chicken was cold and also very small portion. What was good was the company and the very pricey wines, and the great service that Andrew provided...everyone on the patio seemed to be in a great mood this Friday after Thanksgiving, we chatted with several people during our nearly 4 hour lunch.

The annual lighting of the Christmas Tree was also taking place in the Village, so afterwards we met up with some more friends at the Wine Exchange, also in the Village. They had a nice large table available on their outdoor patio. It was then a walk through the Historic Hyde Park neighborhood to hit up one of my favorite dives, the Tiny Tap..where we met up with even more friends, shot some pool, played Foosball, before grabbing a cab for the 8 block ride up Howard Avenue to the Deck Pizza. The large pepperoni pizza was as close to NY style, thin slices that you fold to eat, very cheesy, nice tangy sauce....and of course a few pitchers of beer. A cab over to CitySide to say hello, and short walk over to Baxters, and then one more cab ride over to Green Iguana westshore to end the night.

Halloween Weekend in Tampa Bay!

The weekend actually started on Wednesday, for the monthly Hyde Park Live Music Series, parking on the top of the garage at the Village, there was an amazing sunset that lit up the few clouds in the sky a very bright orange, and cast the same orange glow on the skyscrapers downtown. A few hundred people gathered as usual, listing to good live music in the Village. Afterwards, we all headed over to MacDinton's to watch the reaming 3 innings of Game 5 World Series, that was delayed for two nights due to rain in Philly...and our Tampa Bay Rays were not triumphant against the Philly's losing the Series 4 games to 1. What a Great Season though, and a more promising 2009 for baseball fans in Tampa Bay!

Friday was Halloween, and as I do every year, some friends came over and we sat out on the Front Porch, like my neighbors all do, with some drinks, watching the kids come up for their Trick or Treats, there were about 40-50 kids this year...by 9pm it was all quiet, and we headed out to Sunset Beach, a great little Gulf Front area on Treasure Island where some friends rented a huge beach house...was a great night, the Beach house was excellent, we walked over to Ka'tiki, one of the oldest beach bars in the area...there were a few people still in costumes this Halloween night, even at the beach bars.

Saturday we did a pre-party at my buddies Bayshore Towers condo on Bayshore Blvd, and then went a few blocks north in South Tampa to one of the largest, best annual Halloween parties in the Tampa area. A huge old house, built in the early 1900's, decorated all for Halloween, each room was different...a few hundred people showed up this year, all in costumes...GOOD TIMES!

Back from Nashville, TN and A night out in a Tampa Village

Back from Nashville(actually Franklin, TN)..some highlights included the quaint little town of Franklin, TN and the Red Pony restaurant on Main Street, some great hiking in the Smokey Mountains.

As I flew back, I met with a few friends at the monthly Hyde Park Village Music Series, always the last Wednesday of the month through October. The air was very dry this evening, actually wore pants tonight, it was great to feel such a change in the weather as Fall arrives in Florida, and seeing that this was the largest crowd i've seen all year at the Village for this small festival, everybody in the local area was also taking advantage of the nice weather....again as usual, I am always running into people I haven't seen since college, or even my old employer....Good Times!!

Waking up on this Thursday morning, it was actually a bit chilly....ahhhh, a touch of whats to come in Florida for the next 8 months.

Hyde Park Village Music Series

Me and a good friend went up to Hyde Park Village Wednesday evening for their monthly Music Series. Its a great gathering of people from the local area, and the beer sales are always for a good cause. Easy parking in the neighborhood behind the Village, we walked into the event, maybe a few hundred people, and a live band entertaining the folks. My friend did not drink beer, so we had to go to several places to find her a non-beer beverage. Timpano's was selling mixed cocktails, but only allowed to drink inside the restaurant and also they would only allow you inside the restaurant if you had ID(she is 36, but left her ID behind)..so we wondered over to Wine Exchange, a livelier crowd here, and a very friendly bartender allowed us to purchase her a wine, and gave us a to go cup so we could attend the festival....lots of good people watching, we both ran into many people we don't see often, so it was great catching up with people's lives on a monthly basis in an event like this.

After the event, we headed closer to my home for some eats, and ended up where else, but the Green Iguana Westshore. Bar Manager John was just married last month, and heading out to Seattle in the morning with his new wife for a nice long weekend getaway..we stayed a while to help him celebrate(we did the celebrating while he worked)...again, the burger I had(Portabella Cheese burger), was awesome, juicy, meaty, and love the crinkle cut fries...she ahd them prepare a grilled chicken breast and mixed veges...cooked and seasoned perfectly.....and of course there was live music and the crowd for entertainment purposes.

Heading out to see some buddies in Kansas City Friday for a long Labor Day Weekend, be back in Tampa Wednesday!!

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Sakana Sushi-Donna's Last Days in Tampa

Donna is leaving Tampa for a great job in Jacksonville. I met this great girl a few through a buddy, and she is one of the friendliest people I have come across in a while, and very attractive. Tonight my buddy and I took her to Sakana Suhi on Gandy Blvd in South Tampa. My first visit here, and it was EXCELLENT!! Yoko's is usually my fav here in South Tampa, but Sakana was amazing, very fresh rolls, sushi and sashimi. The start each table with Edamame in a seasoned soy/oil flavoring-very good. The Spicy Tuna Bowl had the freshest, reddest tuna, with smalls bits of Mango and Avacado and a spicey soy. I will definitley be back to this place, the Sushi bar was large, and decor was very Asian and eclectic like. Afterwards we hit my favorite Gelato place, La Casa Dolce, on Howard Ave in SOHO/Hyde Park area of Tampa, then over to Hyde Park Village to spend some gift cards at Williams-Sonoma. The weather here is still DRY, and breezy, enjoy it while it lasts, I believe the humidity is on its way.