LA Visitor in Tampa

A buddy of mine made a last minute excursion to Tampa this weekend, he is looking to buy a condo so he can spend a few months of the year in Tampa, where he once lived.(I guess he misses this place)....Friday evening, had a few friends over before heading up to a Wine-A-Palooza get together at a friends place in the Stoney Point neighborhood in South Tampa, about a mile up the road from my house. Great time, lots of people showed up, they have a very entertaining home on a canal that leads out to Tampa Bay...and the Wine was definitely flowing. After a few hours there, a few of us went off to check out a new Club in downtown Tampa's Channelside called Aja. Upscale, beautiful club, very large outdoor patio area with the skyscrapers of downtown in the background all lit up in the night sky provided a real nice back drop. Not overly pretentious, and a very friendly, happy crowd. Many levels inside lead you to lots of seating areas, quiet areas upstairs with an interesting bar that overlooks the dance floors through all glass partition, and there is even somewhat of a "basement" type of lounge on the lower level. Clean, excellent service, friendly people. Be nice to have this place stick around for a while.
Saturday was the Annual Florida Brewers Guild Beer Fest in Ybor City. About 25 microbreweries showed off their unique beers. This annual fest gets bigger and bigger, and afterwards we wandered around Ybor City, stopping by Streetcar Charlies, Reservior Bar, Czar and G Bar, ending the evening at Demi's Market for Pizza and a live band.
Sunday started with a nice Caribbean Brunch at Cafe Dufrain on Harbour Island downtown. Although the brunch was ok, and there was good live Caribbean type music playing, I thought it to be kind of awkward that Cafe Dufrain has a beautiful waterfront view of downtown Tampa, yet the buffet and live music was playing out in the street, instead of along the waterfront. The brunch consisted of Eggs Benedict, Filet of Beef, PB&J French Toast(which was interesting, but I would have rather settled for regular French Toast), Grouper, BBQ Ribs(good but very messy for a Brunch of this caliber), salads, fruits, and cheeses. I may try it again when company is in town, there are better Sunday Brunches in my opinion. Take the food and live music to the waterfront and keep it shaded and out of the sunlit parking area/street, just a thought. After Brunch, went over and met some friends at the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, this is the last event on what seems to now be about 2 months worth of events for Tampa's Gasparilla Season. A very nice, mellow ending to the season, 300 some artists display their crafts along downtown Tampa streets, an excellent opportunity to see unique creations from all over the world, and socialize with many friends, new and old, on beautiful days that come to the area for March and April...skies always seem to be bluer than blue, and temps hover close to 80 in the day, little or no Humidity.

Another perfect weekend wrapped up...and looking forward to the Annual St. Patricks Day parade this Saturday night in Ybor City.
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Ybor Eats and Ybor Comedy

John got free tickets to see Al Romas at the Improv Comedy Club in Ybor City, so we made an Ybor City night of it last evening. We grabbed a bite at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company, it was a cool evening, but the outdoor patio looked inviting, there were several empty tables at 7pm. The food was very good as usual, I handled the Greek Salad with Chicken, came in an oversized bowl, with half a chicken breast sliced on top...John devoured the Mojo Roast Pork, two very thick pieces of well marinated Pork, with some cuban sides. The dressings and marinade were made with some of their on-site brewed beer, as are nearly every dish on the menu. We finished just in time to head over to the Improv, it was a slow night, although most of the tables were filled by the time the headliner act came on.
I overheard a few new clubs were opening in Ybor soon, The Honey Pot, where the old Rubb/Twilight/Code was is supposed to be a new LA style club,with beautiful women dancing throughout the venue, LA style choreographed dancing, VIP section on the second level. The other venue is across the street, called Crossover Sport Bar and The Club, where the old Club Hedo was, and supposed to be a gay sports bar with a drag show club(???).

Driving back to South Tampa, it was great to see all the Christmas Decorations lit up in the beautiful mansions along Bayshore Blvd, we took a drive down South Boulevard from Swann Ave to Bayshore, as this is one of my favorite decorasted Christmas streets, each huge oak tree lining the street has lights, and nearly every house had a Christmas display..a MUST.

Friday Night Ybor...

WE were heading to see the band "SemiSoul" in Ybor last night(Great band), but never made it to actually see them. Lisa came over around 630, we picked up some friends off Bayshore went to Ybor. We decided for the some dinner before the show, and Valet parked at Centro Ybor on 9th Ave, behind the theaters(great idea if you are goign to the movies, or eating in the restaurants in Centro Ybor-only $3 with validation). We ate at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company, great outdoor patio that was lively with music..the food was great, service was excellent(thanks Phil). I had the Shepards Pie, and the others had Salads. Lots of homeade Brews in this joint.
After dinner we went over to the Orpheum to see the show, SemiSoul was opening for Del Castillo. Arriving about 5 minutes before 8pm, we were let in, and then told that we would need to come back at 8. After asking the bouncer and others when SemiSoul would be playing(there were three bands playing), that did not know the line-up, and then we asked if we could just hang out for 5 minutes(till 8), and they said no we had to leave and wait outside...for 5 minutes! What a joke...we left and watched the Tampa Bay Lightning lose to the Devils in the Stanley Cup playoffs game 3 at Rockin Sports Grille. A good time there, we talked with some strange woman(she must have been 80 yo, and an Ybor resident), but she had lots of good stories. After the game was over(about 845), we went back to Orpheum, only to hear as we walked in that SemiSoul was playing their last song...one of us stayed, the rest of us left to go elsewhere. The Orpheum is a very grungy type music venue, large stage, one large bar, but definitely not kept up like the State Theater in St. Pete(their sister venue-same owner).
We walked down 7th and stopped by Adobe Gila's, great guitarist playing, and it was sort of outdoors on the 2nd floor of Centro Ybor. There were some fine looking people in this place. Centro Ybor was packed, Tracey Morgan was a the Improv. After a drink there and some laughs, we headed again down 7th Ave to Green Iguana, great crowd, played some darts, and the live band was awesome.
Deciding to be closer to home, we left Ybor, and headed to the Green Iguana Westshore. Again, a great crowd..had some Yummy Chicken Nachos(John the manager made sure the kitchen made one last item for us)..live band inside, but we stayed outside on the Tiki Deck.
Busy weekend ahead..Madre is moving into her home in South Hillsborough, so my bro and I are doing lots of stuff for her, then a BBQ in Roser Park neighborhood of St. Pete, Mainsail Art Festival at Vinoy Park, and the Lightning are home on Sunday for an afternoon playoff game at the Forum.