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Restaurant review

Taking it slow and sweet in Ozona

The Old Florida spirit is alive and well here, where diners can go whole hog or binational, and top it off with something small, dark and delicious.

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published August 4, 2005

[Times photos: Ted McLaren]

A variety of homemade chocolates and candies, including these hand-decorated delights, is available at Chocolate Studios in Ozona.

	The Ozona Pig’s barbecue cocktail is a layered concoction of barbecued beans, cole slaw, pulled pork and a pickle spear, all in a Mason jar.

The next-best-things in life cost less than $10. Actually, less than $5 if you sneak off the mainstream to Ozona, where the idle have always found their place in the shade. No sand in your shoes here, just beer in your flip-flops.

It's not as shady as it used to be. There seems to be one less oak every time I cruise through this backwater back street just south of Palm Harbor, but simple and cheap pleasures remain. You can still get a deviled egg for 30 cents. You got that right, 30 cents. Okay, it's half an egg, but where else can you get that creamiest of pleasures with cool yellow fire?

It tastes better with barbecue, of course, and there's rather fine barbecue, for the most part, at the Ozona Pig.

Leaning toward something more refined? How about a handmade chocolate truffle and a punch of rum ganache? That'd set you back less than $1.50 at Chocolate Studios, where a quarter-pound of truffles, six or so, is $8.75. Or you could get a similar-sized bag of chocolate sharks and pretzels for a fivespot at this jam-packed candy box in a Cracker storefront.

In between, how about an empanada made with cornmeal crust in the Colombian manner, served in a kaleidoscopic wine bar called Schiappa, Caffe Dell' Artist, a place awash in colors that glimmer like a Klimt.

And you can still toss down a Molly Header, a 99-cent shot glass of beer, horseradish and a bright, fresh, raw oyster, at Molly Goodheads. Molly's is the landmark no-beach beach bar that serves as the community's red-hot Earth Mama in a tank top.

Molly's and various other bars and barbecue joints made Ozona's Orange Street the dusty main street of a Wild (Key) West getaway long ago. Anyone who loved open-air Florida knew the species was endangered. More recently, Tuscan builders and New England whalers fetched up on these shores to build faux villas and gingerbread Victorians, and with them came Pilates.

Old-timers know that Key West is not a color scheme but a spirit, and a lazy one at that, and Ozona has kept that alive.

The Pig, for instance, approaches barbecue with slight innovations, but they're not new wave, just clever (pigs are smart). Have a barbecue cocktail - 'cue, cole slaw, beans and a pickle in a Mason jar for a swampy parfait. Or barbecue sliders, barbecue divided onto three smallish buns, a la Krystal burgers. This is not 'cue light or appetizers; you can't eat all three.

The guts of them is still moist, meaty barbecue. The best of it is beef brisket, chopped, charred and still beefy, not stringy. Pulled pork is fresh, juicy and mild on smoke. Chicken is rubbed with deep, vigorous spice outside and is lush inside.

The ribs should be skipped. Although they had the similar fiery rub, they were thin, limp and flimsy. I like mine with more meat, and yes, fat on 'em. Smoked shrimp are a bad idea; they were made for grills, not smokers.

On sides, the Pig flies high on most. Cole slaw is unsweet and long on poppy seeds; the latter is not to everyone's taste, but certainly mine. The only complaint overheard on baked beans was too much flavor; again, the fire and cumin were perfect. Green beans were cooked with bacon for the right number of months. Mac and cheese was smooth.

But the fries failed. They were peel-on and spicy, but greasy and limp.

Tiny tamales and fork-thick Brunswick stew are all the starters you could need. For dessert, you don't need more than banana pudding. If you do, go for coconut cream pie.

Across the street, hiding behind the shoe box-sized post office, is Ozona's new international art district. It amounts to about 14 seats inside the Caffe Dell' Artist and umbrella tables on the deck (next door is an old bungalow that serves as a New Age incubator).

In a place this small, you can't miss Schiappa, the namesake artist, or her Colombian husband, Jaime Gazabon. Eager to introduce their binational menu, they make the Caffe as unfussy as the Pig.

Paninis, empanadas and arepas are lusty and filling. A panini of roast beef and melted cheese would embarrass two hungry people. A cornmeal arepa stuffed with chicken should be required eating for anyone who loves country cooking and hasn't eaten one. Both sandwiches were more fun than pasta and shrimp, but Schiappa has just started on entrees.

On the side are Italian wines, beer and homemade tarts of raspberry under a latticework crust, making this spot a tempting hangout that would fit the town's "What, me hurry?" attitude. It does need an espresso maker, but Colombian-Italian in Ozona is as natural as a siesta.

Less than a block away, the Chocolate Studios could be a quick grab-and-go stop, but why?

Everyone loves to be surrounded by chocolate - white, milk and dark - and in this little shop, you're walled in by cases of chocolate palm trees, gators, classic barks and chocolate toffee, as well as uptown European truffles.

Besides, the Oompa Loompas - a.k.a. the chocolate-loving Sklar family, Amanda, Amelia and Sho - work all day on chocolates and candies for their store at the Tampa airport. You can peek in on the process, or give them a break to fill your candy bag, or to make smoothies or ice cream sundaes.

The studio has been in business for 20 years and moved to Ozona two years ago, says Sho Sklar, the family's chocolatier. She trained in Europe and makes her own chocolate blends. If Ozona is to have an industry, chocolate fits.

The town that began as Yellow Bluff 100 years ago renamed itself Ozona to tout its health-giving properties. Much has changed, but its new tastes are good for what ails us.

Call in sick and go to Ozona for the day.

- Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The St. Petersburg Times pays for all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or the assessment of its quality. Sherman can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com

311 Orange St.

Ozona

(727) 773-0744

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

DETAILS: Credit cards accepted; beer, wine served

PRICES: $4.25 to $19.95

306 Orange St.

Ozona

(727) 787-4087

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

DETAILS: Credit cards accepted; beer, wine served; live music on weekends

404 Orange St.

Ozona

Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily

DETAILS: No alcohol; custom chocolates and party trays available

PRICES: Yogurt $2, floats $2.50, malts $4

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 11:57:50]