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Restaurant News
Signature Room goes; Salt Rock here to stay
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published September 14, 2005
The weather is still hot and so is Tampa Bay's restaurant scene with businesses opening, closing and promising to stay put.
News about what's new in eating out:
Eighty-sixed
Signature Room Grill, the high-end Chicago steakhouse high in the John Hancock building, has abandoned Tampa after less than a year at Channelside. The restaurant on the second floor over Hooters in the movie-and-drinks mall was Signature's first expansion outside of Chicago and one of the only grown-up offerings at what was once promised as a sophisticated alternative to Ybor.
In truth, the location was tough. Other than Bern's Steak House, all the big bucks beef places are in the cattle chutes along Dale Mabry Highway and West Shore Boulevard, close to business traveler hotels.
India Garden, a bright pink spot on Pinellas' Indian menu for its breads, fresh vegetables and buffets, has closed in Clearwater. The space on Gulf to Bay Boulevard will soon be Mama's Bar and Grill.
Not for sale
On Pinellas beaches real estate rumors are as constant as the tide, but Salt Rock Grill stays and is not for sale, restaurateur Frank Chivas says. "It's been a rumor up and down the beach for a year. I guess it's good if it means everybody comes in thinking it's their last chance for a meal here. Bottom line, it's not for sale."
Instead, Chivas and crew have focused energies in Jupiter, where the last Pep's Sea Grill was rechristened Marlin Darlin Grill and has a small menu of creative and affordable seafood.
In the oven
Let's Eat!, the make-and-take meal service that started in South Tampa last year, is now open in Citrus Park and plans two more in Pinellas County and one in the Orlando suburbs. New locations are planned in Clearwater 1500 McMullen-Booth Road; (727 797-3663) and St. Petersburg (4946 Fourth St. N; (727) 520-1470) this fall. Customers can attend sessions to assemble ingredients, pick them up or have them delivered. Prices are $199 and up for ingredients for 12 meals. For more information, go to www.letseatdinner.com
Ceviche, one of Tampa's first tapas bars, will come to St. Petersburg's recently revamped Ponce De Leon Hotel (95 Central Ave.). Ceviche will take over both the portico-styled upstairs, which was most recently Bellagio, and the basement piano bar at 10 Beach Drive. Upstairs will have the larger menu with more paellas and other hot entrees as well as a full tapas menu. The downstairs space, which can be as dark, crowded and lively as the SoHo bar, will have an abbreviated menu, focused on cold tapas and other snacks that can be purchased by the piece. Owner Gordon Davis plans to open Oct. 1.
Carmelita's, an old favorite for platters of tacos and enchiladas since 1983, has opened its fourth location (6218 66th St. N, St. Petersburg; (727) 545-8226) for lunch and dinner. The first Carmelita's, on Park Street N in St. Petersburg, is still open in addition to restaurants in Largo and Clearwater.
Estela's Mexican Restaurant, which has served up Mexican and mariachi on the sidewalks of Tampa's Davis Islands and Brandon, has crossed the bay to open in the Gateway area (10478 Roosevelt Blvd., St. Petersburg; (727) 578-5380).
Lee Roy Selmon's, Outback's tribute to barbecue and the Hall of Fame defensive end, will open its fourth location this winter in the Tyrone area of St. Petersburg. Other restaurants are in Tampa, New Tampa and, most recently, Largo.
Buffalo loose on U.S. 19
The shaggy beasts on the roadside are just statues, but the bison meat on the menu at the new Buffalo Steak House (10525 U.S. 19 N, Pinellas Park; (727) 299-9171) is real. Bison is cooked as stew, chopped steak and New York strip. Beef of the tamer and more familiar sort is available in the usual cuts. Prices run from $9.99 to $17.99.
Buffalo meat, branded leaner and more healthful by some, has so far appeared occasionally on upscale plates around Tampa Bay. Nationally, it's the meat of celebrity rancher Ted Turner's Ted's Montana Grill, a chain with outlets in Tallahassee and Jacksonville.
- Chris Sherman, Times food critic, can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com
[Last modified September 13, 2005, 09:02:05]
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