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Restaurant review

The art and craft of food

A restored 1918 bungalow in St. Petersburg houses a gallery, pottery studio and cafe, with feasts for the eyes as well as the palate.

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published August 3, 2006

[Times photos: Bob Croslin]

Architectural and artistic beauty are on display at Craftsman House, whose gallery houses glass, pottery and sculpted works.

	The menu at the Craftsman House cafe is cool enough for a summer day, with dishes that are fresh, not fancy. Among the offerings are, clockwise from bottom, savory cheese globe with grapes and apple slices, spinach salad with strawberries and chicken salad in romaine boats with seasonal fruit.
	Stephanie and Jeff Schorr own the Craftsman House gallery, cafe and pottery studio in St. Petersburg’s Historic Kenwood neighborhood.

ST. PETERSBURG

Cucumber salad is a small thing. Rather refreshing, sliced paper-thin and tossed with dill and vinegar, it's a pickle with parlor manners. Likewise, fresh fruit sounds modest, except when the maker knows watermelons are the best antidote for summer and mixes them with strawberries.

But those summer dishes are not the best samples of Stephanie Schorr's art.

There's more of her skill and style in the simple bowls that hold them, lovingly glazed in near-Grueby green, or a brown that drifts from chocolate to raspberry.

Serve those dishes on an indoor porch of a 1918 bungalow that lazes on Central Avenue, embracing a neighborhood revival, and that's the true masterpiece Stephanie and Jeff Schorr have put together.

This house is an exquisite example of the craftsman movement that created and furnished such charming homes 100 years ago. If you love the style as I do, you'll delight in this one; if you don't know it, I bet you'll be awed and impressed. It has everything that made bungalows a hit from Bangalore to the Tampa Bay area at the turn of another century: deep, inviting porches with cool Cuban tile; broad eaves and pergolas borrowed from Japan; a modern "open layout" that broke up old boxy rooms; the warmth and handmade detail of stone fireplaces, woodwork and built-in bookcases. The goal then was to rescue daily life from the cheap and mechanical with handmade and natural touches, a big idea we still hunger for.

But the Schorrs have given modern meaning to the arts and crafts movement and new style and energy to this old house. After several years of work, it functions as a studio the old carriage house and a new addition provide kiln and artist space and a gallery filled with a few pieces from old art potteries, more from modern glass artists and potters like Stephanie Schorr (and a few like George Ohr). Wood ranges from Roycroft and quarter-sawn oak to eye-popping abstractions and sculptures.

The Schorrs also have put art and craft into the food. The menu is short, sweet and cold: salads, sandwiches, pound cakes - what your older relations might have put up in the icebox for company or a cool, no-cook supper. That is, if they'd had tortillas (with or without sun-dried tomatoes) and an espresso bar.

They aren't fancy, but the chicken salad and tuna salad are handmade, with touches of fruit, nuts, herbs and whimsy. A cream cheese pate of nuts and olives and a pecan cheese roll are guilty pleasures of garden parties.

I wish there had been soup; such days and porches call for chilled tomato, gazpacho or potato. I'd also love to see this place hook up with modern bread crafters; wraps do little for me.

All the food, even poppycock, is made by the hands that throw the clay. They seek out free-trade coffee and crisp organic beer (IPA and chocolate stout from Bison of Berkeley); wine, in honor of the neighborhood's name, is Kenwood.

Turning old houses into restaurants is commonplace. Many restaurants make art a key ingredient. And even if the Tampa Bay area's do not, most art museums put cafes and restaurants on display.

Craftsman House sets a table at a perfect spot, the juncture of art-smart Grand Central and cottage-comfy Kenwood. This gallery/studio/cafe may not seat 20, but it's no small thing.

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

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Craftsman House

2955 Central Ave.

St. Petersburg

Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Details: No reservations; no smoking indoors; beer and wine served. Music, Thursday night.

Prices: $5.95 to $8.95

[Last modified August 2, 2006, 09:17:51]