More buzz for Ooze, Schmooze

Robert Irvine's restaurants may be open next month.

By Janet K. Keeler, Times Food and Travel Editor
Published January 16, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Expect to see a lot of action on the other side of the windows of Robert Irvine's two new Beach Drive restaurants over the next six weeks.

So says J. Randall Williams, the celebrity chef's New York business partner.

"The space may look empty now but we've been building the furniture and kitchen elsewhere," said Williams, who was in town on Saturday to accept an award for Irvine at the Culinary Academy Awards at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort. Irvine was in Santa Fe, N.M., filming an episode of his Food Network show Dinner: Impossible.

The much-anticipated restaurants could be ready for a soft opening by the end of February, Williams said. And though he won't name names, Williams promises that some of the food world's glitterati will be on hand to christen the new restaurants.

Just this month, large posters of Irvine were hung in the windows of the restaurant space on the ground floor of 400 Beach Drive, a 29-story, 93-unit condominium building that is nearly complete.

The space will house two restaurants, Ooze and Schmooze. Ooze will be a more casual, tapas-style restaurant while Schmooze will offer fine dining. The restaurants will occupy the same large corner space.

Williams, who with developer Sandip Patel of Orion Communities in Clearwater discussed the restaurants' progress, wasn't willing to give away too many details but claims that "the kitchen will be part of the experience."

"This will be a kitchen like you've never seen before," he said.

Williams said he expects Irvine to be cooking at the restaurants three times a week.

"He loves this area," Williams said. "In five years, he expects it to be a mini-Monaco."

Irvine is also working with Patel and Orion to develop restaurant concepts for a Ritz-Carlton expected to be built on the site of the Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel at Rocky Point.

Ooze and Schmooze will be Irvine's first restaurants. He has been a chef to the British royal family and was executive chef at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and at Caesars, both in Atlantic City. His first cookbook, Mission: Cook! HarperCollins, was published last year.

Janet K. Keeler can be reached at jkeeler@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8586.

[Last modified January 15, 2008, 11:16:32]