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Pinellas To Go
By KATHY SAUNDERS
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 15, 2000
TREASURE ISLAND -- Instead of making the usual barbecue for my son's annual Little League party, we decided to order out instead.
The idea came to us just as we were assigning food items to each family to bring to the team's end-of-season pool party. I phoned Caldwell's Bar-B-Q & Grill from the planning meeting.
We spoke to Lois Henry, who owns and operates the restaurant with her husband, Glenn. His father was the late Caldwell Henry, the original owner of the business, founded in 1950.
I explained our situation -- we needed to feed about 30 hungry baseball players and their parents. She recommended the restaurant's popular barbecue pork. At her suggestion, we ordered 10 pounds ($89.90).
We got a choice of side dishes including potato salad, baked beans and cole slaw. We chose the cole slaw and the barbecue baked beans ($27 each).
Henry also offered to provide the buns for sandwiches. She sold us three dozen for $7.50.
I gave Henry my credit card number over the phone, and the party was provided for in a flash: no trips to the grocery store or Sam's Club for loads of burgers, no slaving over a hot barbecue while trying to watch the kids swim and no messy dishes to clean up.
The restaurant doesn't open on Saturdays until noon, but the food was ready and waiting in the oven when we arrived at the back door at 10:30 a.m. Henry phoned us the day before to review the menu and pick-up arrangements.
The pork, beans and cole slaw came in long aluminum containers with heavy-duty foil covers. The owners even carried the boxes of food to our car. Not an ounce spilled on the way to the party. I brought a few serving pieces to poolside, and other parents contributed the flatware, drinks and dessert.
The adults were the first to sample the pulled pork. The meat was tender and not overcooked and was smothered in a tasty barbecue sauce. There was enough to feed the members of Cullen's Landscaping Northwest C-Minor team and their parents -- and plenty of neighbors who dropped by.
Most of us were pleased with the balance of flavors -- salty pork and spicy sauce. Coach John Cullen, a self-proclaimed barbecue expert, said Caldwell's could have kicked the spice up a notch to suit him.
"I wish it was hotter," echoed Caldwell's son, Tyler, our pitcher, but the other players were satisfied, as was assistant coach Mike Keane.
"Caldwell's just jumped to the top of my list of beach barbecue places," he said. "We'll definitely be back."
Some of the players, including my 6-year-old son, did not want pork, preferring to eat only the buns, but they remarked on the freshness of the bread.
The beans were an equally big hit, or, as first baseman Nick Fanning put it, "The beans are sweet and awesome." The cole slaw was fresh and refreshing on a hot afternoon.
Caldwell's originally opened as a family restaurant with comfort foods such as meatloaf and liver. The owners closed it in 1991 to spend more time with their four children. For five years, the space was leased to the Paradise Pig barbecue restaurant.
In 1996, the Henrys took over again and kept the predominantly barbecue theme, but they still serve "Steaks & Olde Tyme Favourites" including sirloin steak ($10.99), meatloaf ($7.99), baby beef liver ($6.99) and ham steak ($7.99).
Ribs are the house specialty. A full slab with fixings is $16.99. A half-slab is $10.99, and a slab without side dishes is $14.99.
"We have people that want us to ship them up north," Henry said of the ribs.
Platters of barbecued pork, beef and chicken are among the most popular sellers. The barbecue dinners offer a choice of side dishes that include baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, french fries, cole slaw, baked beans and dinner rolls.
"Probably 85 percent of our business is barbecue," said Henry.
Pork, beef and chicken are served on sandwiches as well. They range in price from $4.99 to $5.99.
The menu says Caldwell's serves only loin back pork ribs that are pit smoked over hickory wood and basted with the restaurant's homemade sauce and spices.
Caldwell's also offers fried seafood, appetizers, salads, a children's menu, desserts and beer and wine. The takeout menu includes family packs of barbecued beef, pork and chicken along with two side dishes. A package of two full racks of ribs sells for $29.99. Family packs of pork, chicken or beef barbecue are $14 to $15. All of the family packages include baked beans, a choice of potato salad or cole slaw and dinner rolls.
Caldwell's will deliver large catering orders for a nominal fee, said Henry.
7081 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach
Phone: (727) 363-6313
Fax: (727) 367-1457
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Fridays, noon to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays
Consumers: 15 children and 12 adults
What we got: 10 pounds of pork, 1 1/2 gallons of cole slaw, 1 1/2 gallons of baked beans and three dozen sandwich rolls
What it cost: $162, or $6 a person
Pay with:Cash and major credit cards