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First Bite
[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe]
Palm Restaurant servers Miriam Perez, left, and Don King present a filet mignon and a Nova Scotia lobster while a New York strip sits on the table behind them.
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By CHRIS SHERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 9, 2001
Palm Restaurant
There's a stranger in town, hanging around the West Shore cattle chute; not a cowpoke, more a city slicker, but hardly a dude ranch dandy.
The Palm, one of the most famous brands in steak house chains, has entered the Tampa Bay Big Shot Beef market. Its 23rd location is in the new restaurant corner of WestShore Plaza, a stone's throw from Shula's, Ruth's Chris, Charley's and Fleming's -- and not a far piece from Bern's, the hometown original.
Up close, however, the new guy isn't that intimidating (except to the wallet). There's more attitude in customers bragging about visits to other Palms, especially the New York original, than in the staff. Waiters seem fresh from Palm catechism, innocently reciting its storied glories and quick to correct any flaws; no crusty chophouse snarls on my visit.
The Tampa Palm has dark wood booths, local caricatures and replicas of the on-the-wall Smilin' Jack and Jinx's Maggie that cartoonists did in New York, but the place is as clean, well-lit and tourist-friendly as the new Times Square. If that's a disappointment, the bar has the close, chummy feel (and the smoke) of the "good old days."
The menu is broader than at most steak houses, but $25 to $30 prime beef and monster lobster remain the stars. Skip the filet mignon, the only cut that's not USDA prime, and try anything else to taste how moist and tender the top grade of beef can be. I'll try the lobster after I save a few more tenspots: At $20 per pound, the 3-pound lunks are $60.
Palm also does chops, pastas and seafood, and at lunch turns out swordfish and black bean salsa, pita fajitas and steak salads with arugula and radicchio.
The surprisingly long list of a la carte sides includes old and new, bright and dull. Onion straws and cottage fries are crisp; Monday night salad is a tart soupy chop of tomato, avocado and anchovy, but shrimp Bruno's dull stuff. Plain spinach is so plain, without even garlic or oil, I'd root for Bluto.
Best starts and finishes so far are crab cake and S&S cheesecake from the Bronx (and a local contribution, Kalupa's strawberry shortcake cake).
Dinner entrees, $19 to $34; family-size potatoes, vegetables and salads, $5 to $11. Palm Restaurant, 203 WestShore Plaza Drive, Tampa, (813) 849-7256.
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