5 Tampa Bay dishes to try this November - Tampa Bay Times

From a casual new pizzeria and sports pub in Dunedin to a buzzy newcomer in St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District, here are a few of the dishes and restaurants our food critic is loving right now.

Mama Olivia pizza

Jack Pallino’s

A couple of weekends ago I went to go check out Jack Pallino’s, a new sports bar and pizzeria, which opened last month in downtown Dunedin. The restaurant is the latest endeavor from chef Traci Bryant and partners Kurt Ferguson and Shane Bittaker, who together run the NINA Hospitality Group and nearby Dunedin restaurants Taco Baby and Caracara. The highlight here is the Neapolitan-style pies, which emerge from the restaurant’s brick oven pockmarked with charred bubbles of dough and a chewy crust. I tried the Mama Olivia pie and absolutely loved it. The pizza comes topped with thick ribbons of soppressata paired with salty nicoise olives, garlic butter, creamy ricotta, braised fennel and plenty of mozzarella cheese. My dining companion and I split the pie, but it was so good I could have eaten the entire thing on my own.

718 Broadway, Dunedin. 727-754-2573. pallinospizza.com.

Chorizo-stuffed dates

Wild Child

A couple of weeks ago, I dined at Wild Child, and I cannot stop thinking about my meal. The new restaurant from chef Rob Reinsmith and Matt Kaye opened this summer in St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District, and it’s already attracted plenty of good buzz. From the mezcal- and tequila-forward cocktail list to the creative, tropical-leaning dinner menu, there’s plenty to warrant the hype. While it’s hard to choose what my favorite dish is here, the chorizo-stuffed dates are high on the list. The sweet, candylike dates arrive wrapped in crispy slices of applewood-smoked bacon and are stuffed with a fresh, Spanish-style chorizo sausage. The dates come plated in a pool of smoky tomato and piquillo pepper sauce and a bright green scallion oil. Thick, crusty slices of bread (from local company Gulf Coast Sourdough) are rubbed with plenty of garlic and olive oil and are perfect for mopping up every last bit of the delicious sauce.

2710 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-954-7425.

Toro tartare

Counter Culture

If you haven’t dined at chef Jeannie Pierola’s Counter Culture yet, may I suggest you do so very soon? For one, they’ve got a great outdoor patio and a beautiful indoor space that’s infused with plenty of fresh air thanks to the wide retractable windows (a big plus for our pandemic times). Even better, they have a yellowfin tuna-wrapped toro tartare that’s absolutely sublime. This is one of those rare appetizers that I’d order two of to eat as an entree by myself. (Okay, I never do that, but if I ever did, I’d start here.) The toro — the velvety, fatty part of the tuna belly — practically melts in your mouth, but not without the crunch of golden-fried potatoes julienne (like shoestring fries), an umami kick from a truffled soy cream and an acidic jolt from quick-pickled radishes. This dish has been a mainstay on the menu since Counter Culture first opened, and for very good reason.

2909 W Bay to Bay Blvd., Suite 100, Tampa. 813-570-8660. cc-tampa.com.

Fish tacos

The Kitchen at Mastry’s Brewing Co.

I believe that there are two types of people in this world: those who like fried fish on their tacos and those who don’t. I am in the former group: Give me the choice between a beer-battered piece of fish over something grilled or blackened and I’ll always go the crispy, Baja-style route. Fish tacos are a dime a dozen in the Tampa Bay area, and though there are many good versions out there, I always appreciate a creative twist on the genre. I was recently won over by the fish tacos made with fried mahi mahi at Mastry’s Brewing Co. in St. Pete Beach. The hunks of fish came encased in a thin but super crispy batter, topped with a creamy, spicy kale slaw studded with cranberries and avocados. The tacos, which are served three per order in flour tortillas, arrived filled to the brim, each bite yielding the perfect combination of fat, acid and crunch.

7701 Blind Pass Road, St. Pete Beach. 727-202-8045. mastrysbrewingco.com.

Salmon and veggie bowl

Naked Farmer

One of the things I miss the most about working in the Tampa Bay Times' downtown St. Petersburg office is going out to lunch with my colleagues. It’s somewhat bittersweet, too, that just when we started working from home, a bunch of great new salad spots and fast-casual restaurants opened up. One of those is Naked Farmer, a newcomer on Central Avenue. (They recently opened a location at Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf, too.) The concept here is a familiar choose-your-own-adventure setup, but with a strong emphasis on locally sourced vegetables and proteins, whenever possible. I was pretty impressed with the spot on a recent visit, where I went for a farro and summer vegetable bowl topped with a pecan kale Caesar salad, spiced heirloom carrots and a fillet of crispy-skinned salmon. It was delicious, and I’m already planning my next trip back. Plus, the menu changes seasonally, so there’s always something new to try.

200 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-826-0338. 615 Channelside Drive, Tampa. 813-553-7106. eatnakedfarmer.com.

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5 Tampa Bay dishes to try this November - Tampa Bay Times
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