New Year – New Fun Finds in St. Pete

Welcome to the third year of this little adventure we call Off the Tipsy Path! We’re going to start it off with a return to one of our favorite spots – St. Petersburg, Florida. This Gulf Coast city is also where the idea for Tipsy Path began (over a few beverages, of course)!

Downtown St. Pete, like a lot of cities, is seeing incredible growth. Tower cranes are everywhere as new condos and apartments are being built to meet demand. The city’s culinary and cocktail scene is growing at a similar pace. Here are just a few of the places we’ve found since our last visit.

So what’s new? How about a jungle-themed restaurant with a somewhat-hidden bar in the basement of a historic “Five and Dime” building? That’s Concrete Jungle! The restaurant occupies part of the main floor of the historic Kress building on Central. Its theme is “Tulum inspired,” meaning Mexican flair. It’s a great spot for date night dinner and cocktails! But don’t miss out on the downstairs bar! It has some added cocktails to the upstairs menu that are not to be missed – “Smoke and Mirrors” was an excellent smoked concoction and the “Platano” was a complex bourbon drink with coffee and banana. And the jungle theme ramps up to create very cool spaces around every corner. A #tipsypick for sure!

Staying with Mexico, Tequila Daisy is a tequila-focused bar (and other agave spirits like Mezcal) with some tasty drinks – and shots – and a dance floor where you can bust all of your moves that you think you should after a few said drinks/shots! Seriously, the signature cocktail the “Tequila Daisy” is seriously good! They don’t have food, but the taco truck that sets up outside is very popular.

Continuing the theme of “spaces that feel like different places,” Saigon Blonde may become one of our newest favorite spots! The décor is tropical-themed from the “1960’s” and includes three separate lounge areas that are about as unique as you’ll find – one is made from old airplane parts and the other is upstairs and overlooks the lower bar. And the drinks we had were superb - “Old Sin” is essentially an old fashioned with flavors of Vanilla AND chocolate! We will definitely be back!

One more tropical theme – this time on a rooftop!  Cane & Barrel is the new rooftop bar at the AC Marriott. It has a Cuban theme, with drinks and food to match. The indoor/outdoor spaces make for a nice way to spend an evening, or an afternoon with brunch. We admit we didn’t make our way very far through the menu, because we were drinking champagne for New Year’s Eve! We will check this one out again next time!

Now let’s completely switch themes – to Christmas! Xmas Bar is billed as a seasonal pop-up bar, but it’s still going strong as of January. We will say that this is a very festive space worth checking out if only for the décor. During the holidays, we’re told they had some great themed cocktails. But when we visited the weekend of New Year’s, we were told those are no longer being served - lots of canned drinks and shots going around. 

If you’re looking for a great space for cocktails and brunch that’s a bit #offthetipsypath… we suggest The Library. This space is part of the Johns Hopkins hospital complex just south of downtown, but folks in the know come here to enjoy the food and drink all week long. Our brunch meals were excellent. We’ll have to come back one evening for happy hour and let you know more about the cocktails.

And finally, an update on one of our #tipsypicks – a local wine bar called Bar Chinchilla has new owners! The intimate spot changed hands early in 2023, and the new owners have kept much of the cozy décor but have elevated the wine offerings… and the beer! Tipsy Hubs was most impressed with the lineup of Belgian beer on tap. The real secret is the deals on their “to go” bottles of wine! Love this place!

As always, we’d love to hear from you about your favorite places and anyplace we should check out on our adventures! Cheers to Year Three!