So Many Bars in St. Pete – Challenge Accepted

 

One of the ways we measure a city worth visiting is by looking at the strength and diversity of its bar and restaurant scene. Of course, we prefer to see local owners succeed! Based on that, we think St. Pete, Florida is a great spot for a vacation or just a weekend. There are so many great spots that it’s hard for us to keep up! But here are some more #tipsypicks from our latest visit.

First, we love a good speakeasy … and there are a few in St. Pete we’ve explored before ... (Dirty Laundry, Bar Chica) But how often do you find one in the back of a liquor store? That’s the genius of 1st Avenue Liquors. From the outside, it looks just like a normal liquor store on (you guessed it) 1st Avenue in the Edge District. Even when you walk inside, you see shelves of bottles. But if you peek behind one of the walls, you see the hidden cocktail bar ... the Clubhouse Bourbon Bar! We almost hate to share too much, because this is a not-so-well-kept secret spot. The drinks are fabulous, and we very much appreciate their prices, even on allocated bourbon. They say the secret is making money on the retail side so they can pass on the savings in the back. We approve! Definitely a #tipsypick.

Speaking of speakeasies, we say farewell to one of our favorites, The Saint. The Grand Central District spot has changed concepts from a themed cocktail speakeasy to more of a dance club with live performers, including burlesque. The cocktails are still well done at the new spot, named The Ball. When we visited, we did in fact have a ball! Just be prepared for “the show.”

Just down the street from the Ball is a step back into the 70’s with a spot called Lost & Found. This is a fun space with retro furniture, wood paneling, and plenty of great cocktails! We enjoyed a fantastic Manhattan, among other things. The living room area looks like it belongs on the set of “That 70’s Show." It’s a fun way to hang out for a drink!

Hanging out on a porch, patio, or rooftop is easy when you have scenery like downtown St. Pete. We’ve been to a number of rooftop bars in the area … now we’ll add The Sparrow to the list! The Sparrow is on the rooftop of the new Moxy hotel on Central, an ideal location to visit all our favorite spots. The bar and restaurant itself are full of Instagram moments, as is the patio area. We sat at a table outside and had some creative and refreshing cocktails with some lite bites. Definitely worth a visit. 

The Moxy itself has a wonderful bar space on the ground floor, aptly named Bar Moxy. This hotel chain is one of our preferred spots when we travel, and this one is now on our preferred list! Bar Moxy is a great hangout space with live music in the evenings, and you can choose to sit inside or outside. We had one of the best cocktails of the trip here – a smoked pineapple Old Fashioned! It seems this hotel bar is also popular with the locals, for good reason.

Just down the street from the Moxy, Bar Mezzo is a lively cocktail spot with rollup garage doors to enjoy the fresh air. They were very busy the evening we were there, so we suggest going early before the crowds arrive if you want a seat or room to spread out. Try the Old Fashioned!

Did we mention fresh air? If you like a good cocktail on the porch, we highly recommend Perry’s Porch! This relatively new spot at the foot of the Pier in downtown St. Pete has some excellent outdoor spaces including bar seating and chairs along the canal. Their house Old Fashioned hit the spot and they have a nice wine selection as well. 

And finally, we can’t resist a good historic hotel. The Scott is the lobby bar inside the Cordova Inn, which has been welcoming guests since 1921.  The Scott is an intimate space with a small bar offering fantastic cocktails including a Boulevardier and Sazerac. And yes, you can enjoy them on the porch in a rocking chair.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re taking our cocktails outside. Let us know if you have any St. Pete favorites we should know about!

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! 

🤐 🌸 🍸 Secrets and Superb Cocktails in our Nation’s Capital 🤐 🌸🍸

As our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. is full of history – politicians and businesspeople mix with tourists all day long! But at night, there are some fun and creative places to get some good cocktails - It is a big city, after all!

Here are a few things we note if you’re planning a night out in DC:

·       The district is very walkable and the Metro makes it even easier to get around.

·       Those city blocks look much smaller on a map, and you’ll spend half your time waiting for lights at crosswalks.

·       You can grab a taxi or ride share pretty easily if you don’t want to walk off your drinks.

 We’ll start with what we think are the two spots at the top of our #tipsypicks from our recent visit.

Allegory is labeled as a speakeasy inside the Eaton Hotel library. But the secret is definitely out!  We tried one evening to get in and were put on a wait list just so we could get a table to wait in the library to get in!  We came back the next night before dinner and managed to get in after a short wait (and a small welcome cocktail) in the library. And was it worth the wait for sure! This is one of the most creative spaces we’ve seen… and the menus take it to another level. We won’t spoil it all for you… but let’s say the menu is a storybook featuring Ruby Bridges, the courageous six-year-old who helped integrate New Orleans public schools, but with illustrations set in Alice in Wonderland. We were having so much fun reading the menu we almost forgot to order drinks! The menu changes often but the two we ordered were creative and delicious. A #tipsypick for sure! 

We should also note that the Eaton rooftop bar Wild Days is another great option if you want a cocktail while you are waiting to get on the wait list for Allegory, or just as a night out. It’s more of a club atmosphere, but the drinks are good and so is the view. We would consider staying at the Eaton for these options!

Our other #tipsypick is Off the Record – another hotel bar! This one is in the basement of the Hay Adams Hotel across the street from the White House. It has a reputation for being a “tourist bar” but we found mostly locals on a date night during our visit. The atmosphere is classy with lots of red leather seating and a classic menu. Don’t miss the political caricature drawings on both the walls and the coasters! The Maple Bacon Old Fashioned aka “Smoking Mirrors” was quite tasty!

There are a few other speakeasies worth mentioning before we move on to other spaces. The Gibson has been around for nearly a decade, even before speakeasies were suddenly everywhere. And they’ve lasted this long by doing it right – solid drinks behind an unmarked black door near the bustling U Street Corridor. We were able to make reservations, which was helpful! The Black Manhattan we ordered off menu was spot on! It’s definitely a #tipsypick for any visit to D.C.

And for a completely different experience, The Mirror is an underground bar with more of a club vibe hidden behind… (wait for it) a mirror. The music was loud with lots of heavy bass when we were there, but it was fun and the drinks were better than we expected - the Old Fashioned and Sazerac in particular! Very cool!

On our way to the Gibson, we took at walk up 14^th Street in Northwest DC to make a few other stops. 14^th reminds us of a walk up 1^st Avenue in the Lower East Side NYC. Lots of options. We tried to get into Jane Jane, which is known as an intimate cocktail bar, but there was a two hour wait. It must be good. So we went up the street to Left Door, which turned out to be a fantastic move! Our good friend Natalie, who lives in D.C., described it as “drinking in my grandmother’s attic”… with a live music venue (yes, the music was fairly loud rock from speakers above our heads). It’s a “cozy” space, very eclectic, literally in the upstairs of an old house. The drinks were fantastic and the staff was upbeat and friendly! It’s #offthetipsypath for sure.

And finally (but not least) if you are anywhere near the convention center or Chinatown, we highly recommend checking out Morris American Bar! It could easily be called Morris “Neighborhood” bar because it’s definitely full of locals, despite being around the corner from, and on the footprint of, the convention center. The décor is classic art deco and retro, with lots of cool spaces. The drinks are tasty and the staff can definitely make you something you’ll enjoy.

A couple of honorable mentions – the coconut Old Fashioned at Farmers & Distillers and the Old Fashioned flights at Immigrant Food +…  you can find those for yourself!

 

Our #tipsypicks for this trip (if we have to choose just 3):

1. Off the Record
2. Allegory
3. The Gibson

Up on the Roof in Downtown Knoxville

 

Late Summer into Fall is the perfect weather for cocktails on the patio … but why not take it “up” a few notches literally TO THE ROOF! There are a growing number of rooftop bars in downtown Knoxville that let you enjoy your favorite drinks indoors or outdoors with a view from the top of the town!

We’ll start with the “OG” rooftop in downtown Knoxville – the Moonshine Roof Garden at Preservation Pub. This rooftop space has been around long enough to see Market Square thrive and give patrons a bird’s eye view of what’s going on below. With the arrival of Bernadette’s Crystal Gardens next door, the roof garden is now double the size, and so is the Magic Beer Tree! The drink menu at Preservation Pub itself is extensive and fairly basic, with beer, wine and shine as the showcase. However, the real “gem” (pun intended, as you’ll see in a minute) is the cocktail menu at Bernadette’s!

Bernadette’s is the brainchild of Bernadette West, using hundreds of actual crystals that once were housed in the World Grotto, an earlier bar in the basement of one of the other West buildings on the square. Bernadette’s also has its own outdoor space, actually above and overlooking the roof garden, known as the Citrine Mezzanine. It’s enclosed but with an open-air view of the rooftop. Here is where you’ll find some of the most creative drinks on the square – our personal favorites are the Amethyst and the Moonstone, not to mention the mimosa flights (on special every Wednesday night). The first is a refreshing take on an old fashioned and the second is a coconut drink with cream and quite the presentation. You can get both up on the Mezzanine! And don’t miss out on our favorite bar snack … the Tetris Tots with the rainbow palette of dipping sauces.

 

Yet another rooftop on Market Square is just next door at Scruffy City Hall. This is another venture from Scott and Bernadette West. The first two floors are mainly a performance venue, but the rooftop space is wide open and dedicated to a more laid back atmosphere than its neighbors. It may have the best view of whatever is on the square’s performance stage! The second floor also has an open-air mezzanine with great views.

Now we move just off the square to South Gay Street, where dueling rooftop bars make for an attractive competition for best views! Both Embassy Suites and Hyatt Place opened within the last few years, both debuting some fantastic rooftop spaces, and both with excellent cocktails. We have done weekend “staycations” at both so we can safely say we’ve done the necessary research. Since these are also hotel bars, we covered some of this in a previous post. Here’s our lowdown on each from a rooftop view.

At Embassy Suites, Radius Rooftop Lounge has the distinction of having the highest rooftop view of downtown. We have to admit that we weren’t overly impressed the first time we visited, but that was in the middle of the pandemic. It struck us as a frat party. On our most recent visit, it’s clear that they’ve stepped up their cocktail game, including a whole Old Fashioned list. You know we love that! They also have a rooftop outdoor pool area with cabanas that are great for a small group party. And yes, the views are spectacular!

And last but certainly not least, Five Thirty Lounge is a fantastic space with indoor and outdoor areas on top of the Hyatt Place downtown. Their indoor bar is pure eye candy and the drinks are excellent. Full disclosure – we spent our New Year’s Eve here and watched the Independence Day fireworks from the outdoor patio! They make a wonderful Old Fashioned and have a nice wine list. We aren’t a fan of the extra “hospitality tax” on drinks, but don’t let that stop you. Take advantage of the reservations here to get ahead of the crowd. Definitely a #tipsypick!

With basically five rooftop options to choose from within a few blocks, it is technically possible to do a “rooftop bar crawl” in one day/night!  Let us know if you try it! If we do, we’ll let you know!

Did we miss anything? Hit us up on Instagram at OffTheTipsyPath (@offthetipsypath) • Instagram photos and videos or Facebook at Off The Tipsy Path | Facebook. Finally, you can also drop us a note here. We’d love to hear from you!