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!

🍷 No Whining About the Wine Bars in St. Pete 🍷

If you haven’t caught up with us on our blog, you might not realize we’re pretty fond of the cocktail scene in St. Petersburg, Florida. Now we’re getting up to speed on the vibrant wine scene! 

First, we’ve shared before in previous posts about a couple of our favorite #tipsypicks – Bar Chinchilla and Dracula’s Legacy. These are our go-to spots every time we’re in town. We’ve also had a lovely dinner and some wine at Sauvignon previously. So, you can read more about those here.

Recently, thanks to our friends at Zero/Zero in Knoxville, we’ve started exploring the world of natural wines. That is wine made without pesticides or additives. And they recommended one of our new favorite stops in St. Pete – Cellarmasters. It’s almost like a speakeasy because it’s tucked behind a wine bottle shop and can be hard to miss if you don’t see it’s there. But you’ll be glad you found it! The bartenders are all friendly and knowledgeable! They call it “The dive bar wine bar.” They will take the time to find out what you like and recommend something just for you. There are lots of great spaces to hang out or chill for a date night. This one is definitely on our regular list now!

Wine tastings and wine flights are great ways to figure out your wine palate. Now there’s a spot in downtown St. Pete just for that! It’s appropriately named Try Wine Company. You have the option of purchasing curated flights of various wines or pouring your own samples from dozens of machines around the shop. We chose the curated route along with some fantastic charcuterie specific to the flights. The wines came in test tubes, which was a nice touch. We very much enjoyed this experience!

What could make a glass of wine even better? Maybe enjoying it with a good book! You can do both at Book & Bottle. We discovered this little shop a few years ago but never took the time to enjoy it until recently. It’s a combination wine store, bar, and bookstore! They have a wide selection of wines by the bottle or glass that you can enjoy with a book you can purchase from the shelf in the same space. When we visited, there were lots of people sitting at the bar and at most of the tables, many of whom had… you guessed it… a book in hand. This is a great place to spend a few quiet hours with friends or just by yourself reading.

Our next stop is one that we’ve walked past a dozen times but either couldn’t get in or didn’t try. But we’re glad we did this time! Bacchus is appropriately named for the Roman god of wine and revelry. We found a bit of both! Bacchus reminded us most of a European market where you can get wine by the glass or bottle and fresh deli meats, cheeses, and produce. There are tables outside on the sidewalk as well as room inside. Jazz music in both places add to the ambiance. It’s ideally located close to the Pier and Beach Drive!

So, if wine is your thing, there are plenty of options in St. Pete! In fact, we have a couple more on the list for next time. If you’ve been to The Study or Lolita’s Wine Market … let us know what you think, and we’ll check them out!

#tipsypick for this time (if we have to pick one) - Cellarmasters

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! 

🍾🍷🥃 Current Preferred Watering Holes in St. Pete Florida 🍾🍷🥃

 

It should be no surprise to anyone who keeps up with us that our new favorite vacation (or long weekend) spot is St. Petersburg Florida!  So, when our daughter said she’d like to visit for her college graduation trip, of course we said YES!

After a few relaxing days on St. Pete Beach (and lots of frozen rum drinks) we made our way to downtown St. Pete for three days of showing the kids around some of our favorite spots in the downtown area. And here they are . . . the list is certainly NOT exhaustive. We find new places we like every time we visit!

First, it might surprise you that there are now three speakeasy bars in St. Pete! That may be nothing compared to NYC, which has dozens or more, but it’s more than some cities that we’ve visited. Sounds like a recipe for a night of fun.

One of the best all around is The Saint – it’s way out on Central in the Grand Central District, but worth the trip any night of the week. We highly recommend going on Wednesday for the burlesque show! The theme is a bit irreverent so check your inner prude at the door . . . the servers are dressed as nuns and priests. The night starts with a weekly “sin” that you must confess at the door, and it goes from there. The specialty drinks are a show in themselves (think flames, smoke and bubbles) and very tasty. They also have a good selection of spirits and can whip up a great Manhattan if you ask.

From there, we worked our way back toward downtown with the next stop at one of the newest bars in town – Dirty Laundry. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like!  The bar up front is a standard coffee bar with some alcoholic drinks surrounded by a laundromat. Spoiler alert – you pick up the pay phone and dial the code aka “doing your laundry” and then enter through one of the washing machines to a fantastic tropical-themed bar complete with a patio, live music AND a great selection of mojitos and other drinks. This one wins the #tipsypick for best new bar for us!

Next, we went to one of our favorites that we visit every time – Bar Chica. Hidden behind a wall at Bodega St. Pete, this is a much quieter and more “speakeasy” vibe than the previous two we mentioned. The cocktail list is solid. You can grab a bite at Bodega, which has Cuban and other Latino foods, but you can’t bring it in to the back room. Most people walk right by this space without even noticing. It’s that cool. 

Now we’ll say that we have so many other places that we highly recommend, and it would take a lot of time and words to go through the full list. We love St. Pete! But here are a few additional spots outside the Speakeasy category.

If you like wine, our hands-down favorite is a kitschy place called Dracula’s Legacy. Yes, it is exactly like it sounds. The owner is from Romania, and she takes the theme to the next level. BUT don’t ignore the fact that they have an excellent wine selection, including multiple flights where you can taste a variety of pours without over committing. They also have a fantastic charcuterie board and other nibbles. It’s a bit #offthetipsypath, but totally worth looking for!

Another wine bar that you might have to look for is one we found on this latest trip called Bar Chinchilla. It’s literally a small storefront with no more than 14 or 15 seats. But they have a great wine selection, an AMAZING Happy Hour Special and they do things like wine tastings regularly to help them stand out.  We even met a couple of kindred spirits - another couple that blogs about drinks and things. Check them out at Let's Do Dranks. We’re glad we found this one!

Speaking of wine bars, we stumbled upon a very cool date night spot right in the middle of the madness that is the 200 block of Central Avenue. Sauvignon Wine Locker and American Trattoria is pretty well hidden on the second floor above some of the busiest bars on this block. We followed the sign on the street up a staircase and to a double door that led us to an Italian bistro setting with fantastic food and wine! Excellent stop and definitely #offthetipsypath!

As for cocktails, we have a few that we tend to visit, and we took our daughter to this time. One is Flute & Dram. Located right on Beach Drive, they have one of the top Happy Hours in town, including a great Old Fashioned and Manhattan.

Another excellent happy hour with an even better view is at Birchwood Canopy, a rooftop bar with some of the best views of the bay. Our daughter was also impressed.

You may know that we like a good bourbon cocktail, and Mandarin Hide never fails to deliver. They have a smoked Old Fashioned that we think is one of the best in the city. And who doesn’t love a bathtub photo op?

We are also pretty fond of the theme and the drink selection at No Vacancy. It’s owned by the same people who have Dirty Laundry, so they know a good theme when they see it. Insider tip – the Seafood Nachos are to die for! And Club 201 at the Detroit has an added bonus of live music most nights of the week, as does Ruby’s Elixer. If you just want creative shots, then Pour Judgment is your place!

Our hotel bar, HyBar, also turned out to have a very tasty Old Fashioned made with the bartender’s own recipe, which included bitters from New Orleans (another of our favorite places). Three cheers for #hotelbars!

Like we said, there are so many other places, and we find new ones on every visit. Did we mention there are about a dozen breweries on Central? We’ll save that for another time (and yes, there will be one).

Tipsy Picks:        Best new bar – Dirty Laundry

                    Best happy hour with a view – Canopy

                    Best Date Night spot – Sauvignon Wine Locker and American Trattoria