What a crazy change in the weather. Rain last night and really windy all day today. The temperature went from the high 80’s to the 60’s. The rest of the week looks nice. It wasn’t beach weather so we drove into St. Petersburg to check out the city. It sits right on Tampa Bay and is beautiful. We walked out on the pier making every attempt not to be swept away by the wind and came across a fabulous restaurant for lunch. We were going to try for picnics on the beach and some home cooked meals this week but what can you do when the weather doesn’t cooperate. Lunch out sounded like a good idea. At the end of the pier we hit our mark with the Columbia restaurant overlooking Tampa Bay. It has been in existence since 1905 in the Tampa area in Ybor City. A Cuban immigrant, Casimiro Hernandez, opened a corner café serving lunch to people working in cigar factories close by. Now the restaurant is still in the family and takes up a whole city block. They can serve 1,700 people a day at that location! They have seven other locations now and we were lucky enough to run into one of them today. They have won one award after another. Somehow we find these great places. I guess our stomachs are leading the way but our waistlines are paying the price. Our server was great and encouraged us to try some tapas and their signature salad that is finished off at the table. We chose empanadas, mussels and lightly breaded scallops for our tapas along with Cuban bread. They have been using the same bakery for 90 years! We couldn’t leave without having dessert, white chocolate bread pudding made with the Cuban bread topped with a rum sauce and dark chocolate. Oh my! Needless to say it was a one meal day. Norm is under the weather with a cold so we took it easy the rest of the day.
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| We loved everything about the historical Columbia Restrauant; the food, service and water view! |
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| Our Tapas Tray - YUM |
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