Jun 28 2024

Old Castle


3830 Sun City Center Blvd
Ruskin, FL 33573

… more pix on Google Maps & Yelp

Will return for beer only.

This German restaurant’s decor is on the busy side. We walked in 10 minutes past their opening, and everyone seems asleep.

As soon as we sat down, power went out in the area… and was restored 10 minutes later.

34oz beer is fresh and yummy, with robust head – not the artificial turf (per Dennis miller when he commented on a NFL’s owner’s hair in 2000). It reminds me of the beer gardens in Germany (female servers hold up 6 or 8 glasses…) and one in New York’s Central Park.

No pork knuckle offered on the menus.

Food is mediocre. My lamb is dry. The part isn’t covered by the gravy looks aged. String beans are mushy and sour. Potato is tasty. The goulash is ok.


Jun 12 2024

A new restaurant in Hyde Park

2025.4.25 | LIFE & CULTURE | FOOD | Published June 12, 2024

This popular Tampa restaurant is opening a second location in Hyde Park

Modern Chinese restaurant Hales Blackbrick will open a new spot this fall.

Chef Richard Hales and Jenny Hales pose for a portrait at Hales Blackbrick in Tampa on Nov. 22, 2022. A new, second location of the restaurant will open in fall 2024 in Tampa’s Hyde Park. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]

By Helen Freund Times staff

TAMPA — Dumplings, anyone?

Fans of chef Richard Hales’ Sichuan- and Cantonese-inspired dishes will be thrilled to hear that roughly a year and a half after opening his modern Chinese restaurant in Drew Park, Hales Blackbrick will expand with a second location later this year.

A new Hales Blackbrick will open at 1809 W. Platt St. in Hyde Park this fall, according to a post on the restaurant’s website and a spokesperson for the company.

The flagship Tampa location opened in November 2022 at 4812 N. Dale Mabry Highway in the former home of the long-running Pop ‘N Sons Diner. There was plenty of hype prior to the spot’s opening, mostly due to Hales’ celebrated Miami restaurant with a similar name and theme.

Blackbrick Chinese, which opened in Miami in 2013, collected accolades from critics and fans alike, including a cameo on Guy Fieri’s show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” and a spot on Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurants list in 2014.

A collection of dumplings is served at Hales Blackbrick in Tampa. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ] (2022 pic)

Divided into sections of dumplings, appetizers, chef’s specialties and tasting menus, the menu at Hales Blackbrick explores various expressions of Chinese cuisine, from Sichuan-style dan dan noodles made with pork, bucatini noodles, sesame and peanut sauce to Cantonese-style barbecued pork (char siu) and a Hong Kong-style dim sum service on Sundays.

Hales was born in Marrero, Louisiana, but grew up in Tampa. After culinary school, he cut his teeth working in New York restaurants under celebrated chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and later moved to Miami. He spent years traveling across the globe, where he trained in restaurants all over Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Bali, Korea, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Hales eventually made his way back to Miami, where he first worked at the Mandarin Oriental and later went on to open multiple restaurants, including Sakaya Kitchen, Blackbrick Chinese, Bird & Bone and Society BBQ. The chef, who is half-Filipino, said cooking Asian food has always resonated with him the most.

Miami’s Blackbrick Chinese, which has since closed, will reopen in 2025, said Debbie Hunter, Hales’ assistant.

Hunter said no changes are afoot at the original Tampa location, which will remain open.

No exact opening date for the new restaurant was provided.

 


Jun 11 2024

Lucia di Lammermoor, 1835


what a pillow is doing here?

Palladium Theater

… pix on Reddit

Lucia di Lammermoor is a tragic opera in two acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, premiered in Naple in 1835

Lucia Di Lammermoor by Donizetti; premiered 1835 in Naples.

The music is wonderful, so is the singing. The leading lady is slim in the world of operatic figures. The leading man, oh boy …

  • Lucia by Chelsea Lehnea
  • Ergardo by Benjamin Werley
  • Arturo married Lucia by Chris Romeo
  • Enrico Lucia’s bro, by Kyle Oliver

音乐很棒. 故事既美丽又恐怖. 这个制作 一个舞台设计; 两幕. 非常喜欢 都唱的很好. 女一 瘦美丽 男一 五短三粗肥肥脸 但唱的好 …
大妈贪心 即想👂也想👀

Had dinner at Mio’s


Jun 11 2024

Mio’s Grill and Cafe – Turkish


119 2nd St N
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Downtown St. Pete

… more pix on Google Maps, Yelp & TA

Will return.

A cute little Turkish restaurant, 0.4 miles south of the opera house – Palladium.
A young couple is manning the dining room, with efficient service.

We’ve

  1. Haydari, Turkish labne, with warm pita bread: wonderfully tasty
  2. Falafels: wonderfully delicious
  3. Mio’s yogurt kebap: won’t order again. The meat is tender but tastes too processed.

Baklava is wonderful, sweet but not killing your throat sweet. The coffee is served in a pretty cup, bitter sweet. It almost knocked me out – so I can write about it truthfully it probably would taste better without the sugar – but it probably the taste of Turkish