Traveling with the Top Down

I haven’t reported on the Great Chicken Wing Quest in over nine months!  I don’t really like wings but Terry LOVES them.  We hit a lot of restaurants, bars, and pubs in the area.  And it came down to a tie between Neon Leons and Crackers–per Terry.  I voted for Crackers since I like the Tiki Bar, there’s a great view of King’s Bay, and sometimes they have entertainment.  

And now we are moving on.  To food I like! Which would be everything but chicken wings!

Just to serve my readers (because I’m always thinking about my readers) I’ve decided to hit all the restaurants on “Top 50 restaurants of Tampa Bay” according to the Tampa Bay Times.  Lots more fun for me!  Hitting all those places could take awhile, though. It just may be way more expensive then our local wing places and we might have to actually make plans.  

But it will give us more opportunities for us to get “out and about”!

Our trip to Tarpon Springs started out with Terry’s mom saying that there are a few antique stores in Tarpon Springs.  Terry had an appointment in New Port Richey anyhow so we just thought we’d head a few miles south.  And I decided to check the list for any restaurants in the area.  

There were a lot of antique places.  Some a little too precious for me.  Lots of crystal and tiny things. I tried to be very small while walking through those. (Very difficult, I’m not a small person.) There was a really nice artsy shop and the general store, “Mad Hatter” was fun.

But my main goal was to have lunch.  It’s always about the food.  Or the beer.  And Dimitri’s on the Water at the sponge docks had made it on the Tampa Bay Times’ top 50 restaurants.  YIppee! 

The sponge docks are full of touristy things to do.  Shops, boat tours, restaurants, bakeries, you name it.  Not something we would typically spend any time at unless we had company.  Yes, it is a good place to take out-of-town guests. “Come see the Sponge Capital of the World!”

Dimitri’s is right on the water and since it was a lovely day, we sat outside in the covered patio area.  The view was beautiful.

I had an Alfred Hitchcock moment when I went over to the rail to take some pictures.  A gazillion gulls swooped down immediately.  I thought we were going to have a repeat of the Birds. How much do I hate these rats on wings?  Kind of like pigeons in New York City. Before they ate my face off, I ran back to our table and they couldn’t figure out how to get in to attack me. They obviously weren’t as smart as those gulls on The Birds. Whew. Lesson learned.  Step away from the rail.

We had a very friendly server and when I asked about the beer, he suggested I try the Greek beer.  Of course!  I always order the beer recommended by the server. Tasty!

Anytime there is grouper on the menu Terry and I usually order it. I did ask about other fish and the server suggested the “whole fish”.  Sorry, I don’t eat things that will be looking back at me.  If we have a zombie apocalypse I might change my mind because I would probably be really happy to have something to eat.  But for now, someone needs to cut the head and fins off before it’s served to me.   We both ordered the grouper.  And we both ordered it blackened.  Are we boring or what?  

I started with the soup.  I can’t tell you the name of it because they don’t have a website. Should have wrote it down–what kind of reviewer am I?  It had a nice creamy base with chicken and orzo and had a slight lemon taste–not overpowering.  Very good.  We also had a loaf of Greek bread with dipping sauce.  Yum. 

And onto the main course.  The grouper and the blackening were excellent.  

But the sides we both ordered were very bland.

If I was in Tarpon Springs with some of our out-of-town guests, I would definitely choose this restaurant over the other places.  The grouper, the service, and the view were all extraordinary.  But I probably won’t make a special trip to go back.  

Happy to report that the gull must have forgot about me and we were able to get home in the convertible without any bird attack (poo or otherwise.)

And onto our next outing!