St. Petersburg part deux…

Anticipating the rest of the scoop on my little St. Petersburg vacation must be driving you nuts by now (NOT) :). Even though you will probably find it quite boring, I feel absolutely obligated to finish the story I begun. Let’s see…we left off with Swiss wine. It took me a while to find any information about it, but I persevered. The name is Charme and it is produced by the Delea Winery. It’s a nice dry sparkling wine and it was great as an aperitif.

After our Charme, it was off to dinner at Gratzzi at the Baywalk. Perfect walking distance and tasty Italian. A good time was had by all.

Saturday included much walking, eating, drinking and silliness. We started the day by checking out the pier. Along with normal pier type stuff (birds, fishing and surf) there is an small indoor “mall” housed at the end. No terribly exciting stores to report, but they did have a store where the wines from Florida Orange Groves and Winery could be tasted. No, they don’t grow grapes. No, they don’t import grapes. They make wine from, what else??? Oranges. And grapefruit. And tomatoes. Bizarre, right? Well…they taste surprisingly decent and are NOT all sweet.

I had scoped out a place for lunch the day before. During my trek up 4th Street, I saw Tijuana Flats Burrito Company. MMMMmmmm…burritos. Slap just about anything on a tortilla with some hot sauce and I’ll eat it. Oh, and while you’re at it, don’t give me just any old sauce, I’ll take the hottest you have! Well God bless this place, they REALLY have some hot sauce. Home of the Death Pack, Chet’s Gone Mad (which by the way is the HOTTEST sauce ever made, 1.5 million Scoville units. I asked for some at the restaurant but the waitress babbled something about liability, blindness and ambulances), Ass Reaper, Endorphin Rush, and Dave’s Gourmet Insanity, this place knows how to please a chili head. Not only that, I love their bright decor. Needless to say, I left this place with a tingly tongue, a runny nose, full stomach and a pleasant Corona buzz.

Next, a little shopping, a lot more walking, a shower and then off to eat again. We went back to the pier. Remember the indoor “mall” at the end of the pier? Well, it has restaurants too. We chose the Columbian Restaurant. They have a great view, fantastic Godiva chocolate cake and mediocre food. Maybe I was still full from lunch or maybe I just misordered. Should’ve had the paella??? Anyway, we still had a great time despite the main course and snotty waiter.

Whew, so there it is. Is anyone still reading???