Downtown St. Petersburg is surprisingly dog-friendly, especially compared with other Florida cities. Trying to be efficient, I try to combine dog walking with errands. My bank, the Wachovia across from Baywalk, is dog-friendly. The teller there says that the Wachovia on 1st Ave. South and 5th St. has dog cookies, though, so we’ll need to check that out. Even East Bay Dry Cleaners is pet-friendly!
Mostly, though, we like to sit at a sidewalk café or go with friends to lunch or dinner at a dog-friendly restaurant. Our favorite double-date places (two dogs, two people) include:
• Fish Tales. Just south of the USF St. Petersburg campus, this is a fun locals place with a tiki bar and dockside dining. I’ve seen some well-dressed dogs; we've even attended a birthday party there.
• Chattaway’s. This St. Pete mainstay is a bit south of downtown but so wonderful that it deserves a mention. Jana especially loves to watch the koi and the chubby, very happy birds hopping around the patio.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2010.