After moving from the downtown St. Pete building where Station House now operates to a second-floor, 300-seat Madeira Beach space at John’s Pass Village & Boardwalk in August 2014, Scott and Thorn Vogel’s Café Alma, its name trimmed to Alma, has closed. The eatery at 111 Boardwalk Place posted a farewell note to diners on its Facebook page on Mother’s Day, thanking them for their love and support over the years.
“It has been a great journey for our family to have served such diverse and beautiful people from all over the world,” the Facebook post read. “As fun as it was we also encountered challenges especially the past year and a half.”
A similar message was left on Alma’s answering machine, calling the beachside stint short but sweet.
From its weekend Bloody Mary bar to lunch and dinner options that ranged from Mediterranean to Floribbean to Italian, Café Alma was a go-to gathering place for many, and will definitely be missed.
• A new Largo catering and events company called Out of the Pot has been setting up shop at craft beer establishments like West Bay Public House and Seminole’s Rapp Brewing Company for a couple months or so.
Led by Ashley Bahr and Allan Fernandez, the pop-up biz, which calls itself an “innovative concept in street food,” dishes out a rotating menu of eats like citrus carnitas, veggie-stuffed peppers, stout chili and Italian sausage hoagies. The couple typically offers a vegetarian or vegan option for patrons as well.
• The inaugural Florida Aeropress Competition, hosted by craft coffee purveyor Commune + Co., will take place 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 14, in Coppertail Brewing Co.’s Ybor City tasting room. Eighteen competitors — coffee industry folks and home enthusiasts — will create their recipes of choice with their beans of choice, using the AeroPress brewing method. The event is open to the public.
• St. Petersburg waterfront bar The Getaway has welcomed food trucks to its digs at 13090 Gandy Blvd. N. since opening last year, but will begin catering to the region as a restaurant starting Saturday, May 23, when its own grub menu premieres.
Alongside seafood sauce and raw bars, as well as an island-style ketchup bar, local chef Ted Dorsey’s Florida-inspired cuisine, including a lobster BLT salad with pork belly croutons and smoked amberjack fish spread, will be featured for around $5 to $23, as well as Holy Hog Barbecue classics such as baby back ribs and corn fritters.
• Spanglish Bistro, another Latin-influenced dining spot from chef-owner Julio Pagan, a 13-year industry vet, has opened in Valrico at 1903 State Road 60 E. He also ran Julio’s Gourmet Bistro, and has held chef positions at Jonny Primo’s Italian Grill in Palm Harbor and Tampa’s celebrated Mise en Place. His latest restaurant offers five kinds of mofongo, deviled crab empanadas, guava barbecue ribs and more.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2015.