Along Pinellas County’s 35 miles of beaches, there are many idyllic stretches that offer a respite from the stress of daily living.
Leave the cell phone and the laptop at home, and let the sand’s heat and the repetitive lap of the surf leach the tension from your knotted back. Take a couple of hours to contemplate the picturesque swirl of languorous clouds, or watch the seashells wash ashore, or just bake awhile.
Even if you still have to face that stack of reports at the office, or the lawn mower awaits, Pretend Vacations are a viable way to regenerate. Of course, part of the vacation fiction must entail at least one leisurely meal out, and we do have a suggestion to keep your storyline going: Skidder’s.
It sits directly across Gulf Boulevard from the broad reach of beach that glamorizes the south end of the barrier islands. Frequently, it’s jammed with diners, who wait patiently in line outside the front door, and walk a half-block when the parking lot fills up. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week.
The restaurant’s extensive menu includes everything from simple burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches to veal piccata, twin lobster tails and stuffed filet of flounder. It has a full bar and a wine list with about 30 varieties. The food is respectable, well done and filling, but not gourmet fare. Combined with a friendly attitude and spirited, exacting service, Skidder’s attracts a large, regular following.
Even if you’re standing in line with strangers, the place inevitably has a jovial, on-vacation feel to it. People tell jokes while they wait, do crossword puzzles or browse the menu.
When you get near the front, you can hear the host chatting with customers. His warmth and dazzling smile make you feel as if you’ve stepped back out into the sunshine. Part of the Skidder’s charm no doubt stems from the fact that many of its employees are related by blood or marriage. Owners Nick and Angie Skiadiotis hail from a big Greek family, and have operated the restaurant 10 years with a practiced calm and upbeat cooperation that puts diners at ease.
Once inside the cool dining room, you’ll see comfy, gray and burgundy chairs tucked into tables with no cloths, clean tile floors and rows of booths that offer flexibility to parties of varying sizes. One night when we were there, a family party of, oh, maybe 20 people, from an infant to 80-plus, turned up without reservations, at the restaurant’s busiest hour.
They were warmly welcomed, and in a jiffy the staff had pushed tables together and jerry-rigged the seating for them. It was not considered a problem, which is probably another reason why Skidder’s draws such a varied clientele: In addition to big extended families, you see singles, groups of teens, families with little ones, young couples and retired foursomes.
I started with the restaurant’s excellent, crusty white bread and one appetizer, crab-stuffed mushrooms ($4.95), five plump, fresh mushrooms with stuffing browned to a golden hue. The mushrooms and the crab were both seawater fresh, but the stuffing tasted flat and needed spice.
A choice of soup or salad comes with each entree. My dining companion liked her colorful salad, a mix of romaine and iceberg lettuces, red cabbage, carrot and green pepper, slathered with homemade, thousand island dressing.
My hearty bowl of lemon-chicken soup was distinctively good (you can order it separately too; a cup is $1.95, a bowl $2.75). Little white orzo pasta swam in its aromatic, dense broth. Just hot enough, the soup could easily stand alone as a light meal.
Pizza is always popular among the younger set, especially the restaurant’s Hawaiian-style pie, pineapple squares and nuggets of ham (small, $8.95; large, $14.95). My young dining companion wolfed down her custom-ordered pizza (small, $6.50, plus $1 for each additional topping) with pepperoni, green peppers, onions, black olives and feta cheese. The crust was thin and homemade — maybe it could have been a little crispier — but the toppings were fresh and plentiful.
We watched a young mother pass our table trailing a tiny gal, maybe 3 or 4 years old. On the way back, the youngster suddenly dropped to all fours in order to take a shortcut beneath a row of unoccupied tables. A startled waiter bent down for one brief, surprised look and then, just let it go. Eventually, the tot reappeared from below to sit with her family, but I’m sure the waiter’s low-key approach was appreciated.
Just then, the waitress brought my entree, Steak Diane ($17.95), listed as a special that day. The steak was a strapping specimen, still sizzling from the grill and topped with an extravagant mound of chestnut-colored sauce, perfumed with wine and loaded with healthy chunks of mushroom and onions.
Had it stayed on the fire another minute, it would have been perfect, exactly cooked to medium rare, but alas, it was slightly underdone. Still, its sauce was so irresistible, I ate a good portion, anyway, demolishing the accompanying baked potato and a side dish of peas and carrots as well, and taking the rest home to enjoy for lunch another day.
The last page of the extensive dinner menu listed more than a dozen desserts: several kinds of cakes and pies, ice cream sundaes, banana splits and rice pudding. Never one to pass up chocolate, I ordered Double Trouble chocolate cake ($3.50), matched halves of cake and chocolate mousse, joined by layers of satiny frosting; it would have been delightful if it had not gone slightly stale. A honeyed baklava ($3.35) carried a pleasingly nutty filling but was so-so because its phyllo pastry, which is supposed to be crunchy with butter, was limp.
Still, we remember our trips to Skidders fondly because, despite a few culinary missteps, its laid-back atmosphere, extensive selection, friendly staff and efficient service makes you feel as if you’re on vacation — even if you’re not.
Contact food critic Sara Kennedy at sara.kennedy@weeklyplanet.com or call 813-248-8888, ext. 116.
This article appears in Sep 4-10, 2002.
