Of course food and passion are intimates.Why not gaze at your beloved over the rounded lip of a champagne glass, inhale the aroma of silken Béarnaise while clutching hands beneath the tablecloth, and compare the sweetness of a kiss with the pastry maker's best chocolate-petaled rose?
Valentine's Day reminds us that delirious dining is just a metaphor for life's most precious emotion.
So, in the spirit of the holiday, I thought I'd help you choose where you might best express your love, your lust … OK, your total X-rated gluttony, with food and drink. The Bay area offers a wonderfully varied assortment of choices for entertaining that special someone on Valentine's Day.
Let's start at one of my favorite lairs in St. Pete: Ten Beach Drive Piano Bar & Grill. Located below street level, in the basement of the venerable Ponce de Leon Hotel, its interior is cozy with wood-paneling, exposed brick and a big, shiny black piano set at its midsection like a fancy, patent-leather belt. Couples giggle at the bar or hide at dimly lit tables tucked privately into candlelit corners.
Yes, you can indulge in undisturbed PDA. You can also eat pretty well, as the bar serves an unusually varied menu of bruschetta ($5), grilled chicken Caesar salad ($5.99), beach burger ($5.95) and pizza (cheese, 10-inch, $8; $1 more for additional items). It even offers respectable desserts — cannoli ($4) or tiramisu ($5).
If you want to dance, the crowd is relaxed and willing to get down, usually abetted by an energetic piano player (sometimes with a singer), or a full band crammed into its narrow confines. One night when I stopped in, the front door would barely open because of all the sweating, gyrating people dancing in the entryway.
When I go there I wear jeans, but the crowd is sartorially permissive. One night, late, I spotted Tampa attorney Greg Thomas in full tux. He had obviously abandoned some stodgy society event in favor of something more fun, and fit right into the laughing mix of 20-ish partiers of all races, middle-aged condo owners, and even a foursome of wild senior citizens.
If you prefer a more formal Val's Day dinner, go upstairs to Bellagio Ristorante. The full-service Italian restaurant, its blue-lit bar bisecting the dining room, occupies the renovated front section of the hotel, leading out to a big porch. Women wear business attire or cocktail dresses, and men don suits or sports jackets. It's a study in serenity, its linened tables set before historic, full-length windows. Below, you can watch St. Pete's burgeoning street life in all its glory.
During a recent meal I found its fare respectable but it didn't give me goosebumps. Still, it's a nice place, handy to nightlife, shops, museums and parks. Start with a carafe of the house Chianti red, priced reasonably at $28.50; order as an appetizer Asparagi Gratinati ($9.95), a buttery dish of forest-green fresh asparagus, topped with parmesan and bread crumbs; then sample Fettucine Soprano ($15), creamy pasta dotted with fat shrimp, mushrooms and broccoli crowns; finish with veal scalloppine sautéed with mushrooms in Marsala wine sauce ($16).
Maybe your Val Pal is sporty and doesn't like to dress up? Try a casual new Clearwater restaurant called Hogfish Grill, which opened Oct. 1 with a menu featuring seafood and barbecue dishes. I guess, technically, it resembles a sports bar, as it has 12 TV sets, but its fare is in a different universe from that of most sports bars. Lovers will find its clean, quiet interior suitably dim and conducive to confessional declarations or ring-dropping. Order spring roll appetizer ($4.29), fried green tomato ($2.49) and a barbecued combination brisket platter ($14.99); finish with Key lime pie ($1.69). Smokers will enjoy the big outdoor patio, even though it unfortunately faces an ugly, gigantic parking lot.
If you're short on funds, you can still celebrate at one of Tampa's most elegant restaurants. For a glamorous evening that will set you back less than $50 for two, dress in your best and ride the elevator to the 14th floor of the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, home of Armani's Restaurant, which did give me goosebumps. No, you're not going to dine there, which would cost a couple hundred bucks. Rather, you're going to nosh in the restaurant's adjacent lounge, enjoying the neutral aesthetic of its modern décor, its effusive and stylish crowd, and a most spectacular bay view.
The lounge doesn't take reservations, so expect a crowd on the holiday. Once you score a table, ask the waiter to formally set it for dining; he'll bring a crisp linen tablecloth, glasses, silverware and starched napkins. Order excellent cocktails for about $10 each, including tip, and settle back while piano player Everard Harris sets a dreamy mood.
Contemplate the golden necklace outlining the far shore, whisper sweet nothings, and when you get hungry order the $12.95 appetizer plate. Go inside the restaurant to choose a half-dozen items from its antipasto display, which the waiter will then bring to your table on an oval platter big enough for two. It will fill you up. Shower your companion with the only thing that really matters — your total, heart-felt attention. Finish with coffee or Champagne, and if you're lucky, your evening is just beginning.
Ten Beach Drive Piano Bar & Grill, 10 Beach Drive, St. Petersburg. Food service: 5-11 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; Bar service: 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Mon.-Sat.
Bellagio Ristorante, 95 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-550-2141. Dinner: 5-9 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; Bar: 5-11 p.m. Mon.-Sat.
Hogfish Grill, 1800 Gulf to Bay Blvd., Clearwater, 727-446-7027. 11 a.m.—10 p.m. daily.
Armani's Restaurant Lounge, Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, 6200 Courtney Campbell Causeway, Tampa, 813-874-1234, www.armanisrestaurant.com. 5:30-11:30 p.m. Mon.-Thurs. and 5:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Fri.-Sat.
Food critic Sara Kennedy dines anonymously and the Planet pays for her meals. Contact her at 813-248-8888, ext. 116, or sara.kennedy@weeklyplanet.com. Restaurants chosen for review are not related to advertising.
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2004.