Pepin Restaurant, 4125 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg, 727-821-3773 — Old-style Spanish restaurant, but its namesake salad ($6.25) is always nicely done. If you dine at the restaurant rather than order takeout, the waiter prepares it with a flourish at your table. Start with sangria, then order salad, featuring crisp red- and green-leaf lettuces, Romaine, tomato, green olives, cabbage and an excellent, homemade oil-and-vinegar dressing, crowned with a sunny glacier of good-quality Parmesan. The excellent, homemade oil-and-vinegar dressing is tossed into the salad right before you, so the dish doesn't wilt before you get it. On the side is an aromatic black bread roll accented with cold, real butter.
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This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2002.
