The Burg Bar Bar & Grill
3.5 stars
1752 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-894-2874, theburgbar.com
There’s a certain freedom — joy, even — in the simple pleasure of ignoring dietary concerns and self-imposed culinary constraints to revel in unrepentant gluttony. Some people find opportunities to engage in this behavior frequently, but like a drug, repeated abuse results in reduced pleasure. Better in small doses. Well, small doses of very big food.
The Burg Bar — snuggled in by the I-275 overpass at the border between Grand Central and downtown St. Pete — is the right place to go ahead and give in to temptation.
Start with a beer. The bar has about a dozen taps that change semi-regularly, most stocked with less typical mass-market beers and a couple of interesting craft brews, like the fragrant and hoppy Dogfish Head 60 Minute Pale Ale. There’s more beer available by the bottle, a surprisingly decent little wine selection, and a dangerous happy hour when they offer deep 12-ounce pours of the house wines — in stemware that would be at home in a ritzy restaurant — for the price of a regular 5-ounce glass.
Despite a menu that appears at first glance to be standard bare fare, studded with some simple Greek standards, The Burg Bar takes a few extra steps that elevate it well beyond typical burgers and fries.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2011.