Sunshine City Tavern 4351 4th St. N, St. Petersburg Ted Dorsey wants to bring St. Petersburg back to the ’90s. Last December, the local chef announced his latest concept, Sunshine City Tavern, located at 4351 4th St. N, in the former Oaks on 4th building, which closed after less than a year in 2023. Not a lot of details were provided, but the restaurant is in partnership with Teddy Skiadioti, who is the owner of Craft Kafe—an entirely gluten-free restaurant that has locations throughout the St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. Dorsey has been at the helm of quite a few popular local restaurants, including the Sonata Restaurant at the Mahaffey, The Mill, Ciro’s Speakeasy & Supper Club, Boca Kitchen Bar, Market Copperfish Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar, and Nash’s Hot Chicken on Central, which closed in 2023. Photo via Sunshine City Tavern/Instagram Credit: Photo via Sunshine City Tavern/Instagram
Chef Ted Dorsey’s new throwback tribute to 1990s St. Petersburg is now open.

Sunshine City Tavern, located at 4351 4th St. N in the former Oaks on 4th building, officially debuted Monday, March 24.

Dorsey’s new 3,700 square-foot space features a 16-seat bar, and is decked out with St. Pete-themed street signs, and murals.

Sunshine City Tavern‘s menu is centered on the meats, smoked meats specifically. The menu spans everything from smoky briskets, wings, meatloaf, seared Arctic salmon, soups, and more. There’s also a robust beer, wine and cider menu, as well as hand crafted cocktails up for grabs.

Dorsey has been at the helm of quite a few popular local restaurants, including the Sonata Restaurant at the Mahaffey, The Mill, Ciro’s Speakeasy & Supper Club, Boca Kitchen Bar, Market Copperfish Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar, and Nash’s Hot Chicken on Central, which closed in 2023.

Sunshine City Tavern is open 11 a.m-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and open until 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

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This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2025.

Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...