BEST PLACE TO SPEND A DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Honeymoon Island
It has a dog beach where you´ll find just as many dogs as people. It´s one of the best beaches in town, and it´s in a state park. So if you´re feeling adventurous, you can treat yourself to a nature walk filled with native landscape and a few squirrels to chase. But the beach is the best part. It´s very undeveloped; it has the essential beach requirements and that´s all. There´s lots of sunbathing, wave chasing and fetching going on. Every so often you´ll see a couple of human strays walking the beach, stopping to give your canine a little pet and a friendly hello. It´s a perfect place to reward both yourself and man´s/woman´s best friend.
Honeymoon Island State Park, #1 Causeway Blvd., Dunedin, 727-469-5942. $5 per carload (up to eight people).
BEST MAIN STREET MAKEOVER
Dunedin Main Street
When I lived there in the ´80s, there was nothing but a biker bar. Now you´ll find something for everyone, and it´s beautiful. There´s the Pinellas County Trail and Casa Tina´s Mexican restaurant, a cozy little place with amazingly great food. One of the first places to open was Skip´s Bar and Grill. It´s a modest bar, nothing fancy; it´s inexpensive, and they serve Dunedin´s own brew. There´s Dunedin Brewery, which has live music, and Flanagan´s Irish Pub, with Irish music on the weekend. When the owner performs on Sundays, the place is packed. He drinks an entire pint of Guinness in one shot between every two or three songs, so he gets louder and crazier as the night progresses. He´s the perfect addition to a quaint, friendly atmosphere. There´s Kelly´s For Just About … Anything, and the owners of Kelly´s recently opened a martini bar, the Chic-A-Boom Room. Dunedin also has great Fat Tuesday celebrations, arts and crafts shows, and Cinco de Mayo parties at Casa Tina´s. Dunedin does a fabulous job with just about any occasion.
BEST PLACE TO RIDE OUT A SUMMER THUNDERSTORM
Frenchy´s Rockaway
My courageous husband and I were there recently during one of Florida´s afternoon thunder extravaganzas. We were sitting on the patio — where only a few tables are unprotected from storms — and we sat at our front row table with a packed house behind us as the rain soaked our feet, the wind whipped through the deck, and the lightning thrilled its audience while the gulf turned an unsettling green. It was amazing. The food´s awesome and the red sangria is pretty good if you get an extra shot of Grand Marnier on top. After our pitcher of sangria, and after the thunder and lightning passed, we went down to the water and there were manatees close enough to the water´s edge to wade in and touch, and dolphins leisurely swimming along the shore as well. It was an authentic Florida experience.
Frenchy´s Rockaway Grill, 7 Rockaway St., Clearwater Beach, 727-446-4844, www.frenchysonline.com.
BEST PLACE TO TONE UP
Pilates Bodies
The owner, Lisa Tobias, is also my trainer, and her studio is beautiful and brand new. She´s got several different pieces of equipment, she does private training or group classes to guide you through your physical transformation from flabby to fabulous. After three sessions with her I was standing straight and tall with a newfound love for my abdominal muscles, and I had found my hamstrings again! Pilates Bodies is a topnotch place, and Lisa is awesome, very knowledgeable and motivating.
Pilates Bodies, 4259 Henderson Blvd., Tampa, 813-288-8111.
BEST CULINARY SUPPORT OF CULTURE
Viva La Frida Café y Galeria
Not only is the food creative and delicious, the space is unique and Angelica Diaz´s support for other creative people in Tampa is very apparent. In the courtyard/performance space, you may find various artists from theater (such as Alley Cat Players) to poets and musicians and the like. Inside this vibrantly colored, Frida Kahlo-dedicated restaurant, you may also discover ceramics and sculpture and artwork on the walls from local creative minds. Some friends and I were lucky enough one evening to see a Flamenco couple dancing amid the tables. It´s definitely an art haven — one where drinking and dining are also very welcome!
Viva La Frida Café y Galeria, 5901 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, 813-231-9199.
BEST SUPPORT TO LOCAL ARTISTS
JoEllen Schilke´s
Art in Your Ear
JoEllen´s overall mission and her attitude are impressive. She put my students at Blake on her show — talk about emerging artists. Professional artists from all genres are represented. Because it´s an interview program, the show gives a voice to artists who don´t normally get to talk about their work; often there´s no discussion for artists, they just put their work out there. Three cheers for JoEllen. Tampa definitely needs to hear her!
JoEllen Schilke´s Art in Your Ear airs from 11 a.m. to noon each Friday on WMNF-88.5 FM.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.
