Winnie's Way

by Winnie Wickstrom  ...  All rights reserved 

One of my favorite restaurants is Shells located on the water in Redington Shores section of the beach. It's a local seafood favorite that also has a small landlubber menu. It used to be cash only and the prices were slightly lower, but they now take credit cards. Shells is the kind of place where folks can wear cut-off shorts and a T-shirt covering 7 coats of high SPF suntan lotion and still feel overdressed! If you arrive from 6-8 p.m., a wait for a table is almost always required, sometimes quite a long wait. So go early or late! The "word" has definitely "gotten around." There are Shells restaurants in North and South Tampa, and a new one on Anna Maria Island near Sarasota.
  Shells' shrimp pasta (my favorite) is a huge portion, served piping hot and dripping with an herb butter sauce. This is no place for wimpy appetites! This December my husband ordered the combination platter and had to share it with our youngest child because there was so much.
  They also serve drinks, from sodas to beer, wine and mixed drinks. The Shells in Redington Shores has outside tables so you can enjoy the sunsets and views of the intracoastal waterway. Go early, go hungry, and enjoy the great food and low to moderate pricing. 
   I give Shells two dancing palms!

Editor's Note:  Shells Seafood operates about 50 seafood restaurants, mostly in Florida, but also in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The company's restaurants offer mid-priced seafood entrees that range from about $5-&15. Shells' menu includes clams, crabs, crawfish, fresh fish, lobster, oysters, scallops, and shrimp. The restaurants also have daily specials, appetizers, pasta dishes, and desserts. The casual atmosphere features tropical themes colorful island motifs (from Hoover Company Profiles). 
 

• Traditional Spanish food  
• Reservations accepted  
• Parking behind the restaurant  
• Major credit cards accepted  
• Low to moderate prices 

   ...   a wonderful place right on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa, not far from the airport, downtown Tampa and the Westshore Mall. I was a girl of 17 when I first began to eat there with my parents. I used to make my dates take me there and demonstrated my undying loyalty by having my wedding rehearsal dinner at Cafe Pepe! With marriage and five children, it's been an established tradition of ours for thirty years. The only change in the Cafe has been its expansion to service the ever-growing crowds of businessmen, families, and vacationers.
   Celebrate your birthday here and the waiters will serenade you in Spanglish! They're known for their fresh salads (the Ensalada de la Casa) -- placed  in front of the lady of the family to mix and pass around -- and the freshly baked Cuban bread with cold-as-ice butter which start every meal off in a healthy and robust way. Adventurous souls not native to Tampa may choose to order either Black Bean soup with fresh, raw onions or the Spanish bean soup with chorizos, made from scratch the "old Spanish way."  Either will suffice as a meal.
   For the larger appetites, savor the "Filete Salteado" (pieces of tenderloin cooked in a casserole with ham, Spanish sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and potatoes) served with a "simmered" sauce over saffron yellow or white rice. I love their aged beef and especially treasure the filet mignon with resin baked potato. It comes out sizzling on a stainless dish.
   For the lovers of fowl, their chicken and yellow rice is enough for the heartiest of appetites, and you'll most likely take a "people bag" home. If you have lots of time and enjoy a glass of wine prior to eating, order the imported Sangria (with the added touch of brandy) and watch the waiter prepare it right in front of you at your table!  Then order the Paella Valenciana with chicken and fresh seafood (including shrimp and clams) resting on a bed of yellow rice. Outstanding!
   For anniversaries and other grand celebrations, treat yourself and your mate to chateaubriand for two!
   Feast on the "flan" for dessert.  Flan is a custard with a rich caramelized sugar sauce that's out of this world! If you like rich coffee, skip the American version and order Cafe con leche, which is 1/2 Cuban coffee and 1/2 milk. It's divine! 
   Prices are low to moderate, and the wait, if any, well worth it. Lunch prices are lower and you will get in and out quickly. They cater to business people then. They know their regulars but treat everyone like close friends.
  There's a full bar for those so inclined. Cafe Pepe accepts all major credit cards and take reservations as well, but most of the time reservations are not necessary.  There's also free parking behind the restaurant. 
  Cafe Pepe earns three dancing palms, my top rating!

For our recent evening there we all tried something different. My shrimp platter overwhelmed me. Many, many shrimp --- four coconut, four medium-large cocktail, and popcorn shrimp that were so numerous they overflowed the plate.  It was served with fries and slaw for $11.99. My friend’s lobster tail dinner, a warm water mesquite grill, included a generous fresh green salad, fries and green beans, all for $15.99. My friend’s adult daughter had the broiled seafood platter for $13.99  -- scallops, jumbo shrimp en brochette, shrimp scampi and a fish filet served with parsley potatoes, mixed veggies and cole slaw. All of our platters had hush puppies and were generous, overflowing servings. 

Joe’s entrees range from $6.99 (for beer-battered Icelandic fish filets with fries and slaw) to $16.99 for one pound of Alaskan King Crab Legs. $15.99 entrees include steak and scampi and Joe’s famous Dungeness crabs from the Northwest coast.  The Dungeness crabs are a whopping 1 ¼ pounds! Lobster tail is also $15.99. 

Joe’s features not only a full bar but five desserts only Ulysses could refuse, and that’s only because he was tied to the mast! Key Lime pie, a dream for chocoholics called “Chocolate Overdose,” homemade cheesecake, peanut butter pie, and even ice cream sundaes for the “less adventurous.” All desserts are $2.99, but they are big enough to feed two.

Once you begin to indulge the ravenous appetite you must bring with you to fully enjoy this place, your waitpersons suddenly assemble around your tables and picnic benches and jump up on the vacant ones for a round of the Macarena! Our waiter, Chris, was a really good sport. He let me take a photo of him while dancing and, I must say ladies, he is one nice looking and SINGLE guy! I observed that the manager and one server attended to the tables while the dance was ongoing, making sure that their guests lacked for nothing while their regular waitpersons were dancing. A very important plus for this restaurant - it shows excellent management and the effort Joe’s makes to please its customers.

Also, the décor was fantastic.  Everywhere I looked in Joe’s, fascinating and humorous seafaring regalia was beautifully displayed. My favorite was the shark overhead, with the legs of a “hapless snorkeler” visible poking out from his mouth.

Joe’s hostess was only too happy to answer our questions about food and the area, and able to give us excellent directions. Joe’s also  sells T-shirts with rather provocative, but funny, expressions on them.  Also hats, caps, and other “crab” related items. 

The service was ****, the food quality ***** and the atmosphere *****. If you leave hungry it’s your fault!  I promise you won’t leave crabby even if your name is Joe!  I give Joe’s Crab Shack my top rating, 3 dancing palm trees!

With but three rooms, it’s still popular with locals and visitors celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, engagements, and small weddings. And it’s also a place for a memorable, romantic tête-à-tête. I have been an avid fan for nearly a decade.  Dear friends introduced us to the Gulfport area and La Cote Basque, only minutes from the beach. I remember listening first hand one August evening as Carmen Frohne talked the birth of the third generation Frohne, Carmen’s son, Dalton. Carmen, a charming and lovely brunette, is the floor manager.  Her sister, Simone, an attractive blond, has been the chef since 1984. Both have been serving the restaurant in many capacities since their father’s stroke when Simone was only 15. Her father began teaching Simone to cook such delicacies as crepes since the tender age of 13. She is very temperamental in the kitchen, a territorial, perfectionist.  But I assure you that her dishes are superb and worth her occasional temperament! They are presentation is artistic and her vegetables are something special, three with each entree. French bread (constantly replenished) and a green salad accompany the meals. I usually have the filet mignon, $16.95, beautifully aged and delicious. Mine was cooked perfectly, rare as a day in June. Their most popular dish is Veal au Marsala, prepared using one of Simone’s special sauces, handmade with spices, garlic liqueurs.

Starters include the French onion and potato soups, both out of this world. The Frohnes also serve true gourmet stuffed mushrooms, escargot and herring, which everyone found superb, and shrimp. Entrees include beef, veal and fish. One of my guests during a recent visit had Beef Wellington laced with a mushroom wine sauce. Another had chicken sautéed in sherry brandy.

Speaking of wine, an excellent list is available. Wine is sold by the bottle, and the house wine is available by carafe or glass. Children’s portions are available on request and are ample. No one goes away hungry! Squeeze in dessert if you can -- almond cheesecake one of Simone’s specialties.

Expect the bill to be around $50-$60 for two, with appetizers, entrees and desserts, more with wine or liquor. This is a restaurant you will be talking about for years after your visit and you will wish to return to frequently. At the end of the meal they give you a certificate for a free dinner on your next visit. Bon Appetit!  And three dancing palms for La Cote Basque.

  Columbia Restaurant in Tampa has a flair for Spanish with its Spanish Flamico Dancers emphasizing the majestic statues and beautiful flowers that decorate the restaurant.
  The Columbia Restaurant, owned by Mrs. Gonzmart, prides itself on well cooked and authentic Spanish foods.  I pride myself on my cooking abilities and must say that the Columbia's Black Bean soup tastes almost as good as my own!  As a Spanish person, I find it hard to eat at Latin restaurants because the food is almost always under-cooked or very greasy. Not so at the Columbia!
  The Columbia Restaurant serves its own Spanish Sangria made on the premises along with delicious meals like, Roast Pork, Boliche (roast beef), Black Beans and Rice, Plantains, Paella (seafood meal), Yellow Rice and Chicken,  and on and on. Meals cost approximately $4 to $5 at the lunch hour and the plates are ample enough to feed 2 1/2 people!  In the evening, meals cost approximately $8.50 to $15.00 depending on the meal chosen.  An additional charge of approximately $8.50 is levied if you're in the room with the Flamica Dancers.
  The folks who own the Columbia Restaurant also run other eateries  in the Tampa and such as Cha Cha Coconuts, a casual dining place. 

Editor's Note:  The Columbia Restaurant advertises itself as "Florida's oldest restaurant, in business since 1905." 11 dining rooms can seat 1600, and Flamenca dance performances are Monday through Saturday.  "Some of our best known dishes include Paella a la Valenciana, Red Snapper Alicante,  Arroz con Pollo (chicken/yellow rice) and 1905 Salad." An average dinner runs $45 for two, and the Columbia asks patrons to call for reservations. The restaurants web site is at:

     http://www.columbiarestaurant.com/tampa.html

The web site notes that the Columbia has been voted the Tampa Bay area's number one Spanish restaurant since 1993!