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Restaurant news
In the oven
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published February 16, 2005
The latest spawn of Salt Rock and Island Way grills will be Marlin Darlin, a moderately priced seafood restaurant with a ceviche bar on West Bay Drive in Belleair Bluffs, an area that already boasts E&E Steakout, a Bonefish Grill and a Cody's Roadhouse. . . . Anthony D'Avanza plans to bring back Selena's, a longtime Tampa fixture of Italian and Creole family recipes. The location could be in the Hyde Park area, where it started, or in downtown St. Petersburg.
Work in progress
Bella Brava, which promises to bring more Italian with a larger, dramatic space to downtown St. Petersburg's Central Avenue, is still under construction. The trattoria will have balcony seating to provide two floors of dining. It takes the spot of Ovo Cafe.
On the 86 list: Francesco's, beloved longtime Fletcher Avenue Italian restaurant serving the University of South Florida section of north Tampa; Tutto Favoloso in Largo; Sasa Sushi Bar and Sahara in downtown St. Petersburg.
New on the menu
* Pizze Rustica joins the boomlet on St. Petersburg's lower Fourth Street N with updated Italian: Thai, white clam and Caesar salad pizza, lo mein pasta, pepperoni egg rolls, smoked salmon panini and tuna pasta salad. Prices $5.99 to $15.99.
Meanwhile, Chipotle Mexican Grill, the sleek burrito chain owned largely by McDonald's, spreads west from Orlando, with one location open on West Shore Boulevard in Tampa and a second in the works in the Starbucks-Tijuana Flats cluster north of downtown St. Petersburg.
* Tampa's Channelside has added Thai Thani, third in a chainlet based in Orlando. There's a second location in Countryside. A Bennigan's is also under construction there. That fills in most of the mall space with a dozen restaurants (plus coffee and ice cream).
For the record, the promise seven years ago to get more adult dining into the mall has resulted in Charley's Crab, Max's Grille and a Gordon Biersch brew pub.
* Piazza Roma Ristorante Italiano, which has two branches in Rome, is installed at International Plaza, turning out traditional wood-oven pizzas and a few rare dishes such as linguine and lamb sauce. . . . Still in the works is the first local outlet of the Capitol Grille steak chain, taking the place of Profusion at the mall.
- CHRIS SHERMAN, Times food critic
[Last modified February 15, 2005, 11:39:04]
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