We celebrated Loren’s birthday at Green Springs Bistro in Safety Harbor.  We’d eaten here once before and enjoyed the food, but this time around it just wasn’t up to par with the prices they charge.

We were seated in one of the front rooms and it was really loud.  For such a cozy little restaurant, you’d think they could figure out a way to dampen some of the noise in there.  Our waitress brought over a taste of their potato and scallion soup.

It was creamy, but the first thing Loren did was grab for the salt shaker.  That was the start of the relatively unseasoned food we had all night. Next up came our appetizer, Harold’s shrooms.

Roasted portobello mushroom caps with red peppers, olives and garlic goat cheese.  I found the olives to be overpowering in the dish, though I really liked the taste of the goat cheese.  The mushrooms were meaty, but a little tough to cut.  Salads also came with our meal.

For his entree, Loren ordered the filet mignon which came with mashed potatoes and roasted veggies.

The filet was very tender and cooked medium, but underseasoned.  The gorgonzola on top completely overwhelmed the taste of the meat though.  As you can see from the photo, some of the veggies were a bit charred while others were a bit underdone.

I ordered the blue crab and lobster stuffed mahi.

The mahi was overcooked and tough.  My first reaction was that the mahi I had recently at Cuban Breezes, for less than half the price mind you,  was cooked way better than this piece of fish.  The crab and lobster stuffing tasted like a crabcake.  There was absolutely nothing textural, visual, or taste wise that would have indicated to me that it had any lobster in it whatsoever. The Key Lime white wine sauce had very little lime flavor ( I actually thought it was a lemon sauce) and there wasn’t much of it on the plate.  My butter knife was also a bit inadequate to cut through some of the roasted carrots.

I’d heard good things about their black & blue cobbler so I got some to take home.

It was very sweet and there wasn’t enough of the crumb topping.  It came with a tasty vanilla bean ice cream though.  Our waitress was very friendly and kept plates cleared and drinks full.  Overall though, we were fairly disappointed in the whole $73 experience.  If I’m going to pay that much for dinner, I expect wonderful flavors and textures and to leave the restaurant wondering when I’ll be able to go back again.  After this meal, I don’t think we’ll be returning anytime soon.

Green Springs Bistro
156 Fourth Ave North
Safety Harbor, FL
727-669-6762

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Loren was craving cheeseburgers for lunch today so we made our way over to the Athens Restaurant in downtown Safety Harbor.

There’s nothing fancy about these burgers and I think that’s what makes them good.  He got the bacon cheeseburger with fries and I got the mushroom cheeseburger with onion rings.  Now, the onion rings were dripping with grease, but they were still pretty tasty.  Sometimes simply made food really hits the spot.  Total bill with a drink was $15.

Athens Restaurant
226 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-726-3471

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Sometimes we’re just too lazy to go out to dinner, so tonight we ordered from Pizza Hut.  Loren & I disagree on what a pizza should be, so we went with one of the specials and got two large pizzas.  Who doesn’t like leftover pizza?

For Loren, it’s all about the toppings, so he got a Super Supreme on a thin & crispy crust. 

For me, it’s all about the crust, so I ordered a Pan Pizza with ham, mushrooms, and pineapple.  Yes, I’m one of those people who like Hawaiian pizza.  There’s just something about the sweetness of pineapple that I really like on a pizza.

Both pizzas were tasty.  Fresh & hot and very filling.  I think we both ate two pieces, but then again, we knew there was dessert.

I can’t resist the apple pies.  I don’t know if all of the restaurants carry them or not, but they are delicious.  There are 6 to an order and they’re covered with cinnamon sugar.  Even though we both could have stopped at 2, we felt that we just had to finish them off.    Total bill with delivery charges was $30

Pizza Hut
233 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 726-2000

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Loren & I both ate out a lot this week, not always with each other.  I know I ended up spending about $35 at Barwachi, Salsa’s and Cuban Breezes.  He went to Tilted Kilt, Smokey Bones, and Rumba Island.  We did manage to eat together at Amarit Thai for lunch one day and Poblano’s one night this week.

Some bean and cheese dip, carnitas, and a taco salad for $25. 

All tasty and filling.  Figured we’d have Mexican food before Cinco de Mayo to avoid the crowds.

Poblanos Mexican Grill
245 McMullen Booth Road
Clearwater, FL
727-796-7080

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Went back to Ban Thai tonight for sushi.  They were busy as usual on a weekend night, but we were able to get a table without a wait.  We started off with some soup, Loren got the chicken & rice and I got the wonton.

I need to remember not to order the wonton soup here.  Don’t get me wrong, the wontons are pretty good (there were only 3 of them) and the broth is flavorful, but the majority of the dish is bean sprouts and I really don’t like bean sprouts. 

We ordered a lobster roll, a screaming orgasm roll, a rainbow roll, and a Tampa roll.  We also ordered some salmon, but it never made it to the table.  How hard is it to turn over the sushi menu to see if there’s anything on the other side?  Since we had way more sushi than we needed, we didn’t mention it to the waitress.

The Rainbow roll was very good.  It was light and tasty and the fish on top was very fresh.  The Tampa roll had good flavor, but there was hardly any snapper inside of it.  There was plenty of crunchy batter that the fish was cooked in, but it definitely lacked fish.

The lobster roll is the most expensive on the menu, but also the biggest I think.  Besides what’s in the roll, there are also some remaining lobster chunks on top.  It’s one of my favorite rolls here.  The screaming orgasm roll didn’t really do it for either of us.  It’s a no rice roll, but had an odd consistency.  There was way too much sauce on top of it and that’s all you could taste.  I couldn’t even begin to tell you what was actually in the roll because I couldn’t taste any of it.  Total bill was $53.

Ban Thai Restaurant
2519 McMullen Booth Road
Clearwater, FL
727-724-2992

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I wanted pizza tonight, so we decided to try the ones at Panos Kouzina.  Since Loren and I don’t agree on pizza toppings, we ended up getting two personal pizzas.

Loren got a thin crust deluxe and I got a hand tossed Hawaiian with mushrooms.

As far as I could tell, there was absolutely no difference in the crust between the two.  They were both as thin as could be, which for me, is not how I like my pizza crust.  Loren liked it better than I did.  I get that this is a small pizza, but the ham and mushrooms on mine were cut into very tiny pieces, yet the pineapple was left in fairly big chunks.  It just didn’t do it for me.

I did need some chocolaty goodnees though, so I ordered a piece of the chocolate lovin’ spoonful cake.

This is an extremely fudgey cake.  It has a nice texture and more filling than cake.  Good stuff.  Total bill with a drink and a side salad was $25.

Panos Kouzina
3101 SR 580
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 797–2667

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We went back to downtown Safety Harbor for lunch today at Athen’s Restaurant.  I was craving breakfast, but then decided a gyro sounded better.

At first glance, it looked kind of deceiving.  It didn’t look as though it had much gyro meat on it and that it had tons of tzatziki sauce.  It actually had quite a bit of meat on it and the sauce wasn’t overwhelming, so it gave it a nice balance.  The gyro meat was flavorful and tender.  The pita bread was very good too.  I think a little lettuce would have added a nice crunch to it.

Loren got a bacon cheeseburger.

They make a pretty good burger here and definitely slather on the mayo.  the fries were nice and hot and yummy.  Service was ok.  Our waitress spent most of the time talking to customers that I’m guessing were friends of hers.  She didn’t come back to our table until we had already finished eating.  Total bill was $15.

Athens Restaurant
226 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-726-3471

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We couldn’t decide where to eat dinner tonight, but finally settled on BBQ.  Brady’s is close in downtown Safety Harbor.  They weren’t very busy tonight and luckily this time, they had everything on the menu.

I’ve been wanting brisket since the last time we were here.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed at the quantity on the plate.  Granted, it was plenty for me and the three pieces were pretty thick, but it just didn’t seem like a lot for the money.  It also wasn’t as good as the last time I had brisket here.  I admit, I like a very tender, somewhat fatty, juicy brisket.  These pieces were fairly lean and a little dry.  Loren liked it more than I did.  He got the riblets.

He must have been hungry because he ate all of them.  Usually, he has a few leftover, but there was nothing left on his plate tonight.  All of the sides were pretty good too.  I really like the cornbread pudding and potato salad, Loren likes the greens.  Total bill was $32.

Brady’s Backyard BBQ
340 Main Street
Safety Harbor, FL
727-712-3727

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We were walking through downtown Safety Harbor tonight admiring the artwork from the Bloom and Chalk Festival when we saw a sign for LuLu’s Restaurant.  It’s only been open for a month and just had its official grand opening this weekend.  It’s located just off of Main Street in the space where Brady’s BBQ used to be.  They added an additional patio which was perfect for the beautiful weather we’re having right now.

It’s a Portugese/Brazilian restaurant.  They have a buffet plus they come to your table with skewers of different kinds of meats for $20/person. 

The buffet had salad, soup, potatoes, rice, black beans, chicken and veggies.  I didn’t care for the veggies, but the rest of it was pretty good.  The chicken was very tender and flavorful. 

As for the skewers of meat, they brought around ribeye, two types of sausage, lamb, tri-tip, and pork tenderloin.

All of the meats had good flavors.  I thought the ribeye was a little oversalted though.  The tri-tip was by far the most tender and tasty.  Both sausages were good.  The “spicy” one had a lot of flavor but wasn’t overly spicy.  Be sure to go hungry when you dine here though because they keep coming back to the table to offer you more food.  We were both stuffed and yet when they said they had chocolate mousse cake for dessert, I just couldn’t say no.

It was yummy.  Loren kept trying to slide it to his end of the table.  The mousse layers inside were a little too cold, so they weren’t fluffy, but rather it gave it an almost ice cream like texture that I really liked.   Total bill with a drink was $51. 

LuLu’s
122 Third Ave N
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 216-6648

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We ate dinner at Panos Kouzina tonight.  They were fairly busy, with several tables coming in at one time, so service was a bit slower than usual.  We ordered off their specials menu, which is a great deal.   I got a Greek salad and Loren ordered a house salad.

The Greek salad had big chunks of feta on it.  Unfortunately, I forgot that they put sliced onions on the salad, so I had to pick those off. The dressing was very tangy.  One of my favorite things here is the bread.

Loren got the souvlaki and I ordered the eggplant parmesean.

He liked the souvlaki.  He’s had it here a few times before.  This was the first time I tried the eggplant and unfortunately the last.  It was just too mushy.  I expect a bit of crunch and texture to fried eggplant, but this just disolved in your mouth, no chewing necessary.  Total bill for both dinners and a drink was $20.

Panos Kouzina
3101 SR 580
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 797–2667

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After taking photos of the perigee full moon tonight, we headed over to the Safety Harbor Grill for dinner.  We had planned to go to the Whistlestop, but it was packed, so we just went next door instead.  They had music on the patio and it wasn’t crowded at all. 

We both decided on burgers. Loren got the bacon cheeseburger and I ordered the fried green tomato burger.

Both burgers were pretty good.  They had a nice flavor.  I didn’t think the fried green tomatoes did much for it though.  I ended up having to take one of them off because it was a bit too tough for the sandwich.  I wouldn’t order it again.  We also got some cheesecake for dessert.

It was very creamy and had a nice flavor.  Total dinner was $20.  Here’s one of the moonrise photos I took.

Safety Harbor Grill
997 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-412-8053

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We were looking for something relatively light for dinner, so we drove into Safety Harbor to Crepe-ology.  It’s located on 5th Avenue, right off of Main Street.   There was a large party in the restaurant, but the waitress told us up front that there would be a wait for our crepes.  Loren ordered a salad to tide him over.

The balsalmic dressing was tasty.  Everything served here is in disposable containers, paper plates, plastic cups and silverware.  It’s a very casual restaurant.

We decided on two crepes and shared them, the seafood crepe and the chicken supreme.

I liked the chicken supreme crepe the best.  It has goat cheese in it and the roasted red pepper sauce on top adds a nice flavor.  The seafood one was ok, but I thought the shrimp in it were a little overcooked. 

But, let’s face it, we’re here for dessert.  They had a citrus cheesecake crepe tonight that I just couldn’t resist and we also ordered a carmelized banana crepe.

Trust me, if you like orange, order the citrus crepe.  It was divine.  The cheesecake filling was still a little cold, but it had such a burst of flavors in it.  I asked them to put some chocolate sauce on it because I love chocolate and orange together, but honestly, it didn’t even need it.   The carmelized banana one was pretty good, but I found the bananas to be a little too mushy.  The homemade caramel sauce was very good though.

With an iced tea, the total bill was $36. 

Crepe-ology
155 5th Ave N
Safety Harbor, FL
727-793-3300

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I was craving some brisket, so we headed over to Brady’s Backyard BBQ in Safety Harbor for dinner, only to find out that they were out of brisket and out of riblets, which Loren had planned to order.  It’s just not the same when you go somewhere with something specific in mind for dinner and they don’t have it.

I ended up ordering the pulled pork dinner with corn bread pudding and potato salad.

It was pretty good.  It’s what I usually order anyway.  There were plenty of leftovers.  I really like their cornbread pudding.   Loren ordered the spare ribs with collard greens and potato salad.

The spare ribs were really tender and had a wonderful smoky flavor to them.  They offered us a free dessert since we couldn’t get the entrees we wanted, so we got the coca-cola cake.

It was ok, but it’s not something I’d normally order.  It’s served warm and really just doesn’t have a lot of flavor to it.  It’s not really chocolatey and it’s not really sweet either.  The frosting is sort of caramel flavored, I guess.  Total bill was $29 and though we left full, I just wasn’t satisfied. 

Brady’s Backyard BBQ
340 Main Street
Safety Harbor, FL
727-712-3727

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I had a dentist appointment this morning, so dinner needed to be something soft.  We ended up at Panos Kouzina.  I figured I could get some pasta.

They’ve got a great specials menu right now, two entrees with soup or salad for $15.95.  Loren got the chicken souvlaki and I ordered the manicotti.

The clam chowder was very good.  I was sad because my mouth was too sore to be able to eat the bread and it’s always tasty.

Loren enjoyed the souvlaki.  He said the chicken was very tender.  My manicotti was good, but I would have liked the pasta tubes to have been cooked a little longer.  They were  a little too al dente for my tastes.

Less than $20 for both meals, soup, salad and a drink.  Definitely a great deal for a great meal.

Panos Kouzina
3101 SR 580
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 797–2667

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We haven’t been over to Brady’s Backyard BBQ since March, so we were due for some tasty BBQ’d meats.  I think you learn to appreciate a place more after you’ve eaten at a few other places.

We decided to split a pick 3 combo and got brisket, riblets, and pulled pork.  They charge an extra $2.50 to share, but they throw in an additional side, so we got potato salad, cornbread pudding, and a taste of collard greens.

There was so much food on the plate, way more than we could both eat in one sitting.  I’ve turned into a brisket convert.  I used to be all about the pulled pork, but my new found taste for brisket was wonderfully satisfied tonight.  The cornbread pudding is one of my favorite side dishes here. 

Total bill was $26 and there were plenty of riblets and some pulled pork leftover for lunch tomorrow.  The brisket didn’t even have a chance at leftover status.

Brady’s Backyard BBQ
340 Main Street
Safety Harbor, FL
727-712-3727

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We didn’t feel like driving too far for dinner tonight, so we headed over to Panos Kouzina.  On my quest to try new restaurants, we haven’t been back to our old favorites for a while.

The food here is consistently good, they give you plenty of it, and their prices aren’t bad at all.  Both our entrees came with either soup or salad and some bread.  We both opted for salad tonight.

My only complaint was that the salad had chopped onions on it.  I’m not a fan of raw onions on anything and it took a while to pick all these off the salad.  The ranch dressing was very thick, but tasty, and the bread was thick and warm.  I’d forgotten how good it was.

Loren got the chicken souvlaki with a side of fries.  He said the chicken was very tender.  The tzatziki sauce here is really garlicy. 

I ordered the chicken marsala with a side of fettucine alfredo.

The marsala sauce here is very sweet.  Loren said it tasted like molasses, but I didn’t think it was that harsh of a flavor.  I enjoyed it.   The dish came with two good sized chicken breasts that were incredibly tender.  This is how chicken should be cooked.  The fettucine alfredo was thick and creamy with a nice flavor.  I had plenty of leftovers and yet, I still ordered dessert.

How was I possibly going to pass up this chocolate lovin’ spoon cake?  The waitress described it as a “prison dessert” because you eat it huddled over with your arms around it ready to poke anyone with a fork who tries to get too close to it.  It was pretty darn good.  It had a thick, rich mousse and tender chocolate cake.  What’s not to like?

Total dinner was $33 and I’ve got leftover chicken and even a little cake for tomorrow.

Panos Kouzina
3101 SR 580
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 797–2667

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Brady’s Backyard BBQ is our go to place for BBQ.  They’re located on Main Street in Safety Harbor and we’ve never had a bad experience there.

They were busy tonight, but we were lucky enough to find a small table when we walked in. 

Loren ordered his usual, riblets with a side of collard greens and a “try” of baked beans.

The riblets have a lot of meat on them and they give you a bunch of them.  He always has a few left over to take home.  He likes to dip them in their mango BBQ sauce.

I ordered the BBQ pork sandwich with a side of corn bread pudding.

I love their corn bread pudding.  It has a wonderful flavor and texture to it.  Their pulled pork is very tasty too.  They pile it on the sandwiches.  I got a small sandwich and there was easily enough pork on it for two people.

We tried the apple pie for dessert.

It was ok, but didn’t taste homemade, more like something you’d buy in a grocery store. 

Two entrees, dessert and a drink ran us $29.  Brady’s smokes all their meats on site for 14-20 hours and you can definitely taste it.  Everything is fresh and flavorful.

Brady’s Backyard BBQ
340 Main Street
Safety Harbor, FL
727-712-3727

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We were both craving burgers for lunch so we headed to the Athens Restaurant in downtown Safety Harbor.    It’s a small Greek place right on Main Street.  It doesn’t seem like the sort of place you would go for a burger, but they’re actually pretty good. 

I got the regular cheeseburger with fries and Loren got the jumbo bacon cheeseburger.

He wanted to show off the juicy, tasty, goodness inside.  I think we’ve eaten breakfast here a few times, but mostly we just go back for the burgers.  The fries are good too.   $15 and our burger craving was satisfied. 

Athens Restaurant
226 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-726-3471

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In our quest for different restaurants to try, I searched Google for restaurants in Safety Harbor and Crepe-ology came up on the list.  I hadn’t heard of it before, but their online menu looked tasty (ok, I sort of saw the dessert menu first and that sealed the deal), so we headed downtown to try it out.

It’s another one of those small restaurants off of Main Street built in an old house.  When we walked in the owner handed us some menus and pointed us to the patio seating in back.

Loren ordered a mixed green salad to start with.  It had baby greens, grape tomatoes and cucumbers.  The balsamic vinegrette dressing was a bit strong, but the salad itself was very fresh.

We ordered two types of crepes.  I got the chicken and mushroom with Monterey Jack cheese and Loren got one of the specials, chicken, mushrooms, and goat cheese with a roasted red pepper sauce.

I almost ordered the one he got but was afraid the sauce would be too spicy.  It wasn’t.  It was a mild sweet red pepper sauce.  I like goat cheese, so we had to do some trading.  Overall the crepes were tasty.  They’re not very crispy on the outside, but rather soft throughout.  The fillings were good, though there’s a part of me that would have liked some sort of sauce to go with it. 

And then, there was dessert.

Let’s face it, if you put the words chocolate, raspberry, and whipped cream together, it’s a given that I’m going to get it.  I told Loren he should order his own dessert because it was unlikely that I was going to share.  He ordered the apple caramel crepe.

Both of the dessert crepes were good.  Again, the crepe itself was soft all the way through, but very tasty.  The apples were crispy and the caramel sauce was yummy.  The raspberries in mine were cold, which sort of surprised me.  I was expecting them to be warmed.  There really weren’t a lot of raspberries in it, but it did have a raspberry sauce.  Mostly the crepe was filled with whipped cream and dark chocolate and you just can’t go wrong there.

Total bill was $27 and we were both stuffed.   Everything was served in disposable containers, a paper basket for the salad,  drinks  in plastic cups and we ate with plastic utensils on paper plates.  It’s not exactly an upscale restaurant, but the prices are definitely reasonable. 

Crepe-ology
155 5th Ave N
Safety Harbor, FL
727-793-3300

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Had an unscheduled lunch with the boss today.  Conveniently, he chose a place near me this time.  One of our favorite lunch places (yes, we have a lot of favorite lunch places), Brady’s Backyard BBQ in Safety Harbor.

I forgot to take pictures of the food, but I had my phone out while I was waiting for the boss, so you get an “atmosphere” shot.

Brady’s has been around for 4-5 years, and used to be in a quaint old house on 3rd street across from the post office.  I liked that place, it had a homey feel to it.  But, I guess it wasn’t the greatest place to run a restaurant, and the parking wasn’t the best.  They moved a couple blocks to one of the strips along Main street a few months ago.

I love me some pulled pork, and some ribs (their rib tips are AWESOME), but a few months ago I discovered their brisket sandwich, and that’s what I had today.  It’s pretty basic.  A bun with two huge chunks of super-tender and tasty brisket.  It’s gotta be a half-pound of meat, and it’s good stuff.

The small sandwich comes with chips and a pickle.  What else do you need?  Well, you need collard greens!  Fortunately, their chip guy hadn’t shown up yet today, so we got to choose a side.  Did I mention that their collard greens are top notch?  Really, all of their sides are good.

The kicker for me, however, is their mango barbecue sauce.  It is to die for!  Very unique flavor, just sweet enough, just tangy enough… MmmMmmMmm!

The small sandwich basket is only like $7, you can’t go wrong.  So, yeah.  We like Brady’s.  Best BBQ in this area.  I like Hot Rod’s a little better, but I’d have to drive 20 miles to Lutz for that.  Within 5 miles, nobody else challenges them.

Brady’s Backyard BBQ
340 Main Street
Safety Harbor, FL 34695
727-712-3727

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