We tried to eat lunch at Craft Street Kitchen today after going to a movie in Oldsmar, but they haven’t started opening for lunch yet.  Instead, we came back for dinner with some friends.  We got there around 6pm and the place was already crowded, but we were able to get a table without a wait.  They have both inside and outside seating and rearranged the space quite a bit from the restaurant it used to be.  It’s a bit on the loud side, but we didn’t have any trouble hearing each other across the table.

The menu had a lot of interesting choices and the waitress came by and explained her favorites (they’re to die for and simply amazing!) in vivid detail.  I’m not sure if she even took a breath while she recited almost the entire menu to us.  We skipped the appetizers tonight and went straight for the entrees.  Our friends ordered the Southwest flatbread and the Roma Chicken sandwich.

The flatbread was huge!  It had BBQ’d chicken, pepperjack cheese, avocado, corn relish, pico de gallo, black beans, cilantro and a chipolte crema on top.  It had a nice crispy crust and a mix of sweet and spicy that our friend really liked.  The chicken sandwich also went over very well.  It had mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, tomatoes, arugula and a basil mayo.  On our end of the table, we ordered the Angry Pig Sandwich with a side salad and the shrimp and grits.

The salad was supposed to come out first, but Loren only got a few bites in before the entrees arrived.  The ranch dressing was unusual.  I think it had dill in it or some other herb that made it unique.  The Angry Pig was mojo braised pork, apple slaw & fried pickles with an Angry Orchard BBQ sauce.  It was tasty.  It had a nice sweetness to it that I really liked.  The shrimp and grits were also good.  It had smokey cheddar grits with a very mild andouille sausage and shrimp swimming in a roasted poblano buerre blanc sauce.  The only think I didn’t really like were the herbs on top.  They really overpowered the other flavors.   We were all happy with our entrees and decided we’ll be back again.  We got some desserts to go, the peanut butter pie and the Founders raspberry chocolate cheesecake.

I wasn’t as impressed with the dessert as I was with the meal.  The cheesecake was not one of the ones on our waitress’s “to die for” list and I could understand why.  It was thick, but not at all creamy.  The chocolate flavor wasn’t rich enough and the whole thing was just kind of crumbly.  Not something I’d order again.  Our total came to $40, not sure what our friend’s total was, but probably pretty close since the prices are all very reasonable.  Overall though, we’ll be back and when they start opening for lunch it’ll be a perfect after movie place to eat.

Craft Street Kitchen and Drinks
3153 Curlew Rd
Oldsmar, FL
727-314-4270

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We were excited to see Hofbrauhaus, a new German restaurant open up in St. Petersburg, only to be disappointed with the quality of the food we received.  The space is a big open area with balconies.  We were seated upstairs with a view of the large hall beneath.  We got there around 11:45am and were able to get a parking space in their small lot and there weren’t that many other patrons inside which surely kept down the noise level.  I imagine with a rowdy crowd in that wide open space that it’s deafening in there.

Our entrees came out of the kitchen very quickly; unfortunately, we had ordered the potato pancakes as an appetizer which were nowhere to be seen.  The waitress apologized and went to get them, but by the time she finally returned, we were pretty much finished with our meal and just sent them back.

Loren ordered the Nürnberger Rostbratwürstl which were pork sausages served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.

To me, they tasted like regular ol’ hot dogs and Loren said without the mustard they were just very plain and uninteresting in flavor.  I ordered the Jaegerschnizel which came with spaezle.

For some reason, they thought bacon would make it better, but even bacon wasn’t going to help.  First off, the portion was very small compared to what I’ve gotten in every other German restaurant I’ve been to.  The pork was tender, but flavorless and the spaezle was dry.  There wasn’t enough mushroom gravy on it either.  The only saving grace to the meal was the Black Forest Cake.

At least they got this one right.  The cake was moist and tasty.  I would have preferred real whipped cream to whipped topping, but otherwise this was the only high point of the meal.   We won’t be going back; there are much better German restaurants in the area. Total bill with a drink was $40.

Hofbrauhaus
123 4th St
St Petersburg, FL
(727) 898-3333

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Our favorite Thai restaurant, Pacific Thai in Oldsmar, is now serving sushi so we had to check it out.  They have a bunch of rolls to choose from and we settled on some of our favorites.

I have to get a Mexican roll wherever we go and this one had a nice crispy shrimp tucked inside a tight roll.  We also had a rainbow roll, a spicy kamakazee roll for Loren and some salmon.  All of it was fresh and tasty.  I really enjoyed the salmon.

The lobster roll was a little difficult to photograph.  The glass made for an unusual presentation, but difficult to get at the pieces of lobster inside. The lobster was cooked well and the roll was yummy.  Loren also ordered a Nam Sod.

Overall, we enjoyed their sushi options.  Total bill with a drink was $65 which is right in the price range of all of the other sushi places we visit.  They also expanded the restaurant to the space next door, so it’s not quite so crowded in there.

Pacific Thai Cuisine 
4058 Tampa Road
Oldsmar, FL
813-855-6633

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We had our last meal in Maine at the Portland airport at the Shipyard.  Bacon cheeseburger & lobster roll were on the menu.

The lobster roll was a little small, but very good otherwise.  It had nice chunks of lobster.  The homemade chips were a little too crispy for my taste.  Loren liked his burger well enough.  Total bill was $37.

Shipyard Brewpub
Portland Jetport

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We made the mistake of stopping at the first place we saw open for dinner, the Lighthouse Restaurant in Seal Harbor.  We should have known when the waiter didn’t even acknowledge us when we walked in that this was not the place for dinner.  The restaurant only had two other tables of customers and it took over 30 minutes for our appetizers to come out.  Our dinner came with salads and instead of bringing them and the bread out first, we just sat there & waited.

The stuffed mushrooms were ok, but their version of lobster stew just didn’t compare at all to the others we’d eaten during our trip.  I don’t know what was missing, but it just wasn’t up to expectations. The bread was very herbaceous which overwhelmed the honey butter served with it.

Loren ordered the peppercorn steak.  It was not quite the medium he ordered and not a very tender piece of meat.  I ordered the seafood alfredo.

This was awful.  The pasta was overcooked and the alfredo sauce was thin and watery.  The seafood all tasted like it had been boiled. We just couldn’t wait to get out of there.  Worst meal of the trip and $74 to boot.

Lighthouse Restaurant
12 Main St
Seal Harbor, ME
207-276-3958

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