Folks, where are the worst restaurant waits? The most minutes you've watched tick by before the hostess saves you from limbo and escorts you, parched and weak, yet grateful, to a table? I know these ones require forbearance and keen resolve: Bahama Breeze, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Cheesecake Factory and MacDinton’s. But where else? And what's the absolute longest you'll contentedly wait in the bar for your table to be ready when you in fact have a reservation? How long before you want to bust some heads or, at the very least, demand that someone give you a free drink?

And while I'm asking questions, does anyone know when Whaley's is opening in a smaller space on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa, whether St. Larry's in Palm Harbor will reopen (their machine says its "temporarily closed'') and whether Gianpiero's Pick of the Vine is still open at 2506 S MacDill Ave. in Tampa? I just keep getting voicemail.

And as a tit-for-tat kind of thing, assuming people pony up some answers, The Table on Central Avenue launches its new menu tonight, dinner only but opening at 3 p.m. for appetizers. I spoke with the new owner yesterday--it's Michael Stewart, the longtime proprietor of 717 on S. Howard in Tampa. In other news, chef Christian has returned from France to the kitchen of Le Bouchon Bistro in Belleair Bluffs. Welcome back!