Brian Ries has lost his mind. Alright, maybe not entirely, but the longtime (and, in my mind, reliable) restaurant critic for Creative Loafing reviewed the new Datz Deli (2616 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa, 813/831-7000) and his assessment: pretty good, with some flaws, but it's not exactly a deli. Overall, the review was kinda blase, so I haven't rushed over there (it opened just before the Super Bowl). I went last night for dinner and lost my mind with joy. It's like Zingerman's in Ann Arbor meets Zabar's meets Carnegie Deli: a theme park of insanely gorgeous grocery items (I bought: a harissa/artichoke pasta sauce, chile-infused hand-rolled Moroccan couscous, bittersweet chocolate-coated peanut brittle, some stunningly tasty grey sea salt from the Ile de Re, and some other gunk). There's a cheese counter, a bread counter, desserts, and a wide counter of prepared food items. But that's not the half of it.

The sandwiches were stupendous: jaw-stretching with stacked meat, great housemade bread, solidly tasty condiments, a marvelously real half-sour pickle, deeply russet housemade chips (perfectly salted, greaseless, with a drizzle of some kind of aioli). A large sandwich easily feeds two people, very reasonable for around $12 (Ries thought it was a tad pricy, yeesh) and it's all wholesome-seeming.

But still, that's not even the best part. It's the beer and wine. We had a glass of Chimay triple draft (served in the proper glass!!!!) that broke my heart. Also, a quenching Flying Dog Tire Bite. Also a glass of French Pink Criquet rose, deelish. But get this: 12 ounces of draft Seadog blueberry wheat is $1.99. Huh? Who are these people and are they trying to run a business? According to our waitress (who looked/seemed just like Ellen Paige in Juno), owner Roger Perry is "obsessed with sandwiches." I like this man already.

OK, enough hyperbole and arm-flapping. Datz is just dat good. Which brings me to another rant: Pinellas County, watch your butt. I've eaten at about 25 new restaurants in the past three months, the lion's share of the most interesting ones in Hillsborough County. I'm not saying that Pinellas doesn't have its good spots, just that the most exciting newcomers recently have tended to be on the other side of the bay. Come on, Pinellas, represent!