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Dining Planner: Craft beer festivals in St. Pete Beach, Odessa and Tampa

 
Old McMicky’s Farm in Odessa will be the setting of Saturday’s Barns & Beer Craft Beer Festival. In addition to drinks, there will be food, music and games.
Old McMicky’s Farm in Odessa will be the setting of Saturday’s Barns & Beer Craft Beer Festival. In addition to drinks, there will be food, music and games.
Published May 11, 2016

FOAM RAISERS: Beer festivals for a good cause

Like a good pairing of a lager and a sturdy stein, three beer festivals this weekend aim to make it easy to raise money for a good cause when you raise your glass.

Barns & Beer Craft Beer Festival: The lakeside setting with a big, red barn at Old McMicky's Farm in Odessa will have more than 75 local craft beers and wines, plus food samplings, music from the Black Honkeys, games, a barn maze, hay ride ($3) and mechanical bull ($5) to benefit the Old McMicky's Farm Foundation, serving area kids and families with hands-on educational experiences with farm animals. 7-10 p.m. Saturday at 9612 Crescent Drive, Odessa. $37-$60; designated driver $10 on eventbrite.com. (813) 920-1948. oldmcmickys.com.

St. Pete Beach Beer Fest: Get a commemorative cup to taste more than 50 beers from Florida and national craft breweries. There's also food, brewing demonstrations and valet parking at Horan Park. Benefits educational establishments on St. Pete Beach. 4-8 p.m. Saturday at 7701 Boca Ciega Drive, St. Pete Beach. $27 advance, $32 day of. (727) 242-3575. stpetebeachfestivals.com.

Blue Point Toasted Tour: It's free to attend the party at Tampa's Water Works Park on Saturday, and all beer sales will go to Heidi's Legacy Dog Rescue. With live music, games, prizes, Blue Point beer and cooking demonstrations by Paula DaSilva, right, the Brazilian-born South Florida chef who was a runner-up on Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen. Gates open at 2 p.m. Saturday at Water Works Park, 1710 N Highland Ave., Tampa. bluepointtoastedtour.com.

On our list

Most entrees less than $10

Coney Island Drive Inn

Cuisine: Casual Dining, Deli.

A shambling, old-timey hot dog joint with wings, footlong dogs, corn dogs and burgers, fried mullet and pulled pork. Flip-flops-appropriate and utterly perfect for a lazy summer day, it's where Hernando County goes for extra thick milk shakes, the best of which may be the orange cream. 1112 E Jefferson St., Brooksville. (352) 796-9141. gotfootlongs.com

Rollboto Sushi

Cuisine: Casual Dining, Sushi.

Order-at-the-counter sushi bar, aided and abetted by an automated sushi roller, the AUTEC Maki Master. With bins of sliced fish, smelt roe, texture bits like sesame seeds and tempura chips, and sauces. Rollbotto has a casual industrial chic that makes it a gathering spot for young folks, with a price point that keeps even the more ambitious rolls, all generously portioned, easy on the wallet. 221 First St. N, St. Petersburg. (727) 487-2681.

Most entrees $10 to $20

China Yuan Restaurant

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese.

Chinese food doesn't get better, simpler or cheaper than this spot in north Tampa. Barbecued pork, duck and chicken hang above the counter, awaiting your command. Have some and save room for salt and pepper shrimp, fresh greens and claypot eggplant. 8502 N Armenia Ave., Tampa. (813) 936-7388. chinayuanrestaurant.com

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Gateway to India

Cuisine: Indian.

Cozy and sumptuously decorated, again with a hip soundtrack (sometimes Bollywood, sometimes American pop), with a lunchtime buffet, more lavish on the weekends, but a la carte options give the full range of familiar dishes from tikka masala to lamb vindaloo and a range of tandoor goodies. 8300 Bay Pines Blvd., St. Petersburg. (727) 828-9977.

German Bistro 2

Cuisine: German.

Irena Hoxie performed a Teutonic transformation with new sconces, paint in a warm orange palette and trellising greenery, with a soundtrack of oom-pah and Bavarian polka music. For newbies, she'll explain what spaetzle is (you have to get it: soft, irregular nubbins of buttery handmade egg noodles to accommodate luscious brown gravy). The menu is a short, one-pager of German classics, from thinly pounded, breaded pork schnitzel with different toppings to classic grilled bratwurst, pale and plump knackwurst and a currywurst, that cultish Berlin street food topped with a curried tomato sauce. 1300 East Bay Drive, Largo. (727) 216-6519.

Samurai Blue

Cuisine: Asian, Sushi.

Smart sushi, sharp sake and the fieriest beef tartare that Seoul cooking can make. Plus the Tampa location's 30-foot ceilings shelter one of the few great spaces and hip crowds to survive the malling of Ybor City. 1600 E Eighth Ave., Tampa. (813) 242-6688. samuraiblue.com

Most entrees $20 or more

Cafe Ponte

Cuisine: American upscale, Fine dining, French.

Cafe Ponte is still a yardstick against which the area's other fine dining restaurants may be measured. The kitchen's focus: a new American palate with a few Mediterranean and Asian doodads: a tower of seared foie gras, the signature wild mushroom bisque and a lush entree pairing sweet seared scallops with a ragout of soft-braised shortribs, creamy corn polenta and a caramelized shallot sauce — like some crazy Jenga move, it's a towering flavor profile you can't believe works. 13505 Icot Blvd., Clearwater. (727) 538-5768. cafeponte.com

Donatello Restaurant

Cuisine: Italian.

The blush is not off the rose at this decades-old Tampa original. In the dining room, tuxedoed waiters have the assurance only longtime employment provides, whether that's guiding guests through the menu or whipping up a tableside Caesar (the best in town). The food is rigorously traditional Northern Italian, with just about everything we can think of made in house. The wine list is stunning but wine costs a pretty penny, and the menu is in financial lockstep. This is splurge country, but well worth the do-re-mi. 232 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. (813) 875-6660. donatellotampa.com

Pearl Restaurant

Cuisine: Fine dining, Mediterranean.

The whole Mediterranean, from lush French sauces and bouillabaisse to veal Marsala, is available here and onto a mezze full of hummus, eggplant, olives. Service is impeccable. 163 107th Ave., Treasure Island. (727) 360-9151. gotothepearl.com