Ricky P’s Orleans Bistro: A Review

(I apologize for the lack of photos.  I didn’t plan on writing about this restaurant, but I was compelled to after my experience.)

I had been looking forward to trying Ricky P’s Orleans Bistro for weeks.  I knew about the smaller shop on Fourth Street and was excited to try out their new, more upscale eatery.  Sadly, I can say without reservation, that my experience there was a completely unmitigated disaster from beginning to end.

My wife and I arrived at 7:30 on a Saturday night and the place was packed with people.  A good sign, or so I thought.  The main room is fairly large and open, with very tall ceilings, making it obnoxiously loud.  Like I couldn’t hear my wife who was sitting right next to me loud.  There was a bar area jammed next to the entrance, as well as some outdoor seating in front of and around the side of the restaurant.  There was also a second dining area up some stairs at the back of the room.  There seemed to be a lot going on.

We waited in the tiny area in front of the hostess podium.  There was a small L-shaped seat thing to sit on, but for some reason the Specials whiteboard was resting on top of it.  So we had to maneuver around it, making sure not to knock it over.  An interesting choice.

We were told the wait was twenty minutes by a hostess who seemed to disappear, without patrons in tow, into various parts of the restaurant for many minutes at a time.  A pair of diners returned from outside to ask how much longer the hostess thought the wait would be.  Sadly the hostess was no where to be found, so the couple left, not very happily.  Forty minutes later we were seated.  A bad start, but not a huge deal.

Five minutes after we were seated, a table of four was seated directly behind us.  This is important because their table seemed to exist in an alternate reality where the service was fantastic.  Our waitress, who we would learn was firmly in the running for Worst Waitress in History, took our drink orders.  I was denied a Cherry Coke because of a lack of grenadine despite the bustling bar out front.  Still no big deal.

She took the drink orders of the four top behind us and disappeared.  She returned with our drinks, didn’t even pretend to be interested in taking our order, left and returned with the drinks for the four top.  She took their order happily and disappeared again.  Several minutes later the four top was served their full array of appetizers by an expediter.  A few minutes later our waitress returned for our order: a shrimp po’ boy and a soft shell crab po’ boy.  Both with French fries.  Simple.  Easy.

A few minutes later four po’ boys arrived at the four top.  They were diving in excitedly while we continued to wait foodless for another twenty minutes.  We could not spot our waitress anywhere, nor anyone that even resembled a manager.  Finally she came back, and I kid you not, asked us with a straight face, “Where are your sandwiches?”  Not being employed at this establishment, I had to admit somewhat sheepishly that I did not know where they were.  Several minutes later they finally arrived.

Now Ricky P’s touts po’ boy sandwiches as their specialty.  If that is the case, I don’t want to find out how their non-specialty items turn out.  The menu promised “crunchy French bread.”  It was anything but.  Soft and limp.  Not a trace of crunch.  I would have settled for just crisp.

Also, having ordered the “Ultimate Shrimp Po’ Boy,” I was expecting to be wading through the suckers.  I got a little over a handful.  It was sad.  The shrimp itself tasted good but lukewarm at best; as I’m sure our sandwiches had been sitting around in the back for a while before anyone bothered to bring them out for us.  The French fries were hot though!  But they too were soft and limp.  I considered sending the food back for it’s hotter more delicious version, but thought the better of it, when I realized I did not want to spend the remaining nine years of my 30s dying slowly in a chaotic Cajun restaurant.

We finished eating forlornly.  A manager looking gentleman stopped at the four top to ask how their meal was.  He offered to bring them boxes.  We needed a box, and not knowing if our waitress was still alive, we snagged him and asked for a box too.  He said yes, so it was looking like we’d finally be able to leave before sunrise.  The four top got their boxes.  We did not.

After ten minutes, our waitress stopped by to ask if we needed a box.  We said yes and away she went again into the wild blue yonder.

Ten minutes later she returned to give us our box and clear our plates.  Not to leave the check or ask about dessert mind you, just to clear our plates.  She took said plates, and was gone for, you guessed it, another ten minutes.  She brought the check, vanished for yet another several minutes, returned for our credit card, vanished, and eventually, I’m sure through complete accident, happened to find our table again.

From the time we touched down in our booth to the time we left took ninety minutes (over two hours overall).  Ninety minutes for two sandwiches and a soda.  It was absurd.   My wife, who never complains about anything ever, said it was the worst experience she had ever had at a restaurant.  I could have driven to the House of Blues in Orlando and got a po’ boy in the time it took to eat at Ricky P’s.  And the House of Blues sandwiches have more shrimp, some good spicy mayo, and better bread.

Ricky P’s Orleans Bistro is a mess.  There weren’t enough servers to man the amount of tables in the restaurant. The servers they did have were completely clueless.  I’d say they were inexperienced, but that would imply at least a modicum of experience.  I think most of them were un-experienced.  The poor hostess seemed confused and completely on her own.  The manager was doing who knows what (We only saw him once).  Tables sat unbussed while the waiting area teemed with people.  It didn’t seem like anyone was in charge.  Employees were running around everywhere looking stressed out and lost.

If they were short-staffed, they really should have closed the top level.  Or the outside.  Or something.  I really don’t know what could have fixed this shambles.  You could chalk this up to the restaurant being fairly new, but I’m not going to.  At a certain point, someone should be in the restaurant who actually knows what they are doing and can assume some sort of leadership role.  If you don’t have that person for a busy Saturday night, then you shouldn’t be open.

And if the food was great, I would have forgiven a lot.  But it just wasn’t.  Maybe their much smaller shop on Fourth Street is better.  I’m sure there are fewer moving parts to be managed.

Things may very well improve, but I don’t care.  I can easily say I will never return to Ricky P’s Orleans Bistro.  I’ve never been more let down by an eatery.  All of my high hopes were dashed.  It saddened me.

The only positive thing to come of this experience is that I can finally use a line that I’ve always want to write:

It would seem that in this new venture, Ricky P has bitten off more than he can chew.

Ricky P’s
1113 Central Ave.
St. Petersburg, FL 33705
727-388-4371

PDQ: A Review

Whilst cruising the Urbanspoon a couple of weeks ago, I saw a listing for a new restaurant in Tampa called PDQ.  I started to read up a bit and found that PDQ was the new fast casual chicken restaurant experiment being undertaken by the Outback people.  Being a fan of chicken and considering myself to be both fast and casual, I thought this restaurant might be the perfect way to spend part of the evening.  So I headed over.

PDQ stands for either Pretty Darn Quick or People Dedicated to Quality or both, depending on where you look and who you ask.  I like to think it stands for Pernicious Duck Quacks, for no reason at all.  Go ahead and play the game with your friends while you’re there.  I don’t really like the name of the restaurant, but what do I know, they had to call it something.  Perhaps it’s my deep-seated fear of initializes and acronyms.

I do, however, like the PDQ sign.  It’s cool and retro and graphic in that cool, retro, graphic kind of way.  You know what I mean.  I also like the inside of the restaurant.  Everything is tall ceilings, wide open spaces, and lots of natural light.  Though the ceiling is a little more finished looking and doesn’t quite have that post-apocalyptic industrial aesthetic that Chipotle has.  Everything is finished in a light wood, which also adds to the general clean, bright look of the place.  The kitchen, wide open as well, is located just a chicken breast’s breadth behind the counter with lots of busy workers chickening their hearts out.

PDQ is equipped with not one, but two (!), Coca-Cola Freestyle machines!  If you haven’t seen or tried these devices, they are right out of a Demolition Man future utopia, and are stocked with all of your favorite Coke products which you can then flavor tweak with shots like vanilla, cherry, and lime.  They also serve bottled Cheerwine!  Making a beverage decision was worse than Sophie’s Choice.  I did eventually go with the Freestyle, because at my heart I am a science fiction fan.

PDQ specializes in chicken tenders, sandwiches and salads.  I decided to start with the basics and ordered the three tender meal with fries of the French variety.  The damage came to $7.22.  A steal.

The tenders were fairly large, well-breaded, well-seasoned, tender, juicy and piping hot.  They tasted like chicken tenders I’ve cooked at home, but that doesn’t really help you, does it?  Suffice it to say they were very good.

The French fries were also good.  They taste like the fries from Five Guys, though not as greasy.  They are shoestring style.  They’re not as skinny as Steak ‘n Shake fries but not quite as wide as McDonalds fries.

PDQ offers five dipping sauces: Honey Mustard, Chipotle Barbeque, Ranch, Sweet Heat, and Creamy Garlic.  All are pretty standard (Creamy Garlic was my favorite).  They’re solid, if a little lazy.  The Honey Mustard and Barbeque reminded me of the sauces you’d find with a counter service meal at Disney World.  This is the area that could use the most improvement.  Entering the market on such a small scale, PDQ should really be pushing the dipping sauce envelope.  Everyone has Barbeque and Honey Mustard and Ranch.  They should take the opportunity and step things up a bit.

Overall, I really liked PDQ.  The restaurant looks great and the food is good.  At just over $7, the quality and portion size were a great value.  Drop this place into your monthly rotation.

Also:
Personable Donkey Quidditch
Physics Defying Quark
Pragmatic Dinosaur Quota

PDQ
2207 South Dale Mabry
Tampa, FL 33629
(813) 254-7373

The Library Coffeehouse: A Review

Six months!  Has it been that long?  This blog was originally a side project that I started when I had a little bit of free time over Christmas break.  But as school started up again and began crushing my dreams and stealing large bits of my soul, I couldn’t keep up with it.  I put it on an indefinite hiatus.  And I started to feel bad about giving crappy reviews to local joints.  I’m sensitive.  I teared up at The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

But last week I logged on to the email that I have associated with this blog and found a handful of encouraging emails, including an owner invitation to check out a new coffee shop in South Tampa: The Library Coffeehouse.  Always on the lookout for cool places to drink coffee and brood, and finding out they served Buddy Brew coffee (all hail the BBC!), I decided to cruise on over.

I almost passed it by as I was driving.  Its store front is small and if you didn’t know it was there, it would be very easy to miss.  The interior of the shop is very cozy, inviting, and tastefully decorated.  The shop has a great picture window at the front letting in a lot of natural light and a substantial book library in the back. They had a Music Choice station on playing blues music.  That gets extra points as it was nice to hear something other than the Bob Marley I usually find myself subjected to at Starbucks. We get it!  We’ve all heard Legend!  It’s got decent songs!  “Satisfy My Soul” and all that!

Ahem.

I ordered a medium Café con Leche and a Balsamic Chicken Salad Sandwich on a croissant.  The coffee was good and had me properly caffeinated for the rest of the afternoon.  The Balsamic Chicken Salad Sandwich was fantastic.  The pleasantly mayonnaiseless chicken salad was a mix of finely chopped chicken, apples, and grapes with a balsamic vinaigrette enmeshed throughout.  It came with a lettuce leaf and some thin tomato slices.  The sandwich construction was top notch and left my pants as clean(ish) as when I walked in.  Food crotch is a daily affliction I struggle with.  It’s an epidemic that affects as many as one in three Americans.

The chicken salad held its separate flavors nicely and was never in danger of mutating into a uniform mash of amorphous blandness.  All of the ingredients were fresh and bright and worked very well together. I wish I’d gotten one or eight for the road.  The coffee and sandwich came to $11.82.

The proprietor and chief barista was very nice.  When she asked me how I found out about them, I lied and said I found them on Urbanspoon.  I was embarrassed by my failed blogsmanship in not having responded to the email that she sent me five months earlier.  Such bad form.  Carols Eats would be ashamed of me.

The Library Coffeeshop is a great find.  I can’t wait to go back.  I wish I found it earlier in the summer, as next week my ten month teaching headache begins anew (See you at Christmastime for the next post.).  If you’re in the area, stop by and patronize them.  They’re doing good work.’

The Library Coffeehouse
3201 S Dale Mabry
South Tampa, FL 33629
813-410-1927

St. Pete Taco Bus: A Review

I first heard about the Taco Bus in Tampa a few months ago from one of Tampa Bay’s best food blogs: Carlos Eats.  I ate there last Saturday and liked it so much I found myself standing in line at the brand new St. Petersburg location within a week’s time. This place is the talk of the town.  Apparently they opened on a Monday and had to close Wednesday and Thursday to regroup from the overwhelming demand.  As I write this, even their website is down from the traffic influx.  And I’m glad.  St. Pete needs more food places that are authentic, accessible, and inexpensive. 

I arrived hungry from an afternoon of meetings and eager to dive into a Styrofoam box full of tacos.  At 5:30 when we queued up, there were about 20 people in line.  When we left there were about 50.  The line was studded with a wide variety of people: hipsters, families, couples, and of course, the rich old St. Pete guy in a tacky shirt who thinks he’s the life of the party.  His jokes seemed to be the funniest things he’s ever heard.

The wait wasn’t too long though considering the size of the queue.  The night’s weather was beautiful and everyone really seemed to be excited and in good spirits.

My trusted dining companion and I ordered three cochinita pibil tacos.  Apparently cochinita pibil is a Mayan dish involving slow roasting pork in banana leaves.  They were fantastic!  The pork was succulent, tender, and bursting with strong anchiote flavor.  And they didn’t go Chipotle style with a few sad shreds.  Each taco was packed with pork.  They came piled high with tomatoes, cabbage, cilantro and red onions.  All of the veggies tasted bright and fresh.  They weren’t sitting in their own juices waiting to destroy a perfectly good tortilla with their wetness. The tacos were well-constructed and held together nicely. 

I had two fish tacos as well.  I keep convincing myself that I need to like fish tacos because all of the cool kids like them.  I’ve never liked a single one that I’ve tried until the Taco Bus.  These were solid, as well, though didn’t quite reach the levels of greatness that the cochinita pibil did.  The fish was well-cooked, and again, plentiful. 

I got my slew of tacos with a side of refried beans and Mexican rice.  Refried beans are one of those foods that can go south fast.  But instead of the canned brown paste served at many a Mexican restaurant, the kind I can feel finding itself a nice warm corner of my arteries to settle into even before I finish the first spoonful, these beans were a revelation.  They were smooth, creamy, and authentically beany.  The sprinkling of grated cheese was nice as well.

The rice was also a hit, especially with my trusted dining companion.  She mooched way more than half of my serving, even after being asked if she would like her own order.  Chicks man.  They’re the worst.

The red salsa, I enjoyed thoroughly.  A little on each taco added another great layer of flavor.  The green salsa was also good, although much more spicy.  I’m a wuss when it comes to heat, so a little bit of the stuff went a long way for me.

I also ordered a horchata which may as well have been served in a bucket.  The thing was huge.  I didn’t come close to finishing it.  I am currently running laps around my neighborhood, typing this post on a laptop in an attempt to burn off some of the sugar.  I think a few more hours will do me.

Our five tacos, rice, beans, and horchata came to $19.87.  A steal!

Overall, my experience with the St. Pete Taco Bus was a blast. The food looked gorgeous and it tasted even better.  I cannot wait to go back and start perfecting my order.  Next time, some cheese, maybe a little sour cream.  Perhaps some carne asada.  The sky’s the limit.  If you have any interest whatsoever in Mexican food, you need to hightail it down to the Taco Bus, Speedy Gonzalez style.  I’d say tell you’re your friends, but I think I’m the last person in the bay to find out about it.

Taco Bus
2324 Central Avenue
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
813-232-5889

DelCo’s Original Steaks and Hoagies: A Review

My better half is a native Philadelphian.  She moved down to St. Petersburg a handful of years back because of her undying love for me.  Sweet and misguided, and that’s why I love her.  Also, she knows how to eat, and she knows her way around a cheese steak.  So when she came home from work and told me about a place her coworker had taken her to that served steaks likes the one’s she used to buy in the City of Brotherly Love, well it was a forgone conclusion we’d be heading down to that place as soon as possible.

The place is DelCo’s Original Steaks and Hoagies.  It’s located in a shopping complex storefront on Main Street in Dunedin. 

The restaurant is bright and open and inviting.  The gigantic Philadelphia Flyers flag hanging on the far wall is attention getting to say the least. 

The woman at the counter was polite and efficient in taking our orders.  No nonsense.  Philly-style.  I ordered a cheese steak with peppers and onions and a basket of cheese fries.  My trusted dining companion ordered a chicken steak with mozzarella and peppers.

We had a seat in a corner booth and didn’t have to wait long before our food arrived.  Cheese fries came out first.  The fries were hot and crisp and the neon orange cheese was plentiful and wonderfully bad for me.  I loved them.

Then our steaks arrived.  Now, let’s get this out of the way.  I’ve never met a cheesesteak I didn’t like.  Whether it’s from the hallowed Pat’s in Philly or the Steak Escape in any mall food court, it’s all good to me.  However, my Delco’s steak was very good.  The roll was soft inside, slightly crisped, and structurally sound.  The steak was chopped efficiently and piled high and deep.  It was hot, evenly coated in cheese, and studded with my peppers and onions (insert Homer Simpson’s drooling sound here).  And it was large.  I only finished half.  I would say I felt like less than a man, but I got to happily enjoy the other half later that night, so screw my almost nonexistent manhood. 

I tried a big bite of the chicken steak, and in a surprising turn of events, I think I liked the chicken steak even more!  The chicken was cooked to perfectly tender, avoiding the always ever present threat of rubberiness.  The mozzarella tied the whole thing together with the peppers for a wholly enjoyable experience.

After stuffing myself into a state of perfect contentment, I fancied a wander down DelCo’s aisle of Philly snacks: Tastykakes and Herr’s as far as the eye could see.  I loaded up (although they didn’t have any of my beloved Dark Russet Kettle Chips) and was already eating some Sour Cream and Onions before I left the parking lot.  The bill for two steaks, cheese fries, a fountain drink, and a bottle of water came to around $20 (I lost the receipt in my Herr’s excitement).

The place is cash only, so come prepared.  Some pants with an elastic waistband wouldn’t be a bad idea either. 

I am a fan of DelCo’s.  I can’t wait to go back.  I only thank the good king Odin that the restaurant isn’t close to my apartment.  That could easily lead to an unfortunate rag on a stick bathing situation, and that’s not good for anybody.

Go to DelCo’s and get a steak.  It will make your day better.

DelCo’s Original Steaks and Hoagies
1737 Main Street
Dunedin, FL 34698
(727) 738-4700

Buddy Brew: A Review

I am a thirty year old man.  I have been drinking coffee regularly since I was 18.  It started with late nights in Denny’s and IHOP.  Then it was Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, every morning, for at least the past five years.  Do I love the coffee at either of those places enough to crave it every morning?  No.  I do not.  However, I am lazy and hate getting up for work.  My morning routine is choreographed to the picosecond.  If there are four cars ahead of me at Dunkin’ Donuts, I will be late for work.  If there are three, I will be on-time.  I simply cannot force myself to get up and make my own coffee.  It’s sad really.

I don’t have a coffee palette.  I can’t taste the difference in bean varieties, or locations, or organic-ness.  I would love to, but I don’t, as of yet.  I drink whatever black sludge is served to me.  I have had exactly three memorable coffee experiences out of the thousands of times I’ve consumed coffee.  It’s horribly depressing.  The first was a shot of Turkish mud at some crepe place in Ybor that I’m sure is defunct.  The second was a cup of Blue Mountain from Emeril’s restaurant in Orlando.  And the third happened last week when I stopped by Buddy Brew in Tampa. 

Buddy Brew is a coffee geek’s paradise.  It’s sleek and simple and small.  There’s a countertop setup, a thrift store table with four chairs, two comfortable loungey-type chairs and a couch.  And there’s a glorious giant, shiny, roaster right smack dab in the middle of the place.  There’s also a back room secreted away behind a curtain.  I don’t know what goes on back there but it either involves ninjas, an interdimensional portal, or some sort of soul trade.  Because the coffee is that good.

I have to admit, I was a little intimidated going in.  But I pushed past it and I ordered a cappuccino.  It was made for me by a barista (I hate that word), by a coffee genius, who looked not a little unlike Toby McGuire.  My girlfriend was very “excited” about that, as I was told more than once throughout the remainder of the day. 

The cappuccino was, without a doubt, the best cappuccino I have ever had.  I almost passed out.  It made me feel like my tongue has been wrapped in medical gauze for the past 12 years.  I tasted things in the espresso that I never thought possible.  I always laughed at coffee nerds when they talk about earthiness and chocolate undertones and nutty flavors, but they were there.  I couldn’t believe it.  For an unenlightened coffee cretin like me, it was a revelation.  

As I sipped this delicious beverage alone in a corner pondering what a sham my life had been up to that point, I eavesdropped on the shop’s crew.  They were talking about roasting and beans and profiling and Billy Bragg was crooning overhead.  It was awesome.  I landed in the middle of the yet-to-be-written Nick Hornby coffee novel!  I was in the Championship Vinyl of espresso joints.  These guys were not fooling around.  This was serious.  Top 5 Bean Varieties Grown Near Villages Of Less Than 100 People On The Side Of An East African Mountain.  Go.

I finished my cappuccino, contemplated ordering another one, decided against it, and bought a bag of beans that was roastmarked the day before.  I didn’t know the difference between any of the bags or what I was buying, but I knew I had never had coffee that was roasted less than 24 hours ago.  I’ve been drinking it all week, and it is fantastic.

Buddy Brew is great.  My hat is off, and my life is changed.  This humble shop is a lighthouse in a dark sea of caffeinated dreck.  Go there and caffeinate.  Go there and caffeinate, now.

Buddy Brew
2020 West Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33606
813-258-2739

The Stone Soup Company: A Review

Recently, I found myself braving the post-apocalyptic wasteland located nine feet to either side of Seventh Avenue in Ybor City to check out a restaurant I’ve been hearing good things about: The Stone Soup Company.

The Stone Soup Company is nestled behind a very unassuming storefront on the main drag in Ybor.  The space is long and narrow with slightly more than a handful of booths and tables lining each wall.  The kitchen is open and found at the back of the restaurant.  There is local art hanging on the walls (some quite interesting) and a few unnecessary TVs hovering over each booth.  It’s somewhere between little-or-nothing and hoping-to-be-kind-of-hipster.

My waitress and trainee were nice but didn’t seem like they had been waitressing very long.  It took a little too long to take my order, even though there were only a few other diners in the place.

I had some issues with the menu.  They gave me a standard menu with red dots markered in, indicating what soups were currently available.  I used said dots to formulate and place my order.  A couple sat down at the booth in front of mine and claimed that the dots on each of their menus didn’t match.  The waitress apologized and restated the soups available.  The soups she told them were different from the ones on my menu, which was unfortunate because I wanted to order one of the soups that I thought was unavailable.  I didn’t bother re-ordering. 

I ordered three cups of soup: Lobster Seafood Risqué Bisque, Three Cheese Broccoli Please, and Mama’s Chicken Soup.  I hate cutesy dish names.  We’re all adults here.  Let me order with some dignity.  I also hate being served Coke from a bottle and not from a fountain.  I can get a bottle of Coke at home.  I do not have a fountain.  Unforgivable, Stone Soup.

My first soup was brought out by the chef who said, “When you order three soups, the chef has to come out!”  I thought that was nice.  He was saying it to the couple in front of me as he tried to deliver my soup to them…but still.  It’s the thought that counts.

The bisque was stringy, grainy, and had a general seafoodiness about it.  There were no distinct or interesting flavors jumping out at me.  I was underwhelmed.

The broccoli and cheese soup (forgot to photograph) tasted ok.  It was smooth and cheesy but had its share of problems.  The broccoli florets were few and far between, and the soup was jam packed with broccoli stems!  (I think stems is the word.  Right?)  Some of the stems were quite large which meant many of them did not cook through, and that made for a dismal chewing experience.  I could have done without the carrots as well.  It’s broccoli and cheese soup.  Beat it, carrots.

The chicken noodle soup was probably my least favorite of the three.  It was filled to the brim with carrots, noodles, and chicken.  The chicken was kind of tender and came in chucks, instead of the familiar shreds which I was expecting.  Some of the chunks were gigantic.  That put me off a bit.  The herby-ness of the soup completely dominated its other flavors.  I think the main herb I tasted was thyme.  You’ll have to excuse me, I only recently starting eating and caring about food like an enlightened non-moron should.  So, I’m still trying to overcome my Applebee’s palette.

I received bread with every soup.  It was crispy on the outside and soft and airy inside.  Standard bread, but good.

My three cups with three breads, and Coke came to $17.30.

Overall, I was disappointed with the whole experience.  I had high hopes, but the place just didn’t deliver.  The soup needs work.  The service needs work.  The menu needs work.  The whole thing felt like a work in progress with everyone just figuring stuff out as they go.  Where they are now is not terrible, but they do have a lot of room to improve.  I can’t say I’ll be back anytime soon.

The Stone Soup Company
1517 7th Ave.
Tampa, FL, 33605
813-247-7687