Explore Your City - St. Petersburg
For awhile I had been hearing about the growth in St. Petersburg and I finally got a chance to take a day off to explore with my man, and venture through "the Burg" as locals call it. This city certainly has changed from the time I spent there during my teenage years.
One day really isn't enough to see and taste everything, you know with one stomach and all, so here are a few highlights.
Locale Market
I refrained from eating breakfast before our mini road trip, so I was pretty hangry when we arrived, so our first stop was the Locale Market. I didn't expect it to be within an outdoor shopping center right next to a movie theater, but the location didn't really matter as soon as I walked in the door. It's a two story market, with the top floor space being taken predominately by a gorgeous restaurant, FarmTable Kitchen. There was also a bakery and a nook to buy some locally made goods.
I headed downstairs to the main hub of the market and I was instantly jealous. No offense East End Market, but you've got nothing on this place. This was more of a market in the sense that you could actually do some serious grocery shopping here. Sure, there was tons of items to eat in their dining nook or outside on their spacious patio, but if you live in the area this place could easily although probably not cost-efficiently replace your trips to Publix.
I wanted to ease myself into eating since I knew the day would take me to many spots, but I couldn't shake the gut feeling that I had that this place was gonna crank out a mean burger. I ordered a turkey burger with guacamole, red peppers, cheese, and a glistening bun. The fatty in me couldn't resist the sign that said bacon and cheese fries. So much for easing into my meals.
You might notice the picture of the burger focuses more on the fries. That wasn't bad photography due to wanting to eat and not focusing on my photo, my camera WANTED to focus on that masterpiece. O.k., that is a lie, I was really impatient and wanted to eat.
If given the option I always go for a turkey burger over beef and sometimes that means missing out on flavor and that mouthwatering juicy bite. This burger made a mockery of all those beef patties and hit a home run in my mouth. So juicy, so flavorful, and packed with some delicious toppings to boot! Winner, winner, turkey dinner.
And those fries! There are no words. Just look at them and sigh.
St. Pete Street Art
Since I had eaten more than I had planned for my first meal I decided it was time to go mural searching. I knew that there was a lot of great art to be seen, but since people online like to get real stingy about telling you where to find murals, I had to go searching blind. But that's alright, cause I'm not selfish with sharing locations of street art with so BOOM! Here you go!
You are my sunshine mural can be found on Central Ave & 7th Ave.
The You Are Not Alone Mural from what I could gather is pretty new for Breast Cancer Awareness month, so who knows how long it will last. You can find it on the corner of Central Avenue and 11th near the roundabout.
The Love Your Neighborhood Mural can be found on the corner of Central Avenue and 21st.
This untitled mural along with many others below can be found off behind Central Ave if you walk through the open corridor of local shops where the Local Coop is located.
This fun and much larger mural than what is shown here can be found at 1st Avenue and Dr. MLK Jr. Street.
There was far too much art to capture, I could have probably just done that all afternoon, but in order to keep from driving my dude crazy, we headed to the Dali Museum.
The Dali Museum
I've always appreciated his art, but I never knew much about the man behind the surreal paintings. Also I realized I had been pronouncing his name wrong my whole life, so now I can act pretentious and be one of those people that corrects other people when they speak. A Ted Mosby if you will.
The free audio tour came in really handy as you got a much more in depth look into certain paintings and I will certainly never look at some of them the same way again.
The cost for adults is $25 which is a bit much for the size of the museum, but I would still say it's worth it. It's a beautiful building with a lot to offer.
Mural hunting and museum wandering meant needing to refuel with some caffeine. I know there are several cute coffee shops in the Burg, but I wanted to venture over to a place I had stumbled upon on my trusty instagram feed.
Old Southeast Market
I would liken the Old Southeast Market to a better, more millennial focused version of 7-11 that I would love to have in my neighborhood.
After speaking with one of the owners I realized this was a new venture, only having been open for two weeks. Craft beers, deli sandwiches, groceries, coffee, produce, and other local goods, this place would be an ideal alternative to a gross and creepy gas station, with infinitely better options to grab all while supporting a lot of local makers.
I only purchased an iced Buddy Brew coffee while I was there, but I hope that locals are taking advantage of this spot cause I'm a little bit jealous.
It was back to exploring, so I stuck with what seemed like the main drag where most shops were on Central Avenue. We found a suitable spot for both of our interests. One of us went into a large book store and the other went into a large vintage shop. Can you guess who went where?
Art Pool Gallery
I wish I had more pictures of the inside of this awesome vintage shop but I wanted to respect the wishes of the owners who had a large sign plastered a few places asking patrons to not take photos, but I can tell you this is a mecca.
I met a really rad "older" women with short silver hair wearing a vintage band shirt and I saw life goals flash before my eyes.
Sadly, although I tried on a few pieces nothing worked out, but I would hit up this spot on the regular if I lived in the Burg.
I can't ever pass by a record shop without spending sometime checking out their vinyl selection and what CD's are now $5 that I spent $20 on when the originally came out. Daddy Kool Records was the perfect place for a brief stop for some musical nostalgia.
Red Mesa Mercado
Our explorations up and down Central Avenue worked up an appetite so we stopped at Red Mesa Mercado, not to be confused with Red Mesa Cantina. I looked like a total rube and walked in what I thought was the entrance to find a confused looking worker watching my eyes dart around looking for a menu board or paper menu of some sort. She finally helped me out and said asked if we were looking for the restaurant. Apparently we had walked into an area that was only for taking food to-go, so if you go, walk into the courtyard and order at the window that is hiding and look much more with it than I did!
While these aren't authentic tacos, I didn't care because they were good and most importantly the meat was not shy with some serious flavor and an added kick. Look a the wolf on their building. He's so happy the tacos are so good he is howling! That's almost what I looked like after my first bite.
Green Bench Brewing
Conveniently located right next to Red Mesa is Green Bench Brewing. This spot looks so inviting with a large grassy knoll complete with beer lovers lounging and playing corn-hole all while enjoying their pints and flights in the gorgeous early evening weather. We grabbed a 64 oz growler to-go since sadly it was time to hit the road back to O-Town.
Our beer maiden didn't scoff when I told her I didn't really drink beer, especially the Sunshine IPA that Ian was purchasing, instead she offered me a sample of Cider to show no hard feelings for being a weird non-beer drinker.
They day flew by so fast and I didn't get to hit all the places on my list even though we made a nice dent that included other local shops and antique markets. I know we will be back to explore more and more importantly eat more.