Suzanne Calling

As we had plans to visit Brass Tap Saturday afternoon, we set our sights on lunch within Lakeside Village. Ed suggested trying Burger 21, as we'd been looking at the place when it's been closed for the better part of a year. Who was I to argue with that suggestion? Thankfully, my sister saw sliders on that awning and she was excited at the prospect of getting mini burgers. I have to admit, the idea of sliders appealed to me, too, because it made it easier to pass off what I don't finish to Ed. (final score: 3 sliders for me, 5 for Ed.) Right outside the door, there's a sign that has menus in the top. Grab one, because there isn't a menu board inside. Oh, and if you're easily tempted by libations, be warned: they've got plenty of beers on ice right there in front of you. Apparently, they have shakes. I say it, because I was blinded by the beers, but not enough to get one-the plan was to get those at Brass Tap across the parking lot. We all dec...

30 trucks, three hours. Three hungry people meeting up with family. Will we see it all? Once again, we failed in seeing every option before the clock ran out, but we got to try some new goodies and I got to introduce family to several favorites from the USF Health lunch trucks.

Soon after moving to Florida, my sister in law Jane discovered an amazing sushi restaurant on the other side of town, Shingetsu. I'm trying to find the post from that first visit, but she wanted to treat her family, especially seafood lover Chef, to a meal with lots of delights. Indeed, we loved the place, and it became a special treat type of place. As a result of my coworkers asking me out to lunch at a very good sushi place in Tampa, it enters my mind more often. I'd run into Kay, the owner, from time to time when I got my nails done with Katie. A few months ago, she mentioned that she'd sold Shingetsu, but was quick to mention "you will adore the new owners." In the fall, Ed and I set out to see how the new owner was doing, but discovered that they weren't open for lunch on the weekend, and visited Gosh! instead. Finally, the urge for sushi struck on Friday night, Chef was game, Ed will never turn down sushi, and off we went to see whether new...

From the first time we visited downtown Lakeland, the Chop Shop was on my radar for a place that looked kind of cool. Old school vibe is always appealing, especially when you're downtown on First Friday and the place is packed. We went on a weeknight around 8, so there weren't throngs of people. Quite the contrary, we walked in and weren't sure of whether someone would seat us or we seated ourselves. The bartender called us back to the bar and gave us the lay of the land: You order at the bar and someone brings your food out later. Since there was a bar, I looked to see what was on tap. Limited selection, but full liquor and I wasn't in the mood for a Guinness( the only one on tap I like), so I got a Woodchuck hard cider, Ed got a Guinness and Chef got a soda. As I said, it has a retro vibe, the walls covered with various signs and pictures of motorcycles, cars, comic books and all sorts of memorabilia. There are about 25 tables in the place, 5 occupied ...

Ed and I hit pay dirt tonight. Now that the kids are older, we go out for a date night one night a week, get a drink or two at a local place and catch up on what's going on. Only the pickings are usually pretty slim. We can go to Applebees, the bowling alley bar, Hooters, BW3, or one of the little places where they don't serve food, which means people can smoke. No thanks. ' Tonight, however, we found the place with 60+ craft beers on tap, another 250 in bottles, a stage with a band playing over the bar and friendly bartenders. It was hard to decide which beers we wanted to try first. I did get Ed to have the DTs, so I was amused. :)

Billy and Bobby Alessi, also known as Barnaby Bye, a Long Island act... Ed and Chef among the records. Ed scored a half-dozen albums on his very long 'seek and acquire list'. The decor at our local record store