New (to us) in St. Pete and some old faves.

The Globe Coffee Lounge. Located at531 1st Ave North, this place is a funky, comfortable, friendly place that reminds me of my old favorite CoolBeans (on steroids) in Issaquah, WA. High ceilings, old funky stuffed chairs and sofas, vintage 50s dinette sets, art scrambled on the walls and counters, soups, desserts and great lattes and other drinks. And FREE Wifi. (and plenty of plugs for those energy gobbling laptops). This is going to be one of my favorites…only thing is they aren’t open until 11am…so they aren’t an early morning haunt.

Mid-Peninsula Seafood Market and Restaurant located at400 49th Street South, Casual (picnic and dinette tables with mix and match chairs). Kitschy tropical décor. Order at the counter and they bring you your meal. Excellent grilled shrimp. Good stone crab (old or hot). Good fries and cole slaw. Very reasonably priced.

Orange Blossom “stand”. Located on Hwy 19 in north Clearwater at Bellair, Orange Blossom is a huge warehouse selling fresh citrus of all types and local fresh vegetables (onions and Ruskin tomatos are “in” now). They also have my favorite orange soft serve ice cream…not too sweet…mixed with vanilla…yep…creamsicle. We drove about 10 miles out of our way for that treat!

Mazzaro’s Italian Grocery. I know I’ve written about Mazzaro’s before and this probably won’t be the last time either. I love this place. I LOVE THIS PLACE. I love it from the minute I drive in the parking lot and look at the colorfully painted hodgepodge of a building with a papermache Italian woman greeting you at the door. I love it when I walk in and smell the wonderful perfume of fresh, fresh meats, cheese, wines in storage, fresh pastries and even fresher pasta, oh and lets not forget the freshly ground coffees. I could just stand there and breathe if I wasn’t so eager to find the treasure of the day. Today, it was the search for good mozzarella and basil (to go with the Ruskin tomatoes that I bought at Orange Blossoms). A little fresh roast beef and garlic bread and we were set for dinner on the patio back at Jimmy’s pool house. Did I say I LOVE Mazzaro’s? It’s located on 22nd Avenue in St. Pete just a few blocks east of 34th Street.