Magazines » January/February 2009 Issue » Morning After: Tampa Bay
Pach’s Place
2909 Bay to Bay Blvd.
813.831.7122
The place looks kind of like your grandmother’s house: well-worn carpet, lived-in furniture, tchotchkes galore, and even a refrigerator decorated with funny magnets and family photos behind the bar -- not that your grandmother has a bar, but this is the South we’re talking about. And though Tampa Bay isn’t the Deep South, you wouldn’t know it by the array of glistening country fried items on the menu flanked by all the usual suspects: grits, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, and sausage gravy so unabashedly chunky, really, how could it possibly fit into those little valves in your heart? So, eat up. Located near town hall, Pach’s happens to be the refueling spot for Tampa’s city councilmen; in fact, local Democrats and Republicans have regular seats on opposite sides of the room and are notorious for sparking up heated political debate with opinionated patrons. Mmmm, municipal partisanship.
Skyway Jack’s
2600 34th St. S. IN St. Petersburg
727.866.3217
Don’t let the 6-foot chicken statue perched outside fool you: This is pork country. On an average day, 60 pounds of sausage and 45 pounds of bacon fly through the window. Notice the plastic pig dolls, porcine porcelain, and assorted oinker ornaments on the walls and dive into your Philadelphia Scrapple replete with pork, pork stock, fat, skins, liver, and hearts. But maybe that’s too much pig for you. There’s always the Real He-Man: four eggs, two 8-ounce steaks, and golden home fries slathered in gravy with baked apples and two buttery biscuits and honey. Despite the fetishistic deference to tasty barnyard denizens, 
the true charm comes from the folks who treat the place like a second home. The fishermen sloshing in for a pre-dawn meal, the packs of early-rising old-timers, groggy construction workers, and bloodshot-eyed cops, businessmen, families, you, me -- all waited on by gruff old girls who’ve been doing it half their lives, and they don’t have all day, so hurry up and order that plate of scrambled pork brains ’cause you know you’re curious.
Daily Eats
901 S. Howard Ave.
813.868.3335
It’s like the diner from Happy Days mashed up with some flashy L.A. lounge where you might encounter those girls from “The Hills.” Everything’s sleek, burnished, varnished, and chromed with enough artfully ramshackle flourishes to give off that throwback, retro vibe that hipsterdom is so fond of. Indeed, you’re in trendy south Tampa, so grab a seat on the outdoor patio and treat yourself to some people-watching that’ll reignite your will to live. The scene is playfully decadent and so is the menu. Thumb your nose at culinary convention and order one of five re-imagined eggs benedict dishes; the Benedictine, with shredded chicken, sautéed mushrooms, melted Swiss, and hollandaise atop the poached eggs and muffin is a lovely revolt. Ditto the French toast and eggs bowl where chunks of the baked and the scrambled scandalously frolic under a drizzle of maple syrup. And the thinly sliced, cinnamon-kissed sweet potato fries are, quite simply, one of those things you must do before you die.
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This article originally appeared in the January/February 2009 Issue of DRAFT Magazine
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