Over 50 St. Pete

4th Street North · burgers, american

El Cap is the 4th Street burger bar with the red neon baseball sign. St. Pete Catalyst traces it to 1958, when Louis Joseph Svabek opened it in a 1948 building as one of his 'Cap' beer joints; Steve and Rose Bonfili of Pennsylvania took it over in 1963, and their son Frank turned it into what many call the city's first sports bar. Johnny Johnson has hand-formed the patties since 1992 and once made 2,300 in a day. Mary Jean Bonfili left the place to two longtime servers when she died in 2019, and in January 2023 Seed & Feed Hospitality, run by St. Pete natives, bought half while Cindy Nally kept the other half. The order is the World Champ cheeseburger.

EDGE District · burgers

A small burger sports bar with a hockey theme on the corner of 1st Ave N and 9th St, open since September 2012. Owner Jason Esposito is the son of Tony Esposito and nephew of Phil Esposito, both Hockey Hall of Famers and founders of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The bar does not take reservations.

Downtown · italian

Owners Domenic D'Angelo and Tony Mangiafico met in 1992 at a restaurant in Punta Gorda. Domenic started at the old Gratzzi Ristorante in BayWalk in 2001, where Tony was executive chef. When that restaurant closed in 2009, the two reopened it in 2010 as Gratzzi Italian Grille on 2nd Street South.

MLK Street South · bbq

Brothers Steven Johnson and William Delaine have run Hams 'R' Us for 14 years in one of the city's historically Black neighborhoods, rain or shine. The Tampa Bay Times says they cook hot and fast over live oak, laurel oak and pecan. The menu stays short: spare ribs, brisket and chicken, with baked beans and potato salad.

4th Street North · american, seafood, burgers

Dan Harvey opened the grill on 1 April 1984 and the third generation of the Harvey family now works there. The room is built from pieces of old St. Pete: decor from the Vinoy, Soreno and Albermarle hotels, and doors from the Sunshine School. The house claims more than two million grouper sandwiches sold, and the Tampa Bay Times named it one of Tampa Bay's 25 most iconic restaurants, per the venue.

Pass-a-Grille · seafood, american

The Falkenstein family from Baltimore bought the site in 1977 and built the restaurant out of what was left of an old hotel. The spot had held Page's Pavilion bathhouse, built in 1912, and later the Casa Bonita Hotel. The family added the first floor in 1986 and the upper floors, a banquet room and the rooftop bar in 1990. The roof deck, the Hurricane Watch, has two bars and a full-circle view of Pass-a-Grille. The grouper sandwich is the dish the restaurant puts forward.

Downtown · italian, modern italian, pasta

Owner and executive chef David Benstock grew up in St. Petersburg, cooked elsewhere, and came home to open this room ... the name means 'The Return' in Italian. Local press says he has led it from downtown for more than a decade. Sheridan Scott is chef de cuisine. The kitchen is open, and the Chef's Bar beside it serves 8 to 9 courses that are not on the dining room menu for $275 a person before drinks and tax. A private dining room seats up to 14 at one custom wooden table. MICHELIN's inspectors singled out the pastas, and the DMO quotes the guide praising its 'boldness and flavor in spades'.

4th Street South

An Old Southeast dive in a building that has held a bar since 1972. Owners Kelly and Lee took it over in 2022 and joined their names for the sign. $3 drafts, $2.50 beef tacos on Tuesday, a free pool table on Thursday, darts, chess boards and a karaoke machine.

Perry Bayview · breakfast, diner, southern

Jack Thomas started Skyway Jack's in 1976 as a shack at O'Neill's Marina feeding boaters and fishermen near the Skyway, and moved it up 34th Street South about two decades ago. You find it by the giant Humpty Dumpty and the rooster out front. Breakfast runs all day, and the Food Network once picked Jack's scrapple as Florida's best breakfast dish. I Love the Burg later reported a new owner, Darren Forte.

4th Street North · thai

Thai Am has been family owned since 2001. I Love the Burg says the owner and head chef are both natives of Thailand and that ingredients are imported from there. The dish people talk about is Chicken on Fire, a fried chicken filet in Thai chili sauce that arrives topped with flaming whiskey. A second Thai Am is on Drew Street in Clearwater.