Tampa, Florida
Dinner with delights
Dined in September 2015
By Sean Overpeck (CFE)
Sad to say, but not everywhere you think is good lasts as long as you would like
here is the review from September 2015:
In the middle of September in Tampa, the weather starts to change as the hot summer begins to go away and the cooler temperatures of autumn approach. This is of course autumn in the perspective of a Floridian, which to everyone else is actually a nice spring style weather, where the leaves do not change, and the temperatures rarely go below 60 Fahrenheit. My girlfriend and I were planning a night out starting with dinner here at CopperFish Seafood Grill, followed by a concert at Amalie Arena to see Ed Sheeran, to enjoy the last few days of my leave before returning to Iraq. Our experience was wonderful, and it is a place that we shall both return to very soon.
Scroll down to read the main review
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From the restaurants home page:
CopperFish Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar
CopperFish offers the finest and freshest regional seafood in America. CopperFish is an outdoor patio overlooking luxurious fountain pool and an interior boasting a warm, energetic full-service bar and inviting oyster bar. Our classic, yet comfortable ambiance inspires a relaxed dining experience. The winning combination of superior seafood, premium hand cut steaks, unparalleled atmosphere and first-rate service has garnered the restaurant a loyal following and a storied reputation for value and excellence.
Our daily menu is dependent on what boat captains and fisherman are able to land. This menu is based on the season and changes frequently. We are committed to offering the freshest catch of the season.
Our Guests love the familiarity, simple comforts, and affordability of our landmark fish house that one might find on a family trip across the country, CopperFish invites guests to enjoy a truly American experience in fresh, superior-quality seafood and wood fired hand-cut steaks.
Main review:
There are so many wonderful restaurants in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area, and as I have mentioned before, both cities reviewed together are on the up and up and are being considered as additions to the top American cities for food and vibrancy in the culinary world. When you come to Tampa you think about the beaches, nice weather, and everything else that Central Florida has to offer, and as a new resident it will be wonderful to see that this area will be added to the list of New York, Chicago, Charleston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles as major food scenes. CopperFish will be one of the restaurants that will be on the list of several that add to the prestige of the two cities.
You can choose a restaurant to eat at in many ways. If your new to a city or just visiting, then the customer base follows reviews such as this one or articles on the top restaurants in the city that newspapers usually publish. Maybe it is through Yelp or Trip Advisor. Then of course you can be referred by friends or family, and finally you can come across it by luck. I had explored and researched the top restaurants in the city from the published articles online and I didn’t see CopperFish on them, though based on the experience, it needs to be. For my girlfriend and I, we came across CopperFish by chance and luck. As we were new to the area and I was home on leave from Iraq, she purchased several Groupon’s for restaurants in the city, to include CopperFish.
We arrived and chose the valet option over trying to find street parking around the restaurant. The restaurant was surrounded mainly by private housing and a few other business’s. The restaurant is a brick exterior with the patio on the front side of the building near the valet, and a white brick walled fence around the patio area. Inside, the dining room area their were two distinct architectural designs with a masonry white stained brick wall on one side with the kitchen being partially open to the diners for view, and towards the windows a wood wall and ceiling design with pillars of wood every few feet, where the booths were placed.
The restaurant opens at 4pm daily except on Sunday where they have Brunch hours, plus a regular dinner menu. The menu itself focuses on the city of Tampa itself, being a waterfront city, it caters to the sea, but also has a few items from the land. The menu for the Sunday Brunch consists of a buffet style setup that has:
Carving Stations of assorted meats
Assorted Salads
Raw Seafood Bar of oysters
Pancakes and Pastries
Omelet Stations and Eggs Benedict
Yogurt, Granola, Fruit and Cheese Selections
Every Monday through Friday they have a happy hour; 4 pm to 6:30 pm in the bar and lounge located on the opposite side of the dining room near the main outside patio. The menu and discounts include:
Beef Carpaccio
Grilled Oysters
Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ka) Gulf Shrimp
Fish Tacos
Fried Grouper Sandwiches
House Burger
Smocked Fish Spreads
For the dinner menu which starts at 4 pm in the dining room the menu is broken down by:
Starters on Ice or Hot
Signature Salads
Day Boat Fish
Lobster and Crab
Mesquite Wood Grill
As my girlfriend and I explored the menu we enjoyed a few starter cocktails and began with some oysters from the raw bar, or “ice” portion of the appetizer menu; flown in that morning and consisting of some Blue Points from the New York region;which can have a flavor spectrum from being robust, with wild flavor, to boring and mundane in flavor depending on how they are harvested. The Glidden Point Oysters from Maine which are quite briny initially, opulent, long, creamy, and fairly mild yet certainly full bodied. These oysters are bigger than they look as the shells are quite deep. The final oyster selection were the Deer Creeks a Pacific northwest oyster from the Puget Sound, which are an extra small oyster, and just the right size to taste and yet full of a fresh, briny and crisp flavor to leave one desiring more. This little oyster is grown on the cobble beaches of the Puget Sound in the heart of oyster country. Harvested at approximately two years of age, it has a round and deep cup and is flush with meat.
During this time as we continued to enjoy our cocktails, and the oysters, some homemade bread was delivered which my girlfriend ate while I enjoyed the oysters. I did offer them, but not everyone likes the little critters, but I love them. Other items available on the appetizer menu included ceviche, crab avocado stack, oysters Rockefeller, Mediterranean calamari, pan sautéed octopus and Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ka) shrimp, just to name a few.
We decided on a few items from the signature salads and soups starting with my girlfriends favorite soup, a Maine lobster bisque, prepared French scratch method or old-fashioned style with caviar, micro greens, and a crème fraîche garnish.
Under the signature salads they had a classic caesar with salmon, shrimp, or steak add ons upon request; a chopped Italian salad, with capicola, sweet ham, and provolone; a frisse salad of arugula with sautéed shrimp and scallops, and finally the item that I chose, a Butter Bibb Salad with a champagne vinaigrette and danish blue cheese, topped with julienned apples.
We relaxed and enjoyed some conversation after having our second course and ordered some wine to go with our entrees. My girlfriend had an Albariño from Martin Códax, a Rías Baixas estate wine, from Rioja, Spain, while I enjoyed some wine from one of my favorite regions, a Grenache-Syrah blend in the Côtes du Rhône produced by Belleruche Wines. (Scroll down below the main review to see wine tasting notes). The main entrees were broken down by three groupings, the Day Boat Fish, Lobster & Crabs, and the Mesquite Wood Grill sections. The Day Boat Fish are all items that by name means that the boat goes out in the morning and returns the same day, so all items on this menu are typically served within one or the same day that they are caught. There are a few items on the list that most likely are not caught within a day such as the Scottish Salmon unless it was flown in, however the Florida grouper, sea scallops, and red snapper selections would qualify. Other items that would call it into question would be the Pacific Mahi and Yellowfin Tuna. All of the items on the list looked fantastic all the same. The Lobster and Crab section was market priced and consists of the CopperFish Angry Lobster, by the pound, and an Alaskan King Crab selection. From the Grill, there were land items such as flat iron steaks, filet mignon, ribeye, and the House Hamburger.
My girlfriend enjoyed the Fried Fish and chips selection from the Day Boat menu of a Florida Black Grouper, dipped in IPA Beer batter, and french fries. The dish was served with a coleslaw and sauces (tartar & cocktail) for dipping.
I also stayed with the Day Boat section and had the regular black grouper from the menu, with brussels sprouts and mushroom hash, over a lobster essence sauce. The grouper was very tasty and a favorite of the area considering almost every restaurant serves it, so from one restaurant to the next, it comes down to seasoning, sides, and plate presentation to make the fish better than it is everywhere else.
Dessert at this point would have been possible if we didn’t have a concert to go to, so the next time we do go back, dessert will be on the list to try as well. Chef Brian came out to the table to say hello as we finished are entrees and asked a few questions to me since we are both in the same field.
Wine Tasting Notes:
Wine & Grape:
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Nose (Bouquet):
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Palette Experience:
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Martin Códax Albariño, Rías Baixas, Rioja Spain
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Clean, bright lemon yellow with greenish reflections,Medium intensity with ripe citrus notes file type and tangerine. Predominant note floral (hawthorn, jasmine and orange blossom) and a herbal background type hay.
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Envelope, fresh and good balance. The aftertaste reminds the note of ripe citrus.
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A perfect balance of natural fruit flavors from the Grenache and the structure, spiciness, and gentle tannins from the Syrah
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80% Grenache (the grape variety used primarily in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to the south) and 20% Syrah (the grape used to make the Rhône valley’s most famous red wines in Côte Rôtie, Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage, and St Joseph to the north). |
Wine Regulatory:
5 stars
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is Extraordinary
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4 Stars
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is Outstanding
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3 Stars
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Exceeded Expectations
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2 Stars
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is Above the Average
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1 Star
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is an Average Dining Experience
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No Star Rating
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The Restaurant is Basic, Poor, or Appalling
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Overall Star rating by Wine, Dine, & Play:
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4 of 5
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Ambiance:
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8 of 10
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Quality of the Food:
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7 of 10
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Plate Presentation:
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7 of 10
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Customer Service:
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7 of 10
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Wow Factor:
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7 of 9
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Wine Selection:
(See full list under review basics section)
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? of 10
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This Restaurant reminds me of:
A fantastic experience, the ambiance was well above several other restaurants in the area that we had been too, and very well designed, giving it a higher 8 out of 10 rating for this review. The quality of food, though possibly mislabeled as not being Day Boat, was still very flavorful, and matched with interesting sides and sauces to stimulate the palate giving the quality level of a 7, and the same rating would be given for plate presentation and the customer service. Our server was knowledgable about the menu, gave wonderful recommendations and wine pairings to match, making sure that we had everything we needed to make our experience the best it could be. The wow factor is a combination of what makes the restaurant ambiance and food stand out above other restaurants which also rates as a 7. For the wine list, I have marked my review as a question mark, since the list is not published on their website, and though requests have been made for a copy, I cannot do an accurate review or score until I see that list. I can only mark down and base it on what we drank while we dined. The overall rating for this review on CopperFish Restaurant is given a 4 out of a possible 5 on my star ratings chart, to put it in the outstanding category, and highly recommended to any and all who work, live or visit the area. I would compare my experience at CopperFish to some other great seafood restaurants that i’ve visited in the past such as Hank’s Seafood in Charleston, South Carolina; Two Oceans Restaurant, in Cape Point, just outside Cape Town, South Africa; and Moshulu in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Other Tampa and St. Petersburg favorites on Wine, Dine, and Play:
Council Oak Steakhouse in Tampa
Fresco’s waterfront Bistro in St. Petersburg, Florida
Spinners in St. Petersburg, Florida
The Tap Room in St. Petersburg, Florida
Hurricane Seafood Grill in St. Petersburg, Florida
Other trending story’s on Wine, Dine, and Play:
Leopard Hills Lodge in South Africa
Jonata Winery in Santa Barbara, California
Fleming’s Steakhouse in Akron, Ohio
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Emmolo Winery in Napa, California
BiCE Restaurant, Dubai Marina in Dubai, UAE
High Cotton in Charleston, South Carolina
Regatta on Avon in Christchurch, New Zealand
Rioja, in Denver, Colorado
Café du Monde in New Orleans, Louisiana
Food Prices
(excluding taxes & gratuity)
$£€¥ - Under 50.00
$£€¥ x 2 - 51.00- 99.00
$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00
$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00
$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00
**Currencies chosen reflect the world’s major travelers and restaurant connoisseur’s**
My food bill:
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Currency:
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Price chart:
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$80.00
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United States Dollar (USD)
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$$
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£53.00
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Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)
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££
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€75.00
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European Union (EUR)
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€€
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$107.00
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Canadian Dollar (CAN)
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$$$
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$110.00
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Australian Dollar (AUS)
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$$$
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¥512.00
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Chinese Yuan (CNY)
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¥¥¥¥¥
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Cost of wines and other alcoholic beverages in $$ USD:
$41.00
Review basics:
Wine selections by region:
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? of 10
A request has been made to view the wine list so that I can accurately score their selection and provide it to you, however I have not yet received it. I can only base what they have on what we drank while we dined, and nothing more.
Old world:
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Corkage fee’s:
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American Restaurant standard is $25.00 per bottle
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Restaurant style:
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Casual
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Reservations:
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Not Required, But Recommended
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Walk-ins:
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Accepted, but not guaranteed
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Dress code:
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Smart casual, Casual, or Conservative attire
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Child policy:
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The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a child’s menu or cater to them; however for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended for children not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette.
Hire a Babysitter.
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Cuisine style:
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Contemporary, Bistro, Modern, Seafood, American, French, Mediterranean, & Vegetarian
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Music styles:
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Background instrumental
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Experiences:
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Place for foodies, Business parties, Romantic, Hot spot, Great bar, Great outdoor dining, Good for special occasions, Beautiful décor, Great brunch, Intimate, Classy, Upscale, Trendsetting, and a Neighborhood gem.
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Gratuities:
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Industry standard is 18-20% added to parties of 6 or more
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Payments:
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Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
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Parking:
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Valet, or Street Parking
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Transport options:
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Bus, taxi, limousine, personal vehicle, and walking
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Wifi
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The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
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Noise level:
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Low
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Smoking:
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Nonsmoking restaurant
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Patio:
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Yes
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Restaurant address:
1502 S. Howard Ave.
Tampa, FL 33606
Neighborhood:
SoHo
Cross streets:
West Stroud Street and West Hills Avenue
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: 27.927637
Longetude: -82.483022
Contact Information:
Maître d, Reservations:
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813.251.6789
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Restaurant Website:
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Email:
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Reserve Online:
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Social Media & Accolades:
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Hours:
Standard Time (GMT - 5:00)
Brunch:
Sunday: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Dinner:
Monday
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4:00–10:00 pm
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Tuesday
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4:00–10:00 pm
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Wednesday
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4:00–10:00 pm
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Thursday
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4:00–10:00 pm
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Friday
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4:00–11:00 pm
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Saturday
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4:00–11:00 pm
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Sunday
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5:00–9:00 pm
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Proprietor / Manager:
Reviewed by:
Sean Overpeck (CFE)
Executive Chef
At the Stone River Battlefield, Tennessee 2015
About Sean Overpeck:
I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working as a chef and other areas of food service over the past twenty years, and is currently working with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, Dubai, and Antarctica, and worked in restaurants in and around Atlanta prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army, in their food service program. The idea for the Wine, Dine, and Play Blog started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by others to write down the experiences in food from the Jordanian restaurants, wine from the region that I tasted, locations of interest such as Petra, and of course the culture so that people, not only friends could read about the adventures instead of just listening to me talk. Since that time, nearly 200 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide; exotic world locations such as Dubai, Petra, and African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; country cuisines such as Afghan and Peruvian dishes; and of course wine including vineyards from California, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.
Chef Sean cooks for soldiers in Afghanistan, 2012:
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
TTFN
