Brunch at Maple Street Biscuit Company (11:00 – 1:00pm)
Aim for a late breakfast/brunch in St Pete today, you’ve earned it. The Maple Street Biscuit Co. is all about comfort food (or shall we call it guilty pleasures?) and is so worthy of all its rave reviews. Think succulent golden-brown chicken, deliciously flaky biscuit that dissolves in your mouth, home-made jams and jellies and freshly roasted coffee from the local roastery. Throw in some fried green tomatoes and waffles, and you are all set. (Quite possibly with a slight food coma) Luckily for you, all you have to do today is to amble around some breweries.
Discover St Pete Murals & Craft Brews (1 – 4:30pm)
Downtown St Pete is brimming with superb restaurants, bars, boutiques, galleries, museums and local breweries with in your face street art almost everywhere you turn. (If you’re into murals, you could download the Pixelstix app for a map and more info about each artist.)
Start in the edgy Edge District to catch some awe-inspiring street art with a stop at Green Bench Brewing Company, just a block away from Central Ave. The name derives from the 1900s, when you could find some 2,500 green benches dotted around downtown St. Pete. This top-rated brewery serves up awesome stouts, wheats, pale ales and IPA’s – including their buzzworthy sour IPA.
Next, continue walking towards the Warehouse District for more street art and halt at 3 Daughters Brewing if you are in the mood for some boisterous, bold brews. If you continue a block north, you’ll reach the fun, eclectic small-batch brewery If I Brewed the World, (its name faintly bringing to mind a NAS tune).
Then we suggest you head right around the corner to Right Around the Corner, which will make you feel like a kid again with retro pinball machines, Nintendo and Pac-Man games in what is called Florida’s first “arcade brewery”. We call it a stroke of genius.
Late lunch in the Edge District (4:30 – 5:30pm)
For lunch (and you may be ravenous by now), head back towards the Edge District in direction Green Bench Brewing Company (either by foot, or jump on a trolley). Choose from two legendary food joints depending on your mood. Engine no. 9 possibly have the best burgers in town, with a mouthwatering selection of juicy meats with irresistibly tongue in-cheek names. Or how about Alice in Pain, Demi-God and One Bad Pig?
The award-winning Bodega packs more of a Latin punch with the best Cuban sandwiches in the whole Bay Area – to be washed down with their home-made thirst quenching juices. (A small break from all the brews.)
Continue perusing beers (5:30 – 7:30pm)
Overflow Brewing Company and St. Pete Brewing Company await you once you’re done with lunch. The former always have a tasty mix of everything, usually with some fun events on, whereas the latter has won several awards for and is a sweet, casual spot with a generous tap offering.
Discover St Pete Nightlife (7:30 – end)
When you are ripe to trade in the brewski for craft cocktails, then the Copper Shaker provides a cool backdrop for lounging. For epic rooftop views and fire-pits, then The Canopy offers both in an upscale environment with tasty dinner bites.
If you are more in the market for high-roller life, you can take stock of a wide selection of champagne and caviar over at Flûte & Dram. Elsewhere, The Mandarin Hide offers the largest spirits selection in town counting some 450 spirits, and One Night Stand plays on your country heartstrings complete with a mechanical bull making for a distinctively southern-tinged night out.
On that same playful note, you can cap off the night (and grab some dinner nibbles) over at Park & Rec where vintage arcade and video games (think Mortal Kombat) meet air hockey and giant beer pong – topped off with an enticingly long drinks’ menu (with even more enticing prices!) It’s basically a playground for grownups.
Cool off with an adult slurpee under the pale-blue light of a neon sign reminding you that ‘Youth has no age’. True dat.
