Tampa : Food & Drink
Cultural Conglomerate
By Andy Schrader
Nov 1, 2007

Café Alma; #100, 260 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg, Florida; 727-502-5002; cafealma.com; Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon. – Wed., 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thu. – Sat.

You can set your clocks by the Café Alma. The business lunch crowd darkens its doors at noon, food lovers and wine aficionados indulge between five and eight and bar flies close out the evening.

Local Robb Hohmann, who often cruises over for the cheap beer specials, might be considered pretty eclectic as well. He rides his bike more than 50 km across Tampa Bay to his day job as a Web developer, shows films on a backyard projector for a measure of culture and, in his spare time, he organizes “Alley Cat” races—alcohol-fuelled bike-messenger style jaunts across the city. He cools off at the Café, which serves up southern European cuisine, live gypsy jazz or DJs and an interesting cross-section of St. Petersburg culture. — Andy Schrader

DOOR The entrance is below street level, one flight of stairs down from the sidewalk. “I’ve never seen a cover charge, but even if there were [one], you could probably just sit outside and drink on the patio.” 

DRINK “Stella, Guinness and the occasional vodka tonic. Sangria’s great, too. They do a lot of wine early on, but by the time I usually get here, that crowd’s all gone.” Also, a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar fortifies the Saturday brunch, and stately espresso martinis are always well received by the ladies. 

DÉCOR “It’s all local artists on the walls, and it changes every few months. All of it’s for sale. I’ve seen metal sculptures, pop art, artsy black and white photos—everything.” 

DRESS “For dinnertime, you’d want to look sharp. Later on it doesn’t really matter, but you might feel uncomfortable in shorts and a T-shirt.” If you really want to blend in after-hours, wear a tight T-shirt, slim fit jeans and make sure your hair looks like you just woke up.