Dan Marino's gaining fans

By CHRIS SHERMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 1, 2001

BayWalk's bustling new dining spot scores with trendy styling and mostly good food, although it could use some new tweaking in its playbook.

Anyone who has tried to get into Dan Marino's Town Tavern for lunch or after 6 p.m. on Friday or Saturday nights knows the former quarterback has a winner here -- and so does BayWalk.

But do we?

Yes, if you want a killer slab of tollhouse cookie dough a la mode, salmon and spinach salad good enough so you'll eat your spinach too, Mom's meatloaf and even first-rate tomato soup. Oh, and the coolest collection of art lamps.

No, if you're looking for innovative contemporary cuisine or the perfect teamwork of the Dolphins in the late '80s. The Tavern has recruited a big and talented crew from the front door all the way back to the kitchen, but it'll take at least a season for them to develop the necessary coordination.

But Marino's wins in a squeaker, as its namesake often did.

The margin of victory comes from stunning decor and a balcony bar for schmoozing or sipping a gin and tonic in the sun or under stars. That shouldn't be a secret play, but pleasant outdoor bars have been a rarity in downtown St. Petersburg. At last downtown feels part of vacation Florida and singles America, as if a new bridge had been built linking the city to the beach -- and to the nation that shops at the Gap and watches Friends.

Marino's is the last big restaurant to join the BayWalk dineplex, and it might be the most popular so far. It draws those who remember old No. 13 and those who couldn't care less; those who want something cheaper than Grattzi but more than TooJay's, and those who can't figure out Dish but still want a dash of modern times.

Dan Marino’s Town Tavern serves up appetizers like a spinach and three-cheese dip ($6.95) topped with sour cream, green onions and bacon and served with warm tortilla chips.

So let's block those sports metaphors and forget the Marino pictures, mottos and memorabilia. This ain't no sports bar or Dolphin hangout. The Miami style that the Town Tavern draws on is the high-style, high-energy club scene, as a fern bar for the new millennium.

The image on the window is Dan's but the chairs on the balcony are by Phillipe Starck. Even sports nuts are as impressed by the flat-screen television monitors as the reports from ESPN.

The real genius here is the LTP Group, a South Florida company with the smarts to run 40 clubs of varying styles, both high-concept and low, including Big Mouth Burgers, Hooters franchises, Adobe Gila's, most of the theme clubs in Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas and four Dan Marino's. (A sister company owns Martini Bar next door with slick infused vodkas and slicker clientele.)

Marino's menu is contemporary staples, with nods to Southwest, Pacific, Mediterranean and Mom's cooking. It's not original, but a white-jacketed crew of a dozen in a sleek open kitchen gives it polished sauces and sharp modern presentation.

This is the kind of place where you can get meatloaf as an appetizer -- and it's a head-turner at that, a pretty stack of meatloaf on mashed potatoes with a crown of onion straws. (Yes, it's a full meal portion for saner appetites). Tomatoes and portobellos go the tall food route, too -- and they're enough to share.

The best of the other plates to start or share are surprisingly moist chicken strips that seem as if they came from a tandoor oven or an old "broaster" and a quesadilla with real chicken and mushrooms and roasted red pepper sauce with real bite.

Seared tuna with white and black sesame seeds is done as prettily here as anywhere. Most unusual are flatbreads, a big house-made crisp seeded cracker not at all like pizza.

I'd save the shrimp and salmon cakes for an entree; it's the best use of these ingredients and beats most crabcakes I meet. Prime sirloin, served in a thick filet cut, is substantial eating too.

There's plenty on my don't-bother list too. French onion soup was thin, and burgers, beef and turkey are much too dry, although I like the crusty fries and the sesame spread for the turkey (but do put more zing in the cole slaw). Pork chops ought to be juicier and their apple-cranberry sauce livelier. Chopped salad as done here didn't convince me this is a trend worth keeping; I preferred garden salad with good greens (but $4.95's mighty steep).

Glad to see fresh green beans, but they were cooked too long for me; I like to taste the green. Likewise pleased that my beloved wahoo has a regular place on the menu, but it came off the grill greasy and tasting too much of the fire.

The biggest hassle came with shrimp scampi, eight big shrimp but undercooked and sent back. The returned plate looked very familiar but we proceeded, only to have a sheepish host show up later with a bowl of fresh shrimp, the ones that should have been in the recooked dish.

That's a laughable goof and servers do show admirable teamwork and cooperation. But there were also problems with cold food, uncoordinated service, confusion over stations and difficulty getting water.

I suspect those are problems of success. Handling these crowds this early is a tough challenge. Once it gets settled perhaps the service will be as smooth as the swooping metal surfaces and curves of mosaics. And maybe we'll see more consistency and more flashes of culinary originality too.

As with many of our new big-budget restaurants I wish I got more innovative food than decor for my money (Ideally, I want both). Yet Dan Marino's Town Tavern give downtown something sexier than another good restaurant: a social life.

Dan Marino's Town Tavern

• In BayWalk, Second Street and Second Avenue N, St. Petersburg; (727) 822-4413; Other locations: Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Orlando
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday, Saturday
• Reservations: Only for large parties
• Credit cards: AE, MC, V
• Details: Non-smoking section, full bar, good wheelchair access
• Prices: Lunch entrees, $6.95 to $11.95; dinner entrees, $9.95 to $23.95
• Special features: outdoor seating

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