3 Best Restaurants in Florida

Stone crabs, citrus, conch, and key lime pies are among Florida’s best-known eats, dependent on the season to bring them to the peak of deliciousness. The cuisine of Florida is also a mix of the best of the population’s heritage—a melting pot of Creole and Cajun from Louisiana, Cuban and South American, Spanish, and Asian. Here are three of Florida’s best restaurants.

Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro
300 2nd Ave NE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Phone: (727) 894-4429
www.frescoswaterfront.com
Daily: 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Weekend brunch: 10 a.m.

This is bistro dining at its best and most enthralling—because you get to enjoy Fresco’s outstanding New World and Gulf Coast menu right by the bay. Choose your freshest favorites from Oysters Rockefeller and fried Louisiana crawfish. There’s also an enticing Amberjack tuna marinated in sriracha sauce served with fried spinach, hickory-smoked bacon, sweet Thai chile glaze, wasabi sesame seeds, and grilled lemon. Meat lovers can also rejoice with their exceptional Filet Niccoline, an 8-ounce, center-cut fillet topped with gorgonzola cheese and Tabasco fried onion strings.

Spinners Rooftop Revolving Bistro and Lounge
Grand Plaza Hotel
5250 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach, FL 33706
Phone: 727-360-1811
grandplazaflorida.com/dining/spinners
Daily: Lunch – 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.; Dinner – 4 p.m. – 11 p.m.

It’s lunch or dinner with a view at the 12th floor restaurant of the Grand Plaza Hotel. The revolving restaurant affords spectacular views of Tampa Bay and the Gulf, completing a 360-degree turn in 90 minutes. The bar offers pre- or post-meal cocktails and drinks. Not to be missed are its Steak and Cheddar Melt sandwich of prime rib topped with melted cheddar cheese tucked into a fresh hot hoagie.

Buccan
350 South County Road, Palm Beach, FL
Phone: 561-833.3450
buccanpalmbeach.com
Mon-Sat: 5 p.m.-12 midnight (Bar 1); Sunday, 5 – 11 p.m.; now serving lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Sandwich Shop next door

Critically acclaimed gastropub under celebrated chef Clay Conley is always packed so reserve ahead of time. Standouts include wood-grilled burgers with aged cheddar, baby kale salad with pine nuts and currants, short rib empanadas, steak tartare with black truffle and fried egg yolk, barbecue brisket spring roll, among many, many others. His cooking has been described as “a glorious mix of America influenced by the world.” Which, when you think of it, sounds exactly like Florida.