Safety Harbor Restaurant Tips by Ewingjr98

Brady's Backyard BBQ - Main Street

Brady's Backyard BBQ, located on Main Street in Safety Harbor, is one of numerous small, local restaurants in this quiet, compact town. Brady's offers most of your standard barbecue dishes such as smoked chicken, slow-cooked ribs, smoked sausage, brisket, and pulled pork. Their sides include cole slaw, green beans, black eyed peas, collard greens, baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, garlic red potatoes, applesauce and corn bread pudding.

In 2011, Brady's BBQ had a booth at the annual "Taste of Pinellas" music and food festival, held at Vinoy Park, along the water in St. Pete. We tried their great pulled pork slider, which was served on a bun with your choice of spicy or sweet barbecue sauce. Great juicy meat and tasty sauce, and for just $3 it was well worth the money!

Address: 340 Main Street Safety Harbor, Florida 34695

Comparison: less expensive than average

Phone: (727) 712-3727

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Barbecue

Website: http://www.bradysbackyardbbq.com/

Green Springs Bistro

Green Springs is one of the best little locally owned restaurants I have discovered in the Tampa Bay Area. This cool location (as the name suggests) is in an old Tampa bungalow which has been beautifully remodeled into a restaurant with six or so uniquely decorated rooms. Maybe my favorite decorative touch was the SCUBA breathing apparatus that was attached to the urinal in the men's room.

Our meals started with a small, but complimentary, cup of the soup of the day, which was potato. We also had simple side salads included with our entrees.

I decided on their appetizer called Saganaki ($7). This piping hot baked Greek Kefalograviera cheese was fried in olive oil and served in a sizzling iron skillet with soft bread. When the waiter brought it out to the table, he exclaimed "Ooopah!" as he squeezed the lemon on the cheese to make the whole dish sizzle.

Laura ordered their blue crab-stuffed portobello mushroom ($10). This dish came with two flattened portobello mushroom caps overflowing with great blue crab meat.

My entree was their "pesto-seared jumbo shrimp and scallop risotto" for $19. The name is a mouthful and so was the meal! The mound of creamy pesto risotto was topped with six or eight small Key West pink scallops and sea scallops, all seared to perfection, along with about four grilled shrimp, maybe slightly overcooked.

Laura's entree was the roasted duck breast served with blackberry sauce ($20). The five or six slices of tender roast duck were served with a blackberry-orange sauce, buttermilk smashed red potatoes, and some grilled vegetables including some great carrots. This was a very tasty dish.

Where we sat in the restaurant, we had a front row seat to their live entertainment, which is offered daily during lunch and Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. We really enjoyed Michael Rusch and his guitar.

Green Springs began in 2000 in a small house dating back to 1920 located on Third Street. By 2004 the restaurant had outgrown its original location, so the owners moved one street over to the 1930s-era house on Fourth Street.

Address: 156 4th Ave N Safety Harbor, FL 34695

Comparison: more expensive than average

Price: US$21-30

Rating: 5

Theme: Local

Website: http://www.greenspringsbistro.com