First (I hope not last) visit to Bern's Steak House, Tampa

I've wanted to visit this restaurant for some time now and a trip to the Tampa area to see a friend provided the opportunity. The server offered me a shorter list of wines by the glass or bottle but I chose to wrestle with the longer wine list. In the end, I did call on the assistance of a sommelier. I was thinking of a Leoville Poyferre but the 2005 or 2010 were probably too young and also too expensive for my budget. Then I turned to the Nuits St. Georges and inquired about how the 2006 Faiveley N-S-G was drinking. The waiter summoned the sommelier who said it might still be quite tight and when I expressed interest in a Leoville Poyferre he mentioned that they had an '84 at a reasonable price. I had failed to spot that on the wine list. I ordered a bottle of the '84 and although not an esteemed vintage, Connie and I both liked it with the strip steak. It retained some fruit while showing some secondary development. I found cranberry and cherry notes with a faint hint of old leather. Tannins showed up on the finish. We retired to the dessert room after dinner and Connie had coffee while I tried a two-ounce pour of an ice wine from Adelsheim Pinot Noir grapes. It was too sweet for my taste--German Eiswein usually has the acidity to balance out the concentrated residual sugar but this wasn't balanced.

Two days later we went to the Sun and Fun Lakeland Air Show where we met up with a high school classmate of ours (Lincoln Southeast High School, Lincoln, NE) who lives in Colorado and Arizona and flies his own small plane to the airshows. He's both a retired motorcycle policeman and a retired airlines pilot. After the Thunderbirds show we sat near his plane in the camping area and Connie and I shared a bottle of a Spanish rose' wine while Joel had beer.

Another evening in Tampa I ate at a French-themed restaurant where I had a "Refresh" cocktail and a glass of St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc, Napa. The cocktail lived up to its name with Ketel vodka, cucumber, basil and lemon--very refreshing. I have had good luck with St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc as a reliable domestic S.B. and it paired well with pan-seared grouper with artichoke hearts, cauliflower hash, and lemon-herb pistou.

I may revisit this area of Florida in October or November and dine at Bern's again. I didn't get to Busch Gardens since we had a rainstorm the day I thought I might go there and I also want to visit the Chihuly Collection and the Salvador Dali and another museum in St. Petersburg.

[Jenise]

Bern's!!! I can't remember what friend showed it to me, but someone I know was given a copy of the leather-bound one inch thick wine list and boy was that impressive. No wonder you didn't notice that '84! Did the food live up to the wine service?

I have always had great fondness for Bern's Steakhouse, partly for the food, partly for the wine, but mostly for Bern's original vision of what a restaurant should be, and do.

It's American extravaganza in it's most garish and blatant form It is also a grand temple of absolute verging-on-clinical obsessive attention to detail (started by Bern; now carried on by his son).

The bar/lounge is a testament to the French Bordello school of design, and floozy boozy drinks are the order of the day. The capacious main floor dining room is more utilitarian/functional than it is elegant dining. The wine lists are literally bolted to the table on custom-built stands (and of course, Bern was so particular about the design and metal fashioning he had to buy the company that did it so he would get exactly what he wanted). And that's not the wine list---just the main course wine list. Another and even more sybaritic one awaits in the dessert room/private booths with pages upon pages of Sauternes, Tokays, Eisweins, and on and on and on.

Bern's is the kind of place where people are eager to begin as bussers, to be able to work their way up to kitchen runners, and a few get to work as line expediters, before they are allowed (some years later) to put on the red vest of the floor waiter (average work span of a floor waiter: 14 years last time I asked).

Example: you order a dessert, one of their specialties and you find out they make the macadamia nut ice cream in house; they make the pastry in house; they grind their own nuts fresh in-house; they grind their own spices fresh in-house; they marinate their own fruit. They might even own the orchards for said fruit. They certainly own their own potato fields for their potato dishes, and own entire herds of cattle to supply their own meats. The fish and seafood: when you order it, they catch it. Two tanks in the back, one freshwater and one saltwater, keep the aquatic life ready at hand. When you order fish, that fish has to be caught and cooked.

And for wine geeks: the by-the-glass list is bigger than most large, fancy restaurant wine lists. And it is kept fresh, believe it or not. The warehouse list (they keep multiple warehouses to hold their wine inventory) is staggering. Even the most jaded can find their rare and precious dream wines here. Some are sacred; some are profane. But Bern's made the accumulation thereof a national wine treasure.

When you go, do it up royal---but first make sure your credit card is not anywhere close to your max limit, 'cause it ain't cheap, and you almost always end up ordering things you never imagined before you walked in the place.

I've read about Bern's on various wine boards and hope to get to there one day... Biggest wine list I've encountered was the massive one at Angus Barn in Raleigh NC

I've been to the Dali museum in St Petersberg a couple of times and throughly recommend it. It is really worth booking on a guided tour as itreally enhances understanding of the pictures and their background.

The museum is in an attractive place on the water and there're neighbouring cafes that can provide an decent lunchtime snack.

Jenise, I thought the steaks were very good. (The server said they use Nebraska beef--my home state--and they age the beef.) I also liked the green vegetables with the steak. I had a port cream sauce on my steak and Connie had bleu cheese. The dessert room was an experience. I've heard others say they have had better steaks elsewhere and go for the wine list but I wouldn't knock the food. It more than satisfied us. Connie had dined there before and was eager to go again.

Next time I go I may stay in Sarasota or St. Petersburg to visit the museums but I will definitely book a dinner at Bern's again.