By Brian Ries, Published 04.15.2009

Walk into The Lodge and it’s immediately apparent that the place is easily going to break the curse of this location. It was the sputtering 42nd Street Bistro for a couple of years, then an ill-fated outpost of St. Pete’s Chateau France, then Manny’s Bistro. None of them were able to gain any traction, but then again none of them were imagined by the Ciccio and Tony’s guys.

Jeff Gigante and his crew looked at the space and proceeded to discard all but the barest bones. They didn’t even need to put too much effort into the remodel, just a few decorations and well-chosen pieces of furniture to immediately convey the theme of the restaurant, which is an odd melding of ski lodge and diner. There are gleaming white vinyl booths, tables rimmed by fluted chrome, and servers wearing fuzzy boots to go with their white T-shirts and jeans.

The Lodge has moved in to the oft-used site that has played home to 42nd Street, Chateau France and Manny's Bistro.

It’s not minimalist, but it is restrained, which ends up leaving a hell of a lot of room for the kinds of people who make SoHo what it is. Beautiful and young, or plasticized and middle-aged, the place is packed with the kind of energy that might make a restaurateur forget about the recession.

Of course, the menu makes it easy on the participants. Prices stick strictly to the low side of moderate, with very few dishes even reaching the $15 mark. Better yet, this inexpensive grub is fun.

Appetizers range from familiar favorites like calamari and chicken wings, to déclassé treats like mini-corn dogs, to re-imagined finagling like cheeseburger spring rolls. From the simple to the contrived, it’s all fine and tasty, with tater tots available on the side.

Entrées up the whimsical ante big time. There are essentially three sections to the main course menu: burgers, sushi and TV dinners. Burgers branch out from the basic beef patty into turkey, tuna and pork sliders — along with a list of 15 or so toppings. Here again, the food manages to fulfill expectations without wowing the tastebuds. The sushi, though, is another story.

Drop a slice of rice, nori and stuffings into your mouth and your mind is prepared for a certain experience. The Lodge can do that, with capable tuna, crab and shrimp rolls. But more than half the sushi on the list will have your mouth wondering what the hell you’re feeding it.

Fried chicken and lettuce maki with a spiced blue cheese fondue for dipping. Pulled pork and cole slaw tucked into rice and seaweed. Steak and fried onions, hot dog and sauerkraut, burger and bacon — and somehow, The Lodge’s kitchen manages to make them work. There’s even the occasional flash of brilliance to accompany the off-kilter fun of the experience.

The last type of entrée might be slightly less fun, but it’s also something I want every restaurant in the Bay area to think about. The Lodge’s TV dinners offer a list of main courses ranging from fried chicken to mac and cheese, along with a choice of three sides from an extensive list. You wanna go with a classic? Get Shake-N-Bake pork chops with tater tots, baked beans and fudge brownie. Yep, there are desserts on the list, so you can go all sweet with some mac and cheese laced with chopped hamburger accompanied by chocolate flan, fresh fruit and twinkimisu.

The only big flaw in The Lodge’s TV dinner plan — besides terrible fried chicken — is the way it’s served. No divided trays? What? The main course comes on a plate, with a separate plate for the sides. A glaring error.

The desserts are tasty — although the twinkimisu is not nearly as interesting as it sounds; the servers are attractive and occasionally pay attention to your order, and the scene will make you feel like things out in the world are still alright, especially if you’re on the patio drinking it up with the rest of the SoHo regulars.

Wow. Add The Lodge to recently opened Datz Deli a couple of miles away, and South Tampa is turning into the most interesting spot for new restaurants this year. Say goodbye to top honors, downtown St. Pete.

The Lodge, 516 S. Howard Ave., Tampa, 813-251-5634

©1996-2009 Creative Loafing Media – All Rights Reserved

By Brian Ries, Published 11.29.2006

NICE NACHOS: The Lime does well by this sports-bar staple.

While eating at the The Lime on SoHo, dining companion Austin defended a mediocre movie by saying, “It’s easy to overlook the inevitable flaws when something is charming.” Profound, Austin. And especially apt when reviewing restaurants.

Of course, great restaurants don’t rely on charm. But most, well … they need the extra bit of good will that encourages customers to overlook “inevitable flaws.” The Lime certainly isn’t striving to be a “great” restaurant, so the obvious question is: Is it charming?

I guess a sports bar could be charming. That’s what The Lime is, via SoHo, so the vibe is upscale and the TVs are unobtrusive but omnipresent at the same time. The restaurant serves an extensive menu of gringofied Tex-Mex and Brazilian-influenced food with a distinct frat-boy vibe. This night, all the servers are male, and gentle but persistent ribbing commences the instant I order a diet Coke. “Live a little, man. It’s got to be a holiday somewhere in the world. We’ll have to get you into something stronger later.” That something stronger could be a shot off of Lime’s extensive tequila menu or, good lord, a beer bong.

Our gregarious server demonstrates the contraption. More an oversized tubular pitcher than the blood-alcohol delivery system of my youth, it comes with a stand and spigot for easy tableside refills. Don’t limit yourself to beer — The Lime will fill it with anything you want, from Jack and Coke to Grey Goose and whatever it is the trendy drink with Grey Goose these days. Maybe Pom or something. Apparently, the beer bongs are so popular on weekends that there’s a waiting list. “We’ve got a couple dozen more on order,” says the server.

Clever way to reinvent the beer pitcher as college reminiscence? Sure. Charming? Hmm. I’ll reserve judgment.

No matter how extensive the menu, there is no escaping that The Lime serves bar food. Nachos piled high on a plate and drowned in creamy queso fresco and hunks of pulled rotisserie chicken ($7) are among the best things on the menu. There are also under-stuffed quesadillas layered with everything from pork and manchego ($7) to chicken and pepper jack ($6). Nothing new there, just a little meat and a little cheese in a dozen combinations.

Guacamole — in three different flavors ($5-$5.50) — has the texture of thick mayo. Sure, there are chunks of almost ripe avocado in there, but the majority of it is processed until velvety smooth. Considering the lack of lime and cilantro, it’s overwhelmingly homogenous.

Ceviche ($7) with shrimp and calamari could also benefit from a lot more of The Lime’s namesake and more cilantro than a single leaf, as could the salsa and most of the menu items. Those two ingredients should be used in abundance, and their absence leaves the food with a distinctly Americanized flavor. That means dull. Certainly no better than the corner Mexican joint, even considering the wider variety of ingredients. That’s not charming.

The Brazilian influence on this menu of typical Mexican faves seems limited to the variety of grilled and rotisseried meats, chimichurri, fried yuca and something called Brajita bowls. What the heck is a Brajita?

Owners Jeff Gigante and James Lanza — of Ciccio & Tony’s, and Water right down the street — first displayed their love for the big bowl of food when they opened Daily Eats last year. At The Lime, bowlophilia comes in the form of fajitas in a bowl — those “Brajita” bowls — and a few “clay pot” rice stews. There appears to be no significant difference between these fajitas and the ones at Chili’s, except the “Brajita” bowl ain’t sizzling.

At least the clay pots show a little attempt at interesting flavor combinations. There are a few pseudo-paellas, including one with coconut milk and a bit of cilantro ($16) that makes for a tasty stew, or chicken and vegetables laced with a refreshing green tomatillo sauce ($14).

In the long list of sauces and cheeses and veggies available to be stuffed into The Lime’s tortilla-wrapped items, the meats are consistently the tastiest option. Slow-cooked rotisserie chicken and pork loin? Hard to beat it. Rotisserie lamb is a joy no matter what it’s served in. Skirt steak, especially when folded into a burrito ($7.50) — the best choice for an improved meat-to-tortilla ratio — is especially tasty, grilled quickly, then sliced right so it falls apart in your mouth.

One thing going for The Lime is that its menu — however banal in the grand scheme of restaurants — is fundamentally more interesting than the tired food you find at the Bay area’s standard sports bars. Or maybe that’s a strike against it. Depends on whether you want Bud longnecks and some hot wings, or a beer bong and burritos.

Some of The Lime’s charm might come from the crowd. This is SoHo, after all, so there are lots of pretty people doing serious drinking on the weekends. Still in its early days, there have already been numerous sightings at The Lime of Buccaneer and Lightning players, a fair number of whom live in South Tampa. It might be a fine place for that classic SoHo hobby — seeing and being seen.

Still, I’m going to have to come down on the wrong side of charming when it comes to The Lime. There aren’t many egregious flaws, but there also isn’t that extra something that allows me to overlook the problems. If The Lime were a movie, I might add it to my Netflix list, but I wouldn’t see it at the theater.

Brian Ries is a former restaurant general manager with an advanced diploma from the Court of Master Sommeliers. Creative Loafing food critics dine anonymously, and the paper pays for the meals. Restaurants chosen for review are not related to advertising.

The Lime, 2.5 stars

915 S. Howard Ave., Tampa, 813-868-LIME; www.ciccioandtonys.com/lime.html. 5:30-11 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 5:30 p.m.-midnight, Fri., noon-midnight, Sat., noon-11 p.m. Sun.

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