Thumper
01-16-2017, 01:17 PM
Lynn surprised me with a short trip to the coast for my birthday (which is actually Wednesday). I had no clue where we were headed, but after a short 30 min. drive, we ended up in a private casita (villa) on the waterfront of Tampa Bay.
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Then, for the highlight of the trip, she took me to Bern's Steakhouse that evening which is ranked the No. 2 best steakhouse in the nation! I had a ribeye that had been aged 100 days! It had the texture of filet mignon, but the flavor of a ribeye. Dang it was good ... and cooked perfectly!
8455
The wine list (the abridged table edition) offers 600 different wines, so Lynn went with the waiter's suggestion. She said it was the best wine she's ever tasted in her life! (and she's close to being an official wine connoisseur!) ;)
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Bern's has an incredible history and after dinner, we were taken on a private tour of the kitchen ... and then on to the wine cellar. Wow! It's claimed to be the biggest wine cellar in the world and they have over 600,000 bottles of wine stored there (some haven't even been cataloged yet). I asked what they'd do if they had a power failure and I was told they have 5 different cooling systems and back-up generators. He then showed us the unabridged edition of their wine list which weighs over 5 lbs. and is too big to put on each table .... but it's available if you have a few days to read through it! (taking the waiter's wine suggestion was a good idea!)
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Then we were shown the secured area of the cellar ... where the super expensive wines are stored. One of the bottles is worth $30,000! I asked why these were all enclosed in plastic bags and was told the labels on the very old bottles had a habit of coming loose and separating from the bottle, so bagging them insures there will be no label mix-ups. Otherwise, they may enter the area and find 50 labels on the floor, but have no idea which belongs to which bottle. The second pic is of 1839 vintage but the oldest here is an 1815 Port. They also have quite a few bottles that are thought to be the last remaining bottle on earth!
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We then went upstairs to the restaurant's "dessert room" which was the size of a warehouse! Their dessert room is so popular, you need a reservation just for dessert! Dessert is not served in the dining area, but you're given individual private booths which are made from HUGE old California redwood wine casks. They have a box in each booth to select any genre of music you want to listen to (if wanted), or you can pipe in the live music from the pianist downstairs in the main dining area. There is a phone hookup to make individual requests if desired. For desert, we shared their homemade Macadamia Nut ice cream sundae, then to help with my diet, they brought me a little birthday surprise (which we took back to the room with us).
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So, after dinner, we headed back to the casita for a bit of r&r. The next day, we went to a Champagne brunch at Oyster Catchers right on the Bay for an awesome meal as well as another birthday surprise (which we also took to the room with us!)
8446 8454
To walk off our breakfast, we strolled down their (very nice) nature trail to the bay before returning home. It was a fantastic weekend for my 65th!
8448
8430 8433
Then, for the highlight of the trip, she took me to Bern's Steakhouse that evening which is ranked the No. 2 best steakhouse in the nation! I had a ribeye that had been aged 100 days! It had the texture of filet mignon, but the flavor of a ribeye. Dang it was good ... and cooked perfectly!
8455
The wine list (the abridged table edition) offers 600 different wines, so Lynn went with the waiter's suggestion. She said it was the best wine she's ever tasted in her life! (and she's close to being an official wine connoisseur!) ;)
8449
Bern's has an incredible history and after dinner, we were taken on a private tour of the kitchen ... and then on to the wine cellar. Wow! It's claimed to be the biggest wine cellar in the world and they have over 600,000 bottles of wine stored there (some haven't even been cataloged yet). I asked what they'd do if they had a power failure and I was told they have 5 different cooling systems and back-up generators. He then showed us the unabridged edition of their wine list which weighs over 5 lbs. and is too big to put on each table .... but it's available if you have a few days to read through it! (taking the waiter's wine suggestion was a good idea!)
8434 8450
Then we were shown the secured area of the cellar ... where the super expensive wines are stored. One of the bottles is worth $30,000! I asked why these were all enclosed in plastic bags and was told the labels on the very old bottles had a habit of coming loose and separating from the bottle, so bagging them insures there will be no label mix-ups. Otherwise, they may enter the area and find 50 labels on the floor, but have no idea which belongs to which bottle. The second pic is of 1839 vintage but the oldest here is an 1815 Port. They also have quite a few bottles that are thought to be the last remaining bottle on earth!
8440 8441
We then went upstairs to the restaurant's "dessert room" which was the size of a warehouse! Their dessert room is so popular, you need a reservation just for dessert! Dessert is not served in the dining area, but you're given individual private booths which are made from HUGE old California redwood wine casks. They have a box in each booth to select any genre of music you want to listen to (if wanted), or you can pipe in the live music from the pianist downstairs in the main dining area. There is a phone hookup to make individual requests if desired. For desert, we shared their homemade Macadamia Nut ice cream sundae, then to help with my diet, they brought me a little birthday surprise (which we took back to the room with us).
8442 8453 8451
So, after dinner, we headed back to the casita for a bit of r&r. The next day, we went to a Champagne brunch at Oyster Catchers right on the Bay for an awesome meal as well as another birthday surprise (which we also took to the room with us!)
8446 8454
To walk off our breakfast, we strolled down their (very nice) nature trail to the bay before returning home. It was a fantastic weekend for my 65th!
8448