A great Weekend in Tampa

[Jims5543]

I took a good friend and his wife over to Tampa for the weekend primarily to go the Berns Steak House for dinner. He helped me out with a project for my new office (he owns a tile company) basically jumping at a moments notice because I needed help.

Friends like this are hard to come by and I wanted to do something extra special for him and his wife as a thank you.

I reserved 2 rooms in the Westin Harbour Island and made reservations for four at Berns.

Suprise number one was from the Westin front desk. They upgraded my room free of charge because it was available and I am a Starwood member. I got a HUGE suite. It took up 3 sides of the top floor.

Suprise number two. My friend brought 2 bottles of Champaign, not just any champaign. One bottle of 1990 Dom Perignon in a Millenium gift box and one bottle of Cristal. We had the Cristal on Friday night and the Dom on Saturday night before heading to dinner. I now understand the big deal that is made over these brands they are so much better than ANY champaign I have had prior.

BTW - My friend has this stuff in a special storage facility. He has lot of cases of it. He had heard in the late 90's that the 90 Vintage Dom was running out and it was one of their better years. He bought up cases ans cases of it with the idea he would sell it all on E-bay. When he put the add on E-bay back in 2000 they took down the add and told him he can not sell alcohol on there. So he is stuck with a lot of Don and Cristal. I am not sure of the year on the Cristal but I think it was a 90 vintage as well. He said he would sell the Dom for $150 per bottle in the millenium giftbox if anyone is interested. FYI- They are selling '96 in a regular giftbox for $140. PM me if you are interested.

Berns was awesome as usual. The tour was great especially since there was only the 4 of us being escorted. We were taken deepr into the wine cellar than I have ever been, like all the way to the back.






Some gift bottles from the vinyards. Second one from the right is a regular wine bottle.


3rd Bottle from the left is the only one in the world:


Wine Prices range from $35 to $10,000 dollars and it is not unusual for them to serve a $5K bottle on a nightly basis.

The have over 9,000 bottles on hand in the cellar we were in and another 18,000? (If I remember correctly) across the street in a wharehouse.

This is the main room if the suite.
See the door my wife is heading to? It goes to the second pic. A sitting room that goes to the third pic the beroom. Then it went to a dressing room and bathroom.




This was the view of Tampa downtown.


If you are ever in Tampa make sure to go to Berns Steakhouse it is indeed a night to remember. We were int here from 7:30 p.m. until almost 11:30 p.m. It is a great way to spend the night.

[Big Ed]

Wow that soundss like a great time. Although from your title, i was wondering if I'd find any Daryl Strawberry references in the post!

[TerryBPP]

I must recommend Berns to 5 poeple a week.

By far one of the best restraunts in the US and reasonable priced as far as 5 stars go.

They also have one of the best desert wine selections I've seen.

Which steak sauce did you get?

[Jims5543]

Steak Sauce? Isn't that sacrilege?

Didn't order any their steaks stand on their own so well. Although my NY Strip was rare instead of medium rare. I was sort of disapointed this was the first time this has happened to me.

[TerryBPP]

Maaannnnn, you don't get their sauces. They have 10 different sauces that are killer. The gorgonzola burbon sauce is excellent. Trust me and try it.

[targa911S]

Berns is one thing I miss about Tampa. Although I sure love it here in PA.

PS ...I finally sold my house in Clearwater last night...whew! Nice to have no house payments anymore. I do miss all my friends though.

[trap]

I love Bern's. There's usually a nice car or two in the lot as well. Not to mention....other nice things to look at...

Sounds like a cool weekend!