00:00Tampa Bay's Morning Crew, 99.5 QYK, J.R. Lana, Kevin here.
00:03Obviously, the holidays are happening, a lot of cool places doing fun things for the holidays around town.
00:09So we thought we'd bring somebody in. I'm very excited for you to meet her.
00:12Her name is Kira Andrews. Good to see you, Kira!
00:16Thanks for being here.
00:17Thank you guys for having me. I'm so excited.
00:19So, Kira, tell me about everything you do, and then we'll kind of get into some of your great recommendations around town.
00:24Yeah, of course. So I am a food blogger in Tampa.
00:28I have an Instagram account, This Baby Eats on Insta.
00:33And I like to go around, find new spots, hidden spots, go to places that are trendy that I see on Instagram,
00:42places that people send in and recommend to me, try them out, take photos, post them, and share the love.
00:48All right, so we've kind of broken this down into a few categories and recommendations we have for people.
00:53Maybe if they're going on a date night, if they want to do something with the kids,
00:55if they're looking not to cook on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, there's alternatives to that as well.
01:01Let's go ahead and run down kind of the family-friendly stuff, Kira, that you have.
01:04For sure. So one of my favorite spots in Tampa is this bakery called Bacon Babes,
01:10and they actually have two locations, one in Armature Works and one on Davis Island.
01:15And for every month, they do a crazy like freak shake or something called The Works,
01:21which is this big, huge ice cream treat.
01:23And this month, it's all themed for Christmas.
01:26It comes with like a Little Debbie cake on it.
01:28It comes with like a light-up wand.
01:30It comes with ginger doodle cookies, all this stuff.
01:33They're super over the top, photogenic.
01:35Kids love them.
01:37How many people eat one of these, though?
01:39You can easily split it with like three to four people.
01:41Oh, wow.
01:41They're that big.
01:42They're big.
01:42They're awesome.
01:43Delicious.
01:44Yeah, it sounds awesome.
01:46Yeah.
01:46Oh, very cool.
01:47So that's like, it's just a dessert bar, basically.
01:49Yep, just desserts.
01:50And where are the two locations you said?
01:52One's at Armature Works, and one is on Davis Island in like that main strip on Davis Island.
01:58Okay.
01:58They have bright pink neons.
01:59You really can't miss them.
02:01Bacon.
02:01Babes.
02:02Bacon Babes.
02:03All right.
02:03Now, Kira, let me ask you a question.
02:05What is your go-to dessert there?
02:07So, personally, my go-to dessert is a Fruity Pebbles Babe Shake.
02:13Oh, my God.
02:13So they make these Fruity Pebbles cookies, and then they cut them up, and they blend them
02:18in with soft serve.
02:20Oh, my goodness gracious.
02:22That sounds amazing.
02:22It's absurd, but it's amazing.
02:24This is family-friendly.
02:26Everybody's going to get a piece of this.
02:27I love that.
02:27It's so good.
02:29All right, Kira, what else do we got on the list there?
02:30Okay, so another thing is, personally, something I love to do with my family during the holidays
02:36is go down to Tarpon Springs Sponge Dock, walk around.
02:39They always decorate real cute, and then I love to get lunch or dinner at Mama's.
02:44That's my favorite restaurant down there.
02:46Okay.
02:46I love their Greek salad, their octopus, the Saganaki.
02:51So that's something that I always love to do with my family when they're visiting.
02:55Yeah, and with the weather being so nice, too, that is a great place, especially if you
02:58have family from, you know, the colder states where they're getting a lot of snow, bring
03:02them down to the Sponge Docks.
03:04A lot of great restaurants down there.
03:05You're like, it's like this all the time?
03:06What are you talking about?
03:06Yeah, what are you talking about?
03:07What are you talking about?
03:08For sure.
03:08And it's like such a cool part of history that you don't really see as much of anywhere
03:12else in Tampa.
03:13We're talking about some other cool date nights, too, right?
03:16Yes.
03:16So for date nights, you know, Christmas, I feel like in the past few years, these Christmas
03:23bars have popped up, which have become super, super popular, especially on Instagram.
03:27So we have a few in the area, but my two favorite, one is in Dunedin.
03:33It's normally called Sonder Social Club, but for the month of December, they change it to
03:37Santa's Social Club.
03:39Perfect.
03:39And they have all of these craft cocktails.
03:42I actually think they won best cocktails in the Bay recently.
03:46So their cocktails are awesome.
03:49And they do special themed ones.
03:51Um, they have like a milk and cookies one, which is like an alcoholic hot cocktail.
03:56And then you like, they serve cookies with it that you dip in it.
04:00Um, and I do have photos of that posted on not the cookies one specifically, but I have
04:04photos of other drinks and the decorations there posted on my Instagram account.
04:08If you scroll back a few posts.
04:09And give your Instagram account again.
04:11This babe eats.
04:12This babe eats.
04:13All right.
04:13I love that, by the way.
04:14And then there is another Christmas bar, um, that is in downtown St. Pete at Intermezzo
04:21Coffee.
04:22Um, it is called Christmas at Mezzo, I believe.
04:26Oh, Miracle at Mezzo, I think.
04:29Um, so they, you know, same thing.
04:31They have really cute, like Christmas themed mugs and stuff that you can actually buy and
04:36take home if you want.
04:37Aw, um, but great date night spots.
04:39I love this.
04:40All right.
04:40So what about, um, some of the families that come down here for the holidays and they just
04:46don't want to cook?
04:47Um, they just want to go out maybe on Christmas.
04:49Are there any places that are actually open on Christmas?
04:52Or you burn the turkey and you go, what are we going to do now?
04:54The turkey, the ham.
04:55Or ham, whatever.
04:56Whatever your family's into.
04:58Yeah.
04:59So a few options.
05:00Um, well, one thing I really love about Christmas Eve food traditions is the Feast of the
05:07Seven Fishes with Italians.
05:09So there is a spot in downtown St. Pete, Il Ritorno that is doing, um, a Feast of the
05:15Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve.
05:17Nice.
05:17So it's a preset meal, um, and all their information is on their Instagram account and everything.
05:23Feast of the Seven Fishes.
05:25Yeah.
05:26You mind saying that five times fast forward?
05:27I'm just kidding.
05:28I couldn't even get it out once.
05:30It's hard to say.
05:32So that's definitely a great option.
05:33Um, and then another spot for Christmas Day is Rick's on the River in Tampa.
05:38Oh, I love that place.
05:40Yeah, that is a great place.
05:41Yeah, they, um, they're always open on holidays.
05:44They do a Thanksgiving dinner.
05:45They do a Christmas dinner.
05:46It's usually very affordable.
05:48They have, um, you know, a Christmas plate and then they also have their regular menu open
05:53and of course open for drinks.
05:54Wow.
05:55That's great.
05:56Great to know.
05:56So if you're looking for a place, then on Christmas.
05:58Or looking to get out of the house.
06:00Yeah.
06:00If you're like, I've had enough of the family.
06:01I can't take it anymore.
06:03Grandma and Grandpa are taking their nap.
06:04We're out of here.
06:04We're going to Rick's.
06:05Rick's on the River.
06:06Kira Andrews, This Babe Eats on Instagram.
06:09Some great recommendations.
06:10She'll be posting more and more too, I'm sure, uh, through these holiday days.
06:14But thanks for coming in.
06:15We appreciate you.
06:16Yeah.
06:16Thank you guys so much for having me.
06:17Tampa Bay's Morning Crew.
06:1999.5 QIK.
