DINIANRGT OUT
A New Concept
on Beach Drive
Annex
By Margaret Word Burnside and Aaron R. Fodiman
The pressed Cuban sandwich at Annex is made on Cuban bread
D owntown St. Petersburg’s Beach
Drive, like Miami’s South Beach,
is filled with people of all ages
walking day and night. They can
find any type of food or drink they want,
as long as they are willing to sit down
and order it. While going between their
Parkshore Grill, 400 Beach Seafood and
Tap House, Café Gala and The Hangar
Restaurant and Flight Lounge, Steve and
Nancy Westphal noticed that there was
no place to pick up casual food to go, or
to eat informally. When they mentioned
it to Nancy’s son and Steve’s stepson
John Ruetz, the three fell into a discussion
about what was needed on Beach Drive.
The result is this family affair between the
three of them called Annex.
Bright and cheery with yellow umbrellas
and chairs outside and inside, they have
opened a place to eat, drink and shop.
To support local artists, they have a nice
from Ybor City’s La Segunda Bakery.
172 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2017
For those who want to cross the street
and eat in the park, they have picnic boxes
of chicken pesto, spinach salad, black
beans and rice and mixed salad. Of course,
you can eat any of these at the Annex.
If this is still more than you want, there are
also organic teas, locally roasted Kahwa
coffee, soft serve ice cream and milkshakes.
Everything is very casual. Order at the
counter and listen for your name to be
called when your order is ready. Then sit
down and watch the world walk past. This
new concept for Beach Drive will make it
easy to enjoy a stroll as you stop for a little
pick-me-up. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: Annex is located at
400 Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg,
just to the south of their 400 Beach Drive
Seafood and Tap House across from
North Straub Park, (727) 896-4400.
variety of artwork for sale along with
T-shirts, Frisbees, mugs and other items
that are usually last minute “must-haves.”
To drink, they offer bottled beer and some
local craft beers by the pint and wine by
the glass or bottle.
They open at 8 a.m. every day and serve
breakfast until they close at 10 p.m. The
Egg Souffles are delicious and resemble
what they sell at Café Gala in the Dalí
Museum. There is also a fruit bowl, a berry
smoothie, yogurt and gluten-free oatmeal
and waffles.
They also have the best pressed Cuban
sandwich you can imagine, along with
sandwiches such as chicken pesto, ham
and cheese and vegetarian, and quarterpound
hot dogs, natural style or black
bean dogs. Their daily specials allow you
to pick two out of three choices: a cup of
black beans and rice, half a sandwich and
a small salad.