My husband and I regularly enjoy walking over to West Park Village to grab a drink and a bite to eat. But sometimes we like to escape the bubble, so we braved the heat on the last Saturday of June and headed to our favorite coastal town, Dunedin. Instead of visiting just one restaurant, we thought we’d share a taste of Dunedin. We headed out in the early evening to avoid peak heat and parked in the Station Square Lot at the intersection of Douglas Avenue and Scotland Street. The lot is just a few feet from the Pinellas Trail, where we started our adventure. We headed north on the trail to our first stop, HOB Brewing Company. Located directly off the trail, HOB features an expansive outdoor patio reminiscent of a German beer garden, as well as a recreation area perfect for family gatherings. The brewery offers 40 beers on tap, including several brewed on-site. We both opted for the Red Right Hand Ale ($8.50 for 20 oz.), an Irish red ale with notes of caramel and toffee. We paired our beers with an order of Smoked Fish Spread ($10.99). They also offer a selection of sweet and savory Bavarian pretzels. The beer was refreshing and the fish spread was smoked to perfection. Industrial ceiling fans kept the air flowing and made the outdoor seating bearable in 90º weather.
After we finished our beers, we moved on to our next stop, Lucky Lobster, just a few yards north on the trail. This was our first visit, and, despite the heat, we opted for the covered, open-air seating. They had numerous ceiling fans and a few cooling units that made it surprisingly pleasant. Plus, it gave us the chance to enjoy the live music. Lucky Lobster has an extensive menu that ranges from pizza and tacos to pasta and fresh seafood. We decided to split the Lobsta Cobb Salad ($36) and a 10” Shrimp & Lobster Pizza ($22). The salad was large and perfect for splitting between two people. It featured large chunks of Maine lobster, fresh corn shaved off the cobb, bacon, avocado, egg, tomatoes and a generous portion of blue cheese crumbles with a side of blue cheese dressing. Because there were so many bleu cheese crumbles, I used the dressing sparingly. It was a very hearty salad. The pizza was…interesting. It featured smoked Gouda, Sriracha aioli, cherry tomatoes and fresh tarragon, plus large chunks of lobster and shrimp. The crust was wood fired — crispy on the outside, soft and airy on the inside. It was the perfect base for all the toppings. The Gouda cheese, while delicious, made it incredibly rich and a bit difficult to truly enjoy the flavor of the seafood. All-in-all, it was good, just a bit rich for my taste. My husband, however, loved it.
With our bellies stuffed, we grabbed our leftover pizza and headed further north on the trail until we reached Skinner Boulevard. Here, we left the trail and headed toward the water. We crossed Broadway to Tilden Street, past the new West End Market. Tilden is closed to thru traffic, but we kept walking along the path that leads to Victoria Drive, a lovely residential street that winds along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. This sandy strip is lined with a gorgeous, Savannah-esque oak tree canopy and beautiful waterfront homes.
The sun was starting to set (we planned our timing around this) and so we veered off Victoria toward the marina. This is one of our favorite sunset-viewing spots. Sadly, the marina pier was destroyed during Hurricane Helene and reconstruction is just getting started. We walked through Edgewater Park, but fencing around the Dunedin Boat Club spoiled the view. We finally found the perfect spot in the parking lot, south of Olde Bay Café, just in time to take in a stunning sunset over the water. Once the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, we headed up Main Street. Though we were still stuffed from our meal, we couldn’t pass up a stop at Strachan’s Ice Cream & Desserts. We split a single scoop of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream in a Waffle Cone ($8.50). It was a very generous scoop (more like two scoops) tucked into one of the most delicious waffle cones I’ve ever had. We grabbed a bench in front of the Dunedin Museum, adjacent to the Pinellas Trail, to people watch while we enjoyed our cone. It was the perfect way to end a hot but fun day in Dunedin.