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Dining review: Diner 437 does traditional favorites with a twist

Staff photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

From left, salmon hash, grilled pound cake and roasted chicken breast are on the menu at Diner 437 in St. Petersburg.

By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2009

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ST. PETERSBURG - One of the white hot trends in food today is "retro" — throwbacks to Julia Child originals, nostalgic comfort foods and a rekindled love for the classic American diner, only amped up with fine-dining touches.

Now downtown St. Petersburg has a gourmet diner of its own: Diner 437, named for its address on Central Avenue.

Picture a classic diner, with burgers, fries and Vargas-style 1940s cartoon waitresses on the walls. Now imagine that diner taken over by gourmet chefs in a culinary coup d'état.

Each standard diner staple is there, only dramatically upgraded.

The French fries are cooked in duck fat, and sprinkled with pepper, giving them a deep sweetness and sharp pop. The diner's normal fries come tossed with parmesan cheese and herbs.

The "L" in Diner 437's BLT doesn't stand for lettuce — the sandwich is stuffed with huge, sweet chunks of lobster.

The breakfast hash is made with duck breast or salmon instead of whatever the kitchen could find left over.

There's a chopped steak sandwich, but it's made with sautéed filet mignon and served on a garlic baguette.

Instead of chicken-fried steak, there's a chopped kobe beef steak in mushroom gravy with mashed potatoes and green beans.

For food fans, cooking like this makes you wonder, what else can be revamped? How about Ghirardelli s'mores? How about scrambled quail eggs?

Owned by Greg Pugh of Ringside Cafe in St. Petersburg, the restaurant kitchen is led by Dominica Macchia. She runs the open kitchen right out front in the restaurant like a tattooed dervish, constantly flying to and fro while bantering with customers sitting at the counter. Half the restaurant's appeal is sitting at the counter watching the Dominica show.

Be forewarned, we highly recommend calling ahead for reservations and getting there early.

On one Saturday, we arrived at 7 p.m. to a jam-packed restaurant with a profusely apologetic manager. They were out of food — not just a few items, but completely out of entrées. They offered the last remaining lobster BLT, which we found wonderfully fun, almost overstuffed with succulent meat.

The only other food available was the roast chicken breast sandwich, which we found unfortunately bland and watery. The manager offered a bottle of wine to apologize for running short of food. (Yes, wine, at a diner — and not a bad list, either.)

On a return visit, we tried the French toast, and found we could eat it all day long. Instead of plain white bread, Macchia uses luxurious brioche slices with a dish of super-sweet caramelized banana.

We also devoured the shredded beef short rib sandwich, its moist, tender meat almost impossibly flavorful and mingled with mild fontina.

The lightly battered and flash-fried green beans and asparagus spears make a great starter or side for sharing, served with a cool, tart citrus-cream dip.

Dessert is worth saving room for. The grilled pound cake is a fine way to end a meal, but also consider the jelly doughnuts. Here, Diner 437 does what it does best, refining an old standard by serving the doughnut gently warmed with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and crushed berries. We love Dunkin, but this elevates the humble pastry to a new level.