SPARC After Holiday Party - Kristina's Cafe

Kristina’s Café

3590 34th St N, St Petersburg, FL 33713 (727) 526-6673

The St Petersburg Amateur Radio Club holds an annual after the holidays party. Traditionally it is held at Kristina’s Café. From the perspective of the club members it is a time to meet, come face to face with voices on the radio, remake and rekindle or make new friendships and, well I “gotta” say it, catch up on all the gossip all while having a lot of fun.

From the perspective of the harried servers and cooks at Kristina’s it is the sudden arrival of fifty plus ravenous appetites, loud and laughing and having a good time (but otherwise well behaved) customers all ordering at the same time and from the full menu. How can you possibly plan for that?

A special note at this year’s party was the attendance of Woody, K4SCL. The club honored Woody with a plaque citing his over forty years of Amateur Radio Service both to the club and to the community. Active in the club, serving in many roles, of late he has been a net control operator and liaison to the National Traffic Net spending many hours every day handling traffic for the net. I have talked with Woody many times on the radio but had never met him in person. In later years, as Bob, KC4SXO said, “Woody sightings have become few and far between.” Over ninety years of age, Woody has decided it is time to slow down a bit. We were all honored to have him and his wife join us for the After Holiday Party.

Usually a restaurant will offer a limited menu for large group gatherings. The constraints of so many people, such short time and so many possible selections can be wholly intimidating. Each year the staff of Kristina’s is up to the daunting challenge.

Although I saw dishes from all parts of the menu being served, I will only report on my wife Janis’ and my selection. Memory can be persistent even if only subliminally. Janis and I both duplicated our order from last year’s party almost exactly. It was good then so it will most likely be good again.

Janis started off with a bowl of the soup of the day. Kristina features a different soup each day of the week. Since this was Sunday, the selection was Cream of Potato Soup ($2.25 bowl).
It was a nice thick and creamy soup with lots of potatoes and vegetables served with several packets of saltine crackers. She said it was very good, very tasty and she certainly had no trouble finishing her bowl of soup.

The main part of her meal was to be the Roast Beef and Turkey Club ($6.25); the same as last year. Since she was having the soup, she didn’t want the side order that would come with her sandwich. Since my plate is a convenient depository for unwanted food, she asked me what I wanted her to order. I chose the coleslaw since I was already having French fries with my order. The sandwich was made with the thinner, sandwich sliced bread and toasted nicely. The thin slices of bread mean that the filling has to be more than adequate to make the sandwich stand out. There is plenty of beef and turkey as well as the lettuce and tomato to fill the sandwich.

Janis enjoyed her sandwich saying that it was very good but could only eat half and asked for a take home container for the other half to enjoy at a later time.

My Déjà vu order was the Steak Hoagie ($6.25); similar to a Philly cheesesteak sandwich but with sautéed onions, peppers, mushrooms and melted Mozzarella cheese all on a hot, toasted hoagie bun. My side of choice was French fries but don’t forget, I was also having coleslaw. On arrival it was a full plate and included a spear of dill pickle.

The sandwich was full of all kinds of good things, meat, peppers onions, mushrooms and cheese. So much in fact that picking up the sandwich dumped lots of the filling on the plate. No matter, it tasted just as good off a fork. It was nice tender beef with lots of flavor from the vegetables and cheese; a thoroughly and filling sandwich. The coleslaw, a small serving actually, was good. It is a finely chopped cabbage with a mild dressing, not too tart and not too sweet; enough to moisten the cabbage but not compete with the flavor and not too much to drip into the serving plate.A good accompaniment but not an all-star to stand by itself. The French fries, still hot from the fryer, were not oily, were crisp and tasty. They were good French fries. I enjoyed my meal very much. It was good food to start with but being surrounded by so many, as Donn, N4KII, would say, “hamsters” made it even more enjoyable. I am already looking forward to next year.