There’s no shortage of great restaurants to try in Tampa Bay, and I’m not just talking about the new, hip openings. I love exploring the region’s lesser-known neighborhood gems, the sort of spots that fly under the radar or serve delicious meals where you’d least expect them to.
It’s how I wound up in the waiting area of Bob Lee’s, the decades-old St. Petersburg auto shop, on a recent Wednesday afternoon.
Banquette seating, standard tables and a couple of bar stools surround a little food counter. A dry-erase board advertises a $10 sandwich special: Turkey Bacon Avocado on toasted ciabatta with melted cheese and a house-made spicy avocado crema. The glossy, laminated menu for “Diner @ 4th North” lists a small selection of breakfast and lunch eats.
Westley Savoy runs this one-man operation, working with limited space and a 36-inch flat top. He does the food prep. Takes orders. Cooks. Cleans tables. Dreams up the weekly lunch deal, typically a deli sandwich showcasing the sauces and aiolis he crafts in-house.
Savoy opened Diner @ 4th North inside Bob Lee’s in December 2022, taking over the space formerly home to Orange Belt Cafe. But you’d be forgiven for never hearing of the diner before. Savoy doesn’t do any marketing. You won’t find his no-frills restaurant on TikTok or Instagram. Instead, he has been focused on serving Bob Lee’s employees and customers and those who find him through word-of-mouth recommendations. Like I did.
“I wanted to pass along a tip that you might find interesting,” reader Andy Ritter wrote me in a February email. “One of the best smash burgers in all of Saint Petersburg, is served in a very unlikely place. A tire store. … If you haven’t had the pleasure of ordering a Smashburger from the cafeteria at Bob Lee’s, you haven’t lived yet.”
Indeed, Savoy makes a mean smashburger. Three kinds, actually.
The All American is a crowd-pleaser and caters to the burger purists with classic toppings: lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo, mustard and ketchup. For the more adventurous, the Breakfast Burger piles on a sausage patty, a fried egg and American cheese. And then there’s the Western-style Backyard Burger, a popular choice loaded with bacon, American cheese, banana peppers, barbecue sauce and onion crisps.
Each 3½-ounce patty calls for beef with an 81/19 lean-to-fat ratio and is seasoned simply with salt and pepper. Guests can order a single ($7-$9), double ($9-$11) or triple ($12-$14).
I had a double Backyard Burger on my visit. It was big and juicy — two cheesy, thinly smashed patties with crispy edges and a pile of toppings stacked high between a soft bun for a delightfully messy experience. While I wouldn’t typically order a burger smothered in barbecue sauce, the fixings played well together. The crisp bacon and crunchy onions added nice textural pop, and I enjoyed getting tangy bits of banana peppers while I munched.
Savoy said his humble location prompts a common reaction from folks tasting his burgers for the first time: “Surprisingly good!”
Beyond the smashburgers, the diner offers homey fare for breakfast and a lunch lineup built around sandwiches. Savoy wanted to create a menu that would appeal to Bob Lee’s wide customer base.
“Something for everyone,” he said. “That’s why I have French toast for the kid at heart, avocado toast for the healthy-minded and then your basic breakfast sandwiches.”
The Original — sausage, egg and cheese layered on a buttermilk biscuit with a touch of honey — is the most popular breakfast sandwich. People love the avocado toast topped with cherry tomatoes sauteed in red wine vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. A tasty chicken salad is the star of one of six lunch sandwiches, featuring hunks of sous vide chicken, celery and red onion.
Diner @ 4th North is Savoy’s first foray into cooking. The U.S. Army veteran moved to St. Petersburg in 2009 and got into the food service industry around a year later, serving and bartending at spots like The Birchwood and Flute & Dram. With the help of his chef pals and YouTube trainings, he learned the basics of cooking and how to elevate foods as he was opening the diner.
He has about 20-30 people who’ve become regulars after trying his food while getting work done on their cars. They stop by at least once a week. Sometimes they bring friends.
“It’s all been word of mouth, you know? I haven’t put anything out there, and it seems to be working,” Savoy said.
Now whether the diner has one of St. Petersburg’s best smashburgers … I’d say it’s a strong contender. Go dig in and see for yourself. You just might be pleasantly surprised.
Do you have a hidden gem that I should check out? Drop me a line at mhabuda@tampabay.com or share it in the comments.