Taylor Sam’s to bring homestyle breakfast and brunch to downtown St. Pete
/Taylor Sam’s will be opening in the space formerly occupied by THe Simple Greek at at 312 3rd Street South in downtown St. pete
Taylor Sam’s, a café that specializes in home-style breakfast and brunch, has leased space at 312 3rd Street South, in the Camden Pier District apartment tower, with plans to open for business in February or March next year. The space had been occupied by a Simple Greek franchise.
Joshua Sims of Vector Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord and Frank Bozikovich of Commercial Partners Realty represented the tenant in the lease transaction.
It’s the second Taylor Sam’s location for Owner and Executive Chef Scott Spivak, who launched the concept in Brick, New Jersey, in 2013.
The St. Pete Taylor Sam’s, Spivak says, will be able to seat about 40 customers but will also have outdoor dining. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. most days.
Fresh Buttermilk Pancakes served with whipped butter & warm syrup at Taylor Sam’s
The menu is still being developed but it will likely include plenty of popular items from the original Taylor Sam’s location, including a corned-beef hash featuring braised brisket that Spivak named “Hashtag Delicious.” He says, “That’s probably my favorite right now.”
Other menu items that could appear include the Vicious Biscuit, a cheddar jalapeño breakfast biscuit with creamy pimiento cheese and crispy buttermilk fried cauliflower; for lunch, the Monster Sam burger, which is topped with ham and a fried egg; and for dessert — and lovers of puns — Grateful Bread Pudding. Prices are reasonable — the most expensive item, a sirloin steak and egg dish, costs $16.49.
“We do a lot of things with pork roll,” Spivak says. “It’s a Jersey thing we’re gonna bring down here. It’s a cross between baloney and salami — a smoked piece of pork, basically.”
Owners of Taylor Sam’s, Scott and Dawn Spivak | Industry Magazine
Spivak’s decision to come to St. Pete wasn’t part of a larger expansion push. On the contrary, he says his discovery of St. Pete was pure happenstance — and he immediately fell in love with the city.
“A couple of years ago, we were in Port St. Lucie, visiting my aunt and uncle, and there was a report of a major hurricane coming to hit the east coast of Florida. The weather reports recommended, ‘Evacuate as far west as you can.’”
Spivak, with his wife, Dawn, and adult daughter, Karah Kaszuba, in tow, headed to Tampa but couldn’t find any hotels with vacancies. Broadening their search, they found a room at the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Pete Beach.
The Original Taylor at Taylor Sam’s is Pork Roll (a cross between baloney and salami), Egg, and American Cheese on a Kaiser Roll
“We ended up extending our vacation because we just fell in love with the beach and the city so much,” he says. “And my wife has always wanted to relocate down here at some point, so we started the process of finding a place where we could set up shop and integrate into the city.”
Spivak and his wife won’t be moving to St. Pete permanently just yet, but Kaszuba, who’s trained as a pastry chef, has relocated to the Sunshine City, and she will manage the new Taylor Sam’s location.
“She does all homemade muffins, blondies, scones, all that,” Spivak says. “We’re known for our pancakes up north, and we're big on our coffee selection. We call ourselves a mom-and-pop-style diner, but we we’re kind of all over the map. We have everything from sandwiches, salads, and a full breakfast menu to burgers and rice bowls.”
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Latte and Cinnamon Toast Baby bundt cakes at Taylor Sam’s
In addition to Kaszuba and her boyfriend, who is one of the original Taylor Sam’s lead line cooks, another longtime employee — a store manager — has moved to St. Pete and bought a house. Having three staff members in St. Pete who already know the brand in and out should make for a smooth transition.
“We're very family oriented,” Spivak says. “Our average employee in New Jersey has been with us, I would say, five to six years.”
Spivak says he could envision opening a Taylor Sam’s across the bay in Tampa at some point, but “we’re not looking to franchise or anything — we’re looking to keep it in the family.”
