The Story
Thomas Sanborn is a hands-on restaurant owner — hands-on enough that he personally handpicks the Maker’s Mark barrels bottled for his craft kitchen concept, Stillwaters Tavern, which opened a second location this summer at the Hub at Bexley in Land O’ Lakes.
The original St. Petersburg location, founded in 2014, set out to take the dishes people already love — fried green tomatoes, burgers, steaks, local fish — and, as the restaurant’s website puts it, make them worth talking about. Staying local is central to the concept: local seafood, local products, local drinks, even local artists whose work decorates the contemporary dining room, all while keeping to Old World Florida roots.
The menu, lovingly described as comfort food, has a few tricks up its sleeve, particularly under chef Joanne Charlton, who adds a Creole twist here and there, including the Cajun-seasoned popcorn that arrives at the table in lieu of bread or rolls.
As for those barrels Sanborn selects, they become Hogfish, a whiskey made for Stillwaters Tavern and poured at both locations. And what tavern wouldn’t offer whiskey flights — or up to 20 beers on tap?
The Florida feel hits as soon as you walk in, something 2B Hospitality Group — which also opened the Italian restaurant BelleBrava next door in 2024 — prides itself on. The look is down-to-earth Key West with enough upscale polish that you don’t feel like you’re just eating deep-fried conch fritters, though Stillwaters does serve hushpuppies. And shrimp and grits.
See? Keeping Florida in the Floridian restaurant.
The main event
As noted, Charlton likes a little Cajun twist, as in the Bayou Style Shrimp and Crawfish or the Creole Shrimp Pasta. There is jerk chicken and, sticking with the theme, Tavern Pot Roast. There is a Tavern Burger, too — and what Floridian restaurant isn’t going to serve a Cuban?
A few signature dishes stand out and are worth ordering.
The Chicken Jager Schnitzel — herb-crusted chicken schnitzel, mushroom Jager sauce, whipped potatoes and dill cucumber salad — is among the more popular plates on the menu. But one fusion dish is arguably the best seller: the Birria Grilled Cheese, built on sourdough with white American cheese and shredded birria beef, with birria jus for dipping. It may be the epitome of comfort food.
The tale of cocktails
Stillwaters Tavern has an extensive list of signature cocktails, and none of them have names. They are numbered, in no particular order other than the sequence in which bartenders and staff tried and tested them.
Sometimes they got it right, as with No. 1: Maker’s Mark, Luxardo, sweet vermouth and 30 days of aging in house in American oak. Or, as the server put it, “It’s like a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned had a baby.”
Then there is No. 711 — no relation to the convenience store chain — with Campo Bravo Plata, Cointreau, grilled pineapple, sage, lemon, lime, agave, house bitters and a chipotle salt rim.
Pro tip
Check out the sausage board. It features every one of the restaurant’s handmade signature sausages: smoked beef knockwurst, bacon jalapeno cheddar bratwurst, pork kielbasa and chicken chorizo. And sticking with that Florida theme, the board — and each individual sausage order — comes with toasted La Segunda Cuban bread.
Final verdict
Come for the Florida vibes, stay for the Florida food. It is not the official tagline, but it is what dining feels like at one of the newest additions to a growing list of options in Land O’ Lakes. Comfort food, traditional fare, Florida and Cajun takes — all of it is on the table, and all of it is a reminder of what a Floridian restaurant can be.
Stillwaters Tavern is at 16729 Focus Loop, Land O’ Lakes, and opens daily at 11 a.m. For more information, visit stillwaterstavern.com.