Ikea to serve up Swedish-style crayfish

If you've shopped at the new Ikea in Tampa, you know that the Swedish food featured in the cafeteria and throughout the store is as much a part of the shopping experience as the furniture.

Keeping with that theme, the store will host an all-you-can-eat "Swedish crayfish party" from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, complete with the aforementioned crayfish, cheeses and crispbreads.

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $9.99 per person, which includes soft drinks and dessert. Children 12 and younger are $2.49; children 2 and younger are free. Space is limited, so tickets on the day of the event will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Ikea Tampa is at 1103 N. 22nd St.

That time again

Hard to believe, but the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is only about a month away. The event, which lasts from Sept. 25 to Nov. 8 at the Walt Disney World theme park, features international cuisine, wine and food seminars, tastings and live entertainment.

Tapas-size dishes this year, which run from $2 to $7, include flavors from Bologna, Italy; Bangkok, Thailand; Wellington, New Zealand; Santiago, Chile; Marrakesh, Morocco; Shanghai, China; and — representing the United States — New Orleans. It should be interesting to see how they do the Camarões com Palmito (shrimp with palms) from Rio de Janeiro.

Celebrity chefs and speakers will again make the trek: Cat Cora, Jamie and Bobby Deen, Todd English, Andrew Zimmern, Allen Susser, Walter Staib, Suvir Saran and Keegan Gerhard. Robert Irvine from Food Network's "Dinner: Impossible," will appear Oct. 25.

Richard Marx, Better than Ezra, Vanessa Carlton, John Waite, Billy Ocean and "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks will perform.

Guests can call (407) WDW-FEST (939-3378) for information and to make reservations for special events and programs. Festival details will be available by late-July at www.disneyworld.com/foodandwine, and guests can book special events and programs beginning Aug. 11.

New Fresh Market

The Fresh Market specialty grocery chain announced it will open a new store in St. Petersburg in late summer 2010. The grocery has two stores in Tampa, on Dale Mabry Highway and Henderson Boulevard, and has plans to open more in Ocala, Vero Beach and Miami Beach.

The St. Petersburg store will be at 2900 Fourth St. N. in the Coconut Grove Shopping Center.

Award for Council Oak

Council Oak Steaks & Seafood at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has won the 2009 Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine for its impressive menu of 278 fine wines and staff trained in all the exacting nuances of proper wine service. This is the second year in a row that the Tampa restaurant has received the award.

Untying the apron

A sign on the front door of Publix's Apron's Make-Ahead Meals store in Lithia informs visitors that it and another location in Jacksonville have closed.

The closings do not affect the Apron's Cooking Schools in Citrus Park or Sarasota. Also, the Apron's Simple Meals kiosks and displays will remain in Publix stores.

This is the second meal-preparation business to close in the last six months. A store for the Lexington, Ky.- based Entrée Vous franchise in the River Springs Plaza on Boyette Road closed earlier this summer.

Tribune photo by JEFF HOUCK

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $9.99 per person, which includes soft drinks and dessert.