Food Network + Cooking Channel's Ali Khan returns to St. Pete FL from season 5 of Cheap Eats and goes big at Il Ritorno, one of his all time fav Italian Restaurants.

Cheap Eats Jacksonville was the second hit of the “one-two Florida culinary punch” that started with the left lead in St. Peterburg and followed up with the right cross in Jacksonville Florida. Straight up, I had no expectations about eating around these parts and man did I get a mouthful of solid Cheap Eats and as well as some killer Thai and some upscale dining as well. Regarding the latter – stay tuned for a future post on that, #bacon ...

If I had to describe Cheap Eats St. Petersburg in just one word it would be this: surprising. Outside of Miami(where we did an episode of Cheap Eats in Season One) and a summer family trip to Destin in my tender Wonder Years, my knowledge of Florida eats is pretty darn minimal. Take away the heavy Cuban and Caribbean culinary influence in Miami and one might correctly assume that Southern fare becomes a big part of the edible mosaic. But ...