OFF THE EATEN PATH

The Surreal Bowl

Text by JEFF HOUCK, Illustrations by DAVID WILLIAMS/The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 25, 2006

It was 3 a.m. and Tim and Lara Newman were hungry.

After a long day of painting their new coffee shop on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, the Newmans returned home to find that cereal in three nearly empty boxes was the only thing to eat.

Out of necessity, they mixed the sugary remnants of Count Chocula, Honey Bunches of Oats and Fruity Pebbles before sitting down to watch a rerun of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.'' Their impromptu experiment tasted ... pretty good.

''Cereal companies should sell it that way,'' he told her.

''Why don’t we sell it that way?'' she replied.

''Oh my God, baby,'' he said. ''That's genius.''

From that conversation, The Surreal Bowl coffee and cereal cafe was born.

It would be easy for a passing motorist to miss the cafe. Tucked amid retro furniture and used-record shops, a guitar store and a tattoo parlor, the cafe has been open about two months. Downtown’s redevelopment hasn’t crept west to the block yet from the waterfront.

''The cool doesn’t start until Sixth Street,'' Tim Newman says.

The couple chose the Central Avenue location online from their previous home in Los Angeles. Tim Newman, 38, managed a department store restaurant, and Lara Newman, 36, was a tattoo artist. Their first thought on seeing Central Avenue: ''We’ll fit right in.''

It was 3 a.m. and Tim and Lara Newman were hungry.

Each bowl of cereal costs $2.50 and includes two scoops, a topping and milk. The cereal is served in a unique bowl — the Newmans bought several funky types on eBay. Mixing scoops is encouraged. (Froot Loops with Rice Chex? Why not?) For a more healthful meal, try the Surreal Parfait: Go Lean Crunch with yogurt, sliced strawberries and shredded coconut.

The toppings range from Oreos to chocolate chips to trail mix. A secret: Chocolate raisins explode in your mouth when soaked in milk. Another fun fact: Gummies expand to three times their original size when dunked.

''You get a whole new candy when you do that,'' Tim says. ''It’s like the first guy who tried an oyster. How do you know it's good unless you try it?''

The Newmans aim to create a playful, retro-Saturday-morning-breakfast feel. Felix the Cat cartoons play on a small television in the corner. Alarm clocks and candy cigarettes sit perched on shelves. Pajamas and nighties are for sale. Siamese fighting fish swim in acrylic fishbowls that dangle from the wall. A customer once asked, ''Is it OK to drink my milk out of the bowl?'' Tim told him, ''You do whatever you wanted to do as a kid that your mother said you never could do.''

Tim says he thinks his fascination with cereal stems from having to fight for his favorite brand while growing up as one of four children. His siblings would pick out the marshmallows from his Frankenberry and Lucky Charms before he could eat them.

''I think I was scarred by that,'' he jokes. Serving cereal now ''is almost like me saying, 'There's no way that's going to happen to me again.'''

To commemorate their new friendship with a group of local artists, they both got a tattoo on their arm of a ''sacred'' candy corn after all of them realized they loved the treat.

''I can’t wait for Halloween so we can put candy corn on cereal,'' Lara says.