THE TAMPA BAY FOOD SCENE

THE TAMPA BAY FOOD SCENE

New to Tampa Here You Will Get the Truth

TOUGH TIMES

👺 THE RESTAURANT AND FOOD INDUSTRY IN TAMPA BAY, FL—2022

What I do, is especially important during bad times as we all have been subjected to hardships in one way or another. This is where you find those who have survived. The food industry nation-wide business has been clobbered losing to higher pricing, masks, rules , occupancy restrictions, and loss of some good help as they could not survive on what they were earning, no customers , no tips, and Tampa Bay is no exception.

I have lost many friends and acquaintances. The survivors apparent in places I recommend had big established take-out business and they adapted a few small changes and survived --

Many places hired help that doesn’t last, here today, gone tomorrow, some bad attitudes, and should not have been hired. Literally taking what they get. Hospitality, Airlines, life in general has changed. It’s a global thing and some of the business like our politics are a sham and we are laughed at in the world. It’s not a time for me to go after a place if they correct the obvious.

STEPS I HAVE TO TAKE —

1) I am removing all pricing from those posted here as nothing is the same as we have witnessed and it would not be valid. Food wholesale is sky-high and corruption and gouging is higher.

2) In addition in some case there is evidence of not being able to maintaining standards, not up to par, I’m ashamed to say it but some places overcharging, poor delivery, underdelivering , shorting, personnel issues, bad food, etc and about anything else that says stay away and I am removing them

3) COVID created a massive shift in eating out. First it was bad, closed by .gov and then by contagions, one million people died. Basically I am giving them all, a new shot upon re-opening, they may get a clean slate unless I know different, and I ‘ll have to bring them up or down to speed.

4) What you see here in many of the pictures are shots from websites and image collecting and may NOT BE THE SCENE ON YOUR PLATE — Many of the shots are from good establishments taken by patrons — no problem but something really ghoulish, I will post It If f I took it.

5) It will make me some friends for the good places I frequent and some enemies — who will read my critiques and reviews, but when you serve garbage, have a dirty place or bad staff, I locate it, “ Jokingly I drive the garbage truck and I pick up on it”.

6) It’s quite a challenge and experience covering the spectrum of eateries, some good, some not bad but missing something, some really bad and some should have been closed a long time ago. Some I would not pay what they think is the right price — for a sub par meal —

7) We do mark the good safe specific locations as some in franchise like Culvers and Chick-Fil-A who regardless go by the intelligent book and maintain standards and they met the “C’s” of the culinary experience. That is that they be Clean, they serve the Community, have a reasonable amount of Consistency, and Control their service and their individuality.

8) As I explain here in several ways, politicians create lies behind closed doors about what they promise you, theologians promise you heaven for a fee they will keep and enjoy and some restaurants cook for corporate funds with poor quality and big promotions, toys, TV ads, two for one but the burgers are smaller, Jimmy Dean Sausage has been shrinking his croissants for two years now The voter, the laymen and the food customer are all the same, person most of the time under educated — or naive and never vet what they do, and thats why I chase all three.

9) A special note to McDonalds and the other fast food burger joints, shut down and open in some third world country or Russia and China, your food is still Corporate Crap —

A SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANT BUSINESS IS ONE

THAT IS EARNED AND NOT BURNED

THE FAKE LAWSUIT BY THE NEW YORK TIMES THAT BACKFIRED

👺 Subway —vs— NY Times — Some franchises violate their terms with their franchise, when they contract with lower standards in outside quality vendors. Subway wants to maintain quality even in bad times. And created a massive restructure — and upgrade. And now Subway is claiming a resurrection of their desire to be the best — About time, they really upscaled their offerings, new combinations, brand names and prices increased to a new level. But every product is top of the line. And they are enforcing it. And enforcing large price increases too —

Nothing Was Wrong With Their Tuna — In the midst of an attack by the NY TIMES that their Tuna was counterfeit was inaccurate and now lawsuits are flowing. Well, what do you expect from a GOP paper — Subway went offensive after the attack. The charges were false undocumented and slanderous.

The Article Was Wrong — Cooked Tuna Cannot Be DNA Tested — It's impossible to prove DNA On tuna except at one scientific laboratory in the world. When something high water based is cooked and tested it has lost its DNA, it is destroyed. So the TIMES f*ked up --
I’m not a SUBWAY fanatic but false claims come from different directions. And I will defend the righteous when confronted with untruths. It is and has been real tuna.

Charlie Has Relatives — Tuna is a species with many variants, but all are Tuna. It might not be Charlie the Tuna, but it could be Sam Tuna, or Harry tuna, or Sally Tuna but it’s Tuna. There’s a reason people call tuna the “king of the sea.” In addition to weighing up to 1,500 pounds, tuna is full of good fat, protein, and vitamins, a versatile taste, and meaty. Tuna is a staple in various culinary cultures.

There Are 15 Different Species Of Tuna — These all belong to the Thunnini sub group of the Scombridae family. Tuna swim throughout the world’s oceans, and they’re fast about it, too. These fish have been clocked in at 75 miles per hour. Due to overfishing, some species are on the brink of extinction. While we have organizations in place to supposedly protect tuna and the waters in which they swim, these policing bodies such as ICCAT and IOTC fail to enforce protective measures.

THE NY TIMES BLEW THAT ONE, AND IS BEING SUED — FOR A LOT OF MONEY —

HOW DO WE RATE PLACES TO EAT

🥰 GOOD PLACES FOR FOOD COMMENTARY— For the good, on a simple level, it means their food was fresh, cooked properly and delivered in a reasonable time, or their gourmet experience took them in unique and interesting safe directions. Since the high end $$$$ places usually can afford to have been written about, it seems they get greater coverage and a free meal for the writer, I usually pick the places the Plebeians frequent some after waiting on line for a cold burger.

I do not disclose that I write about food, I am like a mystery shopper and just pay the bill. If they are bad I will report the next day about them and publish to: several sources — OK. hate me, it’s ambush writing but the honest — Something simple I usually alert the owner, I’m not looking for enemies, just good food in a nice place. And in some cases went in and showed him how to do it better.

🥰 TRIPADVISOR — The most honest of the reporting agencies and the papers, this website and five other sources, and the world if I can. Most of the time I write the corporate President. My two favorites were letters to McDonalds and Wendy’s.

My letter to McDonalds CEO probably never got to him because he was busy screwing the young help and taking porno type pictures. Not the kind MOM would hang in the living room. They fired him and the courts took back his 109 million dollar severance pay. Lucky him, in some countries he would be missing his membrainorobilia —

I pick the locations the common folk try to get a decent meal for sustenance. And if they fail simple standards of cleanliness, and customer service I will come down on them like Thor’s hammer. And I have also decided that in the course of my travels to comment on “unique eats”… those places that might be a bit off the grid but the foods they serve might be “Out Of This World”.

🤬 BAD WEBSITES — But low life commentary places do exist, and they get low-cost commentaries, and ask around, YELP and other resources are well documented as pay as you go and I believe nothing they quote.

YELP — We put no faith in anything YELP says, most comments are irrational and or stupid, no tracking, always ask owners where they advertise . I listen to their success and failures. I ate there on YELP suggestions and wanted to throw the food on the floor. And of the four, two were horrid and inspections ranked them low on the list.

They obviously were not up to par as before the pandemic. They are dishonest and crooks. They push ad sales and trust nothing they write. It is all filtered bullsh*t. They are looking for paid ads. They get a mass of complaints so who would eat at places they suggest.

GOOGLE — Is another website thats should get out of the commentary business, as they love everybody, all is great and complaints get lost. It is one thats appealing to numbers and solicitations and i don’t believe a lot of it is real. To the faint at heart and faint at culinary intelligence it’s perfect.

🤮 DISAPPOINTING INSPECTIONS

AND BAD OR POOR FOOD

WE DO NOT RECOMMEND NOR WILL WE RETURN TO THESE PLACES DUE TO:

There are places out simply put their food sucks, many are fast foods like popeyes, Burger Barf, Mic-Kee Dee-Dum, their staff was sub-pa — really bad enough nor safe enough for me to participate with.
Their attitude sent me elsewhere. Hopefully, for them I usually send a nice letter to the owner and tell him in secret what we found. Then it’s up to them to do something. Most do nothing —
A definitive lack of good food which encompasses taste, consistency, competitive, different, and not updated.
NOT very good management, over worked by bad supervising hours, staff, offerings, service, speed —poor training, poor treatment of the help, Efficiency, a good location with entrances, and parking,.

Anything involving Human Trafficking — In the past we have sent several folks to jail for trafficking people and today it is carefully screened.
Confusion, this is the major problem with corporate food places called fast food. In some cases half-fast food might be a better term. Bean counters come with programs and never worked the line a day in their life — and it shows —
Many of the locations on the worst places to eat we first discovered almost eight years ago, from time to time we went back to see if there was some kind of improvement in their modus operandi. Unfortunately the bean counters and corpo-guano experts did not do better. After eight years, I do not know why some people go back to these sh*thouse's.
In many cases like the Chinese Buffets which never really followed any rules have gotten worse, some ranked almost dangerous. There probably are some thoughtful owners in the US but on the average my relationship with them waned as I saw what they are doing against all regulations. When human trafficking for help showed up at some , that was it for me. I went into attack mode. — offensive —
Another schlock house was the entire Golden Corral Chain — must have met the Vigilantes and they hanged the corporate staff from the nearest tree —They all were closed gone, all of them. Some are trying to reopen finding no market for crap eateries. — They are now trying to be high end barbecue places, good luck with that brain-fart. They had the worst food and many of their places were like pig troughs, thats the crowd they attracted.
Millennials don’t do buffets well — they are looking for better healthier food. The last Golden Corral that I attended one month after their toilet system broke, and was repaired, and checked by the health people was five years of violations. Its customers were bulk eaters, more sugar than the cane fields, it was the diabetic Valhalla , not connoisseurs and it looked like a Human Overweight Obesity Convention. Our local one was the worst, dirty and violations galore and so far no players. 05/10/2022 —
Turn Offs Hard parking — Wheelchair Accessible — Narrow tables and Lanes — Bad Chairs — Poor Lighting --Unclean food facility -- Overall Dirty kitchen and Stale food, old food, kept three days -Unclean appliances, like soda and shake machines. Dirty service trays —
Reports by the County food inspectors as to compliance with posted regulations , With a minimum of three visits to correct a single issue or problem — not acceptable — Repeat offenders should be closed till they fix it— Commentary by other responsible professional critics like Dirty Dining ( Excellent)
Misrepresenting the product, telling you its local Grouper and its not — Now fish can be DNA'd before cooking — upon port inspectors —
Closed and Reopened, Revolving Doors as long as you got relatives (CHINA BUFFET SYNDROME) All five of our major local Chinese Buffets were visited and disappointing on three occasions, several involved in trafficking, two went to trial, food stored overnight and put out the next day as fresh, undersized low quality basics — dish marrying — mixing fresh with stale and they are repeatedly on the fine and closure lists.
People handle food too much as is common in their countries. This is common in open air foreign markets like China — The greatest percentage that I see of failed food places according to the food police at Data.tallahassee.com are ethnic inclined eateries, Sorry but some owners think they are back in their old country, Asian, Indian and Mexican regardless of what they call their cuisine. It is sad because I am a great fan of world wide ethnic cooking and do favor, enjoy and cook their foods but in my home or by my ethnic friends and chefs, I am lucky. We wash our hands often preparing food or wearing gloves —

TOP END PLACES-2019

Top Restaurants of Tampa Bay 2019 — By Laura Riley

√ INDICATES STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS

10. Cena — √ $$$ Chef Michael Buttacavoli has a lot going on these days. He’s been to New York to promote the new Tampa’s Table cookbook. He’s been to Spain to hunt truffles, and to Sicily to get together with a Michelin-starred chef. Meanwhile, on the home front, Cena, the Channel District restaurant where he has been the executive chef since its launch in 2013, completed a lovely renovation in April, trading somewhat antiseptic decor for warm pigeon-gray walls, black-and-white photos and restful monochromatic design features.

~~9. Ichicoro Ane~~

8. Brick & Mortar — √ Hope Montgomery and Jason Ruhe took the plunge in 2015, shifting from full-time caterers to full-time restaurateurs and part-time caterers. Their “brick and mortar” effort was smallish and homespun, lots of repurposed wooden pallets and funky terracotta flower pots, but it almost immediately took off, St. Petersburg diners charmed by their distinctive and effervescent Cal-Ital aesthetic.

7. Dr. BBQ — √ $$$This is where I’m starting: “Mac-A-Phoni” is hominy with sumptuous tequila habanero aged cheddar queso under a capper of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Dr. BBQ, the huge, multifangled collaboration between Suzanne and Roger Perry (Datz, Roux, etc.) and competition barbecue superstar Ray “Dr. BBQ” Lampe doesn’t take itself too seriously. But in other ways it’s as serious as a heart attack.
~~6. Cafe Ponte~~

5. Edison: Food+Drink Lab — √ $$$ Jeannie Pierola is one of the area’s most celebrated chefs, pushing the envelope with her own globetrotting-but-still-somehow-uniquely-Floridian culinary take. She has been busy, opening Swigamajig at Sparkman Wharf at the end of 2018, with her Counter Culture opening soon at the iconic Pach’s Place location in South Tampa. Food, service, cocktails and the wine program at Edison continue to dazzle.
4. Il Ritorno — √ $$$ Review restaurants in a market long enough and you see audacious young chefs grow up, expand their families, buy their first house, grow and renovate their restaurant, reflect on what they learned from mentors and distill their own personal style into something as distinctive as a thumbprint. Since its expansion and remodel in 2017, his restaurant Il Ritorno has dialed its service level and wine program way up and has offered one of the area’s most incisive signature five-course tasting menus.

3. Noble Rice — √ $$$$ Eric Fralick is the kind of autodidact who pushes forward, curiosity about this thing leading to wondering about that thing. Since he opened Noble Rice a couple of years ago, he has taken the small South Tampa restaurant in a remarkable and ambitious direction, moving away from an a la carte menu and toward a seven- or 15-course omakase menu ($125 or $200 per person) with optional sake and wine pairings, reservations only.

~~2. Reading Room —~~
1. Rooster & the Till — √ $$$I know Ferrell Alvarez and Ty Rodriguez. I know they are good employers and kind humans. They opened Nebraska Mini Mart in 2018, as well as Gallito at Sparkman Wharf. They also hosted a guest chef series with an all-female cast of noteworthy chefs from around the country. Meanwhile, they sent out consistent and thought-provoking food.

They have an amazing team, they keep engaged with national trends while honing their own style, they source responsibly within the limits of our growing region, and like all my favorite restaurants around the country, they continue to detonate the three-quadrant meat-veg-starch expectation of what a dish should be.

I apologize if I offend you, but I avoid and usually do not eat at Chinese, Pseudo Asian Confusion buffets — or many so-called American buffets by choice and my reasoning is sound. It involves food handling and deceitful practices. Again what goes on behind the closed doors of the kitchen. There is little difference from the closed doors of the Politicians or the fake TV Theologians. Unless, you work in the industry you have no idea.
They are for distinct groups of people who love choice, they are tourists, or lazy cooks, too much company staying over, and something we noticed on our last survey at a Golden Corral three or four out of five in a group qualified as extreme obesity.
And for those who set records in weight, people who free-styled and love it by the pound, they felt redeemed, deemed dinner a bargain, a bargain heading for a heart attack especially with all the salt and preservatives in the food.
I'm semi skilled in far east cooking and have a real Oriental Market here I trust it it will be a new experience for some and the techniques of true Oriental Cuisine are not that hard —
Understand, most of whats served in the buffets are not Chinese and not up to the standards of better places. Sushi is Japanese, Kim-Chi is Korean, Brown Rice is not Chinese, those Crab legs are seconds and discards, you don’t know how old the Mussels or frozen shrimp are. Most important is how old is the food in those trays — They throw nothing out —
And one other thing buffet people play with the food in those trays — They sift, they cross-contaminate - as many who come from other parts of the world buy from open air markets and live food — they touch everything — With COVID AND MonkeyPox now, like on the shark tank, I’m Out!
Larger chains of hotels at resorts in Vegas, or Atlantic City where the management of the food services are also the house chefs is another story. In Vegas there are several places I have no problem with their food because I am in the hotel and can see when it is being prepped and on display cooked properly.
My favorite was the Buffet at the “M” hotel but that is gone since COVID and the hotel has internally six large serving restaurants of good to excellent caliber in quality and pricing. And buffets in many places are just not getting the traffic —
Fair warning: Buffets in Vegas are now 45-90- Dollars

🦐 Oriental Market — M&D Foods - 49th Street and Park Boulevard — a True Asian Market - With Live
products — Some of the produce will wink at you, Live Shrimp, and Live Fish, and Mussels. Asian people buy fresh, few deal with canned and packaged stocks or prepared corporate crap pretending to be the real thing.

Let me make this clear, they are a well known operation — Its the fast food buffets I do not attend — The M&D ethnic market store. It is just an example of global diligence in food handling. It is extremely well run, clean, I shop there. But it differs from what you might imagine.
If you are a “Gringo” you will be walking around your first time, amazed at what you see. They should put it on a tourist map. It is so international. And it is huge — It’s a big store and if it is native to the Far East they have it.
You should read about new foods you are trying from sources on the web, and make a list before you shop so you are familiar. Many of the products have no English equivalent, but most labels on their products are multi-lingual. Prices are marked , Everything is sealed except produce —
The help is authentic, and they can converse a little in “ Engleeeesh”, and a lot in their native languages. They are perfect at the registers. They do know how to ring things up—
It really is a nice operation and must be authentic or you would not see so many people from the Far East shopping there especially restaurant owners and the women. They are real fussy about what they buy and cook.
No harm intended, but many Oriental women shoppers like to touch everything, move produce between bags, picking and choosing, regardless of what store it is — I pick from the bottom or back — It was rampant in Sam’s Warehouses, who are now are starting to seal bags because of COVID and MonKey POX in some cases.
🐟 This is the go-to store for those things you see in recipes for Pan-Asian cooking, with ample stock of real genuine items. And many of these products, accessories, utensils are not found in typical groceries, spices and especially better quality and giant selection of Sushi Rice.
Also rice is in bulk sizes at great prices. REAL SUSHI RICE included.
🦞Their bigger bottles of Rice Vinegar, Fish Sauce, Soy, or Tamari ( is a Japanese type of soy sauce derived from miso fermentation for at least a few weeks, a liquid naturally forms around the miso. The liquid that accumulates around miso is tamari.) If you are cooking Japanese or Far East Vietnamese, LAO or Cambodian, Indonesian, this is the place to shop — prices are much better — Since so much here is imported or live — I have to give a heads up on shopping and this pertains to any supplier, grocery, big, small, market or home grown.
🐡 Sushi And Sashimi — My Kitchen - I Make my Own — Too much hands on and it’s not that hard once you get into it. They do a nice job at M&D but I have very few places I trust for these delicacies. Too many are add-on to buffets and not the same thing. Many complaints to the food police because it is not a refrigerated item after preparation and may have been sitting around quite a long time. Not that hard to make your own.