the chains are eating tampa bay
July 26th, 2007
Several weeks ago I took a vacation to San Francisco and for a whole week I consumed some of the best food and wine in my life. Needless to say, returning to the reality of everyday life has been especially hard and I’ve done my best to come down from the vacation bliss. Imagine my shock yesterday morning when I opened up the local paper online and was met with a picture of a former Tampa chef, in San Francisco!
According to the article by Chris Sherman, Chef Scott Howard cut his culinary teeth in Tampa at top-notch restaurants such as rg’s, Capriccio and Mis en Place. Unfortunately for Tampa, Chef Howard felt that in order to make it big, he had to leave the area for a city more serious about food. So he moved to San Francisco and is now doing things with food that Tampa won’t see for a long, long time. I am ecstatic that a Tampa Bay chef has moved on to find great success, but in the same note I find it disheartening to learn of such a talented chef who felt the need to leave the area in order to succeed.
Sherman interviewed Chef Howard about his “move to California, his cooking philosophy and how the chains are eating Tampa Bay.” One of those topics struck me particularly close to home, especially since I have done quite a bit of writing on the subject:
On what Tampa Bay needs to become a “food town”:
“…I talk to my friends every week on the phone. When I speak to Marty (Blitz) and B.T. (Nguyen of Cafe BT in Tampa’s Hyde Park), they say it’s become so saturated with chains. That’s the big difference. Chains don’t survive here. Or maybe, they don’t thrive. There may be an Outback around, but I don’t know where.
People here support individual restaurants and chefs; they really demand quality.
Of course you’ve got some really great restaurants (in the Tampa Bay area), but the competition from the chains is really strong, especially in the casual restaurant segment. You (Tampa Bay diners) just can’t support many good independents.
How do you feel about this statement? I do my best to promote independent restaurants but I’ll admit that I have an occasional meal at Bonefish or Fleming’s. Are we doing our best as a city? If you are a frequenter of chain restaurants, what makes you gravitate toward them? What would you like to see from independent restaurants to win your business? I have my own opinions about these questions and freely admit that the some of the chains do a great job with customer service and marketing. But is the food really better?
Local restaurants mentioned:
Restaurant BT
www.restaurantbt.com
Mis en Place
www.miseonline.com
roadmap for great food
June 19th, 2007
For anyone in the Tampa Bay area remotely interested in food, I suggest picking up this week’s issue of Creative Loafing. Titled the “Food Issue,” David Warner and Brian Reis head it up with a comprehensive article about “Restaurant Rows,” featuring streets that contain clusters of great dining in close proximity. In addition to the usual mentions of Howard Avenue in Tampa and Central Avenue in St. Pete, he opens up the world to hidden treasures in Dunedin and Gulfport. Now that I’ve got my road map, it looks like it is time for me to make a day trip.
In his regular column, Reis makes the official announcement of his transition from freelance food critic to the position of full time food writer and editor. It may have been a long time coming, but the timing was right for Creative Loafing to get serious about food. Since Chris Sherman’s recent retirement, Brian Reis has stepped up to the plate and proven himself to be one of the area’s best food writers and critics. I believe he will be the anchor for the future of the food writing community in the Tampa Bay area. You can quote me on that.
