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Yesterday I attended the monthly networking breakfast of the Tampa Bay Business Journal and had the pleasure of meeting and listening to the guest speaker, Jason Lucas, the Chef Director of the Culinary Arts Program at the Art Institute of Tampa.  The Culinary Arts program has been around for about a year and is part of a network of identical programs across the country. 

The topic at hand was transferring the teamwork skills used in a professional kitchen out into the business world.  His purpose was two-fold; both to teach the audience how they can better utilize the team approach in their own businesses, as well as promote the school, which is only about a year old.

In his presentation, he did mention quite a few locally owned restaurants and spoke very highly of the dining scene.  Despite the chain restaurant mentality, he is appreciative of the independent restaurants and optimistic of Tampa’s future as a food city. He stated that a culinary school in the Tampa area will be an enourmous catalyst to the growth and maturity of locally owned restaurants;  I think he is right and I love his enthusiasm.  We don’t live in a food city yet, but I may have just stumbled on to the ground floor of something great.  In fact, I’m planning on Tampa being a great food city, but some things take time.

For some reason on Friday I was in the mood for Mexican. I didn’t cook anything the night before and didn’t bring anything for lunch, so I was wide open and quickly got in the mood for something spicy.  Fortunately there is a little Mexican taqueria and grocery only a few blocks from work, El Mezcalito, that serves some great tacos for only $1.25 each.  I’ve made it my default lunch spot when I want some good food, fast and cheap.

The tacos at El Mezcalito are pretty good, available in the common varieties of chicken, steak, pork and tongue.  All of the meats are cooked fresh and on site and the tacos are served in warm corn tortillas, but you are out of luck if you are looking for homemade, as they use the packaged tortillas.  A regular guy like me can walk into El Mescalito and get a chicken taco complete with lettuce, tomato cheese and sour cream; that’s how I had the tacos my first time there.  However, on my second visit I wondered why the Hispanic guys got their tacos with only cilantro and white onion.  Maybe it was because I am a gringo and that’s what the market demands, but I now request mine as the Mexicans do, with only cilantro and onion.  I suggest you do the same.

On weekends, you can stop in for homemade tamales or medudo, though I haven’t tried much there.  They also have a great selection of beer and Jarrito’s, but again, I can’t indulge during lunchtime.  El Mezcalito makes some great tacos and I frequent them often, but I was unimpressed the one time I strayed from the norm.  A chile relleno I had a while back may have been fresh that morning, but by the time I went for lunch, she microwaved it before pairing it with rice and beans.  I am a pretty adventurous diner, but for lunch, I tend to play it safe with the tacos.  You may not want to go out of your way to travel to El Mezcalito, but if you are in the area, I recommend you make a stop.

After some happy hour time at Courtside Grill, I realized my lunch tacos didn’t completely satisfy my craving.  When I got home, I mixed up a homemade margarita and pulled out the menu for Taqueria Cantina.  For dinner, I chose a mini steak burrito and an order or chips with their spiciest salsa.  The food from Taqueria doesn’t knock my socks off, but it is good; I enjoyed it as usual.  After having real Mexican tacos, I can’t stomach the food from Chipotle, so Taqueria is a good substitute for Cali/Tex-Mex style tacos and burritos.

Since my girlfriend is not a huge fan of Mexican food, I often feel the need to “cheat” when she is not around.  I am extremely fortunate that she understands my needs.  It had been a couple weeks since I had any spicy Mexican food, so Friday was my day.  Some people crave ice cream or cookies, I crave salsa…. what about you?

el Mezcalito
2908 Roosevelt Blvd
Clearwater, FL 33760
727-535-0149

Taqueria Cantina and Burrito Joint
(formerly Taqueria Quetzalcoatl)
402 S Howard Ave
Tampa, FL 33606-2036
813-259-9982

Margarita Recipes - The NolaFoodie Margarita Page

A little over a year ago, Total Wine and Spirits blazed into town with a big-box liquor and wine superstore.  I’m sure it made a lot of mom-and-pop wine stores nervous, but how about the big retailers like ABC?  The prices are low and the selection is large; what more could you want?

Apparently they’ve put a dent in the business of other superstores like ABC, but it doesn’t seem that ABC will give up without a fight.  I noticed the above billboard several months ago and it gives me a laugh every time I drive down Dale Mabry.

Are the accusations true?  I don’t know.  I don’t buy expensive wines at Total Wine, but their selection of decent wines at low prices keeps me coming back.  And the beer selection surpasses anything found at ABC.  On a recent Saturday at ABC, I couldn’t even piece together a 12-pack of Japanese beer for a Sushi party.  I ended up going to Total Wine where the selection was better and walked away saving money.  I don’t need good service when buying beer, just good prices.

So are the attacks on the billboard warranted?  Do you shop at Total Wine or are you still loyal to ABC?  Would you call it clever advertising?  Or a hit below the belt?

I love tacos.  I’ve had them all, Mexican tacos, Baja Fish tacos, Indian tacos and even the American-ized variety, straight from Taco Bell.  I will eat just about any kind of meat, fish or vegetable in a taco and thought I had heard it all.  That is, until a recent Saturday in Ybor City when I stumbled upon a little roadside joint serving Alaskan Tacos.  What the hell is an Alaskan Taco, you ask?  Don’t worry, it was my first experience with them and I asked the same question.  Fortunately for you, the Tampa Bay area is the ONLY place to get an Alaskan Taco.  According to Sean Godin, proprietor of Mema’s Alaskan Tacos, the tacos are Southwestern in nature but perfected by his mother in Alaska.  Good enough for me.

We were on our way from La Creperia in Ybor when I spotted the sign for Tacos and it was calling my name.  We made a couple stops with the group for drinks, so it wasn’t until later that my curiosity got the best of me.  Even though we had just eaten dinner, it was a light one and I had room in my stomach to fit a couple tacos.  Being a newbie to Alaskan Tacos, I figured I would play it safe and order one fish taco and one beef taco.  It only took about five minutes for me to get my food; a white corn tortilla stuffed with a filling, then deep fried and topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream with a side of salsa (it was Pace Picante Sauce).  The taco was very similar to the Americanized version derived from the traditional Indian taco served on fry bread, but the golden fried tortilla at Mema’s added a new twist.   What I discovered later is that I could have enjoyed the same taco, tucked into a soft flour tortilla with a layer of Mema’s famous refried beans for only a dollar more.  It’s on the list for my next visit.  The tacos were really good, but paying $5 for two tacos felt a bit steep, especially after visiting many of the Mexican owned Taquerias in town.  But it was money well spent for the convenience and the novelty.

I didn’t try out all of the options on the menu at Meme’s, but I figure that will be your job.  Besides the unique tacos, the menu consists of the ordinary Tex-Mex and Cali-Mex favorites like burritos, quesadillas, soft tacos and nachos.  It’s not enough incentive for me to drive to Ybor, but I’m happy to have found a little joint for good food fast that is open late and open every day.  I suspect much of the clientele consists of Ybor foot traffic, so put this place on your mental restaurant card-file next time you are in the area.  Many people have already discovered Meme’s Alaskan Tacos and love them, so I guess it is time for you to jump on the bandwagon. 

Mema’s Alaskan Tacos
1604 N 17th St (Ybor City)
Tampa, FL 33605
(813) 514-8226

This Saturday evening I did quite a few things that I wouldn’t normally do: I went out to eat on a Saturday evening in Ybor City with a group of 13 other people.  Other than the Ybor city thing, it pretty much goes against the guidelines I follow when dining out.  First, I rarely dine out on the weekends; the restaurants are generally crowded and full of amateur diners.  Second, I believe dining out with a party of 14 is generally a disaster waiting to happen; the waitstaff hates it, the kitchen hates it, and the thought of having someone pull out a calculator to figure out the check makes me cringe.  My girlfriend organized this meal for a group of people from work, so of course I was game.  The last part that I didn’t mention was that we dined at a place that hasn’t been too well received by some local foodies: La Creperia Cafe.

Though I may have broken all of the rules in my “little black book of dining rules*,” we all had a fantastic experience doing something outside of the norm, eating crepes at a restaurant.  Crepes may be a popular street food in Paris, but it’s a food rarely eaten in Florida outside of breakfast time, much less at a restaurant.  La Creperia Cafe fits an interesting niche in dining, serving both savory and sweet crepes with beer, wine and coffee in a charming location until the wee hours of the night in Ybor city.  How’s that for a mouthful?

La Creperia Cafe is located in a narrow space on 7th Avenue in Ybor City.  On the inside there is a long bar stretching the length of the right hand side of the restaurant, all the way from the kitchen to a window in the front where the owner can demonstrate crepe making to the passers-by.  The atmosphere is charming, with high ceilings and exposed brick that is both warm and inviting.  The beer selection is small and composed mainly of several imports along with the requisite Budweiser.  The wine selection is just as small and unpretentious, most bottles cost between $15 and $20.  If you are in the mood for coffee, you are also in luck with several different blends. 

Menu choices are numerous, with a large selection of both savory and sweet crepes.  Each crepe comes with different fillings, including chicken, shrimp, sausage, peppers, goat cheese, artichoke hearts and artisan cheeses.  In addition, there is a “build your own crepe” selection on the menu for those in a creative mood.  I didn’t have the energy that evening and I needed a little kick to my palate, so I tried the Jambalaya crepe, even though it’s not exactly the norm for South Louisiana cuisine.  The peppers, sausage and shrimp blended surprisingly well with the savory crepe and a couple dashes from the provided Tabasco bottle made it almost perfect; for a crepe, that is.  My girlfriend had a crepe with chicken, cheese, artichoke hearts and some assorted cheeses; good, but not great enough to get me running back.  We each had one savory crepe and for dessert split one sweet crepe, filled with Nutella, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Strawberries.  Scant on the strawberries but tasty nonetheless, it made a great finish to a relaxing dinner.  The service was excellent, especially for a party of 14.  I had heard that service was inconsistent, but was relieved to have caught the place on a good night.  Surprisingly, the waiter brought our check and the paying of the bill went off without a hitch.  A bottle of red wine, three crepes, tax and tip made for a reasonable dinner for two at less than $60, but then again, we were only eating crepes.  If you want to try something out of the ordinary, stop in for a fun and different meal.  It’s not a place that’s on my list to frequent, but I am happy to say I have tried it and will probably be back for dessert at the bar.

After a stop at a local drinking establishment then to a friend’s house in Ybor, we turned in early for the night.  The crepes at La Creperia were fantastic at 7pm and a perfect beginning for the evening, but at about 11pm, my stomach felt just a bit empty.  On the way back to the car, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon another eatery to try something else a little different: Alaskan Tacos!  More on that soon…

* not a real book… I made it up on the spot

La Creperia Cafe
1729 E. 7Th Avenue
Tampa Fl (Ybor City)
813-248-9700
www.laCreperiaCafe.com

I recently wrote about the popularity of the grouper sandwich and it’s propensity to appear on Tampa Bay restaurant menus.  Unless it is a compelling preparation, I don’t often order the fish because frankly, it doesn’t have a lot of taste.  In addition, based on the availability of the fish locally and the prices of the fish in local markets,  I suspected that a majority of the grouper served was farmed, then frozen and shipped to Florida.  Unfortunately some of my fears were true, but they were even worse than I originially thought.  The St. Petersburg Times ran a two day series about the state of grouper fishing in Florida and one of those articles involved testing the “grouper” served in local restaurants to find out whether it was even grouper at all.  The results were troubling.

Of the 11 restaurants tested for the article, six served a less expensive fish in its place.  It was fair that the reporters gave each restaurant  the opportunity to explain their actions, and some gave an excuse about using fish that was “labeled” as grouper.  I wonder if there is a dishonest fish merchant making the substitutions, but I hardly believe it is a conspiracy.  Any chef or cook worth his salt should be able to tell the difference between grouper and catfish! One restaurant failed to return calls, but would you really order their Breaded Grouper Sandwich for $4.80 and expect to get a piece of real fish?  Most surprising was the restaurant that served a $23 “grouper special” who instead served tilapia.  For those who want the Cliff’s Notes version, there is even a chart.  There are several different reasons for serving an inferior fish and labeling it grouper, but I believe the biggest reason is cost.  And most of these restaurants never expected to get caught.

Having worked in the restaurant business, I know that there are unscrupulous chefs and owners who will cut corners to save a few bucks.  When the chef’s bonus is influenced by a couple percentage points on his or her food costs, it is entirely possible that the “fresh gulf shrimp” on your plate are actually Asian tiger prawns.  Even in New Orleans I saw chefs substituting claw meat of the blue crab in a dish advertised to contain “jumbo lump” crabmeat.   There’s nothing worse than ordering an omelet supposedly filled with jumbo lump crabmeat only to end up with dark claw meat. 

The truth is that most pedestrian diners would never have noticed and most of these restaurants never expected to get caught.  The grouper is a fairly mild (bland) white fish that will take on the flavor of just about any seasoning or sauce used, but substituting ingredients for the sake of a few bucks is unethical.  Remember, if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is.  I urge you to read the entire article and check out the chart before doing business with a restaurant who’s more concerned about their bottom line than they are doing the right thing for their customers.

If you don’t read The Weekly Planet, you may not even be aware of a couple great discount programs for dining out.  The Eats and Bites programs offer certificates to certain restaurants for half of the face value.  For instance, with “Eats,” you can get a $50 certificate for a meal and only pay $25.  The “Bites” program features lower priced options and sells $30 certificates for only $15.  If you want to try a restaurant but are hesitant because of the cost, check out this program.  One thing to remember, this is not a gift certificate, so if you don’t use the entire value of the certificate, you won’t get change.  Do yourself a favor, go to the site, save yourself some money and try a new local restaurant!

After a pretty good workout on a recent Saturday followed by a less than fulfilling protein shake, I began to hear my stomach growl at about 11 am.  There was not a lot of food in the house, so I was relegated to selecting a suitable snack that could tide me over until later in the afternoon.  Though fast food seems to be the default choice when looking around for a quick bite, the fast-food restaurant as we know it has only been around for several decades.  People have always had the need for food, so before there was fast food, there was good food, fast.  That’s what I found at Hugo’s Spanish Restaurant.

Hugo’s has been in Hyde Park since 1975, and though I’ve only been in the neighborhood for about six months, I’ve passed their location on Howard Avenue on almost a daily basis.  On my walk this particular day, I passed several fast food options like Evo’s and Panera bread, but I figured the best food was going to be at the local place.  I had already decided on a roast pork sandwich, so I ordered immediately after walking in the door at Hugo’s.  The only question that threw me for a loop was “all the way?” which questioned whether I would like my sandwich with mayo, mustard, pickle lettuce and tomato.  I skipped the lettuce and tomato and went with the rest.  After only five minutes of waiting and $5.30 later I was on my way home.  My sandwich was pretty good, toasted Cuban bread packed with thick sliced roasted pork, pickles and the right amount of mayo.  The mustard was a little overpowering, so next time I’ll ask for less.  The sandwich was similar in style to the couchon de lait po’ boy, one of the more popular items at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, though the Cajun version features pork that has been pulled apart and shredded, topped with cabbage and mayo.  I thoroughly enjoyed the local Tampa version and will have a hard time ordering a Cuban sandwich when roasted pork appears on the menu (as it should in any Cuban eatery).

When you get hungry and are driving around looking for a place to eat, do yourself a favor and pass up the McDonalds or KFC and look for a restaurant that will serve you real food, that they prepared.  Places like Hugo’s CAN serve good food, and fast.  There are many options out there and even though it takes a little extra effort, your taste buds will thank you.

Hugo’s Spanish Restaurant
931 S Howard Ave
Tampa, FL 33606-2418 
813-251-2842

One morning earlier this week I sat down for a breakfast interview with Mario Diaz of Channel 10 news.  We talked about my thoughts on evacuating New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, my food writing and my newfound love for Tampa Bay. He also asked me about the best meal I had eaten in Tampa and without hesitation, I responded “Ceviche.”  During that interview I told the complete truth, but if was asked the same question today, the answer would be different.  Last night I dined at Benedetto’s Ristorante Italiano and it was by far the best meal I’ve had at a restaurant in the Tampa Bay area.

True to my upbringing, we arrived at the restaurant early to catch a drink at the bar.  Cozy and cluttered with Rat Pack memorabilia, the small bar was inviting.  Segregated from the restaurant, it gave me the feel of a real bar where I could get a real cocktail, so I had a martini.  I didn’t ask for a “martini” menu, I wanted a REAL martini, gin with a touch of vermouth, shaken and served in an ice-cold cocktail glass with olives.  The art of bartending seems to be dying, but even in Land O’ Lakes, I found a martini that was made right.  I also watched closely as the bartender made my girlfriend’s cosmopolitan, as well as several other drinks that were sent to the dining room; they were all done well.  After chatting with the bartender and waitstaff about the food at Benedetto’s and recommendations on our evening, we were ready for the main event.

We were seated in the first dining room at a nice table out of the way of foot traffic, but in full view of the piano playing lounge singer.  It reminded me of the New York Lounge singer of the 70’s only now found in cheesy movies, but I couldn’t help but to like it.  Perhaps it is a throwback to old-school times when the music WAS cool.  I believe it still is.  The wine list is adequate and loaded with a blend of old world and new world selections; we chose a reasonably priced Chianti to pair with the Italian style food.  The complementary basket of bread began the makings of a great meal, soft, warm bread topped with garlic butter and cheese; absolutely delicious.  We also began with an appetizer of the Benedetto Dip, a shallow bowl of cream and cheese filled with crab, scallops and shrimp served with toasted crustini’s.  Though outstanding, it was very rich, and in anticipation of our meal, we purposely left part of it for later.  The salads that preceded the entrees were also good, dressed with the house dressing, a home-made vinaigrette.

When the entrees arrived, I knew I had discovered a new favorite.  I wish I could have seen the look on my face during my first bite of the Grouper Bianco; I couldn’t help but to exclaim, “this is how food is supposed to taste!”  The pan fried grouper was cooked perfect on the inside and was protected by a crispy, light breading, then topped with a creamy sauce with crabmeat, sea scallops and jumbo shrimp that tasted as though they were caught that morning.  It was absolutely exquisite and equally as decadent.  For a side dish, we chose the penne pasta with a pink sauce that ended up fairly pedestrian, especially sitting next to the grouper.  The best bet would have been to have it served over the angel hair pasta.  We also tried one of the specials, a crabmeat stuffed Florida halibut topped with a champagne cream sauce.  The fish was cooked until tender and flaky, and the light flavor of the fish allowed for the taste of crabmeat to shine.  The cream sauce was perfect, just the right consistency to blend well with my side dish of angel hair pasta. Neither one of these selections were on the menu, but were both suggested by the staff.

For those less adventurous souls seeking good but simple Italian favorites, you are also in luck.  There is an extensive selection of entrees including an excellent baked ziti and tasty lasagna.  The prices for the basics are very reasonable, in the range of $12 to $15 per entree.  However, the specialty seafood dishes and evening specials can find you in the neighborhood of $30, well worth every penny.  If you are unsure what to order from the vast menu, your best bet is to ask your waiter.  If you listen to your server at Johnny Carino’s, he or she is likely pushing the daily specials suggested by management.  At Benedetto’s, the staff actually eats the food, and they love it.  While at the bar before dinner, we were actually able to get some great suggestions from the bartender as well as some waiters passing by.  They all seem happy to be there, and that’s a sign of a good restaurant.

We finished up our evening with an order of the homemade tiramisu.  From the dessert tray, about half of the selections were made in house, and we definitely went the right way with our choice.  Rich, creamy and sweet, it was the perfect end to a perfect meal.  Fortunately we packaged up a decent portion of our meal (half the appetizer and most of the side pasta) in anticipation of dessert.  Make sure not to fill up during the meal, you won’t want to miss the ending. To some people in South Tampa, Land O’ Lakes seems like the other side of the world, but the food there is worth the drive.  If I could only have one last meal in Tampa Bay, it would be the Grouper Bianco from Benedetto’s Ristorante Italiano.

Benedetto’s Ristorante Italiano
21529 Village Lakes Shopping Center
Land O’ Lakes, Fl. 34639
813-909-9694
www.benedettoitaliano.com

In the midst of the hurricane aftermath, I decided to drive around the country seeking a new place to live; one of those stops was Tampa.  On a Thursday morning, I woke up early and drove straight from Hammond, LA (my parents house) to Tampa, and I was exhausted.  So only minutes after I arrived, my friend Jason took me to have dinner and a few drinks on the beach at Caddy’s on Treasure Island.
 
While enjoying a couple ice-cold beers and looking over the menu, I came across something totally foreign to my South Louisiana heritage: the grouper sandwich.  Fortunately I had a “local” with me to explain that it was a common menu item in the area, and one which he dubbed the “Hamburger of Tampa.”  After only a couple weeks in Tampa, I realized it was the de facto menu item for any seafood joint, beach bar or sandwich shop (neither Outback nor Bonefish grill serve a grouper sandwich, yet).
 
Grouper wasn’t something very common to me in New Orleans, but it is definitely plentiful in Tampa.  Many years ago, grouper from the Gulf of Mexico was plentiful, but the uses for the fish were few.  An enterprising fisherman saw an opportunity and decided to make a sandwich out of the fish, and the rest is history.  Frenchy’s in Clearwater has the claim that they are the inventor of the grouper sandwich.  Once plentiful though, the grouper was overfished, and now a bit more controlled than in the past.  I would bet many of the grouper sandwiches in town are made with farmed fish. 
 
This past weekend I had the opportunity to try the grouper sandwich at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill, right on the beach in Clearwater.  Since I was there with others, I was able to sample the grouper sandwich in two varieties, grilled and fried.  We also split a bowl of their popular “She Crab Soup,” a thick creamy soup loaded with lump crabmeat and bursting with flavor.  However, at $4.95 for the bowl of soup, I suspect they used imitation (k)rab meat.  Nonetheless, it was excellent, and compared nicely to the crab soup that my mother makes on occasion (recipe coming soon to NolaFoodie.com).
 
If you are reading from afar and still wondering about the grouper sandwich, I’ll explain.  It’s basically a piece of cooked fish on a hamburger bun, topped with lettuce, tomato, sometimes a piece of cheese and maybe some mayo or tarter sauce.  While the grilled and fried grouper sandwiches are the most common, there other varieities such as blackened or Cajun style (just means it is seasoned with Cajun seasoning).  Yep, eat it just like a fish-burger; but take note, this is no fast-food square fish sandwich.  The sandwich usually is lacking in a strong flavor, as the grouper is a mild fish, but it’s a staple nonetheless.  And though I am not blown away by the flavor, I’ve been known to indulge from time to time.  Since most of the residents around here are transplants, it’s just nice to have a food item that’s a Tampa native.

What’s your opinion on the grouper sandwich?  Like it?  Love it?  Hate it?  Where’s the best one in the Tampa Bay Area?