One of the bennies of being a newspaper food photographer for over a decade is that I've been in hundreds of kitchens seeing a gazillion dishes being prepped and plated, spoken with world-renowned chefs, and shot thousands of food photos. I've gained a greater  (maybe even food-snobby) appreciation for top shelf vittles.

​Seeking a Sunday morning food adventure we head over to St. Petersburg to the Fresh Connection Catering, Café and Bakery. It is an unassuming place under an overpass of Alternate 19 in South Pinellas County housed in a former convenience store that has been transformed into a small restaurant and commercial kitchen. The FB event page touted $5 custom-made omelettes and $4 biscuits and gravy. Sounded cheap and easy (like Sunday morning)!

A Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle recently mentioned that Tampa was famous for Cuban sandwiches stirring up a lot of online chatter with Miami's Cuban culinary community. It left me hankering for one of those fabulous footlong feasts. Award-winning and much storied Michelle Faedo's Tampeño Cuisine comes to mind so I decide to follow the accolades. Her version of the sandwich includes a secret sauce of sorts. It is located just north of downtown in the growing Encore complex and pretty easy to get to. ​

​Nashville has several legends. The music scene, The Grand Ole Opry, Vanderbilt University, and Nashville (Hot) Chicken are some of what make Nashville Nashville. There is a new eatery in Seminole Heights bringing its version of that spicy chicken dish, serving it deep fried with a cayenne influenced hot sauce on plain white bread and accompanied by pickle chips. Yep, that's the way they do it in Nashville.
King of the Coop opened on Florida Avenue in May and there was a line out the door on my visit. I suppose that is to be expected when new digs open in a foodie haven like Seminole Heights. It took about 20 minutes to get food which is pretty good all things considered.

​Back in 1863 while working at Town Meats in Wakefield Rhode Island, Liam Gray needed something to do with leftover chicken. Being inventive he mixed it with some Mayo, grapes, and tarragon and voilà, the first chicken salad appears in the United States. Since then it has become somewhat of a southern staple (we love our chicken), and when I heard about the opening of Chicken Salad Chick in the former home of Lenny’s subs on Kennedy Boulevard I made a beeline. 

Foodie purists or fried-food-faint-of-heart, move along. These aren't the droids you are looking for.
Ever long for a traditional fried seafood dinner without glam or fuss? People who have been in Tampa a while may miss the likes of the Colonnade, Seabreeze or Mirabella's seafood eateries. At one time, they dominated the seafood scene in the old Tampa. There were no fancy imported clams or fish flown in fresh daily from  foreign lands. They offered a classic battered and fried plate of ocean harvest. I had a craving for some and went looking. My quest took me to Blue Sea Seafood Market and Restaurant in surprising part of town. Upon arrival it's clear that it's a popular place as the parking lot is full. As we await our food an African-American couple walks in chuckling and pondering the idea of having “seafood in the hood”. We all laugh in sync like it is some sort of social anomaly. 

Every once in a while I get to spend time with fellow foodies and  today was one of those times. Kiera Andrews, better known as on social media as @thisbabeeats, hosted a four hour tour of three food halls in Tampa for 30 foodies. Each stop offered samples of delicious food and drink, and lots of opportunities for meeting, greeting and Instagram- ing!

With waves of new culinary hot spots hitting the Tampa Bay area is easy to pass over the types of food that have been the foundation of this community for a long time. Al's Finger Licking Good Soul Food opened in December and serves dishes that brings me back to my Southern roots. Fried and baked chicken? Check! Pot roast and liver and onions? Check! Collard greens, black-eyed peas, fried okra? Yaas!

The Tampa Bay Times and food critic Laura Reiley celebrated the announcement of her top 100 restaurants for 2019 with a bash at the Franklin Food Hall Thursday night. A mix of a who's who of Tampa's culinary world and their admirers feasted on a generous offerings of delicious delights from some of the kitchens at the hall. Traditionally the Times and Reiley have revealed a 50 best restaurants list, but she says due to the remarkable increase in quality establishments they broadened the field to 100 for her retrospective tally for 2019. See the entire story and video here

We walk in to new Bull Market on Himes Avenue with a sense of curiosity. Is it a market or a restaurant? After all the windows say Eat, Drink, Shop, Local. The former convenience store that morphed into the Vietnam Oriental Supermarket sat empty for years. In 2015  the South Tampa Fresh Market opened here for a short stint but closed following a huge loss due to hurricane Irma in 2017. Enter Bull Market.
During all that time frame (2011 - 2018) a former Farm Stores at Himes and Gandy Blvd.- in the adjacent lot- a drive through coffee shop called Baristas opened, and in late 2017 Big Island Poke took over offering poke and acai bowls, again for drive through only. 
​With the shuttering of the market and the need for a place to prepare warm dishes and have seating for customers, the owners of Big Island Poke opened Bull Market.

The venerable folks over at the House of Ciccio have brought yet another fast food hybrid eatery to South Tampa. On December 16  Ciccio Cali opened it's doors in the former Pei Wei location on South Dale Mabry Hwy. serving food inspired by tours of the California culinary landscape. There are other Cali locations in Brandon, Tampa Palms, and St Pete. This newest location differs from the others by not changing over to table service for dinner, preferring a counter service model. The interior is a nice makeover from the former Asian spot.

The Seminole Heights Asian food favorite Chop Chop Shop opened in its new digs in late October. Originally an Ayre's Diner (there were several around Tampa in the '50s and '60s) it's a place where Elvis Presley reportedly ate, tying it to local folklore. If you listen closely you may still be able to hear Blue Christmas  echoing in the background. The diner housed Nicko's Fine Foods from the 1980's until it closed in late 2017.

I'm pretty sure, at least for the foodies that I know, a positive review for Farmtable Cucina is a no-brainer. It is a known quantity to the  local food world and was established by culinary rock stars Michael Mina and Don Pintabona in 2014. The overall consistent quality and variety of Locale Market, home to Farmtable Cucina in downtown St. Petersburg, is pretty much unmatched in these parts. I have reviewed some of the other stations in the market like the Poke bowl and the Hamburger counters, as well as their seafood low country boil last year. They are all consistently well done.

In the former home of Your Pie, The Nest Neighborhood Kitchen opened it's doors on November 26 to little fanfare. According to co-owner Perry Dube (who was working the front counter) they are keeping the noise down about being open while they work out the kinks (invariably a smart move). I just happened to see the "open" sign  when driving by went in. The store has been in the planning since at least May 1, 2018 when the "opening soon" sign appeared. It worth the wait. The Nest offers a creative menu putting their own spin on traditional and unique dishes using some in-vogue ingredients (e.g.pimento cheese, and impossible burger meat) and it's really good. ​