With all of the commotion over the last year between  Popeyes and the world about who's got the best chicken sandwiches you gotta hand it to Tampa Pizza Co. co-founder Dave Burton for having the courage to open another retail outlet that serves them, especially in  times of a business slowing pandemic. Chicky Chicky Bang Bang is a hybrid operation opening within the walls of the pizza company on Henderson Boulevard. It makes business sense to spread the overhead of two businesses, expanding the menu at the same time. So, hats off to the owners for the the creativity in the nutty restaurant Covid-19 world.

​The long awaited opening of Catrina’s Tacos and Tequila Bar finally happened back in January and I have been anxious to try it. The food at their former location on MacDill Avenue was tasty. This Mexican spot was originally scheduled to open back in July 2019.

​Aspiring to be a go-to classic Italian restaurant is a big task, especially in South Tampa. But the folks at la Dolce Vita are doing just that. Transforming  a former French restaurant into a thin slice of Italy, the owners opened earlier this year.

It’s Friday, I am hungry, and I have a hankering for barbecue. Almost daily I pass two barbecue joints within four of blocks of each other on South Dale Mabry and wonder which is better. The Deviled Pig opened in 2018 taking over the former home of BJ’s Alabama BBQ. BJ’s then reopened four blocks south in early 2019 in a former used appliance store. My plan is simple: order the same standard barbecue dish (ribs, coleslaw, and baked beans) from both restaurants and pick a winner. Game on! 

Soho in Tampa is known more for partying than it is for good food. However Bar Hwrd  opened in the heart of the district and I try it in with moderate expectations. Going on trend, grub here is served from a food truck run by the folks from Taco Bus, so it’s got potential. The truck is aptly named Soho Fuego (fuego is defined in the urban dictionary as something so cool no English word can define it) and is located in the former Drynk building on Howard Ave. 

​Would you eat a bug? I am not talking about being at the college kegger and eating a cockroach on a dare or eating the worm in a bottle of mezcal at Cinco de Mayo. I’m talking about expanding your culinary horizons while considering the sustainability of food and overcoming your Western fear of insects as meals. The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg hosted BugsGiving: A Dining Experience with Chef Joseph Yoon, an event promoting a 10 course tasting menu with edible insects featured in the ingredients. Yoon, the executive director of Brooklyn Bugs, tours the country raising awareness and appreciation of ento-cuisine (insects as food). 

It is no secret. I am southern born, love southern food, and fried chicken is a southern staple. Guthrie’s Chicken Fingers, the self-proclaimed creators of the chicken finger box meal, recently opened in South Tampa and commanded my presence. After several failed attempts to visit in the last couple of weeks because the parking lot was full, I keep trying because I had to find out what the buzz was all about. I got in!

For the second Facebook Foodie Collective outing- where having fun going to restaurants, sampling food, and experiencing delightful conversation is a requirement- we visit Cena, a high-end eatery in the heart of Channelside. Award-winning Executive Michael Buttacavoli has been there since the opening in 2013 and serves up modern Italian cuisine, many times with a unique slant. 

It’s no secret that I am a fan of The Rooster and the Till. It continues to be one of the areas preeminent eateries and when I saw they were offering a pop-up brunch replete with a guest bartender and DJ… well… hell yeah!

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.