Eat My Florida

Rand Packer — formerly of our local Roy’s and Taylor Eason’s pick for hottest Bay area chef — will be opening his own Mariposa Mexican Grill on July 1, wayyyyy up N Dale Mabry. I haven’t seen the menu yet, but the chef promises “Pacific fresh Mexican”, with homemade fresh tortillas, fresh fruit featured in popsicles and juice blends, and a whole lot Mexi-cuisine loaded with fresh herbs and dried chiles. Did I say fresh?

Mariposa Mexican Grill - 17623 N Dale Mabry Hwy., 813-264-1212

Bookmark to:

Reality show…faked? Wha-huh!?! Say it ain’t so, Gordie!

Bookmark to:

Alas, poor restaurants, I knew them, Bay area -

Wild Fish - Clearwater
Sunshine City Grill - St. Petersburg

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Bookmark to:

Alas, poor restaurants, I knew them, Sarasota -

Lido Grille - St. Armands
Margarita Mateo’s - St. Armands
Carmine Goldberg’s - Lakewood Ranch

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Bookmark to:

For about a year, Sarasota was blessed by a brief affair with Ethiopian home-cooking, thanks to Betel Tafesse’s short lived Fly bar and restaurant, which she lost to a divorce last year.

Well, now she’s back (at least once a week) piling killer veggies and spiced meats on tart injera bread every Thursday night at Metro in downtown SRQ. Maybe this will start a trend — chef as DJ, with restaurants featuring a varied menu of culinary stylings every night of the week. Sweet.

Press release after the jump. (more…)

Bookmark to:

The FTC ruled (5-0, no less) that the proposed gobbling of Wild Oats by Whole Foods is a Bad Idea for consumers, for what turns out to be a very questionable reason. Time for an old fashioned Food v. Guvmint throwdown.

The guvmint thinks that organic grocery stores form an entirely separate market than traditional grocery stores, while Whole Foods contends that every single grocery store worth their salt (hah!) has or plans on creating an organic section that looks a heck of a lot like a Whole Foods store. In their minds, that’s stiff competition.

Putting aside the very serious problems of megacorporate organic consolidation, it seems to me that anyone who bothered to visit a Publix or Sweetbay would see their point.

What’s next? Lawsuits galore!

Bookmark to:

Start with $2 Million and buy a coffee shop! Hah, a classic no matter the topic.

But seriously folks, SIP — the hip coffee shop/art gallery/hangout on Davis Islands — is for sale. Good luck to Angela.

Anyone interested in buying the place? Info after the jump… (Thanks to Leilani, again, for the tip.) (more…)

Bookmark to:

This just in - The Wine Exchange will not be closing permanently.

Apparently, the restaurant will be maintaining their current location until they can move into the “Heart Of The Village” space that is currently under construction. Official re-opening should be the beginning of next week. Official - and confusing - press release after the jump.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

The news services and national food blogs have been all over the removal of restrictions on imports of Indian mangoes. Supposedly, they are prized for their flavor and quality, and have just started hitting NY and LA and are all the rage with foodie early-adopters. How about here in Tampa?

No Indian fever, here. Cooseman’s Produce doesn’t see how they’ll compete with mangoes grown in this hemisphere — most of our mangoes come from Mexico at about $2 for 10 (wholesale), while Indian mangoes will likely be air-shipped for a while at exorbitant prices ($35 a box in LA). Most of the places I called didn’t even know that they were available, or even that mangoes grew in India. A produce buyer at out local Sysco affiliate said “if anyone starts asking for them, I’ll look into it.”

Woohoo!? Indian mangoes are here?!

Bookmark to:

It’s time to prepare your stomach for a hot stack of steam-grilled “slyders”. White Castles are comin’, baby! Pirates Cove — “a 1930’s pirate pin-up themed bar slash convenience store,” according to owner Shawn Kaplan – is slated to open this week in Channelside. Kaplan plans on dishing out those gloriously gooey hamburgers through a special arrangement with White Castle HQ. Except for the frozen stuff (which doesn’t count, so don’t fool yourself), Pirates Cove will be the only authentic, steam-grilled White Castles south of Tennessee.

Pirate’s Cove will also be open for breakfast to take care of the cruise ship crowd, feature live acoustic music in the evenings and stay open as late as 3:30 a.m. on the weekends. According to Kaplan, “this is a bodega, so you can get medicine, condoms, candy as well as enjoy a huge selection of high-end beers and wine in the bar.”

Bookmark to:

Wayne Garcia (the PoHo himself) laid out a rumor yesterday that the Wine Exchange in South Tampa is closing. Confirmed it today — the final day is Mother’s Day. Nothing new scheduled to go into the space and, as yet, no info as to the reason. Thanks Wayne.

Bookmark to:

Thanks to Matt over at Sticks Of Fire, I’ve taken to looking over the health inspections of restaurants I go to. It is a guilty, transitory pleasure that ultimately disappoints: either the restaurant has a dreadful record involving live roaches in the food prep area and unlabeled chicken drippings stored next to the apple juice, or the joint is clean and I am denied the illicit horror of having eaten at a pit. Either way, I recommend not clicking here to check out your favorite restaurants. As if you could resist.

Bookmark to:

Think this hotel will be decorated in bordello chic?

Bookmark to:

Pincho (or maybe Pincho Y Pincho, still unclear) will be opening doors next to Ceviche’s St. Pete spot in about two weeks, according to Ceviche co-owner and frontman Gordon Davis. This tiny spot — only 400 square feet, used to be the ice cream store — will serve northern Spanish “pincho” tapas, which has essentially come to mean tapas served on bread. Walk up, toss back a glass of wine and a few choice bites of food, then proceed on down the street.

Ceviche’s long-rumored expansion to downtown Sarasota has also become a reality, although the opening won’t be until well past the summer months. I’ll be touring the site next week, so more gossip then.

Bookmark to:

Servers and bartenders, it’s time to start giving back. To make this blog truly outstanding, we need more than just my precocious wordsmithery, we need cold, hard facts and raw, undiluted rumormongerin