Hello fellow food fanatics,
Yeah I know...another blog on the net about food. Don't hear the marching bands in the background? Me neither. A gnome can dream can't he?
I love food, always have. I love eating food, cooking food, studying and tweaking recipes, watching cooking shows, you get the idea. My mother was a self-taught cook and caterer who used her willing family as guinea pigs/quality control/cheap labor. Some of my fondest childhood memories center around our kitchen table making shrimp toast or miniature egg rolls around 1,000 at a time for an event. We had quite the system, the four of us. My mother would make the fillings or toppings, my brother and I would make the items, and my father would stand and fry them all. When we got into a rhythm we were a machine! To this day, I will still order shrimp toast if I see it on a Chinese menu, I don't care how passe or "last year" it is.
Given this, you can imagine I grew up eating a wide variety of foods from all different cultures, from the 70s classics like Swedish meatballs and Hawaiian steak (anyone seen Hawaiian steak anywhere lately? Talk about a food in desperate need of a comeback! And what the hell happened to my hibachi?) to foods dearer to my own ethnicity such as bagels and lox and pickled herring. My waistline will attest to the fact that I loved them all. I think I finally worked off the calories ingested during the 90s last week!
I live in Tampa, Florida and have for about six years. Growing up in the Northeast, especially around New York City, we have this idea that the food world revolves around us and our area is the standard by which all other food scenes should be measured. I carried this myopic view of food to Tampa and was initially disappointed by what I found here. It took me forever to find a decent slice of pizza or good Chinese take-out. I grew up taking these things for granted like breathing or a sunset. No worries, I did find them in Tampa and the surrounding communities and quite a few of them at that. Tampa is no slouch when it comes to quality, variety, and pride in its food.
This blog will center around Tampa and its food. Ultimately I want to make the case for Tampa as a food lover's destination. There is great, good, and not so good food to be had here like everywhere else and I will do my best to bring the places that make it to light. Unlike everywhere else, I believe that what Tampa has going for it's food scene is the sheer variety and levels of cuisines available. Vietnamese? Yup. Korean? Yes. Russian? You bet. Four-star establishments? Absolutely. Beachside shacks and holes-in-the-wall? You know it. Venerable dining institutions? Uh-huh. New players making a splash? Definitely. Tampa really does have it all when it comes to food.
Watch for my reviews coming soon.
Eat well and be well,
The Gnome
