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Mary and Gino Galantino, whose family was from Bari by way of New York, opened Gino’s more than 30 years ago. They bought a little bar on North Armenia Avenue, added a kitchen and let their menu evolve with both Northern and Southern Italian dishes. Now owned by their son, Michael, the restaurant’s menu of parmigiana, pasta and piccata overflow the plates and the laughter drowns out the music. Read more: North Tampa’s Gino’s glories in generous portions No worries: There are no button-down attitudes at Jerk Hut Jamaican Grille & Rhum Bar. The lazy, hazy, island lifestyle beguiles your senses with lively, if loud, reggae, casual ambience and a peppery aroma. The hostess asked “take out?” as three of us walked in to dine there. Sure enough, a good number were huddled in the lobby, waiting on Caribbean carryout. Read more: Ya Mon: Tampa’s Jerk Hut takes taste buds to the Islands You know how your mother– wink, wink — used to hide your peas under your mashed potatoes? Well, restaurateur Lynn Pham delivers a similar deception at Bamboozle, beguiling diners with vegetables, lean meats and seafood served fast and fresh. Read more: Tampa restaurant review: Downtown’s Bamboozle Cafe is on a roll It’s been five months since I moved to Santa Rosa, California from Tampa, Florida, and besides the friendships, a few dishes still gnaw at my memory like a half-starved mongrel. I spent 17 years collecting these faves and so wish they could be Fed-Ex’d on a weekly basis just to keep the love alive. My eight best dishes/experiences in Tampa Bay, in no particular order. Read more: Eight of the best Tampa Bay food dishes that I crave from California Penn McElmurray skillfully weaves the sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavors of lemongrass, coconut milk and galangal root into fragrant salads, soups and stir fries. Penn, a native of Sukothai, and her husband Clay, a Davis Islands product, operate their 50-seat, Thai Island restaurant on East Davis Boulevard. If you drive by too fast, you can easily miss it. But its friendly staff and change-of-pace dishes compensate for its lack of visibility. Read more: Tampa Thai Island is a tiny treasure I’m in sweat pants today while last night’s dining companions flaunt bikinis because I lose control at all-you-can-eat places. Make the menu Indian and I’m a sucker for mystic-sounding vadas, aloos and dosa dishes. I dreamed I was on a budget trip to the Indian subcontinent when visiting Mayuri Indian restaurant in Temple Terrace. The simple décor here has boring walls, Pizza-Hut like red chairs, bottles of beer and other booze with big price tags on each one, tables that need bussing, and a lot of noise. This could be Anywhere Cuisine. Read more: Mayuri’s Indian buffet is priced to please in Tampa’s Temple Terrace Downtown Tampa’s L’Eden recasts traditional French finds along with toothsome Spanish, Greek and Italian dishes. People do not know where the four-year-old bistro is but once they find it they return. Dinner traffic is also improving. The café seats only 25 inside but adds another two dozen in the atrium where the owner got the idea to name his place for the Garden of Eden. Floor to ceiling windows allow a great vista for downtown skyscrapers and people watching at Gas Light Park from the corner of Tampa and Madison streets. A soft bed of contemporary French music offers a soothing backdrop. When an Athenian fisherman catches an octopus, he leaves it out in the sun to dry before he pounds his prey into submission. But there are other ways to soften the cephalopod. Costa’s Restaurant owner Stelios Migadakis boils this creature from the briny deep. He says he is careful not to cook it too long or too short because it’s tricky tenderizing its tough muscles and connective tissues. After broiling it with lemon, garlic and oregano, he sells a whopping 100 pounds of this tentacled treat every week. The dish is No. 1 in his small café. Read more: When in Tarpon Springs, coast to Costa’s Restaurant Having enjoyed dinners at Café Ponte sometime back, we happily found an encore performance. As soon as you enter, the welcoming host assures that you are in good hands. Proprietor Christopher Ponte, who trained at Johnson & Wales University and later at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, has also worked at the famed Taillevent in Paris and continues to earn a litany of accolades. Read more: Don’t punt on Clearwater’s Café Ponte Consider Wat Mongkolratanaram a way station for hungry nirvana-seekers who can’t cross the Universal Dateline. Every Sunday, the Thai temple affectionately nicknamed “Wat Tampa,” opens its compound, about a half-mile from U.S. 41 on the banks of the Palm River, to sell an amazing array of foods and produce. Read more: Thai Temple tops for Tampa Thai tastes |
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