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Past articles by Times:
Restaurant review: Bulla Gastrobar is solid, especially for brunch, but is there too much tapas competition in SoHo?
TAMPABulla Gastrobar, the fifth location for the Florida-based chain by Centurion Restaurant Group, opened Sept. 28 in the densely competitive South Howard corridor. Inspired by the famous gastrobars of Spain, the casual 172-seat tapas bar offers indoor and outdoor seating, and Luna Lounge, a rooftop bar, one of the area's few, will open at the end of the year. → Read More
These giant robots can pick strawberries. What does that mean for humans?
DUETTE — It stands in the dirt-floored barn. Its sixteen arms, with fierce-looking spikes at the ends, emit little pneumatic hisses as they punch downward. It is 30 feet wide, 12 feet long and 14 feet tall. It's like Optimus Prime, if the Transformer had a majestic steed with tractor-tire hooves. → Read More
5 new Tampa Bay restaurants to check out in October
Restaurant industry growth tends to hit a lull in August and September in Tampa Bay, with a notable surge in new openings in October. → Read More
Dining Planner: Celebrate Oktoberfest, the Day of the Dead and the glories of Neapolitan pizza
OKTOBERFEST: DUNDERBAK STYLEThis week concludes Mr. Dunkerbak's monthlong Oktoberfest celebration. Thursday through Sunday, to the tunes of Accordion Joe and the USF Tuba Quartet (you can never have too many tubas), guests can enjoy traditional German food and buy a Dunder-liter mug to get discounted refills — and if you don't feel like buying a stein, you can buy a liter and enter to win a… → Read More
Seminole Heights restaurants face struggles amid killings, post-Irma
SEMINOLE HEIGHTS — The neighborhood's hip circle of popular, well-regarded restaurants is feeling the squeeze in the wake of a recent killing spree. And the timing is rough. → Read More
McDonald's soft serve in Florida is made with handshakes and happy cows
Floridians licked nine million McDonald's vanilla cones last year. → Read More
Locale Market changes yet again, rebranding the restaurant as FarmTable Cucina
When Locale Market opened in Sundial St. Pete in Dec. 2014, it was the most-hyped, most-anticipated gourmet market/food hall/culinary playground Tampa Bay had ever seen. Since then, celebrity chef-owner Michael Mina has done what every entrepreneur does in the face of challenges: tinker. → Read More
Restaurant review: Noble Crust's second location is a boon to booming Wesley Chapel
WESLEY CHAPELWesley Chapel is said to be one of the fastest growing areas in the country, due to the perfect cocktail of available and affordable land, broad but upwardly mobile demographics and easy access to other parts of Tampa Bay. And while malls and brick-and-mortar retail centers have taken a big hit in the past couple years, largely failing to stem the tide of online shopping, the Shops… → Read More
Vinoy reinvents Fred's Cellar for one night Thursday as a fundraiser for Puerto Rico
The Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort's Fred's Cellar has been underutilized for some time, starting as a private club for members and more recently re-envisioned as a speakeasy. But here's something — for one night only — that seems to be a glorious repurposing of the grand space. → Read More
Chef behind Ricky P's is taking over the kitchen at Tampa's Roux
Rick Parsons has been moving around St. Petersburg for some time. → Read More
Restaurant review: Bob Heilman's Beachcomber on Clearwater Beach is an oldie and, yes, still a goodie
CLEARWATER BEACHThe packet's front is stamped: "LIBRARY MATERIALS MAY NOT BE CHECKED OUT OVERNIGHT." It is chubby, gapping with yellowed St. Petersburg Times clippings date-stamped, the restaurant name underlined in red grease pencil. Bob Heilman's Beachcomber had a whole lot of clippings in 1959, the year a fire gutted the restaurant on Mandalay Avenue and they rebuilt, bigger and better,… → Read More
Alessi Bakery rolls back prices to 1912 this week
This weekend, Tampa's historic Alessi Bakery throws its own birthday party, and it will require a lot of candles. → Read More
FDA: Love is not a real ingredient in bakery's granola
CONCORD, Mass. — A Massachusetts bakery's granola may be made with love, but federal officials say it shouldn't be listed as an ingredient on the package. → Read More
This Florida family is making apple jelly from only fruit traced directly to Johnny Appleseed
Paul Bunyan, not real.John Henry, possibly real.Johnny Appleseed, totally real.This American legend, born John Chapman, was a missionary for the New Church and a nurseryman who introduced apple trees to big swaths of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Ontario and what is now West Virginia. He was born in 1774 and died in 1845, and somewhere between 1837 and 1845 he planted an apple tree on… → Read More
Tampa Bay's best coffees and deals for National Coffee Day
Let's get caffeinated.Friday is National Coffee Day and loads of the usual suspects offer special deals (Dunkin' Donuts, the industry goliath, selling more than 1.9 billion cups of hot and iced coffee globally every year, is offering a sweet deal: BOGO on a medium or larger hot coffee). But it's a good moment to consider all the great coffee we have in the Tampa Bay area these days, some… → Read More
Florida brewers have made an Irma IPA to help hurricane victims
Craft beer drinkers, prepare for Irma IPA. → Read More
Datz to open in St. Petersburg, join the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art
Now Datz news.Get it? Tuesday, Datz, the longtime line-out-the-door, oft-Instagrammed and -Yelped Tampa stalwart known for shock-and-awe sandwiches and oh-so-much bacon, announced it is coming to St. Petersburg. → Read More
Restaurant review: Mortar & Pestle in Seminole Heights should focus on mom-and-pop pharmacy vibe
By Laura ReileyTimes Food CriticTAMPASometimes, the more time you have with a project, the more complicated it gets. I started hearing about Mortar & Pestle in Seminole Heights about 18 months ago. It was the vision of Ujwal Patel, a pharmacist; → Read More
Is the Bundt cake back? How retro baked goods are becoming trendy again
Once there were grunts and slumps, buckles and brown betties. Oh, and pandowdies and sonkers. In the olden days, people routinely made angel food cakes, tomato soup cakes and hummingbird cakes. These were not Duncan Hines mixes, but rather confections made from scratch following yellowed and stained recipes in your mother's or grandmother's slanty cursive. → Read More
Feeling mental fatigue after Hurricane Irma and other disasters? It's real.
TAMPA — Blackness. Eyes closed or open, the same. → Read More