The downtown Tampa festival, showcasing some of the area’s top-notch tailgate grub, cooked up food samples for local tailgaters in the heart of college football season.
While there were no actual tailgates to be seen, each restaurant did have a tent. (The event was also hosted outside in the intense heat, if that makes it any more authentic for you.) Tailgaters purchased wristbands that allowed them to taste all the specialties the fest had to offer.
Me? I think I chose my samples wisely. The afternoon started out with a barbeque brisket taco from the Channel District's Hablo Taco. If there’s one food you can’t mess up, it’s a taco. However, you can surely elevate them by adding slow-cooked brisket and pickled onions. Tacos are great for tailgating. Use one hand to eat them, keeping their insides together in one tidy shell, and use the other hand to hold your beer.
Onto the next taste: the always-classic slider. Featuring a sirloin patty with fried pickle and mustard aioli, this slider was exactly what I was looking for. Its creator, The Lodge (located on Tampa's Howard Avenue), hit the nail on the head. Though the easy-to-eat bite was also fit for tailgating, (I could see myself chowing down on one while participating in the cornhole tournament next to me), the ultimate pairing for the occasion seemed to be chicken wings.
The fest highlighted more wings than I could handle, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: the best came from Port-A-Pit. The barbecue spot's hickory smoked wings sat in a movable smoker for six hours covered in homemade barbecue sauce. And as everyone knows, the sauce is boss.
If you're anything like me once you've devoured tailgate wings, you might need a shower (here, I settled for a handful of wet naps). But these stems and flappers made it worth it. Port-A-Pit's Mike and Steve know what they're doing when it comes to smoking meat. Together, they have 45 years of combined experience.
“We have been serving the Tampa Bay area for about 40 years,” marketing manager Jill Case told CL. “We’re known for our portable smoker and portable barbeque pits. We were caterers for the Outback Bowl for 26 seasons, and [we cater] for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well. Tailgating is definitely one of our things.”
After that mini feast, I thought I was done. Newk’s Eatery changed my mind. The Clearwater restaurant, part of a larger fast-casual restaurant brand, served piping hot shrimp mac 'n' cheese. Since you need a fork to eat it, the dish isn't ideal for tailgating. It is, however, the comfort food you just might need should you witness the your team blow it.
Tampa Bay Tailgate Taste Fest, now in its third year, continues to grow. Organized by the Event Development Institute, a division of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, the event is a fun way to gather in front of huge screens to watch football and indulge in your favorite game-day grub.
“It’s basically a massive tailgate,” event coordinator Samantha Greiner said. “We have about 17 restaurants here sampling their food and showing off how well they can cook… and this year we’re estimating 2,500 to 3,000 people to come.”
The fest taught me a few things: The best foods aren’t always the easiest to hold, people take cornhole tournaments pretty seriously, and you don’t always need a tailgate to properly tailgate. For all you pre-game partiers, football season is in full swing, so keep your wings hot and your beers cold.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 7, 2016.