Goody Goody, a decade-gone icon of Tampa burgers, shakes and pies, opened its doors Sunday night for an invite-only preview of what diners — in the truest sense of the word — can expect when the restaurant re-opens this week.
In a phrase, diner food, this time prepared under the umbrella of the Gonzmart food empire. On hand Sunday night, Richard Gonzmart proudly told guests of how the restaurant would do its part to help make America great again with its food buying practices. Those practices, he vowed, include procuring local meat, going without avocados when he could only get them from Mexico and forsaking tomatoes when they didn't meet his standards.
While those in love with the romantic notion of Goody Goody's place in Tampa history — the original Goody Goody, a drive-in/up, started in 1925 not far from the new Hyde Park location and en route to the bathroom, old ads and photos remind diners of the eatery's heyday — will no doubt make this a regular stop, it remains to be seen how the Hyde Park diner will react to a diner amidst the Lululemon and CinéBistros and how far into Hyde Park the diner interested in an under-five-buck burger and clam strips will travel.
The staff has high hopes, and they spent time chatting with the guests, asking for feedback and, with an almost daunting, yet friendly, zeal, insist they try the pie.
Our verdict? The butterscotch, while decadent, couldn't hold a candle to the banana cream pie. The burgers, for their part, tasted like burgers you get in a diner. Which, I should add, is what we went in hoping to get. If we want a burger to end all burgers, we'll go to District Tavern. If we're Tampa-side and have a hankering for El Cap or Chattaway, we'll head to Goody Goody.
The diner opens with a full menu — including breakfast served all day and a kitchen open until 11 p.m. on the weekends — on Tuesday, Aug. 22.
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2016.