Acapulco Taqueria Acapulco Taqueria is now open out of its original location in West Tampa. The popular, family-owned taqueria re-opened about a month ago according to its brand new Facebook page, where dozens of mouthwatering taco photos live. Acapulco closed sometime in 2021 for unknown reasons. The popular Mexican spot boasts the same menu of chicken, chorizo, al pastor, carnitas, shrimp and birria tacos, burritos, tostadas and quesadillas—which are now all available for online ordering as well. Wash your street tacos down with glass-bottled sodas, fruit juices or an ice cold cerveza. 1001 N Macdill Ave., Tampa. acapulcotaqueriatampa.com
Tampa’s first drive-thru Chipotle Gone are the days of getting out of your car, and burning a few calories walking through a parking lot to retrieve a burrito bowl. Tampa’s first Chipotle with a drive-thru opened today at 8301 N Dale Mabry Hwy. The “Chipotlane,” is a little different than a standard drive-thru, however, and doesn’t actually allow guests to just pull up and place an order. Instead, the pick-up window is reserved for online orders through the Chipotle website or the mobile app. Chipotle first started toying with the idea of “Chipotlanes” back in 2017, and opened Florida’s first one in Orlando in 2019. Florida is now home to over 25 “Chipotlanes,” but this location is the first in Tampa. According to the website, the next nearest Chipotlane locations are in Zephyrhills, Odessa and Ellenton. 8301 N Dale Mabry Hwy., Tampa. chipotle.com
Vine Vegan Brandon’s first all-vegan restaurant is finally open, and it’s already been getting rave reviews from North Tampa’s plant-based community. The newly-opened restaurant boasts a menu full of veganized comfort food, chock full of burgers, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, smoothies, milkshakes and pastas. It even has a full kid’s menu, speciality coffee offerings, and can serve breakfast all day long. The 3,000 square-foot restaurant seats 80 patrons, in addition to an event room that can be rented out. And although Vine Vegan will offer dine-in service from breakfast to dinner, it’s a fast casual eatery that offers take out too. “Living on this side of the county, the vegan options are very limited, and a fully vegan sit-down restaurant is more than 20 miles away,” Vine Vegan owner Danielle Stevens told Creative Loafing earlier this year. Her vegan eatery is now open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sundays. 2080 Badlands Dr., Brandon. vinevegan.com
Closings
Avid Brewing If you’re looking for all-you-can-drink beers to celebrate the new year, Avid Brewing’s closing party has you covered. Avid—located in downtown St. Pete— is closing its doors at the end of this year. The brewery is hosting a “Grand Closing New Year’s Eve Bash” to celebrate the end of an era, beginning Dec. 31st at 1 p.m. Since the storefront is shutting its doors, $20 all-you-can-drink beer will be on sale during the event, so you can help the store drain its taps. Avid Brewing began as a storefront for home brewing supplies over 10 years ago, and opened its taproom in 2018. According to ILoveTheBurg, many other businesses on the block in Grand Central are being uprooted as well as a new development project steps in. Live bands for the New Years bash include Low Season, Someattics and Ben Rodgers, and other musical features will soon be announced on Avid Brewing’s Facebook page. 1745 1st Ave. S, St. Petersburg. avidbrew.com
Coming Soon
Toastique From burgers to artisan ice cream and high-end Japanese food, the ever-growing Water Street Tampa development is known for its wide variety of eats. And its latest concept, Toastique, will soon be downtown Tampa’s go-to spot for gourmet toasts, juices, smoothies, espresso and more. Earlier this week, SPP announced the addition of Toastique to its downtown Tampa hotspot, slated to debut in early 2023. When the new gourmet toast spot opens at 1011 E Cumberland Ave. next year it will be Tampa Bay’s very first Toastique location. Know for its healthy breakfasts and grab-n-go options, Toastique boasts a menu full of loaded toasts topped with proteins like smoked salmon, sundried tomato tuna and honey-roasted peanut butter. The rest of its menu is filled with smoothies like the “Superfruit”—complete with acai, strawberry, banana, blueberry and apple juice— and cold-pressed juices like the “Defender,” made of orange, carrot, lemon, apple and tumeric. 1011 E Cumberland Ave., Tampa. toastique.com
Events
Now and Then x Cru Cellars Now and Then—a Tampa-based multi-roaster coffee pop-up—heads to Cru Cellars this weekend to offer a variety of specialty espresso and teas. Cru Cellars’ Palma Ceia location hosts this weekend’s pop-up, which runs from noon-4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10. The popular wine bar and restaurant is located in South Tampa. Now and Then’s owners, Davy Ball and Demi Chacon, will be slinging specialty coffee and espresso from HEX Roasters, as well as a variety of teas. One of Now and Then’s seasonal drinks, “Salt of the Earth,” is 10 ounces of cold-steeped wild white tea, sage-infused agave, juniper berry cold foam and sea salt. Cru Cellars is hosting this event to commemorate the launch of its new brunch options, which include avocado toast, biscuits and gravy, steak and eggs and a bacon, egg and cheese croissant. Alongside wine, coffee and brunch, there will also be live music provided by one half of the Tampa-based electronic duo Alien House, DJ Justin Depth. 2506 S MacDill Ave., Tampa. nowandthen.coffee ICYMI
St. Petersburg’s Mixers at Old Key West Bar & Grill is for sale A real estate listing on Loopnet.com for the Central Avenue space was created last week and states that all furniture, fixtures and equipment comes with the purchase of the turn-key bar and restaurant. The 3,420 square-foot space is listed for $649,000. “Either buy the existing business and continue to run it, or bring your concept and plug it in to the existing bones to save months and months of permitting time, construction costs and headache on the way to deploying your new concept,” its listing reads. On social media, the owners, Crystal Ellis and Haley Martz, addressed the tentative sale, saying “It’s bittersweet but time for new adventures.” Head on down to Mixers before it’s sold, and enjoy a variety of daily food and drink specials, like discounted tequila on Tuesdays, BOGO cocktails on Wednesdays, and all-you-can-drink bloody marys and mimosas for weekend brunch. 2451 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. Mixers on Facebook
St. Pete’s Chief’s Creole Cafe expands hours and adds vegan options A St. Pete staple is experiencing a few new changes, including extended hours and vegan-friendly dishes. For the first time ever, Southern restaurant Chief’s Creole Cafe is now open until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. And although meaty options like its spicy jambalaya and popular gumbo (packed with chicken, shrimp, crab and crawfish) are still available, Chief’s Creole Cafe recently added a variety of vegan options to its menu as well. The Creole restaurant now offers a plant-based version of its gumbo, in addition to red beans and rice with vegan sausage, meatless meatball subs and “shrimp” po-boys on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. 901 22 St. S, St. Petersburg. Chiefscreole.com
Stone Soup Company’s owner retires and makes it an employee-owned business While Ybor City’s Stone Soup Company is still slinging hot Cuban sandwiches like it does every day, the local business has recently underwent a massive internal change. On Nov. 28, owner and CEO Ilya Benjamin Goldberg announced that he was retiring and making Stone Soup an employee-owned business, with the help of a national company called Teamshares. A press release states that Teamshares has assisted more than 60 small businesses across 26 different states and 39 industries in their transition to become employee-owned. Chief Communications Officer at Teamshares, Jaimen Sfetko, tells Creative Loafing that the company purchased Stone Soup in full and granted 10% of the company to its many employees. Over the next 15 to 20 years, Stone Soup’s employees will own 80% of the business, at no cost to them. 1919 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. xsoup4u.com
Related Stories
New plant-based restaurant Vine Vegan will open in Brandon this fall
Acapulco Taqueria reopens in West Tampa
Tampa’s first drive-thru Chipotle opens today
St. Petersburg’s Avid Brewing is closing at the end of the year
New gourmet toast and juice bar, Toastique, coming to Water Street Tampa
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2022.