Hundreds of hungry people converged on the Taste of New Tampa festival on Sunday, a collection of local restaurants and other businesses collecting together to share their love of New Tampa with it's residents and those coming into the community to enjoy it, like myself. In the three hours I was there, I hand-to-mouthed it to every exhibit, catering to my obesity and fulfilling every whim of my inner fat kid. For $15, you really do get the gambit of cuisine, and most all of it was good to great.
There was pasta. There was barbeque. There were snack foods. There were smoothies. Other than sushi, I can't think of a single classification of popular dining that wasn't represented in some way.
Many of the food companies exhibiting are national favorites such as Marcos Pizza, Olive Garden and Cold Stone Creamy. The organizers were smart enough to put these big names at each corner and the local places in the middle, so everyone got to sample most everything without being stuck with only local favorites or only national favorites.
The crowd was varied, and intense. At times, the food line took 15 plus minutes for anyone vendor, but other times you can quickly move in a line knocking out an entire tent in less than 30 minutes.
There were definitely some favorites amongst the dishes I tried. For instance, this fish dish from the staff at Saddlebrook Resort was amazing. It was a creamy dish with a mild fish flavor, overcome with this sauce that was creamy and rich.
The cotton candy guy stayed buy, constantly serving up new oversized portions to all the kids who ran around the tents.
The guys from Remington's Steakhouse served us awesome kabobs-turned-fajitas. The meat was tender and everything was done just right.
Marcos was out, serving feta and tomato pizza. I haven't had Marcos since I left Michigan, and it was just as good as I remembered.
Team Sweetbay was out as well, serving pulled pork. This pork was excellent, the product of smoking an entire pig for this event.
How could you not love a guy giving away smoothies in a big banana costume?
Cross Bay Club was out, giving everyone diabetes with their awesome sweets.
For those who think there is more to life than awesome food, there were bands and games as well. Here's the stage, featuring a hard rock band. You can see the rock climbing wall behind it.
Dr. Weiner was out, showing off the goods.
I'm not sure what his sign does for his customer base, but it made my inner 8 year old giggle.
After walking probably 5 miles in circles, stuffing my face with every step, I was worn out and needed a nap. This was a great show put on by the Taste of New Tampa, and I'm looking forward to it again next year.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2009.