The Odessa Food Truck Rally Credit Mayor’s Food Truck Rally

Northdale and Carrollwood area residents who are tired of pulling kitchen duty in the evenings can grab some lawn chairs, load up the car and head to the Odessa Organic Farmers Market on Friday.

May 10 is the night for this month’s Odessa Food Truck Festival. The trucks roll in at 5 p.m. while the fun lasts until 9. Rollin Zoinks Truck, Holy Smokes BBQ, 3 Suns Bistro and other popular eateries on wheels all plan to be in attendance, according to the market’s Facebook page. Entertainment is also usually a part of the fun.

The market is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, May 10 and again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. It’s closed on Sunday in recognition of Mother’s Day.

To check out the fresh produce or the festival, just stop by the market’s 8701 Gunn Highway location. For more details on this week’s harvest or other upcoming events, check out Odessa Organic Farmers Market on Facebook.

http://carrollwood.patch.com/articles/food-truck-festival-rolls-into-town-this-friday

To understand how Chris Mercier ended up serving fresh seafood from a truck covered in blue sharks, you have to know about his skydiving mishap as an elf.

As part of a 2003 charity event in Coleman, a small town 30 miles north of Dade City, Mercier was supposed to parachute in with a bagful of Christmas gifts for children. The moment he jumped from the plane, though, he knew something was wrong.

“I was 100 feet from the ground and looked down to see a group of five or six children right beneath me,” said Mercier, 46. “I knew that the way I was falling, I could hit those kids.”

Arching his body in a desperate twist, Mercier landed in a way that allowed him to miss the children — but he ruptured four discs in his lower back.

“I’ve paid for that decision every day of my life,” he said, “but I’d much rather live with a bad back than to have seen those kids hurt.”

The injury made it difficult for Mercier to continue working with his Top Performance Tree Service in New Port Richey. “If I tried to work one day with the tree service,” he said, “I would spend the next three days in bed and in pain.”

Other health problems caught up with him in recent years, too, including heart issues that required him to get a pacemaker in 2010.

Mercier knew he had to make a change in how he earned a living. So he turned to his first passion: Food.

In January, he began operating Shark Bites, a seafood concession truck that can be seen at special events throughout Pasco County.

“My dad loved to cook, and I always wanted to continue his work. I’ve been cooking since I was 5 years old, and I took a cooking class in school,” said Mercier, who attended Land O’Lakes High. “I was one of the only boys in class, and didn’t mind being surrounded by all those girls,” he added with a laugh.

When he was 18, Mercier was named manager and head chef at Good Times Pizza in Tampa, and he had dreams of some day owning a restaurant. But the cost of such a venture seemed out of reach, so he decided instead to pursue a career in landscaping and T-shirt screening/design.

Through the years, though, Mercier never found himself far from the kitchen; often cooking at home for wife, Rachel, sons Jeremy and Eric, and eventually for their grandchildren.

When he decided last year to pursue a culinary career, seafood was the obvious choice for this avid fisherman.

“Whatever I made, I wanted it to be fresh, and the variety of seafood in this state is amazing,” Mercier said. “Plus, by selling seafood, I support the local area.”

From the counter of his Shark Bites truck, Mercier sells fresh shrimp, grouper and other seafood treats, as well as extras ranging from fries to funnel cakes. He will be at a Civil War re-enactment scheduled for today at Fair Haven Farms in Land O’Lakes, as well as the Cotee River Blues and Seafood Festival next weekend in New Port Richey.

He also provides concessions at cancer awareness events sponsored by the Lutz-Land O’Lakes Women’s Club, and plans to run the truck at several Relay for Life events. Earlier this month, he served guest riders at Fair Haven Farms for the Ride for Hospice, an annual event that last year raised $19,000 for Gulfside Regional Hospice. Mercier gave 10 percent of his sales from that event to Gulfside, which had cared for his father during a 2001 battle with cancer.

Such contributions mean a lot, said Ashley Mann, Gulfside’s director of community relations.

“We couldn’t do this without people like Chris,” she said, “without people giving back.”

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/the-man-behind-the-shark-bites-food-truck/2116017

Hott Mess will offer Iowa comfort food at the Tampa food truck fiesta.

TAMPA – Two new food trucks, Hott Mess and Nico’s Arepas, are scheduled to join Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Food Truck Fiesta from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in Lykes Gaslight Square.

Lykes Gaslight Square is on Franklin Street between Madison Street and Kennedy Boulevard in downtown Tampa.

For a taste of Iowa, stop by the Hott Mess food truck for Midwestern comfort food.

“We’re not the healthy food truck by any means,” said Heather Davis, who has been running the business for 11 months with her husband, Damion, who is in the Air Force. Also joining in is their daughter, Mecca, a jack of all trades who often finishes preparing the dishes.

Davis said their most popular dish is the Buffalo Chicken Tots, which is made of tater tots topped with shredded Buffalo chicken, Buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, lettuce, tomato and blue cheese crumbles. Their namesake dish, the Hott Mess, is seasoned ground beef, topped with bacon, cheese sauce, homemade ketchup, mustard and a pickle, served on a toasted bun. Other offerings include tacos and a bacon-wrapped, deep-fried hot dog. Hott Mess also offers a Buffalo chicken and taco salad.

At Nico’s, the arepas are a Venezuelan dish of white corn meal, water and salt. The dough is formed into a patty and grilled. The arepa can then be stuffed with a variety of meats and shrimp, and cheeses. They also are gluten-free.

Other food trucks scheduled to be at the event include The Hogfather, Rollin Zoinks, Oki Doki, Fat Tortillas, Michelle Faedo, Destination Grill, Gone Bananas, Dooners on Wheels, and Dude and His Food.

Lykes Gaslight Square is on Franklin Street between Madison Street and Kennedy Boulevard in downtown Tampa.

The monthly food truck fiesta, held the first Wednesday of the month, was launched in November 2011 in conjunction with the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

http://www2.tbo.com/entertainment/business/2013/mar/06/tampa-food-truck-fiesta-features-iowa-comfort-dish-ar-651009/

Folks kick back at the first Mayor’s Food Truck Fiesta in downtown. Credit Alessandra Da Pra

Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s food truck fiesta on Wednesday will feature something new at Lykes Gaslight Square Park: Two additional food trucks.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn. Credit City of Tampa

The fiesta, which runs from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., will include Nico’s Arepas and Hott Mess, in addition to the following: The Hogfather, Rollin Zoinks, Oki Doki, Fat Tortillas, Michelle Faedo, Destination Grill and Gone Bananas, according to a news release from the City of Tampa.

The fiesta is held in conjunction with the Tampa Downtown Partnership, and first launched at the park in November of 2011, according to the news release.

Lykes Gaslight Park is on Franklin Street between Madison and Kennedy in downtown Tampa.

The fiesta is held every Wednesday at lunchtime in downtown Tampa. For details, go to www.tampagov.net/foodtruck.

http://seminoleheights.patch.com/articles/mayor-bob-buckhorn-hosting-food-truck-fiesta-downtown#photo-9332126

via tampagov.net

Tampa, FL March 4, 2013 -  Two new food trucks will join Mayor Buckhorn’s Food Truck Fiesta on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. The event is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lykes Gaslight Square Park on Franklin Street between Madison Street and Kennedy Boulevard.

In conjunction with the Tampa Downtown Partnership, the Mayor’s Food Truck Fiesta was first launched in Lykes Gaslight Square Park in November 2011.

The March Fiesta will feature the following food trucks:

Nico’s Arepas – NEW
Hott Mess – NEW
The Hogfather
Rollin Zoinks
Oki Doki
Fat Tortillas
Michelle Faedo
Destination Grill
Gone Bananas

The Mayor’s Food Truck Fiesta will be held the first Wednesday of every month at lunchtime from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in downtown Tampa. For additional information, visit tampagov.net/foodtruck.

http://www.tampagov.net/appl_tampa_announcements/ViewRelease.asp?ReleaseID=10066

SOUTH TAMPA – Another eatery will make its home on South Howard Avenue, but this one is on wheels.

Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally, a company that schedules and promotes food truck stops throughout the Tampa Bay area, is bringing the first regularly-scheduled food truck rally to South Tampa, said CEO Michael Blasco.

A dozen trucks selling gourmet goodies will set up shop in the parking lot of MacDinton’s Irish Pub from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the last Saturday of every month. The first rally will be held this Saturday.

Ty Gordon, director of operations for Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally, said people have requested a larger food truck presence in the SoHo area for a while.

“We’ve been searching for a good spot to bring a rally to South Tampa,” Gordon said. “This is the opportunity to do that. It’s bringing what the people want to them. We’re pretty excited.”

Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally also has regular events in Lakeland, Tarpon Springs and Palm Harbor.

The trucks will rotate every month, so customers will get a variety of food to try, Gordon said. Some of the trucks participating on Saturday include Jimmy Meatballs, Burger Culture, Unforgettable Cupcakes and Nico’s Arepas Grill.

Blasco said he believes the “food-centric” SoHo area and its residents will help make the rally a success.

“It’s young, it’s energetic, and that’s part of what the food truck scene is all about,” he said.

http://www2.tbo.com/lifestyles/breaking-news/2013/feb/20/4/macdintons-in-south-tampa-to-host-food-truck-rally-ar-638499/

Seabreeze on Wheels brings the decades-old Seabreeze by the Bay back to life. The popular restaurant closed in 2001. The food truck has set up shop at U.S. 301 and Causeway Boulevard.

BRANDON – - What started as a fish house in a shack on the side of the road in the 1920s and evolved into a popular Brandon-area restaurant that stood for nearly 80 years is now on the cutting edge of a food truck revolution.

Seabreeze on Wheels — a sky blue mobile food truck located on the northwest corner of U.S. 301 and Causeway Boulevard — opened on Oct. 29 and is the latest version of Seabreeze by the Bay, which closed in 2001 after 78 years.

Though the 52-foot-long converted semitrailer with a state-of-the-art kitchen is a far cry from the humble beginnings of Seabreeze, one thing hasn’t changed: the commitment to serving fresh seafood.

“The idea is to bring the experience of eating five-star food to a mobile truck,” said Keith Richards, owner of Seabreeze on Wheels.

Everything at Seabreeze on Wheels is made to order and the restaurant receives shipments of fresh seafood each day. The business brings in 350 pounds of grouper and 500 pounds of shrimp a week.

The restaurant sold 26,000 deviled crabs, one of its signature items, in its first three months. Chip Ebert pays Leona Stewart for his meal.

“Our prices reflect those costs, but we strongly believe in the difference it makes in terms of taste,” Richards said. “We don’t make a lot of money, but we make enough to make a lot of people happy.”

Richards is the latest member of his family to take up the Seabreeze mantle. The restaurant originated in 1923 as a cooking shack owned by Victor Licata before moving under the shadow of the 22nd Street Causeway bridge three years later. Seabreeze by the Bay stayed in that spot until its closing in 2001. During that time, the restaurant, which is largely credited with inventing the deviled crab, went through six iterations and came back from a 1950 fire that burned the building to the ground.

Richard’s parents, Robert and Helen Richards, had their first date at Seabreeze by the Bay in 1953. The couple married two years later, had four children and 13 grandchildren, and were together until Robert’s death in March.

“I was lucky because it turned out Robert’s idea of a big date was going fishing or crabbing, so he’d have me hold the sack or push the tub,” Helen Richards said.

In the late 1960s, Robert Richards built a small fish market and bait shop next to the Seabreeze, which the couple operated for 36 years. Robert and Helen Richards bought the restaurant from the Licatas in 1992.

Being just minutes away from the source means the restaurant serves grouper and other seafood fresh from the docks.

While Helen Richards focused on promoting a Seabreeze by the Bay Cookbook she wrote with Robert, Keith — who learned how to cut and clean fish from his father — said he had been looking for a new place to open a restaurant for the past few years.

“Gov. (Rick) Scott recently made it more simple for a business owner to build a food truck,” Keith said. “This is the largest mobile food truck Tallahassee has approved.”

Work on the truck started in April and cost about $500,000, including $135,000 for top-of-the-line kitchen equipment. Seabreeze on Wheels also includes a 10-foot-long walk-in cooler, a prep area and a full kitchen with 16 full-time employees.

Keith Richards chose the current location for both practical and nostalgic reasons.

“I remember riding the bus around here as a kid and always thinking that I wanted to build something on this property,” said Richards, a member of Brandon’s High’s Class of 1979.

Seabreeze on the Wheels’ location is also less than five miles from the docks where shrimpers bring their catch. “It was important for us to incorporate the freshness of the old restaurants.”

Seabreeze on Wheels’ most popular dishes are the Cuban and grouper sandwiches, along with — naturally — those famous deviled crabs. The restaurant sold 26,000 deviled crabs in its first three months.

“The response from the community has been overwhelming,” Richards said.

He hopes to take Seabreeze on Wheels to a food festival in Sarasota this summer. By then, Richards hopes to have another food truck up and running and is even eyeing locations for another permanent restaurant.

Either way, it looks like the Seabreeze name will remain a part of the family business for the foreseeable future.

“I always say that I have a family full of history makers,” Helen Richards said. “The bay was our past, our present and will be our future.”

For information about the restaurant or its menu, visit www.seabreezeonwheels.com or call (813) 626-6010.

http://www2.tbo.com/lifestyles/flavor/2013/feb/08/popular-brandon-area-seafood-restaurant-returns-as-ar-628161/

The Cheesesteak Truck can be found at Tampa International Airport once every week. The airport’s food truck pilot program was extended after a 30-day trial and will be in place until at least August 2013. (Christine Osborn)

Forget Panda Express.The latest in airport dining is food that comes from a truck.

It was really just a matter of time. Food trucks have invaded nearly every city in America. Why should the airports — the first glimpse travelers get of the cities they’re visiting — be left out?

A few airports have recently brought food trucks to their cell phone parking lots. Orlando International has six food trucks at its commercial lot and taxi staging area. One — Los Angeles International — even has plans to build a structure that looks like a food truck in Terminal 4, rotating the offerings from the city’s most popular food trucks.

Tampa International has the most robust offering. The program started in mid-November as a way to service the throngs of people waiting in the cell phone parking lot to pick up loved ones during the busy holiday travel season. The 30-day trial was such a success that the airport has extended the program through August, with a new food truck every day. There’s the Cheesesteak Truck, serving the obvious; Nicos Arepas Grill, serving Venezuelan arepas and chachapas; the Dude and His Food, serving burgers, hot dogs and the like; Graffeaties, serving global street food; and several more in the rotation.

And while the program has been successful from a customer-service standpoint, it’s “not a money-making initiative for us,” said Christine Osborn, communications manager for Tampa International Airport. “But it’s really caught on, and customers love it.”

It is, however, making money for someone. Tom Bradley owns the Cheesesteak Truck, the featured food truck at Tampa International that’s there once a week. “At first I wasn’t sure how it would do, but it’s been great for business,” he said while ringing up a customer who was purchasing a cheesesteak. “When you’re on a street corner, you get the lunch crowd, but that’s pretty much it. Here we have a steady stream of business most of the day.

“My favorite are flight delays,” he said, remembering a particularly busy day around Christmas when snowstorms in the North were keeping people waiting for hours in the cell phone lots for loved ones.

The food truck at Austin – Bergstrom International Airport in Texas is also a recent addition: Twist of Spice — serving Tex-Mex, paninis and salads — arrived in the cell phone lot last month. Airport spokesman Jim Halbrook said the pilot program’s been well-received. “The feedback’s been all favorable,” he said. “There are picnic tables to eat at, it’s very pleasant.”

Debby McElroy, executive vice president at Airports Council International North America, said the trend of food trucks at the airport was born out of a desire to make the cell phone waiting lots better.

“A number of airports are expanding their services by extending Wi-Fi coverage and adding flight display information so the person waiting can see if their loved one is delayed. Food trucks are a great answer for people waiting for an extended period for their loved ones to arrive,” she said.

It looks like the airport food truck trend may just be getting started. “Airports are watching what’s happening at Tampa and the success of the program,” said McElroy. “Airports are the gateway to their communities. Having food trucks helps local businesses, improves the customer experience and enhances economic growth.

“It’s win-win for everyone.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/airport-food-trucks/story?id=18411495

Enjoi Sweets & Company will tempt downtown workers with these cupcakes.

Three new food trucks join Mayor Buckhorn’s Food Truck Fiesta from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in Lykes Gaslight Square Park.

The new trucks are: PAO Truck, with Filipino American cuisine; Enjoi Sweets & Company, whose cupcakes include black bottom banana, lemon and chocolate mint; and Dub & Jimbo’s Cajun Invasion.

Barbecue chicken sticks from PAO truck.

Other food trucks available for the hungry today are: Nate’s Q 4 U, American Weiner, The Happy Baker, Michelle Faedo, Jimmy’s Meatballs, Burger Culture and NYO Food Truck.

The PAO food truck from Lutz wil lbring its Asian fusion flavors to the mayor’s rally.

The event, which occurs on the first Monday of each month, is on Franklin Street between Madison Street and Kennedy Boulevard.

For more information, visit tampagov.net/foodtruck.

Mayor Buckhorn’s Food Truck Fiesta started, in conjunction with the Tampa Downtown Partnership, in November 2011.

The Enjoi Sweets & Company truck willbe in downtown Tampa today.

http://www2.tbo.com/entertainment/breaking-news/2013/feb/06/three-new-trucks-join-tampa-food-truck-fiesta-toda-ar-626673/

Credit Rachel Jolley

It’s finally time to breathe in some cool air as winter begins to take shape in Tarpon Springs.

The cool weather is just in time for a number of special events set to take place in February.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, the Tarpon Springs Food Truck Rally will take place in the historic downtown area of Tarpon Avenue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The rally is free and more than a dozen food trucks will be serving their most delectable dishes.

That’s not all for the weekend before Valentine’s Day.

On Sunday, Feb. 10, the Valentine Soiree: A Night in the City will be going down at the Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society from 6-9 p.m.

The $30 ($25 for TSAHS members) ticket includes an appetizer buffet, a wine bar and a delicious dessert. The soiree will include live music from the Tarpon Springs High School jazz combo as well as a Chinese auction.

Tickets for the soiree can be purchased at the Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society (train depot) or by calling Peggy at 727-943-4624.

http://tarponsprings.patch.com/articles/food-truck-rally-treasure-sale-headed-to-tarpon#photo-11824908