I find that a lot of Vegetarian/Vegan restaurants fall into two categories. One is the restaurants that serve mainly vegetable dishes. These may include rich soups, vegetable sandwiches, whole grain breads, pastas and fresh salads. The other is one that models itself after meat restaurants but replaces all the meat with vegetarian/vegan alternatives. Sometimes I dig the first style. Sometimes the second. I really have [...]
Lunch table, circa 2013. Seven women and a dude are enjoying their various meals (mostly storebought, except for his which looks to be a gallon of chili that he is attempting to eat for a week straight). A middle aged woman with a Georgian accent pulls out a cardboard box of leftover Chinese food. She declares to everyone that this is the “freshest Chinese food [...]
On one of my last weekdays off of the summer I set out to conquer a twenty mile bike ride. This ride was unlike the others I took this summer because it would be along main roads and through trailer parks rather than winding in the woods. I had gone about seven miles when I blew out my tire. I flipped the bike and tried [...]
In a little over a week 4,411 delegates (some actual delegates, some alternatives, some alternatives to the alternatives) and their entourages will be making their way to Tampa to unleash the beast that is the Republican National Convention (RNC). The city is quickly finalizing a process that began years ago. They’ve removed a number of dilapidated boat slips, bought the police new bicycles and a [...]
Capdevila at La Teresita (commonly referred to as just La Teresita) is a Cuban restaurant in West Tampa that is probably no place for a vegetarian to wind up. The list of foods that are vegetarian friendly could be ticked off using the fingers of just one hand. Let’s see, there was fried yucca, arroz amarillo, papas fritas, platanos fritos and tostones. There are a [...]
As the name implies, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, is more than just a restaurant. It is also an art gallery, concert venue, hipster hangout and drinker’s paradise. From the moment you squeeze into the way too tight parking spaces and see the metal horse lying upside down in the grass surrounded by half buried bowling balls acting as a black rubber road that ends [...]
A few weeks back I had a day off of school so I decided to try and see how the “other half” lives. By that I mean the people who don’t have to leave their warm soup because one of their kids stole an ice cream sandwich or a parent needs to have a conference. The ones who don’t have to have a working lunch [...]
Breakfast is the hardest meal to do right. A few wrong turns and you end up on a fatty trip to Sweetsville where heart attacks hide down every alley way. A successful breakfast provider is one that is able to create a special meal in a way that the consumer enjoys it but doesn’t feel deathly afterwards. Of course, they also have to be able [...]
As I left work on Tuesday I had a brief conversation with one of the custodians. Custodian: Are you going to celebrate the “hallmark” holiday tonight? Me: I’m going to take my wife somewhere to eat. Custodian: You know this isn’t a real holiday right? It was just made up to sell cards? Me: Not a problem because I am going to steal my card. [...]
