(Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for NYCWFF)
One thing I love to do is visit different festivals around Florida and celebrity Chef Robert Irvine will be at a popular food festival in Tampa in April.
I love traveling and I'm a big foodie. So I've kind of made it a hobby over the last few years to combine the two and check out different food festivals in the Sunshine State and beyond. Last year, just in Florida alone, I went to more than ever before and loved every single one of them. I did the SOBE Wine and Food Festival in Miami, Savor SoFlo on Hollywood Beach, Heritage Fire in Tampa and both the Food & Wine Festival at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and at EPCOT. I love the variety of food and drinks they offer and it's a great way to check out dishes from restaurants you've never tried, have never been to or have never even heard of. In Tampa, the Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival is one I haven't been to yet, but it's definitely on my list.
A Popular Food Festival Is Returning To Tampa In April
The 2024 Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival is happening April 9-13th. This fest is 5 days of all kinds of different foodie events. There are some different neighborhood festivities on Water Street, Hyde Park and downtown. The Grand Tasting features over 40 restaurants at Curtis Hixon Park with unlimited food & drink samples. AND a Chef Showdown of 14 chefs battling it out will include one of my all-time favorite celebrity chefs, Robert Irvine.
Each event will be ticketed separately and are on sale now. For more information on the fest, click here
Three Florida Restaurants Made The List Of Favorites By The New York Times
When it comes to good restaurants, we're lucky here in the Sunshine State to have plenty to choose from and three Florida restaurants just made the list of favorites by the New York Times.
We all have different reasons why a restaurant might be our favorite. Is it that every time you've gone there hasn't been a dish you haven't loved? Does it have a great ambiance? Do you get impeccable service? Do they make the drinks a little stronger than somewhere else? I love trying new restaurants, but there are also those I go back to again and again. I feel like just here in Southwest Florida I have a favorite in each city from Fort Myers to Cape Coral to Naples. And all for different reasons.
Each year the New York Times puts out their list of 50 favorites. To put together the list, the research is done by dozens of reporters, editors and critics who have the very tough job to visit hundreds of restaurants across the country. How do I get THAT gig? I may not be a critic, but I do love to eat. They're not all fine dining restaurants either, it's a very diverse list.
Three Florida restaurants made the New York Times list
Salt Shack on the Bay- Tampa
Salt Shack on the Bay is located right below the Gandy bridge at 5415 W Tyson Ave. The newspaper says of the restaurant that "“Jimmy Buffet would have liked this place, where there is no problem a platter of fresh Gulf shrimp and a drink with a pineapple slice couldn’t solve."
Maty's- Miami
Maty's is located in the heart of Midtown at 3255 NE 1st Ave. There you'll find Peruvian American food with dishes like oxtail saltado, duck salad and camarones.
Smoke & Dough- Miami
Smoke & Dough is located in the Sabina Shopping Center at 4013 SW 152nd Ave. There, you'll find dishes like ribs glossed with guava-ancho barbecue sauce, brisket with a Cuban coffee rub and housemade pastrami tequeños.
