1983

South MacDill restaurant, bar and arcade from a Tampa hospitality group. Publishes Bucs and Gators schedules, NFL and college football all season, and Premier League on weekends. Says it has 80 TVs.

220 East

Davis Islands · new american, seafood, pizza

220 East sits on Davis Boulevard in the small village strip at the top of Davis Islands, and its own site calls it a locally owned American kitchen 24 years strong. The menu runs wider than most neighbourhood rooms: shrimp and grits, a hand-cut New York strip, pizzas including a dill-pickle one the site tells you to trust it on, and a weekend brunch with chicken and waffles. Its Cuban sandwich is built on Cuban bread from La Segunda, which it names on the menu. Several dishes are marked GF on the menu itself.

Armature Works

Tampa Heights · food hall

Armature Works is a 1910 streetcar barn on the Hillsborough River in Tampa Heights, rebuilt into the Heights Public Market with close to twenty independent food counters under one roof. Above the market are private event rooms and Rooftop 220, which looks back at the downtown skyline. The lawn outside it runs down to the Riverwalk, and Creative Loafing lists it as a kid stop for the giant chess boards and the family events it runs through the week. Chill Bros keeps an ice cream counter inside.

Babushka's Temple Terrace

Temple Terrace · russian, ukrainian, eastern european

Babushka's started in 2018 because a Russian international student at USF noticed that Eastern European food was missing from a city that had almost every other cuisine, and talked his family into opening a restaurant. The name is the Russian word for grandmother, chosen because, as the restaurant puts it, 'in most families back in Eastern Europe, Babushka is usually a person who cooks the best food.' The kitchen runs borscht, pierogi, piroshki, sweet and savoury blinchiki and a homemade honey cake, and there is a kids' menu and a bar menu alongside the main one. The Temple Terrace room on N 56th Street is a short drive from the USF campus where the idea started.

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Bake'n Babes

Davis Islands · bakery, desserts

Bake'n Babes is the dessert counter on the Davis Islands village strip, a few doors from 220 East. It is built around oversized cookies, over-the-top milkshakes and a triple-layer item it has trademarked as the Sleazy Brownie. Flavours named on its own front page include Fruity Pebbles, Nutella-stuffed chocolate chip and plain chocolate chip. It stays open to 10 or 11 at night, which on Davis Islands makes it the after-dinner stop.

Coco Lov

Palma Ceia · vegan desserts, ice cream, smoothies

Coco Lov is a family-run dessert shop on South MacDill built around coconut milk, dates and sea moss. The ice cream, cheesecakes, chocolate mousse, smoothies and bowls are plant-based, gluten-free and dairy-free, with no refined sugar. The current Tampa Instagram bio publishes daily hours, and the official menu lists the Tampa address and the ingredients for each dessert.

Trip's Diner

Seminole Heights · $ · american, diner, breakfast

Trips Diner opened on March 12, 2012 on North Florida Avenue in Seminole Heights and is named after the owners' triplets, Libby, Will and John. Its own description of itself is modest on purpose: a not-too-fancy neighbourhood restaurant that offers a variety of simple food. Breakfast is served all day, alongside salads, sandwiches, meatloaf, pasta and chicken. The family also runs diners in St. Petersburg and Seminole, which are in Pinellas County and out of this site's scope.

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