Culinary Bike Tour Part I: East Tampa

This all started when one day, as I was driving home from work, I wanted to do something different: Rather than taking I-275 south to return, I wanted to instead take a road less traveled. So, my car did the thinking, and took me east on Fowler, then South on 40th Street. What I found amazed me: endless barbecue stands with hand painted signs, old Black churches, trees, and a gorgeous food of the Hillsbourough. I have to return...but on my bike, was my thought. 
 

The route

Sure enough, I created a Facebook event, called the 'East Tampa Culinary Bike Tour'. Honestly, I had no plan to stop at any specific places-I was open to whatever the road hit. So, I rounded up my friends, and off we went! 

Me and my Friends 

Our Bikes 

Stop 1: Martha's Place [5202 North Nebraska Avenue Tampa] 

Martha's Place is a Black owned establishment, that sits right off of Nebraska Avenue (right across from Ella's). This place has diner style food at VERY cheap prices.

What made us stop by this place was their $2.99 breakfast special, which they proudly advertised on a sign outside of this restaurant. Half of us ordered the first $2.99 special, which consisted of one egg, one strip of bacon/1 sausage link, and one piece of toast. I, on the other hand, ordered the second $2.99 breakfast special, which was half of a biscuits and gravy meal. 

 

The food was alright, it served it's purpose of keeping our bellies filled to move onto our second destination. 

Stop 2: Island Crew Catering Services [6601 N 40TH ST Tampa] 

Island Crew Catering Services was one destination that our Friend Robert and his girlfriend Jamie did recommend we swing by during our journey. This place is a random Jamaican food truck that sights right off of 40th street, right in front of the Hillsbourough River. I'm going to let the following pics speak for themselves...

 

The Owner

This place was awesome. We had been looking for a good barbecue stand, but then found this gem. The owner is incredibly nice, the food was cheap, the portions were HUGE (we split two dishes), and the food was incredible. They even gave us free sherbert (I can't promise they'll do the same for you, but then again, who knows!). 

Stop 3: Random boar parking lot [Somewhere on 40th St, Tampa] This was a nice place to rest, and let our bellies begin digesting our meals. Nothing like taking in the beauty of the Hillsbourough River....

Stop 4: Big Foot Tavern [7201 North 40th Street Tampa]

As we continued to ride up 40th street, we couldn't help but stop by this random watering hole. If there has been something inside of you that has always wanted to get in touch with your inner dixie, Nascar watchin', Budlight drinkin', southern rock side, then come here! While you're at it...buy a bag of their home boiled peanuts!

 


 Stop 4: Petra Restaurant [4812 E Busch Blvd # E Tampa]



We went from Black Soul food, to Jamaican jerk, to 'Redneck' chow. And now, we had stumbled upon Petra, located off of East Busch Blvd, in the heart of Tampa's unofficial Islamic/Middle Eastern district. 
 

Really good Turkish Coffee Most of us were pretty full by now, so at this point, all we wanted was some Turkish coffee, and baklava. Unfortunately, they were out of most things on their menu-including the Turkish coffee and baklava. As soon as we were about to just leave, the waitress went to purchase more Turkish coffee-for us! Talk about good customer service! 

Stop 5: Java Food Market [4702 E. Busch Blvd, Tampa]
 
This was our last food stop for the day (we were pretty much stuffed). However, we still wanted some dessert. Java is a Palestinian owned grocery store, which sells things like babaganouche, baklava, hummus, chickpeas, and more! But at really low prices. They just opened a cafe, which....served baklava! And amazing baklava! Once again, we shared a few pieces, and split the tab evenly amongst ourselves.

Stop 6: This seafood stand [Somewhere down 40th Street]:

I know, I know. Even though we were stuffed beyond capacity, something inside of us had a lingering curiosity to check out this seafood stand. Too bad they were closed that day.

Lessons learned from this 8 mile journey: 

 1.ALWAYS BRING CASH!! Many hole-in-the-wall eateries do not have a credit card machine.

 2.We had fun swinging by whatever food stand we encountered. But I feel like we could have done a better job pacing out the distance between each place, because we got stuffed too soon.

 3.Rather than us each ordering individual dishes, we will always make sure to just split and share a couple larger plates. 

4.Next time, I will be more intentional about doing preliminary research about local Tampa restaurants. This way, I can get in contact with the manager, and let them know a bunch of us are swinging by to sample their food, in advanced [maybe we can even get a discount, this way!] 

5.One of the main point of this bike tour was to sample some of the barbecue, which NEVER happened. This will happen next time I'm biking down 40th. 

More culinary bike tours to come...stay on the look out!