Our adventures on the Tampa Bay Times Food Hub have taken us to a Vietnamese restaurant in Tampa with delectable pork spring rolls and a couple of solid South Tampa Mexican eateries, among other spots, in recent weeks.
Read all about them below.
A version of these dining dispatches first appeared in our weekly newsletter, Do & Dine. Every Thursday, one member of the Food Hub breaks down what’s happening in the Tampa Bay food world and the news you need to know while sharing insights into the local scene and restaurant recommendations that go beyond our regular coverage. To get Do & Dine in your inbox, sign up now.
Here are some dishes and drinks we’ve enjoyed around town lately.
Pho Huong
June 11 newsletter
I’m discovering that there is a wealth of fabulous Vietnamese food in northwest Tampa in neighborhoods like West Park and Lowry Park. And it’s satisfying my craving for fresh herbs, protein and lightly pickled veggies wrapped in rice paper sheets, which runs high during the summer months.
A small bowl of nuoc cham, the ubiquitous Vietnamese condiment made up of water, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, a touch of minced garlic and hot chili pepper, is usually on the side for dipping. Sambal oelek, a freshly ground chili paste, sits ready in a small container for dispensing at my leisure. The two condiments may be the most perfect marriage of flavors when deployed onto fresh greens, rice noodles and grilled meat.
Searching for Vietnamese food one day after a long commute from St. Petersburg, I found Pho Huong, a relatively new and tidy Tampa restaurant with calming decor that offers a range of Vietnamese dishes from all over the country. I was told the owners are from central Vietnam.
The Goi Cuon Bi, shredded pork spring rolls ($5.99 for two), are delectable with the subtle savory crunch of toasted rice powder mixed with the pork. The Bun Cha, Hanoi-style grilled pork with vermicelli ($17.99), quelled whatever further craving I had for fresh lettuce, pickled veggies and tangy sour-savory fish sauce broth. The best way to eat this dish? Take some of the noodles and chopped romaine and plop them in the bowl, snacking on thin half moons of pickled kohlrabi and carrots in between. Charred pork comes two ways: patties and belly. Don’t skimp on the sambal.
What was most revelatory on a second visit was the Goi Thit Bo Tai Chanh, sliced rare steak in lime juice ($19.99). The cold beef salad is lightly accented with cilantro, basil and white onion and a generous amount of lime juice dressing. The salad is more akin to a tartare or a ceviche, but the beef is not left marinating in the juice for very long. Crushed peanuts are folded in with the beef, and the salad is topped with fried shallots and served with a side of crispy shrimp chips.
A perfect cold protein salad to brighten the summer haze. — Evan Rodriguez, food and dining reporter
4034 W. Waters Ave., Tampa. 813-290-8866
Streetlight Taco
June 18 newsletter
You ever get the urge to just … go play bingo? It happened to me.
Bingo nights hosted by Anna Molina, aka @tampabingobabe on Instagram, take over South Tampa restaurant Streetlight Taco at 6 p.m. every second and fourth Monday of the month. The convivial atmosphere is a lot of fun — don’t be surprised if you become besties with the table next to you. It’s $20 per person to get in on the games (chonky ink daubers provided), and prizes like Streetlight eats and bar tabs are up for grabs.
I love that you can snack on dips and tacos and sip your potent margarita of choice while playing. And not to brag, but this first-timer won two of the 10 rounds the other week, landing a free order of guac and free bingo the next time I want to come out.
My other half and I split the Chipotle Queso topped with yummy bits of homemade chorizo and guajillo flakes. Served with crisp chips, it is a must-have on any visit to Streetlight and pairs great with a pitcher of the smoky Mezcal marg, which mixes La Tierra de Acre Mezcal with Alma Finca orange liqueur, agave and lime.
We also ordered tacos. I opted for the Carne Asada. Streetlight fills two stone-ground heirloom corn tortillas with slices of tender, juicy wood-grilled skirt steak topped with cilantro, diced onion, a few rings of fresh jalapeño and serrano avocado salsa. They have a delightful kick, and that salsa is rad. — Meaghan Habuda, assistant food and dining editor
4004 Henderson Blvd., Tampa. streetlighttaco.com
Quiote Tequilaria
June 25 newsletter
This week I reviewed Quiote Tequilaria, an ambitious new Mexican restaurant and agave spirits lounge inside the old Ciro’s supper club space in South Tampa.
I found a lot to love at this place, and fell particularly hard for its envelope-pushing tequila and mezcal program. Gene Davis, one of the restaurant’s owners, is leading the charge on the adventurous beverage list and has amassed a wealth of knowledge over the years. It’s him I want guiding me through my next Wild Terroir mezcal flight, and the person I want to call up when I’ve got a burning agave spirits question.
The food is also very good. Chef Felicia Lacalle is a local industry veteran, having worked at eateries across the bay for most of the last two decades. At her new spot, she’s finally getting the platform she deserves: This is a modern restaurant that feels like a love letter to Mexico. Lacalle is creative, and not above painting outside the lines from time to time. But at the end of the day, these are dishes anchored in tradition that pay homage to a multifaceted, ancient cuisine.
There are plenty of dishes that spark joy here, from the smoky grilled prawns served with salsa matcha to a whole crispy-fried Pescado a la Veracruzana. But one of my favorite bites might be be the Chicharron de Iberico tacos, where crispy hunks of pork belly arrive swathed in a tamarind soy glaze paired with dollops of lime green avocado mousse, truffle-laced hibiscus aioli and thin wisps of radishes for crunch.
The menu is apt to change seasonally, Lacalle recently told me, but there are a few fan favorites that she just can’t get rid of. Thank goodness, those tacos aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. — Helen Freund, senior food and dining critic
2109 Bayshore Blvd., Tampa. quiotetequilaria.com
Norma’s Kitchen
July 9 newsletter
Ultimately, my home state often begs the question, “What’s up with tacos in Tampa Bay?”
Being from Texas, and depending on what narrative I believe, I’m from a family that has been in the Lone Star State well before it was an independent country and before it belonged to Mexico. We have Coahuiltecan blood coursing through our veins, a tribal community that predates European colonization.
My father remembers growing up in 1950s and ’60s Southeast Houston using a tortilla more like bread. However, the “Chili Queens” and their pushcarts at the end of the 19th century in San Antonio are often credited for exposing Texans to the taco (as we know it) for the first time.
I love tacos, and I have my opinions, but if you really want to know about tacos read and follow Jose R. Ralat, taco editor at Texas Monthly magazine. He is of Puerto Rican descent and knows tacos like the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin knows the Rays. And if you want to explore Tampa Bay’s taco scene with me, stick around. There’ll definitely be more taco content on the horizon.
What I have never heard of, and recently stumbled across in my search for breakfast tacos one bleary-eyed Saturday morning, was baleadas at Norma’s Kitchen in Tampa, tucked away in the corner of a Latin-centric food park off West Hillsborough Avenue in the working-class enclave of Wellswood.
Baleada is a Honduran dish composed of a large handmade flour tortilla typically smeared with refried beans, Honduran crema and dotted with queso duro (salty hard cheese).
The baleadas at Norma’s were a revelation.
The baleadara (a woman who makes baleadas) hand-stretched two large flour tortillas, each as big as a personal pizza. The tortillas came out hot, springy and light. She smeared them both with refried black beans (did I taste charred onions and cumin?); slathered on some mildly salty, velvety Honduran crema; topped one with scrambled eggs and chorizo and the other with griddled beef, avocado and scrambled eggs; and topped them both with queso duro.
Then she folded them over gently like you would a quesadilla. With a winning grin, she handed the piping hot half moons wrapped in foil through her trailer window to two uninitiated eaters.
Norma’s baleada is one of the best flour tortillas I’ve ever tasted. You can order it plain for $3, and it would be well worth it. (The only other flour tortilla I’ve had of this quality is taquero Joseph Gomez’s homemade Texas mesquite flour tortillas. Gomez just opened Sana Sana Taqueria in downtown Austin.)
The beef in the baleada had a little too much chew for my taste, and that may be a cultural preference I do not understand the nuances of. But the harmony of the other ingredients sandwiched between that otherworldly tortilla made for one of the most rewarding breakfast taco finds — that isn’t a breakfast taco at all.
One baleada is plenty to share for a normal-sized breakfast ($9-$12). It’s the equivalent to three or four breakfast tacos depending on your choice of filling.
Norma’s Kitchen reminded me why we go off the beaten path and try unfamiliar foods, because sometimes you are rewarded with a transcendent meal you never knew existed an hour before. — Evan Rodriguez, food and dining reporter
1798 W. Hillsborough Ave., Tampa. ordernormaskitchen.mobile
O-Ku
July 16 newsletter
I just reviewed O-Ku, the latest in a string of buzzy new upscale Japanese and sushi restaurants to open in the Tampa Bay area.
I won’t say I was skeptical, exactly, when I first set out to review the South Tampa restaurant — but I was curious what this place was doing differently or better than any of the other spots hawking pricey omakase and izakaya-style dining that have cropped up over the past few years.
What I found was a well-oiled machine that, despite a fairly familiar setup, still felt fresh and exciting. O-Ku is a chain restaurant, with nine other locations throughout the South and Southeast region. But it’s distinct from other chains in that the menus vary from location to location and the chefs in charge (in Tampa’s case, executive chef Billy Brannen) have a good amount of creative control when it comes to designing them.
I enjoyed a lot here, from a raw scallop dish paired with fresh strawberries and a strawberry ponzu sauce to dazzling nigiri preparations and the crowd-pleasing Black Magic hakozushi, an Osaka-style pressed roll with squid ink rice topped with lobster tempura, masago and spicy aioli. The menu is so expansive (more than 60 dishes) that it’s hard to pinpoint what my favorite bite was, but it would probably fall between the smoky, ponzu butter-lacquered bacon-wrapped scallops (so good!) and the Japanese wagyu temaki (hand roll), which came barely torched and paired with smoky soy-braised shiitake mushrooms and chili crisp.
If you’re looking for a fun new restaurant to visit this weekend or on your next date night, this spot is a solid bet. But be sure to make reservations — the restaurant has been packed solid since opening, and seats during primetime dining hours can be hard to come by. — Helen Freund, senior food and dining critic
2907 W. Bay to Bay Blvd., Tampa. o-kusushi.com
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The Tampa Bay Times Food Hub launched in 2026, a four-person team covering Tampa Bay’s dynamic and expanding food scene. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here.
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