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Rendering of the interior of Clearwater\u2019s Streetlight Taco location. Credit: Cleveland Street Alliance<\/p>\nRendering of the interior of Clearwater\u2019s Streetlight Taco location. Credit: Cleveland Street Alliance<\/p>\n
OPENINGS\/CLOSINGS<\/p>\n
Tampa\u2019s Streetlight Taco, a Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient, is expanding to Clearwater<\/a><\/p>\n Streetlight Taco, the award-winning Mexican restaurant from the folks at Tastes Pretty Good Hospitality, will open a new location in Clearwater.\u00a0The Michelin Bib Gourmand-recognized concept will move into the ground floor of downtown\u2019s newly restored Peoples Bank Building, located at 432 Cleveland St., according to a press release.The new location is planning to debut by the end of the year. \u2013\u00a0Colin Wolf<\/p>\n Popular Temple Terrace smash burger joint Byte Burger opens new location in Westshore<\/a><\/p>\n Byte Burger<\/a>, which recently opened its first location less than four months ago in the Temple Terrace area, is expanding.\u00a0 Byte (stylized all-caps) will debut a new food truck at 301 Westshore Blvd., in the Citgo gas station parking lot, while a more permanent location for Westshore is currently under construction. Until that location opens, the food truck will open on Monday, Aug. 3 and serve visitors from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., with extended late night hours on Fridays and Saturdays.\u00a0 The locally-owned concept, founded by brothers Ahmed, Ali and Matt Mansour, will serve its signature truffle and falafel smash burgers made with prime angus beef, along with the option of six house made sauces and fries to dip them in. \u2013\u00a0Liam Oliver<\/p>\n Hyde Park\u2019s new Mexican restaurant Mita\u2019s Cocina Moderna serves a foot-long torta<\/a><\/p>\n Tampa now has a torta the size of a full-grown Chihuahua. Mita\u2019s Cocina Moderna<\/a>, a new family-owned modern Mexican concept, quietly debuted in Tampa\u2019s Hyde Park neighborhood earlier this month.\u00a0 Located at 301 W Platt St. Ste C (the old Yah Mon Caribbean Restaurant), Mita\u2019s soft-opened back on July 11, with a focus on handcrafted tacos, fajitas, and signature tortas, including a 12-inch torta dubbed \u201cLa Titan!\u201d, which is \u201cbuilt for sharing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 All tortas, including La Titan!, can come in a variety of ways including steak, pork, roasted veggies shrimp and more. \u2013\u00a0Colin Wolf<\/p>\n Tampa Bay\u2019s first Big Dave\u2019s Cheesesteaks will open next month near USF<\/a><\/p>\n A popular West Philadelphia-style cheese steak chain is coming to Tampa this summer.\u00a0Big Dave\u2019s Cheesesteaks<\/a>\u00a0plans to open a new location in late August in the former Little Greek space at 2548 E Fowler Ave., which is the same plaza as Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken, Chipotle and\u00a0 Mojo Books & Records.\u00a0\u00a0 So yes, the plaza will now have two Dave\u2019s. This will be the first Tampa Bay outpost for the fast casual chain, which is actually not based in Philly. Big Dave\u2019s currently has a total of seven locations across Georgia and the Carolinas, as well two Florida locations in Oviedo and Orlando.\u00a0 For the unfamiliar, the chain serves up a variety of\u00a0Halal-certified cheesesteaks<\/a>\u00a0served on Amoroso\u2019s rolls. Guests can choose between beef, chicken, salmon or veggie cheesesteaks. There\u2019s also \u201cCheesesteak Egg Rolls,\u201d \u201cPhilly Fries\u201d and banana pudding up for grabs.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Colin Wolf EVENTS<\/p>\n Jamaican Independence Day is this weekend, and you know Tampa Jerk Hut is celebrating<\/a><\/p>\n Most of Florida\u2019s more than 311,000 Jamaicans live south of the Tampa Bay area, but that\u2019s not stopping locals from celebrating Jamaican Independence Day.vFollowing more than three centuries of British rule\u2014and through hard wars, rebellion and movements led by the likes of Paul Bogle and\u00a0Marcus Garvey<\/a>\u00a0(pictured)\u2014green, gold and black became the Caribbean nation\u2019s official colors just 64 years ago. One of Tampa\u2019s most popular and longest-running Jamaican restaurants,\u00a0Andrew Ashmeade\u2019s Jerk Hut<\/a>, throws a big party complete with platter specials and live music. It\u2019s $20 to get into the \u201cJamaica Love\u201d party at Jerk Hut in Tampa on Saturday, Aug. 1.<\/a> \u2013\u00a0Ray Roa<\/p>\n Tampa\u2019s Boozy Pig will be featured on Guy Fieri\u2019s \u2018Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Tampa is apparently the new Flavortown.\u00a0 This summer, Food Network star and celebrity chef Guy Fieri has popped up at a number of local restaurants, and now we can add West Tampa\u2019s Boozy Pig Butchery & Kitchen to the list.\u00a0The popular butcher shop and sandwich-focused cafe (technically in the Midtown neighborhood) will be featured on an upcoming episode of \u201cDiners, Drive-Ins and Dives,\u201d airing Friday, Aug. 7 at 9 p.m. EST. \u2013\u00a0Colin Wolf<\/p>\n Ahead of its 100th anniversary, downtown Tampa\u2019s Hotel Flor is hosting \u2018Historic Happy Hours\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Construction on downtown Tampa\u2019s Floridan Palace Hotel started 100 years ago. It opened in 1927 and shut down in 1989 before renovation efforts led to a reopening in 2012. It found new owners in 2021 and is now operated by Hilton under a new moniker:\u00a0Hotel Flor<\/a>. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1996, the hotel has tapped staff at its restaurant,\u00a0The Dan<\/a>, to spend Fridays spotlighting different eras in the venue\u2019s history. Anyone in 1920s garb gets a free dessert as The Dan for this final installment of the \u201cHistory Happy Hours.\u201d Next month\u2019s theme? Prohibition. \u2013\u00a0Ray Roa<\/p>\n Tampa Bay\u2019s annual hot sauce festival \u2018I Like it Hot!\u2019 returns this September\u00a0<\/a> <\/p>\n September will be hotter than normal, because spice heads and pepper connoisseurs can feel the burn at the\u00a0I Like it Hot! Festival<\/a>\u00a0in Pinellas Park.\u00a0 Florida\u2019s longest-running hot sauce festival returns for its 26th year bringing a sizable selection of hot sauces, seasonings, salsas, specialty products and unique retail vendors.\u00a0 The scorching hot sauce festival will move this year from the Largo Event Center to the England Brothers Park located at 5010 Dave McKay Way in Pinellas Park. The fiery weekend starts Saturday, Sept. 12, and Sunday, Sept. 13, at\u00a0 from 10 am to 4 pm. The event has no cover and also free parking. The event is family and pet friendly. \u2013\u00a0Leif Helland<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Jul 30 \u2013 Aug 05, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t
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