The Dessert Spot at Toffee to Go – Tampa, FL

Toffee to Go is a Tampa institution that’s been around for nearly 20 years. I had the privilege this week of having lunch with its founder and co-owner, Lisa Schalk, through my friend Rayla Bailey’s group On Fridays we Lunch. Rayla focuses on a different local female leader each month and arranges incredible lunches with young professionals to hear their success stories.

I already was very familiar with Toffee to Go - my mom worked there during one of their busy holiday seasons and the architecture firm I work for gave their gift boxes to clients last Christmas.  We had a million thank-you notes, so we’re planning to repeat the gifts again this year. I’d highly recommend it for corporate gifts since its so simple and it’s guaranteed to make everyone happy – all you need to do is give them your list of names & addresses and they do all the rest.

Lisa runs the company with her husband, Jim, whose family recipe inspired their business. At first they made it just as a gift for friends, but everyone was so impressed by the treats, they decided to start selling it. It started spreading by word of mouth, then Jim quit his job in the hotel industry to join Lisa in the toffee business full-time. 

They’ve grown from an in-home operation to now running a retail shop in Tampa and 16,000 square foot warehouse in St. Pete. Their product is so amazing that it even ended up on Oprah’s Favorite Things list!

The thing I’m most impressed by is that they have made enormous sacrifices to make their business a success. In the early years, Jim would travel for trade shows regularly, so they went 9 years straight without having a Thanksgiving together. They’ve had to turn down countless holiday parties because 80% of their business occurs in a 2-month window. 

Despite all the hard work, Lisa said that all the long hours are worth it because she loves what she does and it makes so many people happy.

This upcoming week they will launch their latest endeavor – The Dessert Spot at Toffee to Go! They’ve teamed up with other local small businesses so their Bay to Bay location will now offer Kahwa coffee, Working Cow ice cream, and Mike’s Pies. In addition, the shop will feature an assortment of decadent sweets by their pastry chef, Sharon Nasrallah, who previously was an instructor at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Orlando. Their daughter, Courtney Schalk, will be the General Manager of The Dessert Spot.

I stopped by for a sneak preview this weekend. The shop has been completely renovated with beautiful high ceilings, wood-look tile floors, a new seating area, and large display cases showcasing all the treats.

I tried a coffee ice cream with chunks of their dark chocolate pecan toffee (I realized I devoured it so quickly I didn’t get a photo).  We also brought home the most gooey, delicious cake topped with chunks of toffee and a light, airy amaretto cookie. Everything looked amazing, so I’ll need to return soon to try more!

The Dessert Spot at Toffee to Go is located at 3251 W. Bay to Bay Boulvard, Tampa, FL 33629.  They officially open for business 10am on Monday, October 9^th and will be open 10am – 9pm Monday through Thursday and 10am – 10pm on Fridays & Saturdays. Go check them out! 

The Urban Canning Company – St. Pete, FL

Lance and I did our wedding registry different than most people.  We live in a tiny condo and it doesn’t have a square inch of space left for stuff.  Plus, since he works for Macy’s, he already gets a big discount on most things you’d see on a traditional registry.  So when I came across this website Zola, I was really excited!  You can register for anything you want, and even set up cash funds for experiences.  Plus, it keeps track of everyone’s addresses & what they bought you for thank-you notes which I love.

One of the things we put on our registry was money towards The Urban Canning Company.  It’s a local company that makes the BEST jams you’ll ever have.  They also have really great mustards that they sell at Green Bench Brewing, and pickled veggies (I’m not as big on pickled foods, but Lance is pretty excited about them). 

They are $10 a jar, which is a splurge for us, but it’s 1000% better than your boring Smuckers jellies.  They have unique flavor combinations and everything is natural.  They don’t use artificial preservatives, dyes, or any artificial ingredients.  Plus, you’re supporting a local business, and I’m all for that. 

My friend Lynn Pham, who runs the restaurant Bamboozle, was super sweet to contribute towards our wedding registry fund for The Urban Canning Company!  And while we aren’t getting married until next April, I didn’t wait to wait until then to redeem our gift. 

Now that I have weekends off I can actually go to our local farmers markets.  St. Pete has a fantastic one on Saturday mornings – even during the summer it draws a huge crowd.  I ended up getting a nice variety of canned goodies – Mixed Berry & Thyme Jam, Smoked Paprika Tomato & Basil Jam, Surrealist IPA Sour Beer Pickles, Strawberry Bourbon & Vanilla Jam, and Blueberry Lavender & Vanilla Jam.  I can’t wait to make the most exciting PB&J sandwich ever for work on Monday. 

 

Another thing I love about The Urban Canning Company is that they themselves support local businesses.  The beer they use in the pickles is an IPA from Green Bench Brewing (one of Lance’s favorite beers…) and the produce is locally sourced.  You can read more about them on their Etsy page. 

If you don’t live here in the Tampa Bay area, you can actually purchase some of their canned goods on Etsy.  They even give you food pairing suggestions. 

And for you local people, go buy their products at these locations:

-      Brew D Licious - 667 Central Ave. – St. Pete, FL - carries a variety of their artisan jams.

-      Green Bench Brewing Co. – 1133 Baum Ave. - St. Pete, FL – carries their mustard, and serves it in their tasting room.  Also serving Surrealist IPA Sour Beer Pickles.

-      Duckweed Urban Market – 803 N Tampa Street - Downtown Tampa, FL – carries a variety of their artisan jams, mustards and pickles.

-      Squeeze Juice Works – 675 30 Ave. N - St. Pete, FL – serves their pickles on their grab-n-go menu items, carries a variety of their artisanal jams and pickles.

-      Rare Hues – 10005 N Dale Mabry Hwy Tampa 33618 – carries a variety of their artisanal jams.

-      Local Public House + Provisions – 32750 Pennsylvania Ave. San Antonio, FL – http://www.sanannlocal.com/ - carries a variety of their artisanal jams.

FARMERS MARKET SCHEDULE: (check their websites for updated information)

-      SATURDAY MORNING MARKET
AL Lang Stadium Parking Lot 1 Ave. S + 1 Street - St. Pete, FL
9am-2pm every Saturday October – May, moved to Williams Park June – August (this is where I picked up the jams this morning)

-       

-      ST. PETE INDIE MARKET AT THE LOCAL 662
662 Central Ave. - St. Pete, FL
12-6pm First Saturday of every month.

-      HYDE PARK FRESH MARKET
742 South Village Circle - Tampa, FL
10am-3pm First Sunday of every month.

-      FRESH MARKET AT WIREGRASS
28211 Paseo Dr. - Wesley Chapel, FL
10am-2pm First Saturday of every month.

-     SEMINOLE HEIGHTS SUNDAY MORNING MARKET
The front lawn of Hillsborough High School
5000 N. Central Ave. Tampa, FL 33603
9am - 2pm The second Sunday of every month (this summer through September it’s actually 11am – 4pm at Southern Brewing & Wine Making on Nebraska Ave)

Urban Brew and BBQ – St. Pete, FL

We kept hearing great reviews about Urban Brew and BBQ, which opened about 2 years ago on Central Avenue in St. Pete, but unfortunately we didn’t check it out until a few weeks ago.  We are thrilled to have finally tried it because it is AWESOME. 

The first time we went, Lance and I had a date night on a Sunday.  It wasn’t very crowded that night, so we had the patio to ourselves, which has nice string lights hung and wood-slat planters.  I love the design of this place – they did a great job making it casual yet sophisticated.  They even took the time to tile the bathroom floors in pennies, which they individually placed, taking over 30 hours to create. 

We were impressed by their wide craft beer selection – we were told that each brewery is only allowed one beer at a time on tap.  I had Barley Mow’s Maven On Cocoa Nibs Chocolate Milk Stout which was almost like a dessert.

 

The barbeque there is amazing.  We started a dish they called “The Thing” – a cornbread waffle topped with pulled pork, cheese, bacon, and an egg over easy with house made pork gravy.  It wasn’t anything pretty – pretty much a blob of food – but wow it was tasty! 

Next we split the half rack of ribs served with a fresh baked roll and our choice of side.  We upgraded our side to the Urban Mac ‘N’ Cheese, baked in a skillet and featuring smoked gouda, parmesan, and cheddar with prosciutto and crispy bread crumb topping.  We cleaned the whole metal tray.  Lance has decided this is his new favorite restaurant (although Datz is still a close second...)  

And just since we felt like splurging that night, we split one of their desserts – bacon s’mores.  It was baked in a skillet too – if you like sweet & salty combinations, it’s the perfect dessert.  The bottom had a graham cracker crust topped with chocolate and marshmallows, then sprinkled with chunks of bacon. 

While we were eating, we read on their chalkboard about a 5 course dinner paired with 5 Green Bench beers.  We enjoyed our dinner so much, and we love Green Bench, so we invited friends to join us to check it out!

The 8:40pm seating was the only time available, but that worked out well because before dinner, we actually ended up booking our wedding venue just a few blocks away in St. Pete at Nova 535.  It’s a really beautiful building with brick walls, wood floors, and a courtyard with 30’ high bamboo – so excited!

Our friends Pate and Katie joined us for dinner.  We sat at the bar inside with the small crowd that was able to get tickets.  The food was actually a preview of some possible menu items for a new sister restaurant, Urban Comfort, which is meant to open this summer.  They are repurposing an old autoshop and adding all sorts of fun games like horseshoe, volleyball, and even a shuffleboard court (which was funded by Kickstarter). 

Urban Comfort will not only have great food like Urban Brew and BBQ, but it will also brew its own beer.  I had sampled a preview of their Kumquat Hefeweizen back in February at Localtopia.   

At the food and beer pairing dinner, Khris, the brewer from Green Bench, gave us a background about each beer we sampled. 

We started off with their Les Grisettes – a low-alcohol farmhouse ale.  Khris explained that this style of beer was originally brewed as refreshment for coal miners.  “Grisettes” comes from the French word “gris”, which means grey.  The women who delivered the ale to the miners often had grey clothes.

The first course was a deviled egg topped with pork rinds.  I really liked having the crunchy addition to a typical deviled egg.  Urban Brew makes their own bacon, so they said they use the leftover skins to make their own pork rinds. 

Next we had the Skyway American Wheat Ale – brewed with four different kinds of hops.  I’m not normally a fan of hoppy beer, but the citrus in it actually balanced it out so I liked this one.  This was paired with black eyed peas with braised pork shoulder – they explained that it’s a long process to make this dish, but it was so flavorful.  It was pretty rich though – and I wanted to save room for my other courses, so I couldn’t finish it all. 

After that we had the May The Fort Be With You – an American IPA.  Again, pretty hoppy, but citrusy.  It’s a reference to Star Wars, as well as a local group called the “Tampa Bay Beer Nerds Hide Out Blanket/Pillow Fort” – which apparently has a top secret facebook group for extreme craft beer enthusiasts in the area.  This was served with a biscuit and sausage gravy – made from scratch with lard and sea salt.  The biscuit was a bit dry for me, but very traditional southern style. 

Next came the Happy Hermit Pale Ale – another hoppy yet light beer.  This came with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and rosemary gravy.  The chicken was brined for 24 hours in herbs and spices so it was extra juicy and herby. 

Finally, we barely had room, but we finished with the Maximo Milk Stout – named after Maximo Park on Boca Ciega Bay.  This sweet beer went perfectly with the skillet bourbon pecan pie.  It was served a la mode and was seriously decadent. 

If you want to check out the last Beer Dinner before they take a break to focus on opening Urban Comfort, Urban Brew will be pairing food with JDubs Brewing on May 26^th.  You’ll need to call to make reservation since tickets book quickly. 

Urban Brew and BBQ is located at 1939 Central Ave, St Petersburg, FL 33713. They are open Monday – Thursday 11am – 10pm, Friday – Saturday 11am – 12am, and Sunday 12pm – 10pm.