Saturday
night I met up with my friend Maddie for dinner at Daily
Eats. Since she’s a teacher and I work on weekends,
our schedules don’t really match up, so I barely ever get to see her anymore!
Daily
Eats is one of many restaurants in the SoHo neighborhood owned by Ciccio Restaurant
Group (including Green Lemon, The Lodge, Ciccio’s/Water,
and Fresh Kitchen). They’ve already
expanded to open restaurants in St. Pete, Tampa Palms, and Brandon, and have
plans to open another Daily Eats & Ciccio’s Cali near Sarasota’s new
University Town Center mall.
For
over 50 years, Daily Eats’ spot on Howard was the home to The Old Meeting House,
which closed at this location back in 2003.
I grew up just 3 blocks away – and before cell phones, it was about as
far as our walkie-talkies would reach.
So when we were kids, my parents used to let my brother and I walk there
to enjoy their diner-style food and homemade ice cream. The Old Meeting House still supplies ice
cream wholesale from a new spot on MacDill, but unfortunately they don’t have
their own restaurant anymore.
I
was disappointed to see our beloved Old Meeting House close down, but overall I
think they’ve done a great job modernizing it into Daily Eats. It’s been almost 10 years since they opened
now, and every time I drive by, they’re packed!
It’s a great place to head for a nice, casual meal.
They
serve burgers, fancy mac & cheeses, salads, and sandwiches, but I almost
always end up ordering one of their “Shredder Bowls”. They have various different bowls served over
brown rice and lettuce. For an upcharge,
you can substitute for quinoa or spinach, and you can add all types of
meats.
This
time Maddie and I started off by splitting their Tater Hater – tater tots
topped with cheese, green onions, tomatoes, bacon, and jalapeños.
We
each got a shredder bowl – she had the New York Bleu with shaved NY strip,
sautéed mushrooms, red onions, bleu cheese crumbles, tomatoes, crumbled bacon,
and Cajun horseradish dressing. I had
the Thai Peanut – with broccoli, carrots, green onions, crushed peanuts, and
peanut sauce. You have the options for
two sizes – I got the larger so I could bring leftovers home (I threw the rest
in an omelet the next day and it was great!)
You
really can’t go wrong – everything I’ve had there has been delicious. And for those of you who feel like pancakes
for dinner, you’re in luck! They serve
breakfast all day.
Daily
Eats is located at 901
S Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606 and
is open 7:30am – 10pm Monday – Friday and 8am – 10pm on Saturday &
Sunday.
