First Watch – Tampa, FL

 

Lance’s birthday is this weekend.  Since he’s on the email list for First Watch, he got sent a coupon for a free birthday entrée! Until recently, I didn’t realize it was a chain outside of Tampa – apparently they have over 100 locations around the country. 

Lance started off with his normal black coffee, and I tried their Day Glow juice – made from carrot, orange, lemon, and organic ginger.  The juice was really refreshing and tasted very fresh.  It wasn’t super sweet like orange juice – the tartness from the lemon along with the carrot and ginger was a great balance. 

I love their different pancake varieties (I wrote about them back when I posted about First Watch in July…)  Instead I decided to try one of their specials – the Smoked Salmon Benedict. It had two poached eggs on Ciabatta, topped with the salmon, tomato, hollandaise, red onion, and herbs.  It came with a side of greens in lemon white balsamic (so it was relatively healthy for a Benedict breakfast…)

Lance had the Chickichanga – a Mexican style egg dish.  It had whipped eggs with spicy chicken, chorizo, green chilies, cheeses, onion, and avocado in a tortilla topped with Vera Cruz sauce and sour cream.  It came with a side of fruit and potatoes.   The fruit wasn’t anything special, but the egg dish was excellent!

 

If you haven’t already, sign up for their email list because it’s well worth it to get the free birthday meal! 

First Watch has several locations – we went to the one at 3712 Henderson Blvd

Tampa, FL 33609 which is open from 7am – 2:30pm every day. 

Yoga at Bamboozle & The Brew Brunch

 

This past Sunday I started off the morning with my cousin Jenn and friend Hillary at Bamboozle’s Sunday Salutation Yoga.  It is a free class offered every Sunday morning – it’s only been going on for a few weeks now, but I’d highly recommend checking it out! 

 

We set up our mats right in front of the Tea Lounge.  It was the perfect way to start off the morning.  Plus someone outside had adorable corgi puppies!

Afterwards, Lynn at Bamboozle gave us complimentary tea and brunch samples – and I cooled off with my favorite coconut milk drink with chia seeds.  If you want to participate, check out their facebook page for more info.

I was excited to have Sunday off work because Green Bench Brewing hosted a Brew Brunch!  From the flyer, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I knew I wanted to check it out.  So we headed to St. Pete to see what it was about. 

 

It was PACKED!  Every time I’ve been to Green Bench, it’s been a weekday, so I’m used to there being about a dozen people there.  There were hundreds of people – and their kids and dogs. (We saw ANOTHER corgi!)  The photo below was from Local Buds: Artisan Collective’s facebook page – it shows way better than my pictures just how many people were there.    

We grabbed a saved a spot at a bench inside while some of the other girls waited in line for the food.  The tables were covered in beautiful succulent arrangements by O’Berry’s Succulents.

I ordered a flight of beers while we waited.  I especially liked their featured tap called Sometimes You Don’t – a toasted coconut, vanilla, and chocolate milk stout.  Since Lance had to work, I filled up a growler of the Surrealist IPA to bring home (he likes it, but I’m not a big fan of sour beers).  Apparently Squeeze Juice Works was serving collaborative beer mimosas, but I didn’t realize that until after I already ordered my flight!

 

The brunch was served by the food truck The Twisted Iron, which had all sorts of fancy waffle varieties.  Some were sweet like the Elvis waffle topped with peanut butter, bacon, and bananas; others were savory like the Philly-style steak and cheese waffle with sautéed mushrooms and onions.  It took over an hour to get food since it was so crowded!

 

I tried the chicken and waffles, served with honey mustard and maple syrup.  Unfortunately, by the time we got our food, they had run out of the fancy syrup.  So we ended up with Smuckers instead.  Guess we need to get there earlier next time.  The double stout honey mustard was great – it was made by The Urban Canning Company (I had just bought some of their Pear Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Jam from Duckweed the other day). 

 

Afterwards we stuck around for some fun playing giant jenga out on their patio.

 

 

 

 

Bamboozle Tea Lounge is located at 109 N 12th St #101, Tampa, FL 33602 and open from 11:30am – 9pm Mondays through Saturdays, and 11am – 4pm for brunch on Sundays.

 

Green Bench Brewing is located at 1133 Baum Avenue North, St. Petersburg, FL 33705 and is open 2pm – 10pm Tuesday – Thursday, 2pm – 12am Friday, 12pm – 12am Saturday, and 12pm – 10pm on Sunday.  They are closed Mondays. 

Rapp Brewing – Seminole, FL

 

Lance & I have still been hitting up breweries any time we have days off together.  We’ve made it to most of the local Tampa Bay ones, but there are a few we’ve still got left to cross of our list in the area. 

 

Last week we took a long bike ride at Starkey Wilderness Park in New Port Richey, then stopped by Rapp Brewing in Seminole on our way home.  I read about them in Creative Loafing’s Meet the Brewer’s issue. 

They serve flights of 4, 6, or 9 beers.  I tried 4 – the Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout, North German Altbier, Hefeweizen, and 2016 Pumpkin Ale (which were a nice variety). It was a Tuesday, so it wasn’t super busy, but the people there seemed to be regulars.  Our bartender was really nice and welcoming. 

 

While we were there, a customer dropped off his own beer for the Best Florida Beer Homebrew Championships. We haven’t tried homebrewing, but I’ve heard it’s super technical and takes a lot of practice to make anything remotely drinkable.  I think we’ll leave it to the experts and keep visiting breweries for our drinks!   

Rapp Brewing is located at 10930 Endeavour Way, Seminole, FL 33777 and is open 3pm – 10pm Monday – Thursday, 3pm – 12am Friday, 2pm – 12am Saturday, and 3am – 8pm Sunday.   

Duckweed Urban Market – Tampa, FL

 

I bought a LivingSocial deal for $10 that gave me $20 to spend on meat and seafood at Duckweed Urban Market. 

It’s in the lower level of the Element tower, and it’s the only local grocery store for all the residents of downtown Tampa.  I had never been before, but since I sell lots of furniture to residents of the Element, I’ve heard good things about it. 

The first impression was very good – the outside is decorated with plants in brightly colored pots and has seating for people wanting to grab a quick bite.  It looks like something you’d find in New York City. 

It’s a pretty small store, but they do have many of the essentials along with some really great local venders.  When I told them about my coupon, they said I could actually use it towards anything in the store, not just meat and seafood. 

I was excited to see that they had Whatever Pops – fantastic gourmet popsicles that are normally sold at food truck events and farmer’s markets in Tampa.  I picked up a Strawberry Basil and Earl Grey Lavender Lemonade. 

I also bought some lobster ravioli from Tampasta, granola with vanilla and chocolate clusters, a dark chocolate bar with chilies & cherries by Chocolove, and a jar of pear dark chocolate cinnamon jam from The Urban Canning Company. 

We had the ravioli for dinner last night and it was delicious.  The granola I’ve been eating for breakfast in parfaits, and we’ve been savoring the chocolate bar (I love the sweet & spiciness).  The chocolate had a Shakespeare poem inside, which was a nice touch.  

 

 

I haven’t had the chance to eat the popsicles or jam yet, but I’ve had several other Whatever Pops and they’ve always been incredibly fresh.  We have a few other jellies to use up before I crack this one open, but if it tastes as good as it sounds, I may have to go back for more. 

I will say that the quality of what I bought was fantastic.  But the prices are out of my normal grocery budget – the 6 items I bought came to a total of $33.  I’m all for supporting local businesses and I love the unique products, but I’d have to make a bit more money if I wanted to shop here regularly. 

Duckweed Urban Market is located at 803 North Tampa Street, Tampa, FL 33602 and is open 10am – 10pm Monday – Thursday, 10am – 11pm Friday, 8am – 11pm Saturday, and 8am – 10pm on Sunday.