Endless Simmer - A Food Blog

It’s early March, which can only mean two things: it’s either time for the second annual spring training trip or it’s time to begin over-hyping the Washington Redskins. Last year, myself and two of my “we-finally-got-rid-of-abreu-lieberthal-bell-and-wade-so-we-can-root-for-the-phillies-again” friends decided to start an annual trip down to spring training in Clearwater, Florida.

While our 2007 focus was mostly on beer and hot dogs and a Howard Johnson hotel near the stadium, we expanded our horizons in 2008. Staying in Ybor City allowed us to not just enjoy the nightlife, but also the fine Tampa cuisine.

Below is a day-by-day eating recap. (Note: since the average ES reader is likely unaware of the Phillies AA team, we do not recap the baseball games here. I will say this, however, Greg Golson is faaaaast.)

Weds:
Breakfast – the tray table on the airplane where I was faceplanted until 6 in the morning on my red-eye from Salt Lake City.

Lunch – Baseball game…..the usual…..hot dogs and plenty of beer

Dinner – Fried Calamari: have you ever noticed that all non-cocktail, calamari sauce is always a little bit different. I wish it were a little more consistent. This batch was fried, but a little soft. I like my calamari like I like my NFL free agents: crispy and hard to stop talking about. The Lava Burger – I could try to describe this, but there is no better description than what is on the Green Iguana’s Bar and Grill Menu – Caution! Contents extremely explosive – a Caribbean – spiced grilled burger with the Lizard’s Lava BBQ sauce and tobacco onions.

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Editors Note: Our favorite and most knowledgeable commenter, JoeHoya, got a sneak peak of Mr. Bobby Flay, right here in DC. Below he shares his brush with Food Network fame.

About three weeks ago, local blog FrozenTropics informed readers that the Food Network would be filming a piece at Granville Moore’s, a Belgian beer and mussels place that describes itself as “A Gastropub with a Healthy Belgian Fetish.” According to the network, this would be a profile of Chef Teddy Folkman and his mussels and frites for an upcoming show called “America Eats.”

Why choose such a new and relatively low-profile locale instead of heavy-hitter Robert Wiedmaier’s Brasserie Beck? Hard to say, but Teddy submitted an audition video to the Food Network– over the top, to be sure, but a great insight into his personality and the enthusiasm he brings to the restaurant – and they liked it enough to come calling.

On Monday, they shadowed Folkman as he shopped for fresh fish for the evening’s special, prepared mussels, and served the first few folks who came into the restaurant that night. Though it had been billed as a full night of taping, the crew had packed up and left by the time I arrived at 6:30.

Food Network fans smelled something fishy, and the abbreviated taping wasn’t the first clue. Nothing about “America Eats” could be found on the network’s site, and they asked Folkman and his staff to plan a party this afternoon at which Teddy would tape another demonstration of how to make his mussels with blue cheese, bacon, spinach and shallots. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to smell a Throwdown in the making.

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