For hip, funky dining, try Seminole Heights

The Fodder & Shine building site is a frenzy of construction, with contractors of all sorts trying to make a deadline for a soft opening for the Florida Cracker cuisine restaurant in early December, thus adding yet another funky destination to the growing lineup hot restaurants in Seminole Heights.

It was about a year ago when I last wrote about all the new places trying, hoping, praying to open up in Seminole Heights, the quiet bungalow neighborhood thats long been thought of as the next Hyde Park.

Now, lots of those places and a few more are expanding, opening or just about to: craft beer bars, coffee shops, liquor distillers, vegan/organic cafes and upscale sandwich shops where lamb shank is a core part of the menu.

Our goal is to show that passion of a chef-driven restaurant, said Michelle Baker, who with her husband and chef Greg Baker co-owns Fodder & Shine, along with The Refinery restaurant. There is nothing that doesnt grow in Florida, and we have some brilliant farmers. Our goal is to bring that, and classic Cracker cuisine-style recipes, back to life.

For sure, South Tampas dining scene is doing just fine, and corporate branded restaurants in the West Shore District are money-making operations. But whenever I talk with the power brokers and development honchos in Tampa, and I ask where they like to eat, more than a few get a glint in their eye and say something like, We just found this amazing place in Seminole Heights. Have you heard of it?

And to me, one of the surest signs that a neighborhood has reached a tipping point from perhaps a bit sketchy to a blossoming barrio are the cars parked out front. On any given night, the streets around Rooster & tThe Till, Ellas AmericanAmericana Folk Art Cafe and The Refinery are lined with BMWs, Range Rovers, Jaguars and perhaps a Bently or two.

Soon, there will be even more places for these brave foodie explorers to go:

At Fodder & Shine at 5910 N. Florida Ave., the menu will feature a long list of Florida-centric foods, from Yellowhammer steaks (from the centuries-old Florida breed with massive horns) to seafood from the Gulf and vegetables from local farms. The owners have a strategy of buying whole farm fields full of veggies, then bringing them to the restaurant for 24-hour canning sessions so chefs can pull them from Mason jars all year long. Besides an expansive kitchen and canning room, there will be an open-air patio, pool tables, classic arcade games, an expansive bar/lounge and plenty of room for expansion.

Angry Chair Brewing at 6401 N. Florida Avenue started brewing on Oct. 3 and is already stocking barrels of advanced and creative beers. That includes 30 barrels of Ascension IPA, 20 barrels of a German-style salted wheat beer and a hoppy red ale. Its public space is nearly ready, and operators hope to open the first week of November with a half-dozen beers made on site and plenty more other local brews alongside. Were going to brew beers we like to drink, said co-founder Ryan Dowdle. Well let your customers dictate what we need to make more of and that will develop into our core beers. http://angrychairbrewing.com/

Owners of the vegan and organic-focused Delicious Surprise restaurant plan to fully open their space in November at 5921 N. Nebraska Ave. in a former sandwich shop/former bodega/former gas station. A fundraising drive on GoFundMe helped get them off the ground, and soon theyll be serving healthier plant-based classic American comfort foods, said owner and founder Michelle Ehrlich. That means customizable bowls, but also veggie burgers, and pizzas and milkshakes, but all plant-based and no animal products, all from as many local sources as possible.

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For hip, funky dining, try Seminole Heights