The event spanned two days and started with a mixer at Sono Cafe at the Tampa Museum of Art in Downtown Tampa on a Friday evening. We enjoyed some Hors d’oeuvres from crostinis to paninis and a bar as we met our fellow Florida food bloggers and panelists and learned about the many things that we all have in common as well as our specialties. It was an enjoyable evening and we stayed well past the end of the mixer and continued chatting with our new found friends into the night. The best part was that we all have a message or story we want to tell and we were all excited to learn the tools of the trade at this conference.

Sono Cafe is a great place to have a mixer with an outdoor view of Curtis Hixon park and the beautiful University of Tampa. I would recommend it to anyone looking to plan a professional mixer. Here are some photos of the great food we enjoyed:

Checkout a recap of our night via tweets here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-pre-mixer

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The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed to the Roosevelt 2.0 (which also hosted Real Food Real Joel earlier in the week) for the food blogger conference. The Roosevelt 2.0 hosts many great local events and the room was a nice backdrop for yet another rally into Tampa’s rising food scene. Check out some of the tweets from the opening here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-opening

Datz Deli served us with an excellent breakfast with biscuits, fresh strawberry jam, and Nutella – all which were fantastic. In addition, they also prepared their iced coffee which kept us all wired for the entire day of food blog learning. It was my friend time having some food from Datz Deli and I loved it! I cannot wait until I finally have the chance to visit Datz in the future.

TBO Food Critic, Jeff Houck, opened up the event as our local organizer and expressed his desire to see the local food community grow and for Tampa to become a leading food city in the U.S.A. I completely agree that it is possible if we come together as a community and support our local businesses and work together. TECHmunch was a great start for that.

The first panel was “Tapping and Leveraging Food Trends in Tampa Bay”. Todd Sturtz from Tasting Tampa, Julius Mayo Jr. from Droolius, Brian Roberts from Roosevelt 2.0, and Eric from TV Fanatic shared their experiences and plans regarding food trends. Todd and Julius have been very involved in the rising food truck trend that has swept over most of Florida and been leaders in embracing the movement. Tampa is normally a few years behind food trends, but it also has to do with coverage and Tampa’s attitude about food. Without the support of the people it simply cannot thrive to the levels of other popular cities. I made sure to record all the tips from each panel and you can read a recap on the first panel tips here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-panel-1

The second panel was “Developing, Organizing, and Syndicating Multimedia Content”. The hosts were Sara O’Donnell from Average Betty (checkout her awesome YouTube channel), Merry-Jennifer Markham from the Merry Gourmet, and Sandy McKenna from Midlife Road Trip.  They shared their technical tips in addition to tips for dealing with a busy blog schedule and how to set your blog on a path to success. Read their great tips here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-panel-2

The third panel was truly a treat and was “Down and Dirty about SEO Food Writing” by Josh Unseth, an SEO expert from The JAR Group. I think one of the toughest things about having a blog is learning the SEO tips behind it. There is so much information out there and so many articles about how to increase your followers or get subscribers and many of them actually share little information. Not the case with Josh! He shared many tricks of the trade and facts/websites that I have never heard about prior to this conference. I was so grateful to him for providing so many tips. #TECHmunch also started trending in Tampa during this panel which was awesome! I made sure to tweet plenty and save the tweets for you guys to get the SEO tips of the trade! Read them here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-panel-3

After our SEO enlightenment lunch arrived with the Tampa Taco Bus paying us a visit in the food truck with Mr. Rene himself! He told us some of his history with restaurants and food before lunch came. They served us tostadas and two tacos with rice and beans. All were great! I thought it was appropriate and truly a great thing to have one of Tampa Bay’s most popular and quickly growing restaurants as a part of the conference.

Mmm.

All this great food left us stuffed!

The fourth panel after lunch featured the topic with “Pitching Your Brand: Lessons from the Pros”. I was excited to finally meet Jaden from Steamy Kitchen (I followed her blog long before starting my own) and also got great advice from Ray Lampe from Dr. BBQ, Laura Baddish from The Baddish Group, and Jeff Houck from the Tampa Tribune. They shared advice on how to get noticed and how to get involved with PR, Media, and how to get value from your brand. Great advice from food insiders was provided. Read some tweets about the panel here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-panel-4

The fifth panel was about “The Future of Food Content…The Digital Kitchen”. We learned about making apps and some of the challenges and rewards that await you should you choose to explore this new technological path that is being increasingly used everyday as our society makes shifts to smartphones and tablets. Babette shared many of her own experiences in developing applications. In addition, Steve and Tom from Grilling Companion shared their story of how they became involved in this new technology. Checkout some of the tips here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-panel-5

After the fifth panel, TBO shared an announcement about their upcoming changes to their website. You can see their new Food section layout here and I am so grateful to them for linking to Carlos Eats! http://www2.tbo.com/life/food/

Our final, but certainly not least, panel was about something essential to sharing food experiences: “Top 10 Tips to Boost Your Site’s Photography” by Susan Filson from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. She shared many tips with us about how to improve our photography and also many websites and tools that can boost photo quality. I saved all ten tips and you can read them all here: http://storify.com/carloseats/techmunch-tampa-panel-6-7

After the panel ended, we chatted with all our new friends about all the great information we had learned. It had been a weekend filled with knowledge and tools for us to improve our blogs and reach new heights. I am very thankful to Babette Pepaj, Jeff Houck, and to all the great panelists for executing such a fantastic event in Tampa! It was great connecting with bloggers from new to experienced and I look forward to continuing this blogger community growth and to the future growth for Tampa food blogs and restaurants!

Thank you so much to everyone and thank you TECHmunch for the great experience.

Current competitors for Best Cuban Sandwich include: Alessi Bakery, Mata Monchies, Mr. Empanada , La Teresita, Stone Soup Company, Gaspar’s Grotto, Franks & Subs, Cacciatore Brothers, Danny’s All American Grill, Cafe Masaryktown – Hernando County, Silver Ring Café, Cuban Guys – Broward County, NY Cafe- Pinellas County, Ofelia’s Café, the Floridian and MORE!

A Kid Zone will be at the event with clowns, jumpers, face painting, and more so be sure to bring the family to this event. Live music will be provided by Hansel of Hansel y Raul (more information here) in addition to other live performers, entertainers, and Zumba. Judges for the competition include Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Tampa Chief of Police Jane Castor, Richard Gonzmart of the Columbia Restaurant, and more.

I don’t know about you, but I am excited for this great upcoming event and look forward to trying all the great sandwiches on May 26th.

See you there

Event name: Cuban Sandwich Festival

Date & Time: May 26th, 2012. 10-30am-4:30pm

Address: 1800 E. 8th St. Ybor City, FL

Contact for Exhibit and Sponsorship: Jolie@Latin-Times.com or Vpadilla@Latin-Times.com (813) 407-6866 or (813) 407-719.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/284524998285527/

Casa Tina – Enjoy and inside and outside street party in this Dunedin favorite on Cinco De Mayo. Cirque performers will be present in addition to a 22′ puppet parade and a lantern parade after dark. Mexican singer Lily Cortes and salsa band Orquest Infinidad will provide live music at the event and basic salsa dance lessons will be provided by Simone Salsa. There is much more to come at this great event this weekend. Event link 365 Main St. Dunedin, FL 34698

Luna’s Mexican Restaurant – This Brandon Mexican restaurant will be offering 5 for $15 mix and match buckets for Cinco de Mayo in addition to $3.50 12 oz bottles of select Mexican beers such as Corona. If you’re out on this side of the woods you may want to check out Luna’s. 5924 Providence Rd. Brandon, FL 33511

Miguel’s Mexican Seafood and Grill – Live music will be keeping the party going at Miguel’s this weekend from May 4th-May 6th. $3 Coronas will be available on Cinco de Mayo. Live music guests include Shaun Hopper, Betty Fox, Razing Stone, and Drunk Monkey’s. 3035 W. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL

Red Mesa Cantina – Their 4th annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Week will feature Jeremy Thomas band from 4-8PM  and Roberto Debourg and The Flats (9pm-close). Five complete bars, live bands, tented and open-air plazas for non-stop Cinco de Mayo fun. Don Julio Shots $6, Cadillac Margaritas $8. Event link 128 3rd St. St Petersburg, FL 33701

Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant – My personal choice for some great tacos de carne asada will feature a live DJ and Happy Hour specials this weekend for Cinco de Mayo. 13731 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33618

Good luck out in the town at these great fiestas this weekend!

However, not everyone is lucky enough to have a variety of ethnic restaurants on their doorstep. This is why so many people love to visit food markets because there is normally a huge selection of freshly cooked foods from all over the world. If you feel like breaking free of your traditional Saturday afternoon activities – which normally involves getting your pals together to play Party Poker over a takeaway pizza – then visiting an oriental restaurant is just what you need to give your taste buds a real treat. Alternatively, why not try cooking your very own ethnic meal like Thai for example? This will get you more familiar with the type of ingredients used in Thai dishes. Below is a simple Thai recipe you are sure to enjoy cooking.

Ingredients: 
2 chicken fillets
1 sweet potato
1 red pepper
A can of coconut milk
Green Thai curry paste
A handful of Spinach

Method: 
1. Begin by peeling and chopping the sweet potato. Boil in some water until they are almost done, then drain and leave to one side.
2. Then fry the chicken and the pepper and add in one teaspoon of curry paste. Next, pour in the coconut milk and stir well.
3. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes then add in the spinach and the sweet potato. Wait until the potato has finished cooking and the spinach has wilted before serving.
4. Serve with Jasmine rice and salad.
Tip: You can make this dish healthier by using skinless chicken. However, it may dry out more quickly so keep a close eye on it. You could also exchange the coconut milk for light coconut milk or even use low fat yogurt.

More information on the event: http://burgershowdown.org/

A gift from Chipotle which is currently growing in my home. Chipotle sponsored an essay contest on real food and the top essays were compiled into the booklet below the gift.

I will admit I was a little nervous about how the food would taste. Taking on this event was a jump into a new territory of food for me and I am happy to say that all the food severed was phenomenal! I never knew fresh farm grown food could taste as crazy good as it did. Local chefs and farmers came together to create a beautiful product at this dinner and Joel Salatin is truly an eloquent speaker as well. He has many fans locally in Tampa and a painting drawn at the Roosevelt 2.0 of Joel earlier in the evening sold at $950 for auction to benefit the local farming community in Tampa Bay.

The artist a few minutes before the event as he worked to complete this work of Joel Salatin.

Dinner was served before Joel took the stage. The first course started us with two salads.

This salad was a warm-up and fresh as can be – packed with goat cheese. I loved the cheese and ate it up before the first creation came.

This salad consisted of Sezchuan miso eggplant, grilled bok choy, chili picked radish, sake anise soaked oranges, and bottagra. Chef Ferrel Alvarez from Cafe Dufrain was the master behind this creation. I have to say I have never tasted such amazing oranges (maybe it is time to start soaking my oranges in sake?). Everything was great and a great introduction for the next course.

Now this course simply swept my feet away. A Vietnamese style porchetta with chile-cinnamon butternut squash, lemongrass-salt, pepper peaches, and coriander fingerling salad. Greg Baker from The Refinery presented this dish…man I have never tasted pork so tender and so packed with flavor with what appeared to be simple. By looking at it you just cannot grasp how great this course was. I cannot even give it justice in words, I just hope I can someday experience this dish again.

This final course was the perfect finale to the meal. It was created by Byron Gabel from the Grand Hyatt Resort. It is a blueberry goatcheese flaugnarde with sweet basil ice cream and crispy tuille. What was really interesting was when I took the first bite of the exterior, I wasn’t sure what was inside this dessert. The inner layer then hits the palate just right and provided a flawless ending to this great meal I experienced at Roosevelt 2.0 for Real Food Real Joel. Before Joel had even taken the stand to speak, I was already ready to hear more about the Slow Food movement and local food after experiencing these great dishes that were all made using local farmers, food, and ingredients.

The head of the Suncoast Food Alliance opened the floor for Joel Salatin. What was really great about this event was learning about the local push for locally-grown products and one fact relayed during this speaking event was that “Every dollar spent within the community is turned over 7 times”. During these tough times for Tampa Bay after the real estate crash, we have to start brainstorming new ways to keep the community thriving to help makeup for the growth we have lost as a community. We watched a short video produced by Chipotle with the beat of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” set to the discussions of the evening called “Back to the Start” – you can watch it here.

After the video, Joel Salatin took the stage and began his list of things he hopes to see. He discussed the issues with the way our current food industry runs and his hopes for a better food industry and for a better appreciation by the people who decide what they will consume. Joel rejects the notion that some people say he is an elitist for promoting local food and farming that can in some cases cost more, but he brought up the excellent point that people should value what they put into their bodies.

He told us about how his pig farm became involved with Chipotle as Chipotle has made steps to move in the direction of slow food and to support local farming. Chipotle expected to use more than 10 million pounds of produce from local farms in 2011. Chipotle is still in the process of trying to find the best profitable way to make this work, but they are trying their best as a national restaurant chain to own up to providing their customers with quality items and have worked with Joel in the past and found that customers reacted extremely well to the local farming products and demanded more (just as I did earlier tonight). I agree with Joel that it is great to at least see Chipotle trying, while many of their competitors won’t even consider exploring the option.

Joel shared some of his beliefs including that he believes it is better to eat food first available before 1900 to avoid many of food issues you find today and his belief that farmers should be more appreciated by our society than is currently the case. It’s true – as food has become mass produced by large corporations – farming has lost its focus in society. Joel went through the rest of his list and I really thought about how much little information I knew about this prior to this event.

The farm-to-table was very educational, but I wanted to know more and I think for more people to get involved it is important to branch out of the group and reach a bigger audience. I was happy to pickup a copy of The Local Dirt which was started by Ferrel Alvarez from Cafe Dufrain with that mission. Browsing through the pages you can learn all about your local farms and this food movement. I think local publications like this can be a great way to connect with people. While it is true that we do live in a fast-paced society, I think what is most important is just to be informed – so we can at least have the choice in making the decision that is part of our values. You can read the magazine online for free so I would invite anyway interested in this post to check it out and tell some friends and family about it. I thank all these great people involved in this evening for making me more aware and for hosting such a great event.

Event attendees will be able to sample more than 100 wines provided by Total Wines and More, dine on cuisine from 25 bay area restaurants, bid on an auction, enjoy live jazz music and entertainment throughout the aquarium and explore all aquarium exhibits. I was fortunate to win some tickets in a contest with Visit Tampa Bay and am extremely excited to be attending this event. Photos from last year are posted here: http://on.fb.me/JGXKsb

You can purchase tickets here: https://ezticket.flaquarium.org/Events/Seagrapes2012.aspx

The official website for the event is here: http://www.seagrapes.org/

Kaleisia has always been supportive of local initiatives and student organizations and through the fundraising Fridays they have been donating proceeds to local charities and not-for-profit organizations this year. As a community supporter, I am happy that they have made it to 7 years of success and here is to many more.

Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/137647909699870/

We were presented with a 5-course meal created by Chef Josh Burton. Live music was arranged with dim-lighting to set the mood for us. The first part of the meal was a cheese plate and consisted of jasper cheddar and St. Agur blue cheeses serve with jam and toasted crostinis.

I really loved these two chesse choices and the jam was excellent! The wine pairing choice was Domaine Giachino Alteste, Roussette de Savoie, France. A fine paring to start the night off and what really defined the great experience at Cru Cellars: excellent wine pairings.

The next course featured a roasted garlic Hummus with feta on fresh crostini and a roasted mushroom ruschetta with shaved parmesan.

I loved the hummus. It hit the palate just right and the mushrooms were amazing. I love mushrooms, but there have been times when mushrooms have been underwhelming, not true here though. I could have had a huge jar filled with those mushrooms and been happy. The wine pairing for this course was Paul Bouchard Macon, Chardonnay, France.

This course had an excellent roasted bone marrow with roasted garlic topped with a salad of fresh parsley, capers, shallots, and lemon juice and toasted crostini. It was my first time having bone marrow and this was a great introduction. It was finger-licking good. The salad that accompanied it was also great. The salad consisted of roasted beer, goat cheese, and arugula salad with crispy prosciutto, fresh dill, toasted pumpkin seeds, orange segments, and balsamic reduction. A delicious mixture that made me love beets (normally I cannot stand beets). The wine pairing was Provenza Gropello, Garda, Italy.

We then moved on to the third course which was a roasted mushroom orzo featuring roasted grape tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. Once again the mushrooms left me very impressed. The steak, eggs, and polenta that came with it was excellent. It was a pan seared skirt steak and came topped with fresh parsley and basil chimichurri. The wine pairing was Baileyanna Pinot Noir, Edna Valley, California.

After finishing this plate we were surprised and delighted to learn that dessert would be on the way. This dessert would be something special.

Crème brûlée was the dessert of the evening and my favorite part of the meal. The dessert was light and did not have that strong sugary taste that crème brûlée often features. Every last bite was enjoyable and I have raved to family and friends everyday since I tried this dessert at Cru Cellars. The wine pairing of Heinz Eifel Beerenausleseas (thanks Family Foodie!) was equally enjoyable and I hope to have this wine in my home soon!

Dessert left a strong impression and brought an end to one delicious blogger dinner at Cru Cellars. Lucky for you – I have been provided a $25 Cru Cellars gift card to giveaway here on Carlos Eats. The contest will run until May 4th and you can enter in the box below. Thank you to Cru Cellars for the excellent dinner and I look forward to my next visit for some great food and wine.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Restaurant Name: Cru Cellars

Cuisine: Wine Bar

Neighborhood: South Tampa

Address: 2506 S. MacDill Ave. Tampa, FL 33629

Phone Number:  (813) 831.1117

Price Range: $$ (10-15 per plate)

Website: http://www.crucellarstampa.com/