Hot Rod's BBQ and Grill

I thought it only made sense for my first review on my blog to be about, what is perhaps, my favorite restaurant in the Tampa Bay area. Hot Rod's BBQ and Grill isn't very fancy, so go ahead and keep your big boy and big girl clothes at home. From the outside Hot Rod's is the kind of place I would have scoffed at when I first moved my big closed minded ass down to Florida from the north east. Well, much like I was about Florida when I moved here, I would have been dead wrong about Hot Rod's. The food is absolutely unbelievable and the family who owns the restaurant is as fantastic as the food they serve. The food is what BBQ should be.

When you first arrive to this treasure in Lutz you immediately know you're not at a typical restaurant. From the water spicket door handle on the front door, to the swamp bat on the menu, down to the deer head in the men's room Hot Rod's has an atmosphere all it's own. Their is only a handful of tables in doors, but they have ample seating outside. Despite the amazing food that comes out of the kitchen, I've never had trouble getting a seat indoors when hitting up Hot Rod's.

When it comes to the food at Hot Rod's I basically just call it the best BBQ I've ever had. All of it. I've had some great BBQ around here and I'll talk about some of the places like On-Q and others, but everything I've had at Hot Rod's is the best. They literally have the best ribs, pulled pork, turkey legs, collared greens, or baked beans I've ever had. Yes, the best of each of those. Hot Rod's even smokes whole turkeys for the holidays and my wife and I have gone as far as to get a smoked turkey one Christmas, and it was fantastic.

I don't really have a rating system just yet. Perhaps I never will. If I did, Hot Rod's would get the highest rating possible. I love great expensive food and restaurants out of my price range, but at the end of the day, this is the place that comes to mind, just about every year when my birthday comes around. The only thing I find disappointing about Hot Rod's is their hours of operation. I think it's fantastic that this family sets aside time for family, but there's nothing more devastating than the moment when you really want some Hot Rod's BBQ and you realize it's not Wednesday through Saturday! As I said earlier in the article, get over to Hot Rod's (and I don't care how far away you live, it's worth it) and thank me later.

Buy me some pulled pork and Jai Alai

I thought I'd start the blog by sharing a couple of the articles I wrote as a contributor for Creative Loafing. Here's one about some of the great new food and beverage choices you can find at Tropicana Field that started opening day a season ago. 

"Take Me out to the Ball Game" is still a great song, but if you're heading to a ballpark in 2011 you can do a hell of a lot better than peanuts and Cracker Jacks. This Friday, Opening Day of the Major league Baseball season, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, will feature a line-up that looks a lot different than what it had on opening day a year ago. The ballpark has seen some major changes in our few months away from baseball as well. Everything from new astro turf, to great new food and beer selections. Rays fans won't just get new selections when it comes to their pallets, but the memorabilia in the pro shops will get a boost with the arrival of game used items.

Wednesday the Rays invited the local media to the Trop to try some of the new concessions that fans will be stuffing their baseball-loving faces with starting Friday night when the Baltimore Orioles come to town on opening day. I went out because I thought that Rays fans deserved to know exactly what they'll be spending their hard-earned money on when attending a ball game, not at all because they were serving free lunch. For the record, I'm not a food critic. I am, however, a fat guy, and that after all should hold some damn weight when it comes to talking about ways to stuff your face at a ballpark. Don't you think? Fat guy, weight... Get it?

The Everglades BBQ Company (pictured above): You can find the Everglades BBQ in the former Batter's Eye restaurant, as well as in the First Base Food Court and Right Field Street. Yes, yes, yes, and yes. That's how I feel about this addition to the Trop. I wasn't sure how they'd pull off barbecue at a ballpark and whether it would be as good as I was hoping it was. I had the pulled pork sandwich as well as the pulled pork BBQ nachos. If, like me, you've never had the pleasure of tasting the combination of BBQ pulled pork and nacho cheese then buy these on your first trip to the Trop this year and thank me later. The only way to describe the duo which is piled atop some nachos from the Everglades would be magic! The Everglades BBQ Smokehouse (formerly The Batter's Eye) will feature pulled pork, ribs, chicken, wings, corn on the cob, potato wedges and a salad bar. You can reserve a table at the Everglades BBQ Smokehouse if you've got a party of six or more by calling (727) 825-3378.

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Burger Up: I won't pretend to be as excited about burgers as I am about some amazing barbecue, but Burger Up is a fantastic choice if you're craving a burger while watching David Price strike out some fools. I tried the Cuban Burger Wednesday and despite being absolutely stuffed full of pulled pork I almost finished the burger I planned on only taking a bite of. The ESPN Club in Orlando makes a burger with ham and Swiss cheese that they call a Cuban burger. The ESPN Club burger couldn't hold the little hamburger jock of the Burger Up version. It was delicious and piled high with meat on top of the burger. Meat on a burger, really, how do you beat that? Burger Up has four signature burgers. The Cuban, The Mushroom Swiss, The Bacon Blue, and The Old Fashioned. The best part about Burger up is the burgers aren't what you're expecting. I know what you're thinking, a burger at a ball game has to resemble something yanked out of a bag you pulled through your window at McDonald's or Burger King. Well the beef at Burger Up is fresh ground beef and the burgers look like what your mom used to slap together and toss on the grill. No processed garbage in these burgers.

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Wings Around the World and GF (Gluten-Free): There weren't any things for us to try from the Gluten-Free location, but you can find them on Center Field Street. One in every 133 Americans is allergic to gluten. Yes, I did steal that nugget from the Rays press release. Anyhow, if you're one of those who is allergic to gluten, or just likes to eat gluten free stuff, you can now find gluten-free pretzels, hot dogs and even beer! Wings around the World did have some buffalo wings for us to try but I couldn't find room after all the pulled pork and the Cuban Burger. Honestly they looked like they were probably delicious, but I think the way that they are served (in a tall plastic cup) isn't very

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appealing. I think they should find a better way to serve the boneless buffalo wings. The boneless wings will have a variety of sauces including buffalo, golden barbecue, sweet red chili and Cajun.

The Brewhouse: The Brewhouse isn't new, but the look is. They've removed some of the seating to make it more roomy and they've done something that is perhaps my favorite change yet. The Rays made a decision to not just serve some high end beer, but rather to invest back into the community by installing taps of local craft beer. They will have different local beers coming in and out of the Brewhouse. Right now they have two Cigar City Brewing beers flowing at the Trop. The two Cigar City staples their Maduro brown ale and their India pale ale Jai Alai. I don't care how much more they cost than any other beer they sell at the Trop, but do yourself a favor and pay the difference and enjoy great beer with your baseball.

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Oh, I almost forgot: Cheesecake on a stick! Yup, you heard me right.

So, as you can see, there are many more exciting and delicious choices for you to fill your eating, drinking and memorabilia buying desires this year when you come down to the Trop. See you there on Friday! Enjoy the food, the beer, and of course, the game!

Jalapenos Gone To Heaven

I thought I'd start my blog by sharing a few articles I did while a contributor with Creative Loafing. Here is one I did on a great recipe for you jalapeno fans. I didn't invent the recipe, but I did invent the name. That's something right? 

Across America there are probably more finger foods and appetizers consumed on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day each year. So I thought I’d share my favorite Super Bowl party dish that’s easy to make and even easier to devour. While I can’t take credit for the recipe, I can take credit for the name.
If you take the few minutes it will cost you this Sunday to make this dish, you’ll see why I’ve dubbed it, “Jalapenos Gone to Heaven.” Now let’s get into what you’ll need.
Ingredients:
Jalapenos (I don’t care how many you use, but just figure everyone who tries one will want about fifty.)
Cream cheese (Here’s where it gets complicated. Buy enough to fill your jalapenos!)
Bacon (This time buy enough to wrap those jalapenos! Factor about 1 slice per jalapeno.)
Seasoned salt (i.e.: Season-All)
That’s it! I told you this would be easy. Now just follow along and get prepared to ride the stairway to heaven.

Directions:

1. Wash your jalapenos and cut them down the middle the length of the jalapeno.Then cut the ribbing and seeds out of each jalapeno.

2. Fill each jalapeno half with cream cheese.

3. Now wrap each cream cheese filled jalapeno half with a piece of bacon securing the bacon to the jalapeno with a tooth pick.

4. Sprinkle all seasoning (I use Badia) onto the bacon.

5. Now you’ve got a decision to make! There are two ways to finish your jalapeno stairway to the glory land. You can either: A. Put the jalapenos in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for about a half an hour, or B. Put the jalapenos in a burger basket and grill them over medium heat. Flip the burger basket every few minutes to insure the bacon cooks on both sides. Grilling the jalapenos will be slightly more work than baking them, but they’ll be a bit more delicious as well!

That’s it. Enjoy your “Jalapenos Gone to Heaven.” I hope I’ve changed your life the way the man who taught me this wonder changed mine.

Make at your own risk. Patrick Donovan will not be held responsible for any addictions created by the eating of Jalapenos gone to heaven.