Mazzaro's Italian Market: It will Veni, Vidi, Vici your soul

One of the most fascinating things about food fanatics is that they can weave out a tale about a restaurant and transform it from an eatery to the Eighth Wonder of the World. One of my co-workers at work described this place as the ultimate food experience. Located in St. Petersburg, this co-worker boasted about this Italian market that has nothing but spectacular food, nothing but spectacular service, and nothing but pure spectacularability. That last statement has a non-word, I know. Mazzaro’s Italian Market is this heaven. And since I was already staying in the area, I’ve decided to give this place a shot.



Mazzaro’s Italian Market is owned by a husband-and-wife duo, and the place has been jumping for over 15 years. This market is located practically in the middle of nothingness, as surrounding the area is several buildings but a very limited amount of places actually food-related. You can practically say that this market has minimal competition. The parking lot was full to the core as we fought other vehicles like Vikings to find a spot. Inside, the place was full to the brim to a point of near overwhelmingness. That last statement also has a non-word.

This place is huge, and you’ll notice it the instant you walk in. By the time we reached the other end of the building, we passed by: a meat market, a winery area, a cheese section, and several aisles of imported goods, a massive bakery, a seafood market, and even a coffee bar. It took us five minutes to actually find the area where we order the food. We arrived there on a Friday to take on their fish sandwich, which is only available one day a week. Michael orders the Italian Sandwich ($5.50), which consisted of three types of Italian meats, Italian dressing, and lettuce. My fish sandwich ($5.00) has cod, special sauce, lettuce, and tomato.







We paid our food and ate it on the patio located behind the market. The legend of Mazzaro’s Market started becoming a reality when the first bite was taken. My fish sandwich was just a clever mix of fried, crispy, and juicy. Following this fish is the best lettuce I’ve ever tasted, and I am dead serious about this too. It tasted very fresh, and had the right amount of crunch too. The bread was very fresh, and the overall sandwich was not a meal, but a joyous occasion. Nearly toppling the quality of my cod sandwich work of art was Michaels’s Italian sandwich, which was a barrage of beautiful ingredients blending together without hesitation. Me and Michael looked like utter fools consuming this, because every so often we paused, marveled, and sighed a little. Everything, from the bread to the sauce was impressive.

We were not quite ready to leave yet, so we decided to give dessert a shot. The bakery was also intimidating, as it featured all sorts of tasty-looking treats; some meant to be eaten there, and some meant to be taken home. Michael decides to go with a classic: the Napoleon with vanilla cream. I went with the massive Oreo cream cake. The dessert was some of the best we’ve experienced in the West Coast of Florida. The Napoleon is leagues beyond your typical Napoleon because of its thickness and strength of its vanilla cream.









But topping all items was my Oreo cream cake. The chocolate was rich, extremely flavorful, and best of all there was creamy fudge smack dab in the middle of the cake. Neither of us were able to finish our desserts, but the trip to the abrupt finale was a good one. As a matter of fact, our dessert was so delicious; we wanted to meet the owners. Instead, we got the manager because the owners left. Despite our bursting of love towards their food, he dismissed it mildly and claims that the place was more a market than a restaurant.





And this statement is true. This Italian market can replace your Wal-Mart, Target, or Publix in a heartbeat. While it doesn’t have as many drinks (that’s not with alcohol) as the stores I mentioned, this place has a massive assortment of goods, from your meats to your veggies, to an inhumane variety of cheeses and pasta. They make their pasta from scratch every single day, and the massive following this restaurant has received proves this. However, all that being said, they really should be more attentive and prouder of their restaurant-like area, because they make some fantastic cuisine that is far ahead of most sandwiches I’ve ever consumed.

Bottom Line: I have visited the legend, the slice of heaven, and the piece of culinary goodness...and it is all I dreamed it would be. Mazzaro’s Italian Market is a legendary part of Tampa Bay cuisine with a beautiful blend of fresh baked goods, incredibly fresh Italian products, and one of the best fish sandwiches I’ve ever had. This place is an adventure to find, an adventure to park, and an adventure to maneuver through. But its an adventure worth engaging in. The service was wonderful, the atmosphere was Italianistically (non-word) friendly, and the food was scrumptious from beginning to end. I have nothing more to say, you must come here, at least once. Whether its for eating or shopping, I give this place 4 thumbs up: 2 from my hands and 2 from my feet.

And by now I bet you are thinking how you can pull off a thumbs-up sign with your foot.

Final Verdict: Highly Recommend

Mazzaro's Italian Market
2909 22nd Avenue North
St. Petersburg, FL 33713-4207
(727) 321-2400



P.S. The phrase is Latin, but was coined by an Italian man. So take that!

Big Fred's Roast Beef: Incredible Burgers that can rock the Richter Scale

Sometimes in life, you aren’t looking for a full-service restaurant. Sometimes in life, you aren’t looking for that four-course meal or that array of beautiful-looking food. Sometimes damn it, you just want a nice big juicy burger. Me being part of the unofficial official League of Burger Eaters, have recognized and accepted this fact, and embraced this with open arms. The latest entry is Big Fred’s Roast Beef located in the hidden outskirts of Clearwater. This spot is small, consists of a few tables, and doesn’t have the pizzazz of your upper-scale eateries.

However, all this is forgotten once you pound your taste buds against their burgers. This place has been running for several years, but received a few ounces of notoriousness after being featured in a Jeremiah Weed commercial. Big Fred’s consists of a massive burger challenge that has literally conquered every person ever since its inception. The closest anyone has gotten is halfway. Then again, when a burger has a five-pound patty and 10 slices of bacon, chances of ever conquering are smaller than the I.Q. of the Orlando Magic's GM. I decided to give the place a try not for the challenge, but to take on their “smaller” burgers. Me and Michael had no idea what we were throwing ourselves into.







Inside, the place has a few tables, a few chairs, a small kitchen, and an ishload of pictures sprinkled all over the place, full of happy smiles and happy faces. The menu is quite extensive for your average burger joint, although technically it’s a sandwich restaurant first. I decided to go for the Big Kahuna Burger ($13), which consists of three one-pound burger patties, followed by an avalanche of cheese and bacon. Michael ordered the Patriot Burger ($9.50), which was a one-pound patty with lettuce, cheese, and thousand-island dressing. We waited a short time for our burger, not totally aware of the monstrosities we have just ordered. And we forgot these things come with fries too.





The burgers were ready but before we were able to pick them up, Big Fred himself offers to take a picture of us with the mammoth structures. Lets just say we could see our food from a mile away. We posed, smiled, and took our heavy patties to the table. This is not the biggest burger I have ever seen, but this is the biggest burger I personally have ever fought. The result was absolutely fantastic. Its one thing to deliver such a big burger, but its another thing to cook it perfectly well, not burn any parts of it, and manage to preserve most of the juices of the meat. The buns surprisingly had an easy time maintaining the patties within the burger, but didn’t add much flavor the the spectacle. The cheese and bacon however were perfect compliments; as the cheese was gooey goodness, and the bacon came out thick yet manageable. I forgot we had fries too.


Michael’s burger, two pounds lighter, was also a mammoth quest more than a lunch. He had a great time consuming, but a miserable time finishing. These tall tale giants were kicking our arses into the last time a Florida team won a championship. My goal quickly diminished from eating the entire burger to just eating half of it and leaving the rest for witnesses to observe and marvel. Michael’s goal was to try to finish most of it and keep his dignity intact. Don’t get me wrong, it was a darn good burger, but holy mackerel was it an adventure to maneuver through. Most fascinating thing about my burger was that it was never too messy, everything was kept intact. And I forgot the tries.



Bottom Line: Like I said, come over here if you are looking for a fantastic burger, nothing more, nothing less. When you feel like engaging in patty on mouth action (shut up perverts) look no further than Big Fred’s Roast Beef. My cheeseburger here emerges as one of the 10 best I’ve ever had, as its nice and high on the Burger Scale. I know the name mentions roast beef, but everyone comes here for their mammoth burgers. We did, Jeremiah Weed did, and you should too. Just leave guilt at the door before stepping in, because you will be sinning heavily.



And I forgot the fries....


Verdict: Recommend.



Big Fred's Roast Beef
2169 N Hercules ave,
Clearwater, FL 33763

Kona Dog: Nothing says Hawaii like a fruity hot dog

So while I am not the biggest hot dog fanatic, especially compared to my relationship with pizza and especially burgers, I do enjoy a great hot dog every now and then (With Salty Dog forever holding a place in my heart). And just like burgers and pizza, when there is a different take on the classic food, I must do whatever to discover it. Hawaii has a unique take on hot dogs: they drill a hole in fresh Hawaiian bread, stuff the hot dog inside, and decorate it with fruity relish and condiments. If I ever were to win a random trip to Hawaii that would have been one of the first things I would do. Now, there is no need to go to the island state to try the unique hot dogs. We have a small upstart joint in Tourist Country that does the same exact procedure.






Kona Dogs is a new small place on International Drive that takes the Hawaiian recipe and introduces it to Floridians and Tourists. Using a reliable sign next to the institution, you pick what type of hot dog, what type of base sauce, what type of “fruit sauce,” what type of mustard, and then miscellaneous items that you may want to add. What makes these hot dogs very interesting are the fruit options that go with the meat: you can have coconut, mango, and even pineapple mixed in with your hot dog. The mix of fruit and frank might be a turn off for some eaters, but for the adventurous this is a great opportunity. I am one of those adventurers.

I ordered two Kona dogs, just to see if there are any differences depending on what fruit is involved. I ordered one with all the mango fixings and then ordered one with the pineapple fixings. It was just the owner and one other employee working the area. After a very short wait I got my two Kona dogs, and sat down in one of the few tables close by for consumption. First up was the mango Kona dog. Mango is one of my favorite fruits, so it was an easy pick. There are some foods in life that just are tough to describe. This is one of them. It’s a mix of good sweet with good meat with just an odd blend of savoring that mix well with the taste buds.





The Hawaiian bread is fresh, very thick, mildly sweet, and pretty much wraps the hot dog like a blanket, leaving only the head on the top. The bread is much, much bigger than the hot dog, but that will not deter you at all. All the fixings are embedded inside the bread, as opposed to usually sprinkled on top of the dog. The sausage itself is very fresh, quite good, but when compared to the mammoth quantity of the ingredients involved, comes off as almost underwhelming. You get so much “stuff” in this hot dog. The mango sauce was very mild, and never took over the flavor of the hot dog. It’s a nice mix of sweet and salty, and pretty much was what I predicted it would taste when I first saw it on Travel Channel. Good stuff.

Then there’s the pineapple hot dog, which turned out to be much better. For some odd reason, the pineapple mustard (That’s right, pineapple mustard) and relish was far stronger and more intense than the mango, and it definitely improved the overall hot dog by adding infinite layers of sweetness to the sausage and bread. I found my favorite Kona dog, hands-down. And with the prices being nice and cheap (Cash only, warning you), you will never feel ripped off. They also offer combos that include your typical chips and soda. And of course, beer.


Bottom Line: Kona Dogs is a nice down-to-earth institution that serves hot dogs in a very unique way. For those that love something unique and different, this is the spot for you—as you can mix hot dogs with mango, coconut, among other fruits. The place is small, mildly tough to find (Its International Drive, if its not giving you seizureistic lights, you will probably skip it), but once you find it, you won’t regret it. The owner turned this little spec of land into a little slice of Hawaii with Polynesian-like music, silly beach signs, and of course, their tasty yet unique style of hot dogs which I recommend you try at least once. You never know, you might be hooked.


Final Verdict: Recommend

Hula Dog/Kona Dog
6312 International Drive
Orlando, FL 32819