Eric Snider

Provo

Writer, emeritus film critic, gay, BLM, ACAB, LDS (@EricLDSnider). He/him. All tweets are about you personally and should be taken literally.

Articles

Crab Walk: Combing For Crab Cakes on The Pier

1 week ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

Thirty-two hundred feet. That’s roughly the distance between the two contenders for this week’s crab-cake title. One, Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro, sits at the very beginning of the St. Pete Pier. The other, Teak, occupies the top floor of the building at the very end of the Pier. Fresco’s, which has been around since 2003, has a beachy vibe with views of the Municipal Marina, where, over the years, the boats have gotten progressively bigger and grander.
This Week It's Poké ... Okay?

2 weeks ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

Recognizing that the word “bowl” was too generic, the bowl industry got smart and rebranded — to “poké bowl.” Pronounced poh-keh (say it quickly, with the accent lightly on the first syllable), it means “to slice or cut” in Hawaiian. What’s the difference between the bowls of a few years ago and the poké bowls of today? Not much, as far as I can tell.*I did a quick online search and found about a dozen restaurants in Tampa Bay that have “Poké” in their names.
College preps for digital future with new fintech degree program

2 weeks ago | businessobserverfl.com | Eric Snider

This spring, Hillsborough Community College quietly rolled out a new program that directly addresses a significant need in the Tampa Bay business community. It’s called fintech — short for financial technology — and it’s offered on the Brandon campus. The course of study has two basic prongs: a 60-credit-hour associate in science degree; and a certificate that requires 24 credit hours. Both programs are directed squarely at the workplace.
A Salvo Into Soul Food: Collard Greens, Turkey Wings and All

3 weeks ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

It seemed fitting that for this week’s edition on soul food we had to head South … 8 miles. From where we stay in northeast St. Pete, we drove to 22nd Street, crossed Central Avenue, and traveled the few blocks to 9th Street South, where we landed at Heavy’s Restaurant. The next day, we went 10 miles southwest to Gulfport and Baja’s Southern Cooking & More. I know my soul music. You might even say I’m an expert. Soul food. Not hardly. I know that chitlins and gizzards are non-starters.
Fish Story: A Rumble Over Red Snapper

4 weeks ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

Red snapper takes the silver medal. It’s the second-most landed local fish, and probably the second-most lauded, behind — you guessed it — grouper. I didn’t just wing it on this factoid, but rather checked with an expert: my friend Earl “Buck” Lynge, who worked in wholesale seafood sales in the Bay area for three decades. For this week’s red snapper standoff, we lit out for St. Pete Beach and patronized two restaurants a half-mile apart: MadFish and Snapper’s (how could we not?).
Electric Sliders: Two Vastly Different Restaurants Wrestle Over Mini-Burgers

1 month ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

Back in my teen years, when I was more apt to have coins than bills in my pocket, I occasionally indulged in the original sliders. We’d pull into a White Castle, get an oil-stained bag of the mini-burgers and scarf them down in seconds. We knew the greasy squares were not good for us — and we … did … not … care. For the record, it’s widely understood that sliders were born when White Castle opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas.
What the Cluck? A Chicken Cacciatore Clash

1 month ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

Of all the common Italian chicken dishes — including parmesan, marsala, piccata among them — my favorite is cacciatore. (The one exception being my later mother’s chicken parmesan, which was in a whole other class.)When I set out to feature cacciatore this week, I found parmesan, marsala and piccata on nearly every menu, but had to spend considerable time searching online to find two restaurants that serve cacciatore. That surprised me.
At Dakin Dairy Farms, four brothers tend to cows, kin and a vanishing way of life

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Eric Snider

Curious creatures, cows. Curious about us humans. So says Garrett Dakin, who should know, because he owns Dakin Dairy Farms with his three brothers and has been part of his family’s milk business since childhood. A cow’s curiosity only goes so far, though. “They’ll let you get close, but they will not let you touch ’em,” Dakin says. I’m up for the challenge. As an enticement, I pick up a handful of feed and extend it to one of the cows, who’s just finished a milking session.
MN5 aims to change the world by empowering the women in it

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Eric Snider

Over the years, Lakewood Ranch resident Simi Ranajee has sat on boards of large charity organizations like the American Cancer Society and American Patients Rights Association. Along the way, she made friends with other board members. “We would talk about how we love these great boards but sometimes when you’re on them you don’t really get to impact the daily lives of people,” she recalls. “And we thought, ‘Is there something we can do?’”As it turns out, yes.
A Juicy Fracas Over French Dip

1 month ago | registrytampabay.com | Eric Snider

Here’s a shocker: The French dip isn’t French. It harks back to Los Angeles in the early 20th Century. Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet and Philippe the Original — both of which opened in 1908 and are still in business — claim to have invented the sandwich, which features sliced roast beef on a French roll, served “au jus” (with juice), for dipping. Me, I’m going with Philippe. Sounds more French.