Private Chefs in Tampa, FL

Tampa has its own versions of things. The Cuban sandwich here comes with salami, a holdover from the Italian, Spanish and Cuban families who rolled cigars together in Ybor City. Deviled crab is a fried croquette, not a stuffed shell. Ask a chef who grew up here for black bean soup or Spanish bean soup and you may get a short history lesson with it.

For seafood, Gulf grouper is the local standard, along with snapper, and stone crab from October to May. Some chefs also cook Greek dishes they picked up around the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs, about forty minutes north.

Chefs here cover South Tampa, Davis Islands, Westchase and New Tampa, and some will cross the bay to St. Petersburg or Clearwater Beach. January gets busy around Gasparilla, and spring weekends fill up with groups at the beach. For those dates, book a few weeks ahead.