With that said, I’ll share my experience. Brace yourself, it’s a long one.
Awhile back, I made a comment about getting out there and trying out the little places you may not ordinarily try. My motto, as printed to your left, is one should not be afraid to try restaurants based on their exterior face. If the place is packed on a consistent basis, then there most always is a reason. TNT’s Southern Spice is this very reason.
Jeff Houck recommended we should all go and try out TNT’s Southern Spice. He had been referred by a reader. Me, being a Southern born and bred girl, could not resist. I finally got my chance this past Saturday and oh, what a chance it was.
You will drive through a once very scary part of town, but now the bars are coming off the windows and new residents are rehabbing left and right. You’ll end up just on the north side of I-4 and Ybor, surrounded by old Cigar factories that are in the midst of renovation. In a little building, you’ll find TNT’s Southern Spice. The inside is nothing fancy; it’s a little warm, new booths sit 4 in a row. A counter greets you with a printed menu and a dry erase board with the actual menu and so does Tammy, one of the Ts in TNT’s. The USF football game reels on a large flat screen TV.
Here are just a few of the choices on this particular Saturday:
Oxtails, Meatloaf, Chittlins, Fried or grilled pork chops (a note read: All fried items are made to order and may take 20-25 minutes), Fried chicken, Chicken and Waffles, Banana Pudding, and Peach Cobbler. There was a lot more and I intended on remembering them all, but I was so inebriated after eating, I forgot most.
I ordered Fried Pork Chops, Mac & Cheese, and black eyed peas. All dishes are served with white rice and gravy. I also couldn’t resist the Peach Cobbler. I make a fine Peach Cobbler, damn fine and enjoy good competition. My hubby ordered Oxtails, Collards, Mac & Cheese and Banana Pudding. He too could not resist the Banana Pudding.
We sat at a booth, anticipating the arrival of what we hoped to be the best meal we would have that month. For a very, very long time we had decided that the South had left Tampa and no good authentic Southern cooking could be found. We would find we were dead wrong. Twiddling our thumbs and pretending to watch the football game (we know nothing about football nor care to know) we anticipated the arrival of our Southern bounty. FINALLY! Tammy came through the swinging doors, arms loaded. Granted, it had only been about 10 minutes.
The plates were huge. Two enormous Fried Pork Chops, a heaping portion of white rice with REAL gravy, a side bowl of REAL Mac & Cheese, a side bowl of Black Eyed Peas with a few green beans poking through, and a gigantic bowl of Peach Cobbler. Okay, first and foremost, the Fried Pork Chops. The chops were thin and had a nice semi-spicy flour breading. They were fried to perfection, still juicy. I prefer a little less fried, but a lot of people still think pork must be cooked until it is leather. It didn’t make a difference, the pork chops were awesome. In good Southern form, I immediately poured my Black Eyed Peas over my white rice and “God said it was good”. The rice was well cooked and the gravy was a homemade pan-gravy made from the au jus of roasted oxtails. It had the entire flavor of real home cooking as did the Black Eyed Peas. These were definitely cooked from dried beans, not canned. They were definitely slow cooked with a ham hock or three; fresh cut green beans, and a good amount of necessary seasoning. It was good, damn good. Now for the Mac & Cheese. I didn’t grow up eating Mac & Cheese out of a blue box. As a kid, it was a treat to get the blue box stuff. Why? Because it was what all of my friends had. What I got was 100% homemade Mac & Cheese with a saltine cracker top. There would be no flour roux made to ensure a creamy cheese fondue. It was boiled macaroni pasta, mixed with hand grated cheddar cheese (at least 2 blocks), real butter (at least a pound), and topped with a cracker crust and baked for about 35 minutes. It is an absolute wonder I stayed as skinny as I did throughout my childhood. My family often joked that I had a hallow leg and I am beginning to think I did. This Mac & Cheese was the real stuff, the good stuff. This is TNT’s Macaroni and Cheese.
One bite and I was brought back to sitting at the kid’s table at my Great Aunt Eddie’s home (which resided on Kirby Ave) surrounded by family. All of the women would be in the kitchen baking and cooking and stirring and mixing. All of the men would be watching the football game of the day, typically a Bucs game when they wore orange and white uniforms. My Great Uncle Earnest getting all rowled up over a “bad call”, my Great Grandmother sitting at the head of the table in her arm chair smiling; half aware of anything going on around her, and my other family members pinching my cheeks every time they passed. Home. That’s what TNT’s Mac and Cheese tastes like, home.
The Oxtails were also sensational. Now, for those who do not know what Oxtails are, allow me to “esplain”. Oxtails are the tails of cows, not oxes. It’s just beef, nothing gross. Same as beef short ribs, just another part of the cow. They contain cartilage which attaches the meat to the bone. It makes for a great braised meat as exemplified by TNT’s Slow Braised Oxtails. The Collards tasted like home too, slow cooked with ham hocks and onion. Little swirls of ham hock juice wrapped around each collard leaf. Perfect.
My god, I need to light a cigarette just to write about the Cobbler and Pudding. The Cobbler definitely gives me a run for my money. First, the portion was huge. The perfect combination of cinnamon and nutmeg accented canned peaches. Every good Southern cook knows Cobblers should be made from canned fruit. Our ancestors made Cobblers during the winter months with the fruit they had canned the previous summer. It’s part of the dish. Fresh fruit just doesn’t belong in a Cobbler. I’m not saying TNT canned their own peaches, but they used what should have been used. The dough had to have been made with some of the canned peach juice and had just enough caramelized dough rippled through the cobbler. This was one fine Cobbler.
The Banana Pudding was equally as large and equally as good. Vanilla wafers (still crispy, not mushy from sitting in a fridge for way too long) circled the outside of the bowl which was filled with creamy banana pudding, more wafers, and cut bananas. You would think it would be hard to mess up banana pudding, but my friends, I have seen it happen before. TNT; however, made it perfectly.
On our departure, I chatted with Tammy a bit. She told me they had opened 2 years prior and her and her girlfriend, Toya owned the joint. Hence, T N T, Tammy and Toya. Toya cooks everything. Tammy runs the front. You could tell they were very pleased with their food. You could tell these were the same recipes Toya’s family would cook every Sunday, just like my family did.
TNT’s Southern Spice is 100% authentic Southern Soul food. Everything was truly exceptional. Menu's change daily and they even pull out the BBQ on Fridays (i'll be gettin' me sum of dat!). Give TNT’s Southern Spice a try. They have football catering menus as well as Thanksgiving catering menus. These ladies know good Soul Food.
4 Possums
TNT's Southern Spice
2802 N 16th St
Tampa, 33605
(813) 247-2540 Limited Seating and Take Out
Open Lunch and Dinner (until 7pm) Tues-Sat and 12-5 on Sunday. Closed Monday.
