If you’re a foodie, you’re probably already streaming the new season of The Zest, WUSF’s podcast celebrating the intersection of food and Florida.
Host Dalia Colon travels around Tampa Bay telling the stories of its unique residents. This season, she’s talking hot sauce, kitchen hacks and gadgets, and coffee that uplifts the people.
Colon sat down with author and restauranteur, Randy Wayne White. He owns Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille, Doc Ford being the main character from one of his novels. White started a line of hot sauce but eventually opened the restaurant as a way to sell it.
“[I] invested $5,000 when I had maybe $7,000. And then probably two months later, a big semi-truck pulls up in front of my little house on Pine Island,” White said. “It was the hot sauce. Boxes and boxes, crates and crates of this hot sauce.”
In addition to being an author, White is also a former journalist.
“He would travel around, and that's how he got into peppers in South America and Central America,” Colon said. “He needed a place to sell the hot sauce. He realized, ‘I'm never going to make money on this. Maybe I can partner with a restaurant, an existing restaurant, to have a place to sell the hot sauce.’ Then one thing led to another, and he now has, I believe, four restaurants on Florida's Gulf Coast.”
White has lived many lives. Before all of this, he was a fishing guide.
“He can tell you how to catch the fish, how to be safe in the boat, how to cook the fish,” Colon said. “And he's from my home state of Ohio, so he also has that Midwestern side with like the casseroles and things like that.”
Colon said White is the first to admit he’s not the chef. He stays out of the day-to-day operation.
“One of my favorite moments from the conversation was not even with him. It was when I walked in. He's not in these restaurants every day, so it's a big deal,” Colon said. “He was there to promote his new book and I overheard one of the bartenders say, ‘oh my gosh, I feel like Buddy the Elf, when Santa is coming.’”
Colon also spoke to her stepdaughter for an episode in this season of The Zest, Ariel Colon, a professional basketball player in Puerto Rico and Portugal. She says she learned that overseas, sometimes, teams will pay their players in food and food vouchers, especially from sponsors.
But Colon says it’s not always the kind of food you want fueling your body.
“Ariel has, at times, declined the free food and then spent her own money to buy groceries and cook food at the house in Puerto Rico. And I think that's a good lesson for all of us, because she paid attention to how she's feeling in practice, how she's feeling on the court.
“I'm not a professional basketball player, but we all have our own sort of game plan when we wake up in the morning. Just thinking through what you want to achieve and how you want to feel at different stages of your day, I think is good.”
Colon even shares a few of her favorite kitchen hacks.
“One of mine is to sprinkle fresh herbs and a sprinkle of fresh citrus. We've talked to so many chefs on this podcast, and they all talk about just adding that element to make it a little more home cooked.”
For example, Colon said, “After this, I'm going to go home and for lunch, I'm probably going to have these frozen samosas that I got from Aldi. But I have fresh cilantro growing in my yard, and I have some limes on my counter. So, I'm going to sprinkle some of [that].”
For those who are just starting off cooking, Colon says, “Just get a good knife. Forget all those other fancy gadgets, just get yourself a good knife. You don't need the 15 different knives. You just need like, a big knife and a little knife.
She says getting a good knife makes cutting things so much easier and you're less likely to hurt yourself.
“And it just makes it a joy.”
There are so many more tips and stories packed into the current season of The Zest. You can find the podcast on your favorite podcast streaming platform to hear more about the owners of Coffee Uniting People, a local coffee shop that intentionally hires people living with disabilities. Or Chef Marcus Clark who started Yes Chef Village to provide dinner for families in food deserts. Colon even speaks to Shelby Price of Universal Orlando Vegans, a blog about vegan food available at Universal Studios. And there’s so much more. Stream season 10 of The Zest now!
