Taco Bus adds a stop at USF Tampa
Plus: St. Pete’s Café Bohemia changes hands, and more.
by Arielle Stevenson
- Chip Weiner
- The latest Taco Bus location opens Thurs., June 7 near USF.
College kids, rejoice: Taco Bus is opening a fourth location, and this one’s right near the USF Tampa campus. Taco Bus USF opens on Thurs., June 7 at 2320 E. Fletcher Ave. in the space formerly occupied by Taqueria Monterrey, Taco Bus’s sister restaurant.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while,” said Marketing Director Aviva Bowman. “People want to be in and out fast.”
The location may be new but the menu isn’t changing. Tacos, tortas and more will all be available.
“Everything is the same,” Bowman said, “and we do have beer.” The beer selection will be similar to that of the St. Petersburg outpost, featuring Mexican (or Mexican-esque) brands like Corona and Dos Equis. The only domestic currently served is Miller Lite.
Daily drink specials are tailored to meet the needs of a college wallet. Five-beer buckets are $10 and pitchers of Dos Equis lager and amber are just $7. It gets better still; all USF students and faculty get 10 percent off their bill with ID through the Bulls Country program. We think that is muy bueno.
Renovations at the new location started at the beginning of April.
“It is completely different inside,” Bowman said. “We brought in lots of special things to give people the Taco Bus feel at USF.”
Bowman recommended people come early for the opening day giveaways.
“There will be a lot of surprises,” Bowman said.
Hours are 11-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, Thursday-Saturday 11-4 a.m.
Leaving Bohemia
For nine years, Matthew Neal owned and ran St. Petersburg’s Café Bohemia. Neal worked alongside his mother, Bonnie, and fellow foodie Candyce Collard. Now Neal and the rest of his crew are leaving Café Bohemia in the hands of new owner Lou Aldano.
“The people that took it over love it the way that it is,” Neal said. “Hopefully they can put the same time and dedication into it that we did.”
Part of that dedication included Neal putting in hundred-hour workweeks.
“We made everything from scratch,” Neal said. “It was a ton of work all the time.”
The trials and tribulations of running a café in a downturn economy left little time for anything else. So Neal is taking a breath to regroup and refocus.
“I turned 40 this year,” Neal said. “I haven’t had a chance to do anything in the last nine years except run the café.”
Friends, family, and customers bade Neal and his crew adieu in a final blowout that lasted until 4 a.m. Friday morning.
“I’ve just been decompressing and letting it all sink in,” Neal said. “I am going to head for the mountains for a while and have a walkabout.”
Neal got his bachelor’s in fine art and is thinking about graduate school and painting.
“I used to paint a lot and hadn’t a chance to do much of that,” Neal said. “For now, it’s time for a little break.”
Banyan’s back
Last year, without notice, St. Petersburg’s Banyan Coffee & Tea Company closed its doors. People peered in through the windows outside the storefront at 689 Ninth St. N, looking for clues to its apparent demise. But this was not a tragic tale of small business vanquished by a bad economy; owner Erica Allums closed only because she wanted to spend more time with her college-bound daughter. Now Allums is back and Banyan’s doors will open once more. The menu will be much the same, but Allums says she’s found a new chef. The reopening is slated for next week.
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