It’s St. Patty’s Day weekend, so what else would Ryan and I do than put on some green, drink green beer, and see the river dyed green at the Mayor’s River O’ Green Fest. We got our acts together late in the afternoon, hopped in the car and made our way to Curtis Hixon Park downtown. The traffic was a bit chaotic on our drive in due to the TBT Green Dash later in the day, but we found ourselves a spot and walked on over. When we walked up, we saw tons of people walking around, grabbing some grub at the different food trucks there, and playing games like cornhole and frisbee.
The weather was great for a day out in the park. It was nice and sunny and in the shade, it was cool enough to relax and hang for hours. We walked around and surveyed our food options. Had we gotten their earlier, we may have had a shot at having a cold lunch plate. However, Wicked Wiches, had closed up shop, so we were only left with hot items for lunch. We decided against the hot lunch, seeing as it was SOOO hot out, and chose a refreshing cup of Harp beer instead. We made our way down to the river to see what the hype was all about. Here’s the shot we took in front of the river. I thought it was nice that the usual, disgusting green color of the Hillsborough was disguised and “done-up” all fancy green for the special occasion. Our Mayor, Bob Buckhorn, is doing an AWESOME job at getting the community out and active in Tampa Bay! Thanks Mayor Buckhorn!
After enjoying our beers, we thought about where else we could go to grab some grub. Our options were limited because we had the dog with us, so we figured either, 5 Guys, Pizza Fusion, or Kurdis Mediterranean Grill. We agreed Kurdis would be our best bet, as we both had been wanting to try a taste of the joint. We found a table and I saved our seat while Ryan went in and ordered the food. Ryan’s choice, the Chicken Shawarma Wrap, came out within minutes; the service couldn’t have been any faster. After about ten minutes, when my food didn’t arrive, I called the waitress over to see what had happened. Evidently, there was a miscommunication between her and Ryan when he ordered, so she didn’t include my food in the order Ryan placed (UGHHHH). In a few minutes, she came out with my Chicken Kebab Wrap, and a very warm apology for the mistake. She offered an order of gelato on the house, and I upon hearing the flavors, I couldn’t pass it up! My flavor options were, NUTELLA, Caramel, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Pistachio. I OBVIOUSLY chose the best flavor there, NUTELLA!
The waitress cleared our lunch from the table and I went inside to grab my gelato. Let’s just say that this gelato was exactly what I was looking for to cool me down on a hot day in Tampa! Ryan and I shared the small, two scoop portion, as we watched the TBT 3k race begin.
The runners had to complete three laps around a closed course through downtown, and there was quite the eclectic crew of people signed up for the fun. There were grown men in costume, groups of girlfriends in neon, and young children wearing jeans, ALL participating in the race. As we watched the runners go by one lap after the next, we commented that we should DEFINITELY look into competing in something like this in the future. All in all, it was another GREAT day for NHIE, as Ryan and I relaxed, got some rays, and enjoyed a really great meal in downtown TAMPA!
-Nicholas
NHIE Guys 