Plum Delicious Southern Cooking At Splitsville At Sparkman Wharf

TAMPA, FL — This week Tampa Bay Food Tours continued our exploration of the Water Street development area visiting www.splitsvillelanes.com located at www.Sparkmanwharf.com downtown Tampa.

Get out your southern slang dictionary. The menu was created by two times James Beard winner Art Smith. Smith is an American chef who has worked for former Florida governors and as a personal chef to Oprah. His Southern cuisine is so good it makes me want to slap my mama!

The welcoming space has a ton of enjoyable options to explore. Guests can enjoy lawn and feather bowling, ping pong, billiards, foosball, darts, and shuffleboard. All the interactive entertainment provides great fun but to me they are not the main draw here. Butter my butt and call me a biscuit for the food impressed us.

We're eatin' high on the hog as we make our way through the menu of traditional and upscale offerings.

SOUTHERN GOODESS SALAD- Chopped fried chicken tenders, avocado, deviled eggs, cucumber, bacon, shaved red onions, roaster corn, and tomatoes over butter and romaine lettuce with green goddess dressing and a spicy honey garlic drizzle.

The grilled chicken salad will not disappoint. The fire roasted veggies add a ton of depth to the salads flavor.

SPARKMAN CHOPPED SALAD- Mixed greens tossed with fire-roasted red peppers and corn, shredded white cheddar cheese, avocado, croutons with grilled chicken and balsamic dressing.

One of their most popular nibbles is the chicken biscuits and they are as good as all get out.

HOT HONEY CHICKEN BISCUITS-two cheddar cheese drop biscuits topped with Chef Art's famous fried chicken thighs tossed in hot honey. Served with house make pickles.

Fear not the hot honey as even lightweight Ken did not break a sweat.

The pulled pork was finer than frog's hair and was the first time I have ever seen hubby enjoy avocado.

PULLED PORK & GRILLED AVOCADO- slow-cooked barbecue pork served with grilled avocado topped with cheddar cheese and icebox dressing (creamy buttermilk ranch). Accompanied by southern slaw and sweet corn spoon bread.

Fried chicken is a southern staple and I've had none better than here. Since Art is quite famous his recipe it has been shared often. http://bit.ly/3eyXDCg. Admittedly unwilling to commit two days to this recipe's process I will gratefully fulfill my undoubtable future hankerins here.

CHICKEN LITTLE-fried chicken breast served with a cheddar cheese drop biscuit, house made pickles and your choice of side.

Even though we are full as ticks we still want a little something sweet to finish off on.

BACON PECAN DOUGHNUTS

Heavens to Betsy the whole visit bowled us over.

Y’all visit soon and tell them www.TampaBayFoodTours.com sent you. Guided walking food tours in downtown St. Pete / Tampa and Dunedin.

Splitsville Hours of Operation:
Tues – Thurs: 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Fri – Sat: 12:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm – 9:00 pm