Team St. Pete captain Chef Lee Aquino during Tampa Bay Food Fight at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 11, 2025. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
After winning the “Tampa Bay Food Fight” title in 2025, a team of chefs from St. Petersburg will try to repeat on home turf this week. Allelo’s Nick Ocando captains a side featuring some of the most creative minds in the ‘Burg including Tim Lentsch from Juno and the Peacock, plus Chris Astrip of the Black Pearl in Dunedin.
Leading Team Tampa in 2026 is Taro Larrea from the new Sapphire supper club who’ll have cooks like Felicia Lacalle of Quiote Tequilaria and Noble Crust’s Fernando Sanchez at his side.
They’ll be judged by a five-person panel that includes celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian and his daughter, Anna, during this sampling event and party. Proceeds from the evening go towards Metropolitan Ministries Hunger Relief Network.
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This article appears in September 10 – 16, 2026.
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Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief…
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