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Oh, Tanya, come back - and try the tartar now

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published September 29, 2006

As a 16-year-old growing up in East Point, Ga., John Lee says, he fell in love with country music superstar Tanya Tucker when he saw her in concert at the Greenbriar Mall.

Years later, Lee would get into the restaurant business. He helped start Tucson, a Tex-Mex restaurant on Ulmerton Road, and handled operations when one day the love of his life walked through the doors.

Tucker, on a break from taping at the Home Shopping Network, came into Tucson with her kids and mother.

"It was a dream come true, my lifelong dream," Lee said with a laugh. "In my own mind, I thought she was going to ask me to get in her limo and run away."

After she finished dinner, the Home Shopping representative brought Lee over to meet Tucker, who said only one thing in her Southern twang: "Your tartar sauce stinks."

Lee smiled and excused himself, but not before vowing to improve his tartar sauce.

These days, he's involved in a new restaurant concept, Bananas Burritos, and I believe he has the right stuff for Tucker. The top-selling item at Bananas, 26024 U.S. 19, just south of Enterprise Road, is a fried grouper taco with a killer chipotle tartar sauce. People were raving about it at the recent Taste of Clearwater festival.

"I'm waiting for her to roll back around," Lee said. "I've got the tartar sauce now. I may get that limo ride, yet."

However, Bananas was not among the big winners at the Taste of Clearwater. Celebrity judges selected GrillSmith (best appetizer), Pepper Mill (best entree) and Belleview Biltmore (best dessert). The public decided two awards: O'Keefe's Tavern won the Best of the Taste; and Ward's Seafood won Best Themed Booth.

As one of the dessert judges, I can attest that Biltmore's chocolate wedding cake was scrumptious, but the close second may surprise you: Publix delivered with a pecan tort.

* * *

Have you noticed that the closer we get to Election Day, the closer we get to paying $2 a gallon for gas? I know, I know, there are all kinds of legitimate reasons for the decline: Demand is lower because summer is over; there's relative stability in the Middle East; and hurricanes haven't ravaged our drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Still, the Oliver Stone in me can't help but wonder if this is all a part of that secret energy plan crafted by Dick Cheney.

* * *

I'm not sure if those smashing Volkswagen commercials are working. The series of ads shows drivers surviving serious accidents to emphasize Volkswagen's high safety ratings.

But every time I see a Volkswagen, I think, "That car is about to get destroyed."

Of course, the commercials do help me understand what it was like to be Chris Simms playing behind that great offensive line.

* * *

Seen on a bumper sticker in Tampa: You Looked Better On My Space.

* * *

For those of you who read about me being a food judge and insist I have a cush job, my only response is that it's hard eating nine desserts in 30 minutes.

By the way, I'm also going to judge the Taste of Palm Harbor on Sunday.

Hey, it's hard being me.

* * *

Tell you what, if gas is under $2.50 a gallon on Jan. 1, I'll buy a beer for the first five Republicans I see at Four Green Fields.

* * *

The Gallery Bistro at International Plaza has a story similar to Lee's, the restaurateur. Singer Amy Grant came into its Jacksonville location and started chatting with the chef about her salad preferences.

Now the Amy Grant Salad and Amy Grant Wrap are among the restaurant's most popular items. Both feature blackened chicken, field greens, pecans, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, mango-pineapple salsa and citrus raspberry dressing.

However, it's unclear if the chef got a ride in Grant's limo.

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at (813) 226-3406 or hooper@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 29, 2006, 00:21:58]