By Suzanne Schmidt
When Julian Reis of Odessa opened S & N West Indian Store a little more than a year ago, he found many people from the Caribbean living in the area.
He decided to open Calypso Bay Restaurant, 24832 SR 54 in Lutz, because he had so many people request it. Reis is originally from Guyana, a state in the Caribbean.
“Ever since I opened the market, people were asking for food,” Reis said. “We have the Caribbean spices and Indian spices because there was nowhere to go to find those products here in the area. We also have a selection of meat that is hard to find like goat, lamb, oxtail, pig tail and assorted fish from the Caribbean at the restaurant and at the market.”
Reis opened the restaurant with co-owner Eman Tanchoosing to cater to the local Caribbean community.
“We have a huge Caribbean community in the area,” Reis said. “We created the menu at the restaurant to cater to the majority which is the Jamaicans. The food is kind of like a Mardi Gras in your mouth with a mix of a lot of spices. It wows you. We make food fresh everyday. We don’t put food in the fridge to reuse the next day.”
Richard Trotz, cook at the restaurant, is originally from Guyana as well.
“A lot of people from Jamaica come here,” Trotz said. “The food has a lot of spices like garlic, curry, onions and hot peppers. We also have some more traditional foods like oxtail stew and jerk chicken and red snapper.”
He said there are a variety of dishes on the menu due to the variety of food available on the islands. There are a number of curry dishes, Guyana Chinese style dishes, and jerk dishes with sides like Dholl puri and roti which are two types of bread and peas and rice which is made with steamed rice, kidney beans, coconut milk and cinnamon.
“There are so many islands in the Caribbean,” Trotz said. “Everybody in the Caribbean cooks a little differently according to their region, but we try to cater to all the islands. We have food that is actually like back home”
Vladimir Larse of Land O’ Lakes eats at the restaurant once a week. His parents are from the Caribbean.
“I like to eat the beef patties,” Larse said. “I like that I don’t have to go all the way to Tampa anymore.”
Steve Boyle of Land O’ Lakes tried the Guyana Chinese style chicken with lo mein noodles.
“There was a lot of food and it was good,” Boyle said. “I have never had Jamaican food before. I like the spices and the chicken is actually sweet.”
Jimmie Keene of New Tampa also enjoyed his first time eating Jamaican food.
“I like that they use real chicken,” Keene said. “I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. It is really good food. I will definitely be back.”
For more information, visit (813) 406-4412.
