By KATLYNN MULLINS
USFSP Student Reporter

GULFPORT – When diners visit Gulfport’s newest vegan deli, they’ll likely notice two themes in the decor.

Several golden dinosaurs are scattered about, and there’s a shelf filled with dozens of bobbleheads of Tampa Bay Rays players.

The dinosaurs are gifts from customers who like the food and name of the place – Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli. The owners started with a few bobbleheads, and customers have added the rest.

The owners, Audrey and Brian Dingeman, got their introduction to the area when they would visit from Gainesville to watch the Rays play at Tropicana Field. They noticed there wasn’t a vegan restaurant in the St. Petersburg area, so they moved and set up shop.

The deli, which is nestled on the corner of Beach Drive and 30th Avenue S, is the town’s first restaurant offering “all-vegan comfort food made in-house,” Audrey Dingeman said.

Upon entering the restaurant, your ears are filled with punk rock music. The first thing you see is a striped wall mimicking a prism. The stripes are blue, pink, yellow, navy blue and green.

None of the light fixtures match and each wall of art has a different theme, found by Brian during his thrifting ventures.

There’s a menu board on the wall behind the register, a black background with white lettering. In front of it is a bakery case filled with dairy-free pastries.

The couple has been vegan for a “long time,” Dingeman said.

“We make comfort food for vegans who miss things they used to have,” Dingeman said.

Dingeman said there have been a lot of questions from people about what being vegan means.

“It’s not an everyday word for everyone,” she said.

Vegans consume no animal products, including dairy. They are different from vegetarians, who consume dairy products but not meat.

Vegan lifestyles vary. Some people are raw vegan, meaning they only eat raw fruits, vegetables or other food that doesn’t need to be cooked. Others don’t eat nuts or gluten.

Reasons for transitioning to veganism vary. A large reason is animal welfare and stems from a disapproval of how animals are treated in slaughterhouses.

Others transition because they believe it’s healthier, and they search for raw or gluten-free options at vegan restaurants.

“We’re vegan for the animals first and foremost,” said Dingeman. “And we’re not a healthy vegan restaurant by any means.”

They are not allergen free either, and they’re open about it.

“We do our best to prevent cross-contamination, but we use gluten, we use nuts, we use coconut and peanut butter,” Dingeman said. “We advise people with serious allergens to stay away, honestly.”

They serve mimosas on draft during brunch on the weekends, and keep the beer as local as possible.

The restaurant runs weekly specials like Cuban and Monte Cristo sandwiches. Sometimes, the item sells well and they keep it.

Others are only made for a week, or sooner if the product sells out.

“The Cuban was actually one of our first specials,” Dingeman said. “It was so popular that we immediately put it on the menu and it’s now our top seller.”

The Monte Cristo didn’t become a permanent item. Normally, it’s a fried ham and cheese sandwich with syrup, Dingeman said. They made theirs from seitan, but took it a step further. They battered, deep fried it and also made blackberry jam to go with it.

When they opened the deli, it was only the two of them.

“We thought it’d be like that for a couple months, but we learned very quickly that the St. Pete area was ready for a restaurant like ours,” Dingeman said.

“So two weeks later, we hired two full-time people. We’ve grown about three times faster than we anticipated.”

The hardest things are keeping up with demand and building space to store food products. There wasn’t a walk-in freezer when they opened, so they built one.

“It’s a good problem to have,” she said.

There were about six weeks of demolition and remodeling work when they first got the place.

“We don’t have silent investors or big money hiding in a bank somewhere,” Dingeman said. “We’re doing this really grassroots. Every penny that this place makes we put into making it better.”

“We’ve been slowly swapping out equipment and getting more efficient. Things like that make the kitchen work better so we can produce more.”

Since opening, the restaurant has been inspected by the state three times and each time met inspection standards.

Twice, inspectors cited an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine.” It was cleaned during the inspection both times.

By CARTER BRANTLEY
USFSP Student Reporter

GULFPORT – The city of Gulfport may be small, but it has a barbecue restaurant that serves a sandwich with 12 pounds of meat.

This place is Smokin’ J’s, and the sandwich is part of a gimmick called the “Texas Challenge” (or the “Smokin’ J’s BBQ Challenge”), where customers can attempt to eat the sandwich and sides in an hour.

If they meet the formidable challenge, they get the food for free. If not, it’s $49.

The owner, John Riesebeck, says he started the challenge because so many other places had food challenges and it seemed appropriate to start one of his own.

“Everybody’s got a challenge sandwich; I wanted a Texas-sized challenge,” said Riesebeck, who according to his website started cooking barbecue as hobby in Dallas.

So far, eight people have attempted the challenge, with only one completing it and another coming a half-rack of ribs and a piece of bread short.

“He was close, but I guess when you know you’re not going to finish it, you don’t want to put yourself through the pain,” Riesebeck said.

The customer who met the challenge was named Nathan Figueroa. He did it in June 2017 on his second attempt.

Figueroa has a YouTube channel to tout his fitness regimen and food bingeing, and he came to Smokin’ J’s from his home in Coral Springs.

On his YouTube video, Figueroa eats the enormous sandwich step by step.

He starts with the jalapeño on top of the sandwich. “Starting with the jalapeño wasn’t a wise choice, because now my stomach is burning,” he says.

He then works his way through each layer of food – pickles, onions, sliced brisket, pulled chicken, pulled pork, sliced sausage and a boneless rack of ribs.

Along the way, Figueroa takes sips from both a water bottle and a cup of lemonade.

For meeting the challenge – in 59 minutes and 56 seconds, he says – he won a $250 gift certificate, a T-shirt and a “case of beer.”

One customer, Zach Sirois of Redington Beach, said he was intrigued by the challenge.

“I would have to see what 12 pounds of meat would actually look like,” said Sirois. “But if you climb the saddle, be ready for the ride.”

The restaurant, at 5145 Gulfport Blvd. S, also offers food of the normal portion variety. You can order any number of sandwiches, plates, sides, or desserts.

It has homemade pickles and ice cream that are definitely worth a try (although maybe not at the same time). The ice cream flavors vary greatly, even including a CBD-infused flavor.

The Smokin’ J’s name comes from the owner’s sons all having first names that begin with the letter J.

The restaurant offers live entertainment, with a singer-songwriter known simply as Hector performing there twice in October (“Always a good time when HECTOR is playing in the house,” according to his website).

Three times between 2014 and 2017, Smokin’ J’s was issued warnings by state restaurant inspectors for violations that included failure to keep certain foods cold enough. Since then, the restaurant has met inspection standards.

By JULIA SEVERANCE
USFSP Student Reporter

GULFPORT – It started modestly in 2008 as a list of local places for Ester Venouziou’s parents to explore when they visited from New Jersey and didn’t know what to do.

Seeking suggestions from friends, Venouziou turned to the new social media platform, Facebook, to develop a bigger list, which eventually became a website and her part-time hobby.

Then, when she was laid off at the St. Petersburg Times in 2011, Venouziou decided to turn that hobby into a full-time job as a champion of locally owned, independent businesses – shops, restaurants, nonprofits, artists – throughout the region.

Now, her LocalShops1 counts 550 members, cranks out news releases, sponsors three big community events a year, publishes a monthly online magazine called “Live Local!,” and helps local vendors sell their products at Venouziou’s small turquoise building on the corner of Beach Boulevard and 29th Avenue S.

Outside the building, a large sign reads, “LocalShops1 Local Business Advocacy + Support.”

Inside, a local photographer named Kandy Hurley is chatting with visitors about her small photography art business and updating her website.

“It has been great to find out who buys my art and gain feedback because I can’t do that online,” said Hurley.

The shop, which features products from some of Venouziou’s members, is staffed by small business people like Hurley on a rotating basis.

These people work two or three shifts a week in exchange for getting space to showcase their products.

If they sell something of their own, they get 100 percent of the sale price. If they sell somebody else’s product, that entrepreneur gets 60 percent and the shop gets the other 40 percent.

“If we had to pay a regular staff, there is no way we could do it,” said Venouziou.

Local business people can get on Venouziou’s website for free. If they want more advertising or rewards from LocalShops1, they can buy memberships that range from $8.33 to $50 per month.

To spread awareness throughout Tampa Bay about the importance of shopping local, LocalShops1 and Venouziou sponsor three big events a year, including a Florida Food & Brews Festival at England Brothers Park in Pinellas Park in February and a Florida Suncoast Tiny Home Festival, also at England Brothers Park, in March.

Her biggest event is Shopapalooza, a two-day festival held the weekend after Thanksgiving at Vinoy Park in downtown St. Petersburg. It features more than 225 local artists and businesses, with entertainment, activities and a food hall.

Venouziou was born in Greece and lived in Brazil until her family moved to New Jersey when she was 12. She attended Boston University, where she graduated with a double major in journalism and psychology in 1992.

Then she and a couple of friends moved to Florida on a whim to escape the cold weather.

Her first journalism job was with the now-defunct Boca Raton News. She had stints at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale before coming to the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times), where for nine years she designed pages, copy edited and wrote a few short feature stories.

As a local business owner herself, Venouziou understands the struggles of competing with big corporations.

Breaking even every month is sometimes difficult, she said.

But she knows that her little business and its members are making “our neighborhoods better,” she says on her website.

“Money spent locally is more likely to stay locally,” she says. “But it’s not just about money. These are businesses that link us to the past and ensure our communities will have lots of character in the future.”

By DECKER LAVELY
USFSP Student Reporter

GULFPORT – In a small backyard in Gulfport, a smartphone streams live as a barefoot, spirited resident interviews guests and spreads what she calls the city’s “magic.”

This is “The Laura Shepherd Show”—an internet series dedicated to sharing good news and work in the Gulfport community.

On a recent Sunday, a dozen audience members sat on a patio in assorted outdoor chairs surrounded by greenery. The words “The Laura Shepherd Show” were written in colorful chalk across a garage door in front of them.

The 58-year-old host opened the episode with a smile and her original theme song.

“Something’s gonna happen and it could be good…something’s gonna happen like we knew it would,” Shepherd sang while strumming on her mandolin.

The project was started by Shepherd and her neighbor Treeona Hill, 35, in September 2018. They were looking for something to do and decided to create a show that promotes positivity “because the world needs more good news,” Shepherd said.

The duo shares the “good news” by inviting a musician, a nonprofit and a small business owner onto each episode. The show lets internet users learn about happenings in Gulfport without leaving their homes.

It broadcasts every other Sunday on Facebook with a live audience sitting behind the smartphone camera.

“I’m tired of bad news and I think it’s great to talk about things that make you feel good,” Shepherd said. “For one hour every other week we can feel good and let other people feel good and shine.”

Throughout an episode Shepherd interviews each guest about their music, nonprofit or business.

She welcomes live performances from her musical guest and shares her original songs like “Bushel Basket,” which Shepherd said is about putting your troubles in a basket with holes and letting the sunshine through.

Her previous episodes have had guests like Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson, singer Rebekah Pulley and the local band TrenchFoot Shindig.

“Gulfport is magic. It’s a magical community where there are so many interesting happenstances,” Shepherd said.

She is a musician who performs at local events like Geckofest and the Blueberry Patch, but she hasn’t always been a singer and songwriter.

Both her parents worked for the U.S. Army, and Shepherd was born in France at the American Hospital of Paris. Her father was a history teacher and her mother worked in art and design.

The family moved to Arlington, Virginia, when Shepherd was in the third grade and she studied studio art at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg.

There, she founded a nonprofit called Downtown Greens, a community garden that still operates. Her life also took her to travel across continents like Europe and countries like Costa Rica and New Zealand, as a part of a work exchange program.

Though she dabbled in music as a child, it wasn’t until Shepherd was 40 that she decided she could perform and record music.

“It took me a long time to be able to perform live without being terrified. I made a New Year’s resolution to play music with another human being every single day when I was 40, and then the next year I made a resolution to perform at an open mic twice a week…,” Shepherd said.

“After performing out twice a week I got much better at it. I still do get nervous even before this show but I try not to give that too much power.”

Shepherd relocated to St. Petersburg in 2012 to care for her mother after her father died. Later she moved to Gulfport and has been in love with the city ever since.

“I love Gulfport; if you’re too weird for Gulfport, you’re just too weird,” Shepherd said.

The host, now retired, works occasionally on local film and commercial sets and with previous clients and gardens from her time with Downtown Greens.

The “Laura Shepherd Show,” now in its second season, marked its 30th episode on Oct. 20. The episode featured local musician Greg Woodruff, Carrie Boucher of the NOMAD Art Bus and Renata Augaitis, owner of Rumbles Bakery.

“If I lived within a few blocks from here I would be sitting here in the audience for every show. You don’t know what you’re going to discover and learn,” Boucher said.

Shepherd said her viewership and audience members have grown since the start of the show. The 30th episode even had a viewer comment from New Zealand.

“It’s like hanging out with your friends, but you’re learning about different things that are going on in the community and you’re supporting each other and laughing,” said first-time audience member Lauri Zavala.

Shepherd said she hopes her show will continue to grow in viewership and one day be profitable by increased pledges on Patreon, a service that helps creators provide content in which viewers can subscribe.

She also aspires to produce an episode every Sunday in the future when more people are eager to donate and be guests on the show.

“I think everybody likes to be recognized, people leave here happy they have been on the show…,” Shepherd said. “If you leave here happy, maybe you run into the next person happy and it just ripples out. Ripples of happiness, let’s do good and be good.”

Since its start, the show has gained more than 700 likes on Facebook and has hundreds of views on each episode, sometimes even reaching 1,000 viewers. It can be viewed live on Facebook every other Sunday at 11 a.m. It is also available on Apple Podcasts and Patreon.

The show also encourages live audience members who can request the address through Facebook.