TBO.com blogger Jeff Houck visited the Tampa Downtown Market on October 31st. Read his impressions of downtown’s newest Friday hotspot.

The Tampa Downtown Market launched today in Gaslight Square, one week after it’s intended opening was washed out by rain.

The market, which ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. had great attendance as workers from nearby office buildings turned out to scan the food, art, cigars and plants among the 35 booths. Didn’t hurt that the weather was beyond perfect.

As I wrote a couple weeks ago, the market was started by Tiffany Ferrecchia, who moved to Tampa from the Orlando area two years ago and runs the organic catering company Urban Taste . She’s getting help from the Tampa Downtown Partnership. Ferrecchia told me the market, which runs on Fridays through May 1, was somewhat modeled on those she’s seen while living in Winter Park and during her travels to other locations. She hand-picked the vendors from around the area and across Florida to ensure a good mix. She showed me around and introduced me to people like Val Herzog, owner of VSpicery on Cypress Street in Tampa. The herbs, rubs, spices and infused oils they offered were delicious. (After a sample, I was compelled to buy a cannister of Turkish figs for an afternoon snack.)

By Dalia Colon, Times Staff Writer
In print: Friday, November 14, 2008

Downtown Tampa's workforce has an excuse to ditch the Lean Cuisines and get out of the office for lunch.

Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tampa Downtown Market enlivens Lykes Gaslight Square with about 32 vendors peddling food, jewelry, soaps and other gifts. The weekly event, which kicked off Oct. 31, resembles a scaled-down version of St. Petersburg's Saturday Morning Market, but with one noticeable difference: the clientele. While its St. Pete counterpart attracts an eclectic crowd that includes families and pets, Tampa Downtown Market draws a following of mostly folks on their lunch break in casual Friday duds.

Workers come curiously from their offices, drawn by the colorful booths, acoustic guitar music and sweet, slightly greasy carnival air. Around noon last Friday, 15 people lined up at the La Petite France trailer for crepes filled with ham, mushrooms, caramel or Nutella. They bought egg rolls and pork lo mein from Far East Food Service and hunched over to eat it on park benches. They sampled seasonal honeys from the West Central Florida Beekeeper Co-op, tasted sweet and spicy cooking sauces made by the family-run Hey Mon! company in Brandon. They splurged on gallons of goat's milk, Amish soaps, handmade jewelry and orchid plants raised in Apopka.

But the biggest crowd surrounded the produce tent, where sample grapefruit and tangerine wedges lured two-dozen shoppers, who stood in line to buy 75-cent green peppers, bananas for 59 cents a pound and other fresh fare.

This is what Tiffany Ferrecchia had hoped for. Ferrecchia, who coordinates the market for the Tampa Downtown Partnership, hopes it will become an outdoor supermarket of sorts, where people can pick up dinner fixin's for the weekend, stash the food in their work fridge and avoid a Friday evening trip to the grocery store. Future offerings will include fresh herbs, seafoods and meats, she said.

In addition to the produce tent, the market already features spices, marinades, artisan breads and bread dips. At the Famiglia Cucina booth, Cindy Cicala peddles "dinner to go." For $18, customers get uncooked pasta, a can of crushed tomatoes, spices, fresh garlic, onions, olives, capers and anchovies and an instructional DVD. What started for many visitors as a pleasant midday break has become a way to knock out lunch and dinner.

Val loves to cook. Dave loves to eat. Together, with her love of cooking and seeking out wonderful flavors from around the world, and his enthusiasm for her talent and desire to see her succeed with a vocation she loves, they created VSpicery.

The first VSpicery products were introduced at the Old Hyde Park Farmer’s Market in 2003 where they sold individual spices and a few culinary blends. Val and Dave learned that, not only is cooking and eating good food fun, interacting with foodies and introducing people to new tastes in the marketplace is rewarding as well.
The next step was opening a small shop on Cypress Street, and with a shop, expanding the product lines. Through visits to the Fancy Food Show and direct contact with small to medium size food product artisans, VSpicery has been able to acquire a variety of items for their shelves and outdoor markets the foodie is not likely to find anywhere else locally. “We taste and compare products before we bring that particular taste to our shelves” says Val. “It can’t be just good, it has to be unique and simply wonderful, that is, products that deliver huge taste.”
VSpicery offers fresh, quality spices, and culinary rubs which are hand-blended at the shop. Other offerings include olive oils from Italy, flavored balsamic vinegars, aged balsamic vinegar, culinary sauces, a variety of sea salts, tapenades, spicy dessert toppings, locally harvested and seasonally flavored raw honey and more.
The VSpicery guarantee is that their spices are fresh. That ensures you get the best quality products available. With their spices, you can see and smell the difference even before you taste it.

VSpicery can also create custom spice blends specifically for you!