Eatery will channel true Old Florida

TAMPA Restaurateur Michelle Baker's cellphone is blowing up with Facebook messages. A great-grandmother of a pioneering Florida Cracker cattle family has a hand-me-down recipe for squirrel stew to share, as well as stories about foodways that disappear with every generation.

Baker and her chef husband, Greg, became amateur culinary historians after they decided the menu for their upcoming restaurant in Seminole Heights, Fodder & Shine, would draw inspiration from the ingredients and cooking style of Florida's pioneers, from pre-Civil War to the Depression. Much of that cooking heritage was maintained by Florida Cracker cattle families who had to make the most of limited ingredients in a rugged land.

It's a largely undocumented time, Michelle Baker said. We've been reaching out to people who have old lineage in Florida. Oral histories. Family cookbooks.

Construction on Fodder began this week at the site of a former body shop and dry cleaner at 5910 N. Florida Ave., about a half-mile north of Hillsborough Avenue. The 8,400-square-foot, 116-seat restaurant and bar is expected to open in November.

It's the second restaurant for the Bakers, who in 2010 opened The Refinery in Seminole Heights. The restaurant, which features an eclectic blend of culinary styles with an emphasis on seasonal and local ingredients, earned national acclaim and has garnered Baker several James Beard award semifinal nominations as chef.

Baker originally considered following up The Refinery with an Asian street food restaurant but reconsidered after a conversation with celebrity chef Mario Batali, who visited their restaurant two years ago.

He said it was a solid idea, but there was a tone in his voice, Greg Baker said. Soon after that, stoner Asian food took off everywhere around the country. I thought, 'Why do I want to be making fried rice tacos?'

Florida heritage and history has been a passion for the couple, especially considering that Michelle Baker's family roots trace to the early 1900s in Plant City, and to the 1700s in the southern United States. The couple bought the Florida Avenue property for Fodder 16 months ago with the plan to celebrate the state's largely uncelebrated foodways.

We're tired of people looking at Florida and not taking it seriously, Greg Baker said. It has changed tremendously throughout the years. There is some killer old-school Florida food.

Cracker family cuisine was forged during a rugged time in the state's early history, following great upheaval after colonization by the Spanish and English and the three Seminole Wars.

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Eatery will channel true Old Florida