CrowdSavings

One of Tampa’s best loved institutions celebrates its 32^nd birthday this year – Kojak’s House of Ribs is a popular as ever with the locals and pulls in the crowds from all over the Bay Area thanks to its award-winning BBQ menu.

Not much has changed at Kojak’s over the years, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it? And everyone seems to agree because over the years Kojak’s has won hundreds awards from AOL City Guide, Citysearch, Best of the Bay and all of Tampa’s Newspapers and TV stations.

Everything is homemade; from the tangy slaw, to Mamas Chocolate Cake, but it’s the ribs that are the real star. Fresh pork and beef – never frozen – is dry rubbed with a proprietary blend before being painstakingly cooked to perfection in Kojak’s one-off custom built smoker. Finally they’re soaked in the special in-house recipe sauce.

If you can tear yourself away from the ribs (and that’s not easy!), Kojak’s also do an amazing Hot Smoked Country Sausage and ridiculously good BBQ chickens, all of which are complimented by a bunch of killer sides. You can get all the dinner favorites in sandwich form, and there’s plenty of ice-cold beer, soft drinks and infamous homemade sangria to help cool your taste-buds.

It might be in South Tampa, but this is very much a ‘come-as-you-are’ place, although when you get stuck into Kojak’s amazing ribs and the sauce is flying, you won’t want to be dressed to the nines! There’s a cozy, colonial feel on the inside and a fabulous bayou feel on the veranda under all the grand oaks with their hanging Spanish moss.

Family owned and now under its 3^rd generation manager Chris Forney, it was on Chris’ 12^th birthday that Kojak’s first opened, and he’s proud to still be there serving “The best ribs from here to West Texas.”