The Tallahassee Foodies Group on Facebook is your source for Tallahassee and surrounding areas restaurant, food truck, and food professional recommendations only.
The Tallahassee Foodies Home Group is a space to show off your home culinary skills, favorite recipes, and track down those hard to find ingredients locally.
The Tallahassee Foodies Facebook Page streams daily deals, steals, freebies, announcements, events, and so much more.
The Tallahassee Foodies Blog/Website covers all things food and beverage including meetups, cooking classes, local restaurant announcements, and so much more. There is an event page, a "kid's eat free" directory, a restaurant directory, and a brunch directory!
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview Jennifer Leale and get the inside scoop! She has been a resident of Tallahassee, Florida for almost 20 years, and according to her, time sure does fly by! By day, she is a custom apps developer for Florida State University. By night, she's chasing her kids around and after she manages to get them to bed, she works on the Tallahassee Foodies website and Facebook page. The Facebook group, however, is an all-day, all night, everyday situation. She finds it very exciting how much there is to say about all things food, wine, and beer in Tallahassee.
See what she has to say about her life, her love for food, and experience with Tallahassee Foodies down below!
How adventurous are you when it comes to food?
"I feel like the line for what people will and won't eat is usually drawn at sushi. If I'm at a restaurant, I'm almost always ordering seafood, in particular, sushi, scallops, ahi tuna, and ceviche. I did try alligator tail recently and liked it more than I thought I would. Another thing that seems to separate the masses is blue cheese and cilantro. I'll take extra of both, please. No interesting animal body parts or insects for me."
How would you describe your love for food?
"Have you heard that saying, I followed my heart and it led me to the fridge? That's me! The way to my heart is always with food, not flowers!"
Do your kids have a love for food like you?
"Yes! I bought a toddler cookbook when they were very young, and the whole idea was exposing them to different flavors. I was feeding them curried mashed cauliflower and a variety of other ingredients before they turned one and they loved it. They are not picky at all."
Do you eat out often?
"We go out to dinner about twice a month, and I join friends for lunch about twice a week. We have food trucks that come to my job, so I'm lucky that I don't have to go far for amazing food."
How often do you cook?
"If we're not going out to eat, which is only twice a month, then we are cooking every single night. We'll make extras and freeze the leftovers for a quick dinner when my husband is out of town. A lot of what we cook at home is featured in our sister group Tallahassee Foodies Home, a great group for the grill masters, bakers, and anyone that loves to cook."
In your opinion, what defines a "foodie"?
"Funny because I really don't know. I know that I'm no expert, which is why I created the group. I wanted to learn from people that are more knowledgable than myself. I think some people think the word entails a bit of well-traveled snobbery which I can't handle, but if you look at the chefs we've enjoyed on TV over the years -Anthony Bourdain comes to mind- they are experts in their craft, make learning interesting, and yet there is nothing high brow about them."
In your opinion, what is considered as "excellent service"?
"If you keep my water full and food comes out in a reasonable time, I'm good. Some of the best service I've had recently was at Il Lusso. Our waiter was witty, knowledgable, and checked in often, without being overly involved."
When visiting a new restaurant, what are some of the first things you notice?
"Oh, I love the decor. Obviously that's the first thing you're going to notice when you walk in. Tallahassee has stepped up its game. There are so many restaurants that look like you've stepped into a big city restaurant the second you walk in the door. With that said, I also love a good hole in the wall with great food!"
What are some major reasons that would cause you to never retry a restaurant?
"I think I'd try any restaurant at least once. If they get good recommendations at the group, but I didn't have a great experience, I'd even try them again in case they were having an off night."
Do you find it hard to keep an open mind when reading negative reviews?
"All negative reviews are a bit cringe-worthy, in my opinion. I understand that some people feel the group is only "honest" if you share the good and the bad, so I allow it all as long as they speak to management first to give them the opportunity to correct a negative situation. This has nothing to do with someone's personal taste. If a restaurant is not to your liking, talk about that at the group all you want. The rule is for when an establishment has dropped the ball in terms of food or service -they didn't deliver their norm based on the rave reviews the establishment has received at the group."
When did you start blogging and why?
"I started blogging in 2009. I'm a web developer and when I first heard the word "blog," I thought it was something I should dive into as a learning experience. I found out about WordPress on a Friday, and by Monday I showed my coworkers a self-hosted site complete with a domain name, a few pages of content, a theme, and a logo. I would often work on it until the sun came up, full-on obsessed."
What is the focus of your Tallahassee Foodies website?
"I've had two pretty successful blogs in the past and retired them after I had my second child. I also have a full-time job and a husband that travels often, so it was just too much to keep up with at the time, but I've missed writing content on things I'm passionate about. The group was just a little idea I had, and although it morphed into something bigger than I could have ever imagined, there was still a void. Lots of people started requesting a restaurant directory, event listings, and a kid's eat free guide. So the site is a companion to the group, and our most popular pages by far are the events calendar and our brunch guide."
What is the ultimate goal for your website?
"I haven't really thought that far ahead yet. Hopefully, someday I'll have the time to set big goals. For now, I'm just shocked that members are interested in the ideas I've introduced to the group (a supplemental Facebook page, a sister group for the home cooks, a website, and Instagram). They've been all-in on all of it. I consider the site a newbie (two months old), but it's getting the traffic of a seasoned pro. Current goals are just to consistently post content that everyone wants to read."
Why did you create Tallahassee Foodies and what was your goal in the beginning?
"There were two reasons. One, I was leaving my job and moving on to another, so the group was my way of staying in touch with my lunch friends so we could decide on where to meet up. I thought maybe eventually a few people would chime in to offer us some suggestions other than our usual Chick-fil-A drive-through, and then unexpectedly and quite quickly, it exploded. Secondly, I just wanted to learn about all that Tallahassee has to offer. I have two little kids, so my husband and I just weren't getting out very much and I knew Tallahassee had grown so much in those few years. I didn't start the group because I'm a foodie, whatever that means, but because I wanted to learn from others that knew where to go and could offer us suggestions. These days, my husband and I are trying to go out once or twice a month and each time to a restaurant that is new to us. We've now crossed several amazing restaurants off, but the "to try" list is still long. That's how much Tallahassee has grown in the past 6 to 7 years."
What are your new goals as the group continues along?
"My main goals are education and community. So many people have repeatedly said that they've learned so much from the group and had no idea Tallahassee had so much to offer, myself included. And I also want to build a community where we have more meet ups and get to know one another, socializing and enjoying great food together. Not a goal, because who would have thought, but a side effect of all of this has been a boost to the local economy. I was surprised to hear that Tallahassee Foodies was a topic of discussion at the Chamber of Commerce annual meeting."
What are the challenges that you deal with on the Facebook pages and your website?
"The challenges are trying to negate the keyboard warrior mentality. It's really a minor few, but the few can often be very loud. We have rules in place that we think are effective and very fair, but some people would rather not abide by them. I love myself a good fun animated GIF, but adults using them to argue with one another are beyond my understanding."
What are thoughts you have often as you moderate the Tallahassee Foodies Facebook page?
"Moderation is super tricky. You want to please everybody, which is not possible, so you do what you can to be consistent and fair to all involved. The majority of people by far are very friendly and have offered so much wonderful feedback, so I try to let that tune out the minor hiccups that come about. I try to stay focused on the positive, because I know we're collectively doing a wonderful thing for our local economy. Luckily, I have help these days thanks to my amazing moderator, Becca."
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