Strawberries as you've never seen -- or tasted -- them before

PLANT CITY, Fla. - Strawberries are great on shortcake, in milkshakes, or drizzled on cheesecake. But if you’re only eating them there, you’re missing out.

This is Florida Strawberry Restaurant Week, and eateries all over Tampa Bay are coming with new ways to use berries.

At Johnson Barbeque in Plant City, they have come up with strawberry tacos.

“That is absolutely fantastic,” Ricky Lindsay beamed as he downed one.

As his buddy, Ed Raburn, chomped away on one, he commented, “I really wasn’t sure how this was going to come out, but it is amazing.”

The strawberries are in the pico de gallo, along with green tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and more.

At Terra Gaucha Brazailian Steakhouse in Tampa, chefs are using strawberries in a traditional national drink, the Caipirinha, and slathering strawberries bathed in syrup over hefty slices of cheesecake.

The chefs at Oggi Italian on Davis Islands are using berries in scrumptious chicken dishes and cannolis.

“I would say it is a mouthful of goodness,” said assistant manager Jose Jaquez.

If you want to take some creative liberty with berries, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association says go for it. But if you want to stick to proven recipes, go to their website: floridastrawberry.org/recipes