Goody Goody restaurant makes resurgence in Tampa

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A new restaurant seems to pop up in Tampa every week, but a family with Bay Area roots dating back more than 100 years hopes to bring something old back to the food landscape. 

Getting Ready at Goody Goody

Coffee is pouring, breakfast is set and everyone wants to see the man with the menu.

Few people could get more excited about coffee cake than Richard Gonzmart. 

"I like coffee cake so much, I'm going to make my French toast out of coffee cake!" 

In fact, the Tampa restaurateur, whose family opened the famous Columbia Restaurant in 1905, gets excited about all kinds of projects and causes, many of which harken back to simpler times his home city.

His latest brainchild is the rebirth of a restaurant called Goody Goody, first established in Tampa in 1925.

"It's going back to the future," he said. "It's going back to the way things were made from scratch. That's what tomorrow should be, instead of pouring something out of a box."

What Inspires

On this day, Gonzmart hosted a neighborhood group getting a sneak peek inside the new Goody Goody under construction in Old Hyde Park Village.

Goody Goody is part of the revitalization of the Village - once a busy, high-end, hot spot.

"You know, I have a different thought process than any other restaurateur," Gonzmart explained, preaching the virtues of natural ingredients and local connections to the group.

He promised the beef served there will be locally raised, and all ingredients will be American made. Gonzmart has been on a roll in recent years opening the popular Ulele restaurant in Tampa Heights. He says a new SicilIian restaurant is on the way along with a possible deal to re-open a well-known restaurant in Sarasota County. "The Lord blessed me with prostate cancer" several years ago, says Gonzmart "And now I think I have a mission. If you open your heart and mind, you can be inspired like I get inspired."  Gonzmart says Goody Goody will open within the next several weeks.