Abby Baker
Things are popping over on Tangerine Avenue.
Pop Goes the Waffle added a dog-friendly outdoor seating area, plus a tangerine-inspired mural for the restaurant on Tangerine Avenue.
With City of Gulfport approval, Pop Goes the Waffle added outdoor seating on their covered patio area last week. The breakfast dessert restaurant now has four two-tops that are easily pushed together for large parties.
“We may add fans in the summer; of course, those may not combat this Florida heat, but we’ll do our best,” said Sara Fludd, owner of Pop Goes the Waffle. “Also, the patio is dog friendly, really, we encourage dogs. We’re dog lovers ourselves,” Fludd said.
She’s added canine-friendly waffles on the to do list.
It’s just another step towards Fludd’s dream-made-reality: Her cafe at 5004 Tangerine Ave. S., Pop Goes the Waffle, opened this March after serving from a food truck and out of Tampa Bay coffee shops. To celebrate her new location, the cafe added an indoor mural painted by Tampa muralist Carlos Pons. He’s known for his Ybor City murals that commonly feature people of color.
Abby Baker
Pop Goes the Waffle’s mural is classic Pons; she’s a Black woman surrounded with cascading tangerines and vines, a homage to Tangerine Avenue.
“I told him I wanted a beautiful Black woman on my wall,” Fludd told The Gabber. “I saw his Ybor work before I owned this location, and I always knew I wanted one of my own.”
Want to check out the artwork and Fludd’s breakfast treats yourself? She’s closed April 28-May 1 for her daughter’s college graduation in South Carolina, but after that, the shop hours are Fridays, 7 a.m.-noon and weekends from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
