Among the many cool things about my job is that I get to do stories that allow me to meet with lots of restaurant owners. I always learn something new.

For this story on after-hours restaurants in Tampa written by Brittany Canasi, I drove around with her and Friday Extra editor Rommie Johnson to shoot photos at the various restaurants. (You can see the gallery here.)

I got to meet Ben Peelman, a pita maker at The Pita Pit on Fowler Avenue, who shared stories of crazy late-night patrons, including the hunch-back who takes free newspapers that rhyme with Eee-Bee-Tea and tries to sell them to customers. I met Jerry, the owner at The Deck pizza and beer joint on Platt Street, who told me that it’s been a hard summer so far because students from the University of Tampa are gone until fall and the regulars are watching their budget. I met Larry, one of the bartenders at Bella’s Cafe who served us a Paulie Pizza that wasn’t on the menu.

I met former New York City paramedic Rick Drury, who owns NYPD Pizza at Channelside, who told me about delivering pies to famous customers like New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. Once, he said, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s limo pulled up outside to pick up a pile of pizzas. Ten minutes later, The Boss pulled around again with an autographed bat and ball. Drury, mounted them in a glass case in the dining room.

We barely scratched the surface, of course. There are lots of places to get late night bites.

Know of one we omitted? (La Terasita on the weekends is also a great spot in West Tampa.) Share it by leaving a comment on this post.

Here’s a map of the places we visited:

View Larger Map