Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa‘s Director of Culinary Creativity Frank Anderson is in charge of making sure the customer gets what their heart desires at any of the several dining establishments at the resort. Time and customer feedback led him to figuring out how to further differentiate The Rez Grill from the other restaurants.

Anderson and his team revamped and debuted a new menu at The Rez Grill a couple months ago. His inspirations came from his travels, reading, and talking to a longtime friend of his. He and VP of Food and Beverage Dawn Lazo decided to go in a direction of adding several classic southern dishes:

“A major menu revamp can seem like a daunting task for a restaurant, especially when diners are the ones asking for more options. Thankfully for the Rez Grill at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, chef Frank Anderson was up for the challenge.

Prior to joining Hard Rock Tampa, he worked at several popular Los Angeles restaurants and starred in “2 Dudes Catering,” a short-lived reality show on Food Network. 

While Anderson is no longer under the Hollywood spotlight, he is, playing the starring role as Director of Culinary Creativity, meaning he’s in charge of keeping the menus at the resort’s dining establishments fresh and innovative.

The chef describes The Rez Grill’s menu as “upscale but not uptight” with as much local produce as possible. He likes to switch things up at least three times a year to keep customers on their toes. 

“I would call it American fare with a Southern twist. We wanted something accessible for everybody,” he explains. 

His process for creating a new menu requires a bit of time and research. Anderson started planning out the newest menu eight months ago. He and Dawn Lazo, Vice President of Food and Beverage at the Tampa Hard Rock, put their heads together to figure out which direction to go in. Between traveling and reading books, he jots down notes of what inspires him then come the menu tastings with Chef de Cuisine German Huertas.”

The Rez Grill is located near Sugar Factory. Read more about their new menu and Frank here.