Japanese-inspired Shiso Crispy food truck to open first restaurant in west St. Pete
Shiso Crispy serves Japanese cuisine such as a variety of bao buns, handmade dumplings, and rice bowls | Shisocrispy.com
One of Tampa Bay’s most popular food trucks will open its first brick and mortar location this coming summer.
Ronicca Whaley, the owner of Shiso Crispy, has leased a 2,600-square-foot space at 924 58th Street North in the Tyrone Gardens shopping center in west St. Pete.
“I’m going to be able to use it as a restaurant, as a place to pump out all of the food for the trucks, and I’m also gearing up to start wholesaling our sauces and dumplings,” said Whaley in a recent social media post.
Shiso Crispy serves Japanese cuisine featuring as a variety of bao buns, handmade dumplings, and rice bowls. The menu is also “super vegan friendly” with seven menu items being completely vegan.
Ronicca Whaley, the owner of Shiso Crispy | Shisocrispy.com
The bao buns come with two fluffy, chewy buns filled with your choice of protein and topped with gochujang sauce, toasted sesame honey slaw, scallions, and sesame seeds. The Short Rib Bao is a fan favorite and contains 48-hour braised short ribs with a house BBQ rub and sauce.
The Schezuan Mandu Dumplings come with five dumplings packed with woodear mushrooms, cabbage, carrot, vermicelli, and garlic schezuan sauce.
Cooking runs in the family for Whaley, who grew up near Omaha, Nebraska. She comes from a long lineage of female chefs, beginning with her grandmother who launched a food service business. Additionally, her aunt operated two restaurants, her mother owned a catering company, and her grandfather ran a food truck in Naples, Florida.
Whaley has earned three culinary degrees over the years and got her start sweating over hot stoves at several high-end restaurants in Omaha.
Bang Bang Chicken Dirty Rice contains Sticky rice with Gyoza sauce, Gochujang sauce, fried onions, scallions, and sesame with Fried chicken breast nuggets tossed in a sweet and savory sauce | Shisocrispy.com
Shortly after moving to St. Pete in 2016, she was named executive chef at The Oyster Bar.
But it wasn’t until a trip to Asia that Whaley had the idea to launch a wholesale gyoza business. One night on a whim, she purchased a $20,000 gyoza machine from Japan. Her efforts proved successful and today she sells up to 20,000 gyoza a month to restaurants all over St. Petersburg.
After COVID-19 hit the United States, Whaley decided to launch a food truck. And Shiso Crispy was born!
The Schezuan Mandu Dumplings come with five dumplings packed with woodear mushrooms, cabbage, carrot, vermicelli, and garlic schezuan sauce | Shisocrispy.com
Since then, Whaley has received national attention for her culinary skills. Earlier this year, she appeared on Guy’s Grocery Games on the Food Network. The Tampa Bay Times also awarded Shiso Crispy the #1 Food Truck in Tampa Bay in their 2020 Best of the Best Awards.
“I am so grateful for everything,” said Whaley. “Thank you everyone for believing in me.”
Shiso Crispy’s first brick and mortar will open this coming summer at 924 58th Street North in west St. Pete.
Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.