Behind the fold.
Six trips to Guy's Grocery Games. A New York Times feature. It all started with one food truck and a refusal to cut corners.
A food truck, a fold, and a refusal to compromise.
Shiso Crispy is the work of Chef Ronicca Whaley, who brings three culinary degrees, a New York Times feature, and six trips to Guy’s Grocery Games. It started where the best food usually does: out of a truck in Pinellas Park, with a line that kept getting longer. The dumplings were hand-folded then, and they are hand-folded now.
That obsession caught attention fast: a Tampa Bay Times “Best of the Best” win in 2020 and again in 2021, the title of #1 food truck in the bay, a feature in The New York Times, and six appearances on Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games.
Today the truck has become three Tampa Bay kitchens, including a downtown St. Pete location with a Japanese lounge and sake bar, but the rule never changed: made from scratch, folded by hand, crisped to order. The menu stays small so that every gyoza, every dirty rice bowl, and every rangoon is the best version of itself.
From one truck to three kitchens.
It started in Pinellas Park
Chef Ronicca Whaley began hand-folding gyoza out of a single food truck. The dough was made from scratch, the line kept getting longer, and a Tampa Bay obsession was born.
Best of the Best
Tampa Bay Times readers voted Shiso Crispy 'Best of the Best,' two years running, and named it the #1 food truck in the bay.
The New York Times & Food Network
A New York Times feature followed, along with six appearances on Food Network's Guy's Grocery Games. Chef Ronicca became a recognizable face for Tampa Bay food.
Three kitchens, one standard
The truck became three brick-and-mortar kitchens across St. Petersburg and Tampa, including a downtown Japanese lounge, but the rule never changed: made from scratch, folded by hand, crisped to order.
Hand-folded, always
Every gyoza is pleated by hand, to order. No machines, no shortcuts. The fold is the signature, and it is the reason people drive across the bay for it.
Organic & local
All-natural chicken in garlic butter, ground pork with ginger and chives, eight-hour braised short rib. Sourced close, never compromised.
Built on obsession
From a single food truck to three Tampa Bay kitchens, the standard only ever went up. The menu stays small so every plate stays perfect.
“We simply don’t cut corners when it comes to quality.”