TAMPA — The foxtail ferns were everywhere.
They snaked across the wooden tray in front of me, poking between dishes at a dinner in March. They were all over Yelp and Instagram and TikTok, where influencers smiled coyly behind platters covered with the green sprigs. They even made an appearance on the restaurant’s website, where they perched quietly in a background photo, hovering over the reservation portal below.
In January, the Tampa Bay Times received a tip that Ko, a Tampa Heights spot, was taking the ferns from a plot of land behind the building and using them to garnish plates. The restaurant is owned by the management group that operates Kosen, a tasting menu restaurant in the same building that recently snagged a Michelin star.
Video showed an employee snipping plants from the courtyard of the neighboring Pearl Apartments — an area where dogs frequently go to the bathroom and where runoff water from the building’s garage can seep into the soil.
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