EAT,DRINK & BAY MERRY
Florida city is full of fine dining and surprises.. not just a destination for sunseekers and theme park fans
OCEAN-SIDE Floridian cities have hotels resembling opulent pink palaces, laid-back shuttered beach houses and even Art Deco buildings shaped like ships.
The name of our hotel, Epicurean, effectively declares this is a top place for food – ambitious in a city with so many diverse restaurants catering for Greater Tampa Bay’s three million residents and thousands of tourists. Epicurean top chef Chad Johnson makes sure his Elevage restaurant is a delicious celebration of American classics.
Sourdough pancakes arrive with apples, macadamia nuts and bourbon, steak and fried eggs with cheddar bacon hash, and omelettes with three choices from 16 fillings.
The hotel is £30million worth of Marriott Autograph specifications providing accommodation for foodies wanting to eat at nearby Bern’s Steak House, where over-thetop dining rooms are decorated with huge chandeliers and ornately framed pictures.
If you believe local folklore, Mafia bosses once booked private booths here to discuss deals. But during our visit, there were no thick-set men in fedoras ordering any of the 21 types of caviar from the appetiser menu.
These days it’s Bern’s staff who really think big. A sommelier showed us the wine cellar with rack upon rack of half a million bottles and more than 6000 selections of the finest vintages, making it apparently the world’s biggest collection.
Sweets are eaten in the upstairs Harry Waugh Dessert Room, named as a tribute to the late British wine connoisseur, where we had a flaming baked Alaska.
After this culinary marathon, a stroll through the well-heeled Hyde Park helped the digestion.
But a desire for a nightcap kicked in and we found the perfect place tucked behind a swanky apartment building.
Having knocked on the door of Ciro’s, a throwback to 30s prohibition, a hostess opened the “peeker grill” and I whispered the password “coconuts” given to us by our local friend Cristina.
Inside, Lauren shook cocktails to give us brandy-based Bobby Jones 1930 and the rum concoction A Girl Has No Name.
An American businessman told us how prohibition was a miserable failure in Tampa, where bootleggers and farmstead moonshiners, along with Cuban rum boats, did such a rip-roaring trade that the city was one of the “wettest” in the States.
Another regular said waitresses in fishnet tights were in the secret room behind the bookcase serving food and drinks. But we didn’t have the password for that.
After mornings exploring the city by water taxis or on two wheels hired from Coast Bike Share, we spent afternoons relaxing around the Epicurean’s swimming pool.
Drives in a Hertz rental car took
in stunning beaches at St Petersburg, Clearwater and Anna Maria Island, all reached within a hour.
It was easy to get diverted on the way back to explore shopping malls full of bargains, despite a drop in the value of sterling against the dollar.
Fine dining in Tampa is reasonably priced (a meal for two with wine will cost £65). At The Rooster & The Till in Seminole Heights, six chefs work energetically behind a three-sided bar putting on a nightly show for diners.
It was great watching them rustle up dishes of seared scallops coupled with barbecued pork neck, mutton grouper with fennel, shallots and pistachio mint, and crispy cobia fish with sesame turnip salad.
The buzzy Ulele was an excellent choice for sunset dining on the river. Our waitress Jodie served pan-seared prawns and fresh Gulf of Mexico grouper fillets.
The Refinery on busy North Florida Avenue served great pub food with meat and veg from local farmers.
The craft beers had a kick, especially Orlando-brewed Funky Buddha Sweet Potato Casserole, IPA Lost Coast Fogcutter and Fat Head’s Sunshine Daydream Session.
The Haven has 28 bar stools in a dark and moody contemporary atmosphere. Bar staff shake cocktails to perfection. Waitress Britney’s recommendations included tagliatelle with braised rabbit, lemon pecorino and burgundy truffles.
In the Tampa district of Ybor City is the Columbia, the oldest Spanish restaurant in the States and still owned by the Hernandez/Gonzmart family who opened up in 1905 and cook paella for customers being entertained by flamenco dancers.
Ybor City is a mixture of southern French and Jamaican architecture resembling New Orleans in parts.
It grew in the 19th century as immigrants from Cuba, Spain, Sicily, Germany and eastern Europe sailed in to produce millions of cigars.
In its heyday, there were 234 factories but now there are just four. Crazily, protected wild chickens range free among bushes and on sidewalks – descended from birds that lived in the backyards of settlers 100 years ago.
And one of their roosting spots is Jose Marti Park, a tribute to the 19th-century Cuban freedom fighter.
It was the only piece of US soil owned by Cuba until its embassy was reopened two years ago thanks to president Obama’s hand of friendship to Castro’s communist state.