Long Friday Night

We wasted no time jumping into the weekend... Billy and Jess asked Lindsey and I if we wanted to go out to dinner on Friday night after work at Ceviche Tapas Bar and Restaurant in SoHo. There are 4 locations in FL, with one being only a few miles away in South Tampa. This place recently relocated (about 3 months ago) from the bottom of a condo building at the corner of Howard and Bayshore to the old St. Bart's Island House location a few blocks up on Howard. We visited the old location 3 times and had great experiences every time. The new location does not seem to be up to the same standard yet. To be fair, the first of our visits to the new place was on the very first night that they were open for business. We were with Billy and Jess that night, too. The service was extremely slow and all of the wait staff seemed overwhelmed and disoriented (understandable in a new place, I guess). Overall, the food just wasn't up to snuff for a place that has won many awards in the past. I was hoping that things would be better this go around but again, it was just a mediocre experience. First of all, you can't make reservations unless you have a party of 6 or more, so we're always stuck waiting at least 15-20 minutes at the bar. Not such a bad thing, but it can be annoying on a Friday night. After we were seated, we waited longer than usual to place our first order and our waitress did not seem to care in the slightest. When dining at a tapas restuarant, this is not a good thing as you are typically ordering at least 2-3 rounds of food. We shared a pitcher or two of sangria, which was fine. For food, I ordered the Tabla Mixta (chorizo, mocilla and serrano ham, with machego, mahon, and tatilla cheeses, sliced fruit with homemade pate). I get this every time and it's never been bad. The meat always seems high quality and the cheeses are excellent. I also had a squid salad and Alcachofas Rellenas (artichoke bottoms stuffed with ham and shrimp in a sherry cream sauce). Their sherry cream sauce is really good and a lot of what we all ordered was based around trying to find dishes featuring this sauce. Lindsey and I also had their Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes in a homemade aioli). This was by far the best dish... imagine homefries in a thick garlic mayonnaise. Yum.

After Ceviche, we walked a few blocks north to the world famous Bern's Steakhouse. This place is a Tampa institution and a must visit for any out-of-towner. The food is excellent, but the experience is what sets this place apart. From the outside, it looks like a gentlemen's club as it has no windows and is relatively plain looking. However, the inside is filled with rich red colors, velvet covered walls, very dim lighting, and dark wood accents. Their wine list is ridiculous... it's rumored that after winning the Super Bowl in 2003, then Tampa Bay Bucaneer, Warren Sapp, told his waiter that he wanted the most expensive bottle of wine in their cellar. What came next was a $10,000 bottle that I'm guessing tasted pretty damn good. Anyways, Lindsey and I had eaten dinner there before with the President and VP of my company while they were in town; and Billy had taken Jess there about a year ago as well. This time we were simply there to visit the Harry Waugh Dessert Room. Basically, the upstairs of the restaurant is a separate area that is composed of private wooden booths made of old wine casks. The whole idea is that after filling up on a great meal, you and your party would venture up to one of the booths and enjoy quieter conversation, good drinks, and something sweet to set you into a solid food induced coma. No, but in all seriousness, there is something very unique and cool about sitting in these booths imaging all of the people that have done so before you. I imagine that a lot of business deals (legit and not so much) have taken place over the past few decades. Back to our night, Jess and I had the Cappucino Ybor City, which is a Cafe con Leche mixed with an herbal Spanish liqueor. Lindsey and Billy had the Cappucino Bern's, their specially brewed coffee with Kahluah. For dessert, Lindsey tried to remember what she had last time we visited but couldn't find it on the menu. She "settled" for some sort of chocolate cake, I think it was flourless. Can't quite remember. Billy and Jess shared their famous Macadamia Nut Sundae. Supposedly, the recipe for this ice cream was perfected over the course of 10+ years or something like that and they lay claim that it's the best ice cream ever. I tried it and it was pretty damn good. Last but not least, I ordered one of the specials which was highly recommended by our server. She was quite paunchy and I had reason to believe that she had tried a few of their desserts a time or two since she told us she had been working there about 3 years. It was a peanut butter pate covered in chocolate with a side of the macadamia nut ice cream and raspberry sauce. Very good but very rich. I think Billy ate most of it. With Jess literally falling asleep at the table, we grabbed a taxi home and called it a night.