Tampa Eats
Steve was summoned to jury duty in Tampa. He was glad, because he had already postponed it once when we were out of the country. (Fulfilling one’s jury duty is a little trickier for nomads.) To make his commute to jury duty easier, we left St. Pete a little earlier than planned and rented a place near downtown Tampa. Our condo was in SOHO, right next to Hyde Park, where we had lived for many years. With several extra days in Tampa, we were able to revisit a couple of favorite restaurants and try a new one.
The first favorite was On Swann, just a short walk from our condo, in Hyde Park Village. The kale salad was just as delicious as I remembered, with complex, balanced flavors and textures. I ordered it with blackened shrimp for extra protein, and decided I would always have it that way from now on.
The second favorite was Sunda, a New Asian restaurant in Midtown Tampa. (We still had the rental car, so we made good use of it!) We love Sunda’s Kamayan Feast, but it was just the two of us, so we ordered one of the featured elements of the Feast, the Krispy Pata (confit pork shank with garlic vinaigrette). With the ginger miso salad, the crispy rice with spicy tuna, and a lychee bloom mocktail, it was a perfect meal.
We finally tried Rocca for the first time. This Contemporary Italian restaurant in Tampa Heights (near Armature Works) has a Michelin Star. After our extraordinary dinner there, I would say the star is well-deserved. Our table in the corner of the buzzy dining room was quiet enough for conversation. Our cocktails were top-notch - savory rather than sweet (even my canteloupe and ricotta vodka sour), and with wonderful complexity. The freshly baked bread had a crispy, crackly crust, and came with lemon butter. Both of the homemade pastas were outstanding: the Spaghetti al Limone had plenty of blue crab, and the Quadretti was as delicious as it was beautiful. The Burnt Cheesecake was a delicious finale (Basque-style is our favorite kind of cheesecake). We finished every morsel except for the focaccia and the plantains. I look forward to returning to Rocca for more!
Oh, Steve was not selected to the jury. Still, it was good to be reminded that we live in a nation where trial by a jury of one’s peers is a constitutional right.
