By Gary Nager
It’s been the winner of my favorite restaurant in New Tampa the last couple of years and it’s always done pretty well in our annual Reader Dining Survey, so I’m still kind of surprised when people tell me that they’ve never heard of or never tried Café Olé Restaurant & Tapas Bar in the Cross Creek Center plaza on Cross Creek Blvd. at Kinnan St.
Café Olé is more than just New Tampa’s only place for authentic Spanish cuisine, it also has the best and freshest fish and seafood and the only truly “continental cuisine” in our area.
I’d think those facts alone would make Café Olé New Tampa’s favorite restaurant, but if not, I hope the pictures and descriptions on these pages will convince everyone who still has never tried Café Olé to (finally!) check it out for themselves for lunch or dinner.
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Owner Frank Aliaga, who still regularly travels back and forth to his native country, has been the owner of Café Olé for as long as it’s been in business and he keeps expanding the place to where there are now several different dining areas, plus a new sports bar area (there’s always soccer playing on many of the TVs, although patrons are allowed to watch other sports, too).
But, Frank promises that the Spanish food at Café Olé is authentic — from his great variety of tapas to his incredible entrées — but whether you feel like having a great steak or lamb dish, chicken, pork, veal, fish, shellfish or vegetarian, just about everyone can find something they’ll love at Café Olé.
Amazing Tapas
There’s always a great variety of tapas — the traditional Spanish appetizers that started the whole “small plates” trend in American restaurants — at Café Olé. In addition to the nearly 20 hot and cold tapas items on the menu, there are always a few different tapas specials that change daily.
During our recent visit, photographer Jayne Baker raved about the gambas al ajillo (jumbo shrimp sautéed in garlic, crushed red pepper and virgin olive oil). I can’t eat the shrimp, but Jayne marveled (before polishing off the whole thing herself), “This is a small plate? There’s like seven or eight really large shrimp in this dish.”
One of the tapas specials I enjoyed was homemade veal ravioli, featuring five or six large, overstuffed raviolis topped with fresh mushrooms and a zesty mushroom gravy, garnished with fresh basil. My other favorite starters at Café Olé include the almejas Castillas (or little neck clams sautéed in garlic, onion and white wine) and the traditional albondigas Navarette, which are baby meatballs slow cooked in a red wine reduction sauce and served with sautéed red peppers and mushrooms.
And, just in case those tapas items don’t sound appetizing enough for you, try dipping Café Olé’s always fresh bread, which is crunchy outside, hot and soft on the inside (and served with pre-softened butter) in any of those sauces. Warning: Taste explosion!
Whether you think you enjoy octopus or not, I suggest trying either the hot or cold octopus tapas options at Café Olé before dismissing this delicious sea creature out of hand. I particularly loved an octopus tapas special at Café Olé because the octopus was sliced so thin it literally melted in your mouth.
There’s plenty of authentic Spanish potato tapas options on the menu, too, although I get enough carbs from just the bread, so I can’t really make any recommendations, although I know the items are popular. My shrimp-eating friends also enjoy Café Olé’s shrimp and fish ceviche and special tapas items like the crab meat quesadillas, filet mignon tacos and asparagus crostini are also all outstanding.
Even if you’re just looking for a great salad, Café Olé has you covered, with the ‘ensalada Olé” (house salad served with goat cheese and an excellent balsamic vinaigrette), a tasty Caésar and a tropical salad with Mandarin orange sections and feta cheese.
Sauces To Die For!
As for the entrées, my first choice at Café Olé is always to hear the fresh fish special of the day and it never lets me down. For example, on my most recent visit, I was able to enjoy fresh red snapper sautéed with fresh tomatoes and hearts of palm in an amazing lemon butter sauce. The dish also came topped with large shrimp (as pictured on the previous page), but if I’m getting the dish myself, I’ll of course order it without shrimp or with the shrimp served separately if someone else at the table can enjoy it. If there’s fresh grouper, flounder, corvina or sea bass on the specials list and you feel like fish, get it. My favorite fish item on the actual menu is the fresh filet of flounder, sautéed with onions, garlic, olives, capers and finished in a riojana tomato sauce. Mmmm.
Of course, the most popular seafood dishes at Café Olé are the traditional Spanish paellas, also known as the “Especialidades de la Casa” on the menu, but the only one I’ve ever been able to sample is the one with chicken and chorizo sausage, as both of the others involve multiple kinds of shellfish I can’t eat and one “paella negra” even offers a variety of fresh seafood with Valencia rice and black squid ink. Other seafood options include mahi-mahi “Andaluz,” topped with shrimp and tomato bruschetta, salmon, a Spanish style bouillabaise and a seafood medley.
But, when I’m not enjoying the fresh fish at Café Olé, I’m a natural meat eater and all four meat items on the menu — the NY strip steak, sautéed veal with mozzarella and marsala wine, chargrilled churrasco-style steak with chimichurri sauce and the “Parrillada Olé” (a mixed grill, although I order it without shrimp, also served with chimichurri) also are outstanding.
But, some of my favorite non-fish specials I’ve had at Café Olé include crusted pork chops, the rack of lamb, filet mignon kabobs and I did once have an incredible grilled veal chop. Any meat served with a brown sauce or red wine/port reduction at Café Olé is a surefire winner.
I also have enjoyed most of the chicken dishes on the menu, but the pollo Olé, topped with a yummy brandy cream sauce, is probably my favorite. There’s also a daily vegetarian special.
If you’re looking for an elegant, leisurely lunch, Café Olé’s lunch menu offers lunch portions of many of the dinner items, plus great sandwiches and there’s usually always at least one awesome fish and/or chicken or pork special every day as well.
For dessert, there are traditional choices like Spanish-style flan de la casa and tres leches, as well as a decadent New York-style cheesecake and more.
And, not only does Café Olé have a full, premium liquor bar and Spain’s own Mahou lager (and other quality beers) on tap (plus many Spanish and South American beers in bottles), it also has the best, priced-right wine list in our area. If you love Spanish red wines like Riojas and Tempranillos, you definitely should try the full-bodied Pesquera or Condada de Haza ribero del duero reds, especially if you’re having one of Café Olé’s many hearty meat dishes.
And, Café Olé recently improved its already-great Happy Hour, which is now every day, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Domestic drafts are just $2.20, imported and micro-brewed drafts cost just $2.80 and house wine and sangria cost just $4.
There’s also different live musical entertainment (like the vocalists above) every Thur.-Sat. night and Café Olé is hosting a great Salsa Dance Social on Sunday, August 16, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Your $10 cover charge includes one free soda, draft beer or house wine, plus a one-hour salsa workshop at 7, followed by two hours of dancing. It’s a great way for adult couples or singles to enjoy a little Latin rhythm while getting your “True Taste of Spain.”
Café Olé (10020 Cross Creek Blvd.) is open every day for lunch and dinner at 11 a.m., and stays open until 11 p.m. Sun.-Wed., and until midnight Thur.-Sat. For more info, visit CafeOleRestaurant.com or Facebook.com/CafeOleRestaurant or call 907-5242.
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