Try The Fresh Flavors At Kini’s Home Style Icecream On E. Fowler Ave.!

Photos by Charmaine George

If you’re looking for fresh ice cream with everything from exotic fruit flavors, — like mango, custard apple and jackfruit — to traditional favorites like Oreo Delight and even vegan options, you should definitely take a ride down to E. Fowler Ave., a few blocks west of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., to try Kini’s Home Style Icecream. 

Owners and Wesley Chapel residents Srinivas and Gauri Kini make all of their tasty ice cream flavors (there’s always about a dozen available at any time) right in their small store. Srinivas, who prefers to be called Kini, says that Gauri’s family back in India (they are both from Mumbai) was in the ice cream business and when she started making ice cream at home, many of their friends and neighbors told them they had to open a store. 

They started bringing their uniquely creamy creations to local farmer’s markets, including the twice-a-month Fresh Markets at the Shops at Wiregrass. 

“But, even though we make our ice cream in small batches, we realized we needed a commercial kitchen,” Gauri says, adding that they first started renting time at a commercial kitchen before looking for a small space where they could put an ice cream machine — and, about six months ago, Kini’s Home Style Icecream was born. 

Even though I’ve never really been a fan of most fruit-flavored ice cream other than banana and maybe peach, Kini and Gauri had photographer Charmaine George and I sample every flavor in the shop, including rose petal pistachio and Kesar Pista (saffron pistachio), Kaju Draksha (cashew raisin) and Shahi Anjeer (“royal fig”), all of which Charmaine loved, plus Sapota/ Chikoo, an evergreen fruit in India which tasted a little like caramel. 

I was surprised at how much I liked the custard apple, which wasn’t custard made from apple, as I expected, but an actual type of apple the “meat” of which has a consistency a little like custard. Neither Charmaine nor I could really tell a difference between the regular and vegan mango flavors. There’s also a tasty vegan Nutty Delight, with almonds, cashews, pistachio and fig. 

My favorites were the Oreo Delight, the bold espresso-flavored Coffee Walnut and the Chocobite, a creamy chocolate ice cream with chunky bits of chocolate. 

Other rotating flavors include Matcha Green Tea, Pink Guava, Blueberry, Honey Lavender, Chai Biscuit, Tender Coconut, Mango Passion Fruit, Vegan Pina Colada and Vegan Strawberry. All of the flavors are available in cups, cones and sundaes and four to-go sizes. There’s also a To-Go case (right) with a variety of pre-packed pints. 

Gauri says you also can always call the store to find out what flavors are available when you plan to come in and you can even request flavors you want if they aren’t available when you do visit. 

“We make fresh ice cream every day using only top-quality, real ingredients, with no artificial flavors or colors,” Gauri says. “Our customers tell us they can really taste the difference.” 

All I can add to that is that you definitely should sample flavors you wouldn’t normally order. You just might end up being surprised! 

Kini’s Home Style Icecream (2017 E. Fowler Ave.) is open Mon.-Fri., 4 p.m.-9 p.m., and noon-9 p.m. on Sat. & Sun. For info, call (813) 728-8430 or visit KinisIceCream.store. 

Spotlight On The Middle Place Accounting & Clean-it!

Donna Ray of The Middle Place (photo provided by Donna Ray) 
The Middle Place Accounting 

Donna Ray, the owner of The Middle Place Accounting & Consulting Services, and I have a friend in common — Paula Nuñez, the owner of the Tampa City Dance Center and the founder of the Tampa City Ballet. 

“I used to be the executive director of Tampa City Ballet,” Donna says, “and they are currently still one of my clients. I still handle their bookkeeping and accounting.” 

Donna says she first launched The Middle Place during the pandemic, “while I was still the executive director of the ballet, because I have two children and their school was closed, so I needed to home school them and work from home. I also was taking care of my father, who has since passed away, so it just made sense to be as independent as I could be based on the needs of my family.” 

She adds, “I sent out a big email blast at that time to people I’ve known around the Tampa Bay area for a very long time that my services were available and that seemed to be all that it took.” 

The idea for her company didn’t just come out of nowhere, however. Donna has a total of 30 years of experience working in accounting. 

After a decade of working in the Cayman Islands as an IT director with Cox Lumber Co. and Senior Accounting and later as project manager with Fidelity Group of Companies, she returned to the U.S., which was still recovering from the financial crash of 2008. She enrolled at the University of South Florida and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. 

After that, Donna says, “I found myself working for nonprofits for the first time. I accepted a job at the Helen Gordon Davis Center for Women as director of the Women’s Business Center in Hyde Park, where I worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs at all levels of experience and with a variety of needs — from writing business plans and building financial projections to accessing capital. That’s where the Tampa City Ballet found me.” Both nonprofits also extended Donna’s skills with grant writing, reporting and building relationships with community stakeholders and corporate partners, as well as with city, county, state and federal funding authorities. 

She adds that since then, she has served, “a lot of female entrepreneurs, helping them either launch or with their business. But, my focus was on finance and accounting, and that was sort of my specialty, helping people build business plans, financial statements and projections.” 

A Diverse Range Of Experience 

She brings all of that experience with her to The Middle Place, “and I’ve been really lucky because I have a wide variety of clients. Some are in for-profit industries, some are nonprofit. I also work with a law firm and some retail companies.” 

Donna says she provides a professional level of service that goes beyond just bookkeeping. 

“I focus a lot on software implementation,” she says. “One nonprofit contract [I have] right now was implementing seven different unique technology stacks for them, and implementing Quickbooks Online and payroll and basically automating their entire organization.” 

Originally from Chicago, Donna moved to the Tampa Bay area in the 1980s. She grew up as an aspiring young dancer, “but I had a very practical father who said, ‘If you break your leg, you need to have a backup.’ So as a teenager, she started out in business administration and, at age 19, as a legal secretary at a law firm in Clearwater. 

While her extensive professional career was focused on accounting, IT, project and nonprofit management, Donna continued to study and dance with a local Tampa dance company and also performed with the Cayman Islands National Dance Company, where she also taught ballet and Gyrokinesis, a movement therapy specifically designed for dancers. After returning to Florida, she taught at the Patel Conservatory for Next Generation Ballet summer program. 

Donna was thrilled when Paula Nuñez approached her needing help for the Tampa City Ballet. “I thought, ‘This is a perfect opportunity to work in an industry I love and provide my business expertise to help TCB grow and to help professional dancers in Tampa,’” she says. 

She also works with Diaz Shafer, P.A. an immigration law firm in Tampa that was on Quickbooks Desktop but wanted to switch to Quickbooks Online, “so I did that for them.” 

Donna also has done contract work for Davis College in Rwanda, Africa, as well as for Drong Ngur Jangchubling, a Tibetan Buddhist Center in Wesley Chapel, and Skate Park of Tampa: She’s also the Board treasurer of Dance Tampa Bay, led by Shana Corrada, E.D. 

Donna provides full-service monthly accounting services for businesses of all sizes and industries, including payroll, sales tax filing and software integrations. “A lot of clients first come to me to handle their bookkeeping,” Donna says, “But I also do software implementation, financial projections and can help you grow your business by offering financial advice from a unique perspective. For more info, call (813) 391-6890 or visit TheMiddlePlace.com.—GN 

Celly De Freitas Of Clean-It! 
Photos by Charmaine George

Clean-it owner Celly de Freitas has been cleaning homes and businesses in the New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and surrounding areas for the last 26 years. 

But, she says, that wasn’t always the plan. She was a teacher in her native country of Brazil and planned to continue that career when Celly and her husband, RogĂ©rio Buchner de Freitas, moved to the Tampa Bay area, “but it was very hard for me to go to college (USF) here, because I didn’t speak English as well then as I do now,” she says. “I ended up leaving USF to go to school for the skin care business.” 

In order to help pay for that schooling, she started cleaning houses and, even though she did end up opening a skincare spa, “I was making a lot more money cleaning houses, so I let the spa go after about two years,” Celly (above left) says. 

Today, not only does this Wesley Chapel resident speak and understand English (as well as Spanish, Italian and her native Portuguese) fluently — despite still having a fairly thick accent — she has a team of twelve Brazilian women working with her, all of whom also speak and understand English, Spanish and Portuguese. 

“I tell everyone who works for me that they have to be able to communicate with clients in English,” Celly says. “You have to be able to understand what the clients want and do whatever they ask when it comes to cleaning their homes.” 

She says she usually uses a “team” approach, sending at least two and sometimes three members of her team to each job. “It’s much more efficient this way,” she says. “We can clean a lot more places when we work together.” 

Celly, who has been an American citizen for about 20 years, isn’t usually actually working with the teams — she’s the one coordinating the schedules and checking up on all of her employees to make sure they are getting to each location on time (and calling or texting the clients when one of “my girls” is running late). “But, when I have someone out sick or they’re stuck someplace, I will still go and help out,” she says. “And, I try to be as flexible as possible when a client needs to change their schedule, too.” 

The Covid-19 pandemic definitely took a toll on Celly’s business, but says she was able to survive because she received a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan from the government, “and continued to pay all of my employees who didn’t go back to Brazil, even though they weren’t able to work for several months. Without that money, I might have lost all of my clients.” 

Clean-it offers (and is licensed to provide) residential and commercial (“We are licensed to do medical and dental clinics, but not hospitals,” Celly says) cleaning services, including monthly, bi-weekly and weekly services, one-time cleans and move-in and move-out cleans. “We have amazing references, too.,” she says. 

Most of Clean-it’s clients are in Wesley Chapel, New Tampa, Lutz and Land O’Lakes, she says, “but we do travel a little further for some clients, especially those one-time cleaning clients.” 

She adds, “We really specialize in those move-in cleans. We usually end up getting the [new homeowners] as clients because we do such a great job.” 

For more information about Clean-it and/or a free job quote, call (813) 505-0431. — GN 

What A Life! Che Vita Italian Restaurant Opens At The Downtown Tampa Hilton!

“I began this journey, to create a new brand for Hilton, a year-and-a-half ago,” says James King, the Executive Chef at Che Vita, the new Italian restaurant in the Hilton Tampa Downtown. “Che (pronounced “Kay”) Vita means ‘What a Life!’ in Italian and we want everyone who eats here to say ‘Che Vita!’ when they finish their meal!” 

King, who spent the last four years at the Hilton by Logan Airport in Boston, running Connolly’s Publik House, an Irish pub, also earned certifications in French cuisine, at Le Cordon Bleu, and multiple Master certifications in Italian cooking — including pizzas and pastas — during his training in Naples, Florence and Rome. 

“But I’m a New York kid,” he says. “I grew up in Brooklyn on New York-style pizza and Italian cooking, but I went to a wedding in Puerto Rico and got bit by the palm tree ‘bug,’ because I was tired of snow. So, when this opportunity came up in Tampa, I said, ‘I never heard of Tampa, I’ve only heard of Miami.’ But, I came down here and this restaurant was an American fusion place with a big buffet. But, after the pandemic, buffets weren’t as popular anymore. So, I came up with a small, seasonal menu that we will change maybe six times per year.” 

That menu, designed by Chef King (at left in top photo) and his equally amazing sous chef Fabio Zaniboni (at right in same picture) has a mix of Italian favorites and local seafood, with Antipasti (appetizers) like arancini (risotto balls with a cacio e pepe sauce fried inside and served with a lemon pesto aioli; photo right), zucchini & artichoke fritti, calamari and polpette (beef, pork & veal meatballs), as well as my favorite starter of the evening, the ahi tuna crudo (below photo), which is thick slices of raw sushi-grade tuna with a chili aioli, saba (or sweet grape must) and soy glaze, caperberries, bottarga (a Mediterranean roe) and microgarden herbs. It was slightly spicy and amazing. 

“I love combining all of my influences and the crudo will give you an experience like a great Japanese restaurant,” Chef King says. 

The polpettes (left) and arancini were no slouches, either, especially the meatballs, which were tender, delicately spiced and had just the right amount of tomato sugo (similar to marinara) on creamy burrata. 

“I needed a sous chef like Fabio, who is from Italy, but came here from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands after one of the hurricanes last year closed the yacht club where he was working,” Chef King says. “He told me, ‘I’m your Italian chef, but I don’t want to cook Italian. I love sushi, I love fish. I love Latin.’ I said, ‘You’re hired,’ without even tasting his food, because we shared the same vision for Che Vita. He’s like my brother from another mother when it comes to Italian cuisine.” 

Jannah and I didn’t sample any of the “Zuppe & Insalata,” but they include a baby kale Caesar, a tomato & mozzarella salad and a cannellini bean and Tuscan kale soup with garlic fennel sausage, ditalini pasta, sofrito and herb brodo (broth), as well as a chilled tomato freddo soup. 

It was super-hard to decide on our “Primi” or pasta dish, but we wanted something different, so we tried the agnolotti blue crab (right), which is a delicious stuffed pasta (different from ravioli) from the Piedmont region of Italy. It was fully stuffed with blue crab, lemon-basil artisan ricotta and served with crispy parmesan in a Tampa citrus gremolata (a green sauce made with chopped parsley, lemon zest and garlic). The pasta was al dente and the crab and ricotta combined with the lemon and garlic perfectly. 

Other pastas on the menu include rigatoni salsiccia (with spicy sausage and broccoli rabe), which I will definitely try on my next visit, shrimp scampi, a tagliatelle tre pomodori, which is served with three different kinds of tomato sauce, a primavera and, of course, spaghetti & meatballs. 

Chef King insisted that we try one of his Neapolitan-style pizzas, because he says he uses the same Italian wheat that you can’t get at most places serving Neapolitan (wood-fired) pizzas here. “If you love a Margherita pizza (left), we use that beautiful dough, San Marzano tomatoes, authentic mozzarella di Buffala and basil…Italians don’t eat pizza by folding it. They eat it with a knife and fork. The crust blisters and is crisp on the outside, but is fluffy soft on the inside.” 

The Margherita pizza was excellent and there are plenty of other pizza options to try, including the Rossa Moderna, with San Marzano tomatoes, Calabrian chili oil, oregano and beekeeper’s honey that Chef King says he produces in his own bee hives. There’s also Romana style (with ricotta, mozzarella, cracked peppercorns, lemon and arugula); Capricciosa (with pomodoro, artichoke hearts, olives, exotic mushrooms and Parma ham); and Diavola (house-made spicy Italian sausage, Calabrese salami, crushed tomato sauce, Fior di Latte cheese, chili oil and oregano) pizzas on the menu. 

Despite already being full, Chef King said we also had to try at least one of the “Secondi” (or main course) dishes on the menu. We had steak the night before, so we stayed away from both the Steak Tagliata (grilled & shaved Ocala Ranch tenderloin with crispy rosemary potato spears, arugula, parmigiana, lemon and aged balsamic) and the NYC-Style Strip Steak. If we weren’t so stuffed, we probably would have ordered the chicken parmesan, but instead, we opted for the one fish entrĂ©e — the Acqua Pazza, although Chef King modified it for use because it is supposed to be a spicy “fumetto di pesce” served with gulf shrimp, mussels and clams, as well as the local catch of the day, with Calabrian chili oil, crisp fingerling potatoes, blistered tomatoes, Tuscan kale and house-made biga focaccia bread. But, because (as you readers know) I’m allergic to the to the shrimp and mussels, Chef King had Fabio prepare the dish with just the fresh catch — a huge filet of grouper — sitting atop just those yummy side dishes in that delectable broth (above right). The Acqua Pazza was a perfectly grilled piece of fish and a spectacular dish. The biga focaccia was crispy, with an authentically airy interior, and was perfect for mopping up the broth. Now, we thought for sure we were done. 

“But of course, you must also have dessert,” Fabio said as he poured Jannah an Aperol spritz, and it’s really hard to say no to him or Chef King, so we each ordered a dessert — just to sample, of course. Yeah, right. 

Jannah got a scoop of raspberry sorbet (one of her favorites) and I got the house-made tiramisu semifreddo (below). It fills a huge cup with espresso martini-soaked ladyfingers with rich marscarpone cream and is topped with powdered chocolate and chocolate-covered coffee beans. I love a good tiramisu and this was a great one. 

Of course, it was hard to not also sample the triple (dark, white & milk) chocolate mousse layered over Genoise sponge cake with chocolate fudge and biscotti crostini, or the cannolo with Nutella & ricotta mousse, luxardo cherries, pistachio crumbs and Chantilly cream. There’s also an olive oil cake, lemon thyme sorbetto (house-crafted lemon-thyme sorbet served in a frosted lemon cup with a shot of Limoncello liqueur), multiple other sorbets and four different gelato flavors (chocolate, vanilla bean, pistachio and salted caramel). Decadence. 

Che Vita also features a full premium liquor cocktail list, with two Negroni cocktails, a Limoncello martini and three kinds of spritzes, including the Naples spritz Jannah started her meal with (which is Riondo prosecco, with Limoncello and St. Germain liqueurs, plus club soda). 

There also is a nice selection of red, white, rosĂ© and sparkling wines by the glass and bottle, including the Maggiolo Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico Sangiovese I started my meal with a glass of, as well as Italian and other imported, domestic and craft beers, hard seltzers and more. 

And, although Che Vita is open for breakfast (there’s even a breakfast buffet), Chef King says the breakfast crew is separate from his dinner line cooks, because, “Che Vita isn’t a hotel restaurant,” he says, “it’s its own thing. It’s Che Vita!” 

The lunch menu has many of the same Antipasti, Zuppe & Insalata and Pizzas as the dinner menu, but also offers a nice variety of panini sandwiches, including a grilled chicken pesto, a parma panino (with prosciutto, sopressata, mozzarella, provolone, arugula, sundried tomato pesto and a pepperoncini remoulade), “The Local” (fried or blackened grouper), a caprese panini and two different burgers — all served with parmesan herb fries (or enhance with truffle fries for $6 additional or a side salad for $2 more). 

“For me, it’s about the three Fs — family, food & futbol (soccer),” Chef King says. 

All I can say is: What a meal! What a chef! What a place! What a life! 

Che Vita is located inside the downtown Tampa Hilton (211 N. Tampa St.) and is open every day for breakfast, lunch & dinner. For reservations and more info, call (813) 222-4975 or visit CheVitaTampa.com — and please tell them I sent you!

North Tampa Bay Chamber Helps The Performance Lab Host A Truly Grand Opening!

It’s not every day that we cover the Grand Opening of a business located on N. Dale Mabry Hwy. in Tampa. But, when North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) president & CEO Hope Kennedy tells me “This is one you shouldn’t miss,” I generally take her at her word. 

And, oh boy! The Grand Opening and NTBC ribbon-cutting event for The Performance Lab (TPL) not only included Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper, (as the Lightning have a partnership with TPL), it also unveiled a state-of-the-art, 25,000-sq.-ft. facility “uniting world-class medical care, advanced diagnostics, and progressive rehabilitation under one roof.” 

As described by founder Bahir Manios during the Grand Opening event attended by more than 200 people, TPL features top-of-the-line imaging (MRI, X-ray, ultrasound & C-arms) technology, including wide-bore MRIs, more than 25 exam/treatment rooms (including handicapped-friendly rooms and exam tables), multiple procedure rooms for interventional pain management, a dedicated brain health suite equipped with multiple modalities to assess and treat patients, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy (bottom photo), a rehabilitation suite equipped to allow patients of all abilities to progress to complete recovery in a comfortable environment and a unique performance center. 

“In other words,” said Manios, “TPL is much more than a medical center. It’s a destination for recovery, performance and total wellness. Whether you’re a first responder, an athlete, a veteran, or just an ordinary person simply seeking strength, clarity and recovery from an ailment, TPL was built for you, and it’s all under one roof. We’ve put together physical medicine and rehabilitation, interventional pain management, brain health and neuro recovery, advanced imaging and diagnostics, sports performance and recovery, and life care planning for long term support.” 

The event was as spectacular as the place itself, with a catered lunch outside, the ribbon cutting with (l.-r., top photo) Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, Coach Cooper, Manios and TPL chief revenue & legal officer Shant Melkonian. Once inside, Manios played a short video showing the remarkable technology patients can expect to be treated with, and there was an informative panel discussion featuring (right, l.-r.) executive director of brain & strategic partnerships Marissa McCarthy, MD, executive medical director Michael Lorenz, MD, and chief medical officer Hadi Shah, MD, plus tours of the former (but completely gutted and recreated) Harley-Davidson dealership. 

In other words, if you missed it, you really did miss something special. 

For more info about TPL (6920 N. Dale Mabry Hwy.), visit TPLTampa.com or call (844) TPL-TAMPA. — GN, photos by Charmaine George 

A Visit To Bern’s Steak House — Still The Tampa Bay Area’s Most Famous Restaurant!

Photos by Gary Nager & Joel Provenzano 

Bern’s Steak House. For anyone who has lived in the Tampa Bay area for any period of time, the name is almost mythical. For many of those who have seen the changes it ultimately had to go through since the late Bern Laxer (he passed away in 2002) and his wife Gert (who followed her husband in 2020) first opened Bern’s in 1956 (including now owned and is being run by Bern and Gert’’s son David), Bern’s is still the go-to steak house — despite the presence of chains like Fleming’s, Eddie V’s, Charley’s, Capital Grille and Ocean Prime — as much for the experience as for the food itself. 

While the restaurant does accommodate a varying small number of walk-ins for the dinner and lounge areas, and seating at the bar is “first come, first served,” reservations are highly encouraged for dinner tables in the various main dining rooms, and that reservation is still among the hardest to book in Tampa. They often have to be made up to 60 days in advance to ensure a table on the night you want. 

So, after correspondent Joel Provenzano and his wife Jessica told me that their most recent Bern’s experience didn’t live up to the steak house’s legendary reputation — and realizing that I had never taken Jannah there in the ten years we’ve been together — I decided to take us all out to S. Howard Ave. to give this venerable institution another try. 

On Becoming A Legend 

For decades, Bern’s Steak House has stood as a landmark in Tampa’s culinary scene, attracting local elite and the who’s-who of American food royalty, e.g., chefs like Emeril Lagasse, plus sports and entertainment celebrities and even actual visiting royalty. 

Since opening nearly 60 years ago, it has become a go-to destination for special occasions, high-end dining and one of the most extensive wine lists in the entire world, plus a separate dessert room nearly as famous as the restaurant itself. In other words, it would be virtually impossible to replicate what the Laxer family has created and nurtured for generations of Tampa Bay residents and visitors. 

The restaurant was born from very humble beginnings, created by Bern and Gert, with one dining room in a small strip shopping center (which today is the steak house’s Bordeaux dining room), Bern’s eventually grew to eight dining rooms, a massive wine cellar that first-time visitors just have to tour, and the fabled second-story Harry Waugh dessert room (built in 1985 and named for the renowned English wine merchant who provided the redwood wine casks for the dessert room’s 48 private suites) — taking over the whole adjacent strip of businesses and becoming the world-famous steak house it is today. 

A Grand Entrance 

Pulling into Bern’s under its classic porte-cochùre, guests are greeted by an efficient valet service — an elegant first touch. Walking in the door, you’re transported into a different era, and a feeling of vintage elegance envelops you, set by the dim lighting and bold colors, textures and lush artwork. It’s immediately clear this is going to be more than just a dinner — it’s meant to be a unique experience. 

Once seated in the RhĂŽne dining room, I ordered a 2004 Silverado Sangiovese — a Napa Valley version of one of my favorite Italian varietals (the grape behind Italian Chianti Classico), which I found by checking out Bern’s 200-page wine list online before we all visited. Our affable waiter Nick opened the bottle next to a lit candle, which not only provided illumination that allows sommeliers to see if there is sediment in the wine and stop pouring before it can enter the decanter — which none of us actually knew was a thing. It also adds to Bern’s romantic ambience. 

On their previous visit, Joel and Jessica shared the unique “Tuna and Wagyu” starter (left), a high-end fusion of Wagyu steak tartare wrapped in sashimi-grade tuna, topped with Osetra caviar. Joel says the four large pieces were visually stunning and delicious, absolute perfection even — a strong recommendation for those who like raw Japanese-style food. (Note- When they asked for chopsticks, they were told Bern’s hadn’t stocked them in years). 

But, speaking of you caviar fans (Jannah and I aren’t among those), Bern’s offers nearly two dozen varieties, plus a selection of high-end cheeses (from French camembert to Italian Fiore Sardo made from sheep’s milk). 

For this visit, we started with an incredible lump crab cake (right), which was mostly crab, grilled to crisp-edge perfection, with charred corn, tomato, basil and mustard seed vinaigrette. 

Other appetizers on Bern’s extensive menu include a dry-aged special chateaubriand carpaccio, seared foie gras, dry-aged beef rib empanadas, shrimp cocktail, oysters on the half shell, coal grilled octopus, escargots, black truffle steak tartare and baked clams, which we did order (left). They were good, but small and I didn’t think the addition of sheep’s milk cheese to the stuffing was a great (or necessary) addition. There also are two giant shellfish “Plateaux de Fruits de Mer,” with everything from shrimp, lobster and oysters to king crab, octopus and more. Not for me, but still. 

And, although every entrĂ©e at Bern’s is served with salad and a tasty, cheesy French onion soup and every steak entrĂ©e also is served with crispy onion rings and the vegetable of the evening, Joel decided to substitute Bern’s She Crab soup, which featured a large portion of lump crab, with sweet peppers, corn and fino sherry. Nick poured the creamy soup over the other ingredients (right) and of course, I had to at least sample it and found it to be a unique blend of flavors. 

You Have To Try… 

And of course, the must-order when you visit Bern’s, despite the fact the restaurant has 30 different steak options, is the signature chateaubriand (top photo), which is a tender, large, cylindrical cut of tenderloin roasted to a crisp crust outside while staying incredibly tender inside. We ordered one 14-oz. and one 9-oz. cut of chateaubriand for the four of us to share and no one left hungry or disappointed. 

Among the other steak cuts are three sizes of filet mignon, two delmonicos, three sizes of dry-aged strip steaks, two porterhouses, two T-bones and five different varieties of A5 Japanese wagyu, including a wagyu tasting with 4 oz. each of tenderloin, strip and sirloin cap. There also are “large-format” steaks like the 36-oz. wagyu tomahawk, 40-oz. bone-in tenderloin and a 60- oz. porterhouse. Maybe next time. 

Other entrĂ©es include the famous Chicken Gert (with roasted garlic rosemary butter), cast iron-roasted grouper, roasted quail, dry-aged rack of lamb, coal-grilled cobia, roasted salmon, halibut and sansho pepper-glazed sea bass. But, if you’re a steak lover and want the full Bern’s experience on your first visit, go with the chateaubriand — it’s the steak that made Bern famous and it was still wonderful. 

In addition to the side dishes served with all of the steak and most of the other entrĂ©es, there also are a la carte, shareable vegetables and sides, including parmesan truffle fries, thrice-baked potato, an Okinawan sweet potato purĂ©e, steak house mushrooms, roasted asparagus, white truffle mac & cheese and the tasty creamed corn we ordered for the table (and more). 

The Tour & The Dessert Room 

If you’re making your first visit to Bern’s, you simply have to take the tour of both the kitchen and the amazing wine cellar. While many restaurants will allow you to visit the kitchen, very few invite every guest to see for themselves the size, scope and quality control that goes into creating your meal (left), but the crew at Bern’s wants you to know the pains taken to ensure you enjoy a great meal and dining experience. 

The absolutely legendary wine cellar, that Bern himself originally curated, houses about 110,000 bottles of red, white, rosĂ©, sparkling and dessert wines on the premises at any time, which according to our tour guide, is only about 15% of the restaurant’s total wine inventory. If you can’t find a bottle you want on the restaurant’s world-famous list, ask your sommelier to recommend something similar…or better…or completely different — they will always have you covered. 

The rest of the huge number of bottles are stored in an off-site facility and the list is constantly being updated. Some of the rarest and most expensive bottles of wine in the world are housed here. 

The right photo on this page shows just a portion of the hundreds of wines available by the glass, if you don’t want to commit to a full bottle. It’s intentionally really dark in the wine cellar, so it’s tough to get great pictures of anything other than this area, but believe me, the tour is still very much worth taking. 

The Harry Waugh Dessert Room is so famous that you don’t even have to have dinner at Bern’s in order to make a reservation for just the dessert room. Redwood doors and walls separate each dessert room, so you and your guests can enjoy privacy as you indulge in the largest selection of premium cocktails and dessert wines of any restaurant I’ve ever been to— and yes, I’ve been to a few. 

The desserts themselves are so decadent that no matter how full you may be from dinner you kind of sort of still have to indulge. Joel, Jessica, Jannah and I each got our own dessert and there was a lot of sampling going on. 

Jannah’s Dutch apple pie, with Granny Smith apples, brown sugar crumble and caramel ice cream, was great, as was my single scoop of roasted banana ice cream with hot fudge. 

But, Joel and Jessica made even better choices — Jessica’s creme brulĂ©e, topped with fresh mixed berries (left) was spot-on and Joel loved his macadamia nut sundae in a house-made waffle bowl (below). 

We all enjoyed a well-deserved after-dinner cocktail and left Bern’s satisfied and thinking about making another visit to try some other wine, steaks, fish and desserts there. 

In other words, Bern’s is still Bern’s. Is it still the best restaurant in Tampa? Try to make a reservation and decide for yourself, but it is still a great experience that everyone should have at least once. 

Bern’s Steak House (1208 S. Howard Ave.) is open every day except Monday for dinner at 5 p.m. To reserve a table, visit BernsSteakHouse.com or call (813) 251-2421 for more information.Â