Ulele
(pronounced you-lay-lee) opened exactly 6 weeks ago today; and even years
before that there has been buzz about this restaurant. It was developed by Richard Gonzmart (who
owns the Columbia restaurant) in collaboration with Keith Sedita (from Carmel Café). It is located in an adapted pump house in
Tampa Heights overlooking Ulele Springs, one of Tampa’s original sources for
fresh drinking water. The neighboring Water
Works Park is a new addition to Tampa’s Riverwalk.
Ulele
is named for the daughter of a local Tocabaga Indian chief who saved the life
of Spanish explorer Juan Ortiz (pretty similar to the Pocahontas/John Smith
story). The cuisine is inspired by the food of Florida
natives. They use locally sourced products
fresh from Florida. In an interview,
their executive chef Eric Lackey said that they bring in fresh food every day –
and that the only frozen food is their ice cream.
My
parents and brother were anxious to try it as well, so we tried to make
reservations a week or so ago for this past Saturday, but they were completely
booked. So we settled on Tuesday night (tonight)
instead.
The
park itself is beautiful – we took a walk around it when it first opened two
months ago. I had really never been to
this area of Tampa before, but now it’s a destination worth visiting. And the architects did a fantastic job keeping
the history of the original Water Works building, while adding their own unique
touches to adapt it for the restaurant. I
especially love the doors to the front entrance!
The
interior is artsy and industrial, with stained glass panels (which used to be
in Gonzmart’s parents’ home), sculptures throughout, and exposed brick from the
original building near the large 10 foot barbacoa grill.
We
were seated at a table overlooking the patio, which had large bi-fold doors
that were opened later at night once it got cooler out. The only downside to our table was that it
had a view of the rear end of their large horse sculpture.
We
started our meal off with their charbroiled oysters with garlic butter,
Parmesan, and Romano. My dad liked them
so much though that he ordered another round as part of his entrée.
Ulele
has their own brewery, so we were excited to try their beers. They offer flights if you want to try a
couple at once (only $3 for 3 small samples).
I actually started off with the Water Works Sunset cocktail – a mix of
Fontana Pisco, elderflower liqueur, ruby red grapefruit juice, and lime. It had a nice gradient to it, and the flavor
was a balance of tart and sweet.
I enjoyed their Wedding Beer – a berry
fruit lager. The brewer, Tim Shackton,
calls it that because he brewed it for a friend getting married 12 years ago,
then everyone loved it so much that all his friends started requesting it for
their own weddings. It was subtly fruity
– not overly sweet.
Next
we ordered about half the appetizers on the menu – the Lobster Claw Cocktail,
Lobster Cake, Florida Jumpers (frog legs), and Alligator Hush Puppies. The cocktail had a generous portion of crab, and
the presentation was great!
My
favorite appetizer was the hush puppies – and I’m not always a fan of them. They had a mix of alligator, ham, duck bacon,
corn, and jalapeno, so unlike some hush puppies that are mostly breading, they
were loaded with flavor.
For
my dad’s entrée, he ordered several more appetizers (the Crab Mac & Cheese,
White Limas and Collards, Chilled Florida Avocado Soup, and more oysters. My mom and David split the Deconstructed
Seafood Pot Pie and that night’s special – strip steak topped with shrimp. Lance had the Crackling Pork Shank, and I had
the Yellowfin Tuna.
We
all enjoyed bites of my dad’s mac & cheese, and he loved the limas &
collard greens. His avocado soup was good,
but to me it was a bit like drinking guacamole.
The
seafood pot pie was wonderful – really filled to the rim with chunks of shrimp,
octopus, grouper, and oysters. It was
served with a side puffed pastry.
The
steak was unfortunately a bit overcooked. We agreed it was our least favorite of the entrées.
Lance’s
pork shank was HUGE! 1½ pounds with a
firecracker apple craisin chutney. It
fell right off the bone, and he took at least half home. The mashed potatoes on the side had little
bits of popcorn mixed in which gave it some interesting texture.
And
finally, I was so happy with my tuna! I
was on the fence between that and the mahi mahi, but our waitress told me the
tuna has been a big hit. It was seared
with a pumpkin-seed crust over a ginger soy grapefruit reduction. Wow – I would order this in a heartbeat
again. And the portions were very generous.
Despite
all we ate, we were still tempted by the dessert menu. We ordered the Candied Duck Bacon Maple Fried
Ice Cream. We also got scoops of the
toasted coconut and a coffee flavored ice cream on the side (we were warned
that the coconut wasn’t very strong, but we decided to try in anyways).
The
fried ice cream presentation was great!
It had a corn flake crust and was garnished with a strip of duck candied
bacon and a sweet potato waffle crisp.
My dad was a bit hesitant on the bacon & ice cream combo since he hadn't tried that before, but after
trying it he agreed the sweet and salty mix was a good idea.
The
coffee ice cream was really good, but the coconut was more mild than I'd have liked – it could have been
vanilla.
We
all took home plenty of leftovers – while they were getting wrapped up, several
plates fell off the server’s tray and shattered, but luckily none of the food
was lost! And they cleaned up the mess
very quickly and professionally.
After
the feast we ate tonight, we took a stroll around the park since the weather has
been so nice in the evenings lately. It
was a night filled with amazing food and I’m happy to have more of it leftover
to enjoy tomorrow as well!
