Wrights Gourmet House – Tampa, FL

My friend Juliet was in town today, so I caught up with her over lunch.  When deciding where to eat, we thought it should be a Tampa staple that she can’t have in Boston (where she lives now). 

Wrights Gourmet is a Tampa landmark – it’s a family owned sandwich shop that’s been around since 1963.  They serve signature sandwiches and salads with quality ingredients, and they also provide catering.  They have classic sandwiches like pastramis & reubens, along with unique creations like their Beef Martini sandwich (rare roast beef, mushrooms marinated in white wine, and bacon with garlic herb spread on buttercrust bread). 

They are renowned around Tampa for their decadent cakes.  I’m not a huge fan of regular cake (like sheet cake from Publix), but these cakes are to die for!  They are incredibly rich and moist. 

Today I got the Golden Gate sandwich (another one of their specialties).  It is one of their grandmother’s recipes – roast pork, bacon, Jarlsberg cheese, and lettuce, topped with their homemade mustard and peach chutney on pumpernickel bread.  If you can believe, the photo below is ONE sandwich. 

Juliet and I split slices of their lemon and chocolate cakes.   The lemon is a tart bundt cake topped with a sweet glaze.  And the chocolate cake certainly deserves its name: two layers of chocolate cake with chocolate icing & chocolate chips!  So extravagant – it makes me think of that scene from Matilda when Ms. Trunchbull makes the fat kid eat an entire cake.   

Needless to say we had a lot leftover to bring home (which means I’ll have an amazing lunch at work tomorrow too!) 

Wrights Gourmet House is located at 1200 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open 7am – 6pm Monday through Fridays, 8am – 4pm on Saturdays, and closed Sundays.