Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse – Tampa, Florida

Last night we had the privilege of previewing the brand-new Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse on South Dale Mabry in Tampa before it officially opens on tomorrow.

We were sad when GrillSmith closed in that location awhile back because I love their pumpkin crab bisque (luckily, they are moving into the old Grille One Sixteen location further up the road just north of Kennedy…) 

Terra Gaucha has run a successful restaurant in Jacksonville since 2015. They worked with BDG Architects to convert the previous Grillsmith location into an elegant new space that is now fit for the churrascaria style dining experience. This culinary style originated with the South American cowboys, or “gaúchos,” who grilled meats over an open flame.

I’ve been lucky getting to preview the transformation of the restaurant since I work for the architect. Our interior design team did an amazing job (you can read more about the design concept here). I love the beautiful wine display at the entrance as well as the custom sculpture and painting by artist Marc De Waele.

We had never visited a Brazilian steakhouse before, so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. For dinner, restaurant patrons have the option for either a gourmet salad and hot bar or the “full rodizio experience” which includes the salad bar as well as unlimited access to over a dozen varieties of meats cut tableside. We were invited to be part of the “friends and family” night to sample the menu, so our meals were complimentary (minus the drinks…)

They have a diverse wine menu, but we tried their cocktails instead. Lance had the caipirinha, made with cachaça (a Brazilian rum), sugar, and lime. I had the same but with muddled pineapple and mint, which I’d definitely order again.

As we were seated, we were served cheesey puffs of bread along with caramelized bananas. The bread was good but I wanted to keep room for all the food to follow. However, we did devour the bananas (they brought us another plate of them after we cleaned the first plate).

When I heard they had a salad bar, I pictured it being more like a Sweet Tomatoes, but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. They had a few meats and cheeses (including an enormous wheel of parmesan), grilled pineapple, roasted garlic, soups, salads, and more.

Once we had our fill of that, we flipped over a card to signify that we were ready for the servers to bring us meat. It seems that the second we flipped it over, we had half a dozen people dashing our way to serve us. We almost had to flip the cards over as soon as we turned them to green because otherwise we’d never have the opportunity to try the meats they cut for us. 

My favorite of the meats was the Porco Com Parmesao (pork tenderloin encrusted with Parmesan cheese). It is soaked in white wine and herbs before being roasted and coasted in cheese. I also enjoyed the smoky Linguiça (Brazilian sausage) and the Picanha (their house specialty premium sirloin). The rest came by so quickly I could barely keep track of what I was sampling. You can see the variety of meats here (we thought it was funny that the “gauchos” were labeled the same as the meats on the menu…hopefully they weren’t turning us into cannibals!) 

Our waiter, Dennis, was extremely welcoming and attentive. He asked for our feedback on the drinks and dishes, which was all positive on our end. I would have loved to have tried one of their desserts, but we were beyond full at the end of our meal. 

While we really enjoyed ourselves, we’d have to save this for a special occasion because it is pricier than we’d spend on a typical date night. Plus, as much as I enjoyed the food, I just don’t eat enough to make any all-you-can-eat establishment worth it. Lance already said he wants to come back for his birthday though because for him, the more meat the better. I wish there was a way to visit and enjoy the salad bar with a smaller sampling of the meats rather than the unlimited option.

Happy to have another new restaurant concept in town and we wish them the best!

Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse is located at 1108 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33629.  They are open for lunch Monday through Friday 11:30am – 2pm and Saturday/Sunday from 11:30am – 3pm. For dinner, they are open from 5 – 10pm Monday through Friday, 4 – 10:30pm on Saturday, and 4 – 9pm on Sunday.

The Ice Plant & Sea Oats Caffé – St. Augustine, FL

 

Last weekend was my friend Maddie’s bachelorette party in St. Augustine.  Her maid of honor Tessly’s family has a cute beach place up there, so we spent the weekend relaxing at the beach (and unfortunately getting very sunburned!) We enjoyed some pretty great food while we were there!

Tessly had the place all prepared with cute buckets of goodies for all of us and some incredible cupcakes from a local bakery (I need to find out which one…)

The forecast said it was going to pour all weekend, but we lucked out and got some nice perfect beach weather. 

Saturday night, we headed for an early dinner at The Ice Plant – a new local bar and restaurant.  Since they don’t take reservations and it’s such a popular spot, we decided we’d rather just eat early than chance waiting a few hours for a table.

The design reminds me of a blend of Ciro’s Speakeasy and the Oxford Exchange.  The building was adapted from an old ice plant (which is how it gets its name…)  Back in the 1920’s, the large crane that sits over the bar used to pick up enormous blocks of ice to be broken into small pieces and sold to shrimp boats.  They have managed to retain the vintage factory feel, but upgrading it to today’s popular industrial modern design. 

In keeping with the “ice plant” tradition, they hand carve their ice each day from large blocks of slow frozen filtered water into specific shapes depending on the drink you order.  The cocktails are a bit pricey, but impressive.  I would much rather spend $12 on a really fantastic drink than $6 on a rum and coke I could make myself.  You can tell that they take price in crafting their drinks just right – and the presentations were very pretty too. 

The waiters dress like they belong in the 1920’s – our waitress had a vintage looking apron with cats printed all over it.  She must have really liked cats because I got a cute kitty drawn on my receipt later. 

My Briar Rose cocktail was fantastic – with sherry, bonal, lemon, peach & blackberry jam, and mint.  I know most everyone enjoyed their drinks too, but the Kokomo cocktail was way too strong, even after the bartender watered it down with some club soda. 

For appetizers, we started with some soft pretzel bread, served with beer cheese fondue and dijonnaise dipping sauces.  The bread was actually a bit sweet and denser than a normal pretzel, coated with coarse salt. 

We also ordered a side of their hand-cut truffle fries for the table, served with a house ketchup and malt vinegar aioli.  They were topped with freshly grated parmesan and were delicious!  

For my meal, I had the valbreso feta gnocci – served with confit tomatoes, summer squash caponata, pine nuts, and wild oregano.  The most popular entrée that night was their half pound grass-fed Georgia beef burger with bacon-chive aioli, lettuce, tomato, onions, and their house curried pickle. 

My gnocci was really great – but I probably shouldn’t have eaten the whole plate.  It was a pretty generous serving. 

We made a stop afterwards down the street at Scarlett O’Hara’s bar – which I thought was a bit of a disappointment after having such incredible drinks at the Ice Plant.  We ended up heading back to the beach place since the long day in the sun had worn most of us out. 

The next day, a few of the girls had to head out early, but the rest of us went to brunch at a little hole-in-the-wall breakfast place called Sea Oats Caffé.  It was in a shopping plaza, and we lucked out that a table was just leaving as we walked in, because there weren’t a lot of seats. 

They had dozens of pancake flavors (some sounded really interesting like the chili chocolate lime and the jalapeño bacon cream cheese).  I ended up getting one of the specials, French Toast made with slices of angel food cake and topped with berries.  It was definitely more like dessert than breakfast, but it was really amazing. 

Our server was very friendly and the restaurant had a calm beachy atmosphere – it felt like we were down in the Keys.  Every time someone opened the front door, a pick strummed the guitar hanging above.  It was the perfect laid-back way to end our beach weekend.

The Ice Plant is located at 110 Riberia St, St. Augustine, FL 32084.  They are open 11:30am – 2pm Tuesday – Saturday and 11:30am – 12am on Sunday – Monday. 

Sea Oats Caffé is located at 1075 A1A Beach Blvd, St. Augustine, FL 32080.  They are open 7:30am – 2pm every day. 

Fly Bar & Restaurant - Tampa, FL

Last night we headed to Fly Bar to celebrate our friend Katie’s birthday.  That was actually one of the first restaurants I reviewed on my blog back in June (you can see the post here). 

We had a large group, so we sat outside and pulled 4 tables together.  We had originally planned to eat on their rooftop bar, but it is apparently not open on Sunday nights. 

 

Fly Bar has some really great cocktail options.  This time I tried the Hella Radler – with vodka, cappeletti, lime, and grapefruit beer.  I love anything citrusy, so of course I enjoyed it.  I think I still like the Bees Knees that I’ve had there more though. 

 

For dinner we ordered the Truffled Mac & Cheese, Jerk Braised Oxtail, and Beef Sliders. 

It definitely isn’t your everyday mac & cheese dish – they use smoked gouda and truffle oil, then top it with fresh herbs. 

 

The oxtail had nice flavor – it was served with a curry sauce and some greens.  But it was actually a very small portion - the meat was mostly hidden underneath the yucca fries. 

 

We loved the sliders.  They were topped with white cheddar, sautéed mushrooms, and caramelized onions. The ketchup actually had a bit of spiciness. 

 

We had a Restaurant.com gift card to use – I got it over a year ago, but it had a lot of restrictions, so I haven’t been able to use it until now.  It wasn’t valid on Fridays or Saturdays, and it was only valid for food purchases over $35 (last time we went in June we spent over $35, but that was only when we included our drink purchases, so we couldn’t redeem it).  I think it’s better to use Creative Loafing deals instead. 

I’ve always been very satisfied with Fly Bar and last night was no exception.  If you haven’t been there yet, go check it out!

Fly Bar is located at 1202 N. Franklin St, Tampa, FL 33602 and open from 4pm - 3am Monday through Sunday.

Atlanta Trip Part 2 – Highland Bakery, Canoe & Point of View Lounge

 

Day 2 of our trip we started out with breakfast at Highland Bakery.  It is located in a nice neighborhood with a beautiful park across the street.  The walls were all painted different colors and were decorated with glass art (which was for sale).  The atmosphere is pretty laid back – the servers wear their everyday street clothes and weren’t pretentious at all (unlike the other waiters we had met so far on our trip…)

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered the Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict with a side of breakfast potatoes, and Lance had the Fried Chicken Biscuit with a ½ order of their Sweet Potato Pancakes (which was still 1 large pancake). 

 

 

 

I would definitely order my fried chicken benedict again.  And the pancake was wonderful – instead of syrup, it was served with warm caramelized brown sugar butter with toasted pecans.  Lance’s “bottomless” coffee lived up to its name – our waitress was very attentive and we never saw the bottom of the cup. 

They also had a bakery case filled with cupcakes, éclairs, and other sweet treats.  We were of course too full to try any, but they looked delicious.   

 

We spent the afternoon at Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (well worth a visit – it is the best botanical garden I’ve been to!) 

 

That night we had a fancier date night at the restaurant Canoe.  It was only a 15 minute drive from downtown Atlanta, but it felt very remote.  It is tucked away in the Vinings suburb northwest of town.  The homes we passed by on the way were all gated mansions with sprawling properties so I’m assuming that it is a pretty affluent area to live. 

 

The location was beautiful – behind is a lush garden that overlooks the Chattahoochee River.  The restaurant itself has incredible architecture – with a curved wooden ceiling that subtly feels like the interior of a canoe. 

 

 

 

 

Our waiter, Michael, gave us very thorough explanations of the dishes.  We started off with drinks – Lance had the Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale, and I tried the La Dolce vita cocktail – which had gin infused with grapevine blossoms, lemon-lavender syrup, and topped with a sparkling red wine called brachetto.  It was sweet and tasted like sangria.  While we decided what to order, another waiter came and gave us our choice of breads (they had a variety to pick from – I tried a crispy flatbread and an olive loaf). 

 

 

Michael sold us on the house smoked salmon appetizer served on crispy potato cakes with Vermont goat cheese.  Wow it was phenomenal – and the presentation was well executed. 

At this point we realized that there were so many appetizers we wanted to try that we ordered a few more then 1 entrée to share.  Next came the Tea Smoked Duck Breast – served in a salad with Bartlett pear, confit duck leg, seeded mustard, and bleu cheese cream.  The menu didn’t mention it was a salad, but I was very satisfied with it. 

 

Next we split the charcuterie and cheese selection – with spotted trotter salumi, homemade chicken liver pâté, house cured meats, and bleu cheese.  We expected there to be several cheeses, but it was a meat-driven plate.  Usually with charcuterie platters, there is only a small sampling of the pâté, but this was actually half a glass full.  It was very creamy and perfect on the crispy bread.  

We split the Slow Roasted Georgia Rabbit for our entrée.  They were nice enough to portion it on two separate plates.  It was served with mushroom tortellini, house bacon, and candied garlic sauce.  It was very tender and the tortellini tasted fresh. 

 

 

At this point we were already full, but we had seen a dessert we really wanted to try – the popcorn ice cream sundae with homemade Cracker Jack.  The dessert was huge – served in a pint glass and loaded with caramel popcorn and nuts.  I love anything that is sweet & salty – I don’t know why it hasn’t ever occurred to me to have popcorn and ice cream together, but it was a great idea.  

We took a stroll around the garden afterwards (it was pretty dark at that point).  They have chicken coops outside and all the chickens were huddled together to stay warm.  I wish we were in town on Sunday because I hear they have an incredible brunch menu as well.  We’ve already decided that we’ll be visiting Canoe again anytime we’re in the Atlanta area. 

 

We finished the night with drinks at our hotel’s rooftop bar, the Point of View Lounge at the Hilton Downtown Atlanta.  It had a great view of the city from above and a beautifully displayed wine cooler, but overall the furnishings were a bit dated.  

 

 Lance ordered the American Beauty cocktail with gin, sweet & sour, ginger ale, and raspberry puree, but the bartender told us it had been months since anyone ordered that drink, so the puree had gone bad.  She instead made it with Chambord liqueur to give it the raspberry flavor.  I had The Alamo – with vodka, lime juice, pineapple, agave, and ginger beer.  

Nice way to end day 2 of our trip.  Check out the other posts to read about our other Atlanta dining experiences!  

Highland Bakery is located at 655 Highland Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30312

and is open 8am – 5pm every day. 

Canoe is located at 4199 Paces Ferry Rd SE, Atlanta, GA 30339  and is open for lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm Monday through Fridays, for dinner 5:30pm – 10pm Monday through Thursday, and 5:30pm – 11pm Friday & Saturday, and 5:30pm – 9:30pm on Sundays.  They are also open for Sunday brunch 10:30am – 2:30pm. 

Point of View Lounge is located at the Hilton Downtown at 255 Courtland St NE, Atlanta, GA 30303 and is open Tuesday through Saturday 5pm – 12am.