The Bricks – Ybor City

 

Yesterday we headed to Ybor City to grab some lunch.  I had heard great reviews about a restaurant called The Bricks, but hadn’t had the chance to try it out before. 

As expected, it is located in a brick building, with exposed brick walls in the interior.  It is clearly aimed at a young crowd – The Skatepark of Tampa apparently opened it after decades of sending business to other local bars and restaurants. 

When you walk in, the music sounds like you might be in a Pac Sun or Tilly’s.  The TVs had footage of 80’s skateboarding kids and The Disney Channel playing.  They had ads for “The Church of Nintendo” game nights on Mondays, and they featured a chorizo soup called “Chorizard” (for those of you that didn’t grow up as 90’s kids, there was a Pokémon dragon named Charizard…I never even had any Pokémon cards, but I still recognized the name…)  

I was pretty excited to see Cigar City’s Cubano Espresso Brown Ale on the drink menu.  It’s a coffee beer brewed with local coffee beans, and tastes almost more like a Starbucks drink than a beer.   

 

I ordered The Bird and Pig sandwich – with roasted pulled chicken, bacon, apples, brie, and agave served on sweet bread.  From their Yelp reviews, it seems that this is pretty much everyone’s favorite sandwich there.  It was the perfect mix of savory and sweet – and they even served it presented in a heart shape! I had the mixed greens salad as my side, which was tossed in a tangy dressing. 

Lance had The Burrito – with oven roasted pork, black bean-corn relish, cheddar, and avocado cream in a pressed flour tortilla.  I thought the pressed tortilla was much better than the normal cold tortilla you’d get at a typical burrito restaurant. 

Whether you’re a skateboarder or not, I’d highly recommend checking this place out. 

The Bricks is located at 1327 E 7th Ave, Tampa, FL 33605  and is open 11am – 1am Monday – Sunday.       

Cigar City Brewery – Tampa, FL

 

Lance and I both worked on his birthday last Sunday, so I told him we could do whatever he wanted to celebrate on our next day off together on Tuesday.  So of course, part of that celebration had to include drinking some beer. 

We’ve been making our way around all the Tampa Bay area breweries, but surprisingly we hadn’t made it to Cigar City yet.  We’ve been to the Brewpub (which has fantastic food), but the brewery tasting room was a fun experience. 

 

 

When you first walk in, there’s a separate growler-filling station with about a dozen beer choices.  Next you walk past a merchandise booth with Cigar City shirts, mugs, and even beer-scented soaps. 

The main tasting room had 18 of their own beers on tap along with 6 from guest breweries.  We ordered flights (you can’t get the guest beers for flights, but I wanted to try the Cigar City ones while there anyways…) 

 

I liked the Cherry Berliner Weisse – although it’s only 2.7% ABV, so it’s nothing strong.  On the other hand, the Mercielago was REALLY strong.  It’s an ale aged in tequila barrels with cumin and lime peel.  The tequila was a bit overpowering for me, but Lance liked it. 

I was really excited to fill up a growler of their Cubano Espresso brown ale.  I had a sip of my brother’s a few weeks ago and it was amazing!  It’s brewed with espresso beans, vanilla, and cacao nibs.  He had it in a frosty mug and it almost tasted like a frappuccino.  It’s been brewed in previous years with beans from Mazzaro’s Italian Market, but this year I’ve read that it’s being brewed with Buddy Brew’s Cubano Espresso coffee.

Unfortunately, everyone else seems to like that beer as well – they were completely out by the time we went to fill up our growlers!  We filled up with some Jai Alai instead. 

Cigar City Brewing is located at 3924 West Spruce Street, Tampa, FL 33607 and is open 11am – 11pm Sunday – Thursday and 11am – 1am Friday – Saturday.