Professor Gourmand On the Road — Ava Inspirato Italiano in Tampa
My charmed life continues. As my Facebook friends know, I spend the first week of June in another city grading the Advanced Placement United States History exam. For the past ten years, that city has been Louisville, and the restaurant I had been going to there was MilkWood, one of Edward Lee’s (if you’re a foodie, you’ll remember him from Top Chef and from The Mind of a Chef) projects. Roughly, it’s Asian fusion and, if you’re familiar with Chef Lee, you’ll know it’s much more than simply that. I thought I’d miss it, and in some ways I did, because this year’s reading was in Tampa.
Ah, but Tampa. At one of my Saturday brunches at PYT, I mentioned to my friend Damien, the bartender, that I’d be gone for the first two Saturdays for the AP reading. He thought for a moment and said, “I have a chef friend in Tampa” and proceeded to TEXT him about my trip. I went home and as soon as I knew which night was our dine-out night (Educational Testing Services reimburses us for $25 on one night of the reading so they don’t have to pay for [and we don’t have to eat] dinner at the convention center where we grade), I made a reservation at OpenTable. And I waited.
The morning of dine-out day I received a text message from Damien’s friend Joshua Hernandez, the chef. He welcomed me to Tampa and said he wouldn’t be there that night but that his sous would take care of me. Did they ever! It’s an interesting menu, so I made a couple of selections and ordered a draft beer (a local IPA, in fact). Before my order arrived, the $28 assortment of salumi (Italian for charcuterie) and cheese arrived, compliments of the chef. The menu notes All salumi is produced in our custom curing chamber, visible from the dining room. Just like Scratch Bar!
Prosciutto, both pork and duck. Salami, regular and made with red wine, ‘nduja, grainy mustard, dun-dried tomato goat cheese, taleggio, gorgonzola, some pickled vegetables, and house-made bread. And a little crock of pork confit. Shredded pork confit, in fact. Like the best barbecue, but deliciously unctuous. A really auspicious start.
Next, Sea Scallops with a roasted corn spinach salad, crispy pancetta, and sweet tomato saffron vinaigrette. A really solid dish, with all the components cooked expertly. I have to admit that it didn’t prepare me for my next course, fusilli al pesto with gulf shrimp.
Best pasta al pesto I had eaten ANYWHERE, with the added benefit of shrimp. JUST delicious. On a level with the pork confit, in fact. Really solid meal. I texted Joshua and told him how much I liked the restaurant, especially the pork confit and the fusilli, and he texted back that he’d like to have drinks with me after service the following night. We did, and I have a new friend in Tampa now (and a new appreciation for boilermakers).
That was Monday and Tuesday. Thursday, I couldn’t bear the idea of another dinner at the convention center (it was still better than the final year in Louisville) so I booked another table at Ava. This time I had a barrel aged negroni. In case that’s unfamiliar. As Esquire describes it:
Margaritas and mojitos may dominate the summer cocktail landscape, but when you’re looking for something a bit more continental, the Negroni is your move. Made with Campari — a bitter-sweet red liqueur that’s been around since the 1860s — the Negroni is an Italian cocktail that’s best enjoyed while lounging on a scenic, sun-dappled veranda in a linen suit.
And yes, barrel aging is a thing. According to Food & Wine, after a few weeks in the barrel, the flavors become more harmonious and the harsh edges that you get with hard liquor tend to soften. After all, how many alcoholic beverages are barrel-aged to begin with?
It’s a gin drink, I wasn’t wearing a linen suit but it’s humid in Tampa at this time of year, so it wasn’t entirely inappropriate.
For food, when I see meatballs on a menu, especially an Italian menu, I order them They arrived on a tomato-inflected garbanzo puree that was mildly picante. They were as good as (although not better than) the meatballs at Bellwether, which means they were excellent.
I followed that with a Spinach & Date salad, with pistachio, sumac, red onion, goat cheese, sourdough croutons, and a balsamic dressing. Excellent ingredients, expertly put together. Very tasty!
Okay. Twice in one week with instructions from the chef to treat me well means that my experience might have been different from the other diners. But I couldn’t see that I was being treated any differently than anyone else, which means everybody received the same high level of service. My take? Scratch Bar combined with one of LA’s Italian restaurants that’s known for its pizza. What could be better?
AP grader friends, this is my first effort to convince you to make this our first night in Tampa restaurant.
Ava/Inspirato Italiano. 718 S Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606. Lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. www.avatampa.com/ It might even work if you tell them I sent you.