Ybor City, Tampa! Many think of Ybor as a place you head to when you want to party and get a little wild! It’s an accepting area when it comes to having a good time at night! Yet Ybor is so much more than that! Ybor is over 100 years old! It was founded in the 1880’s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor, along with numerous other cigar big wigs! Ybor was a diverse area full of immigrants from Cuba, Italy and Spain. Cigars were the name of the game! Still today, you can see cigars being hand rolled there!
Now I have spent many a weekend in Ybor in my youth doing things that we will not be discussing in this blog. I have great memories of Ybor but now that I’m wiser and older…. well at least older, I thought let’s see what Ybor has to offer for some family fun!
We drove the 75 minutes to Ybor on a Saturday morning. We easily found parking for the day for under $15. There are many lots that charge by the hour or meters. With the car safely parked in a central location, we spend some time admiring all the treasures being sold at the Saturday Market. This outdoor market takes place every Saturday morning beginning at 9am. It was nice sized and we found a few things we just had to have! There are also a few food and drink vendors as well. We spent about 45 minutes wondering around. The area around the market has what seemed like a zillion chickens just roaming around. There were even little families with the babies in tow. They didn’t bother us at all and they continued on like we weren’t even there. It was fun to see how many we could spot! The story goes that these chickens are descendants of the chickens that were there when Ybor was founded!
Directly across from the Saturday Market is the Ybor City State Museum. Now I am not one for museums. I like to learn about the area from their food and shops but I married a man who can’t resist a museum. This one in particular was recommended to me. At a whopping $4 admission fee, I felt like we had nothing to lose.
Well friends, I have to admit I was wrong! This museum was very cool! As a Florida native, there was a lot that I did not know about this particular area! There is something that I usually despise more than museums and that is an educational film. Well guess who was wrong again!? The 20 minute movie was very interesting and well done! The actual museum is small but filled with interesting pieces from the past. The actual museum is in a bakery that was built there in the 1920’s!
An area where cigars were rolled while a reader would keep the cigar makers entertained.
But the true star of this museum is the tour of the neighboring casita. This is an old dwelling that an original cigar maker would have called home! It really gave you a sense of life at that time! I even surprised myself at how into this museum and tour I was! I highly recommend this it!
Living room area of casita
All of this learning really stirred my appetite! Ybor has a ton of food options within walking distance. Everything from Thai to Italian to the Columbia Restaurant! And that is where we found ourselves. We have been here before but until this particular time, I did not realize just how incredibly large this restaurant is! The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City is the largest Spanish restaurant in the world! With that being said, we had to wait for a table for 3 on a Saturday afternoon. That should tell you just how amazingly delicious their food is! They do take reservations though so next time that is my plan!
Let’s move on to the important part, the food! We ordered one of the appetizer specials for that day. The best way for me to describe it would be as Cuban Brushetta! First you have the Cuban bread, that alone is a winner in my book! Then there’s the perfectly ripe tomatoes with buttery smooth cheese. Then to that they add the true star, Jamon Iberico! Oh the Jamon Iberico! It is safe to say that my husband and I are addicted to this beautiful ham! It doesn’t stop there though, they top these brushettas with high quality olive oil. It is out of this world!! And it was gone quickly! But we weren’t sad as they brought each of us a loaf of toasty warm Cuban bread with cold, fresh butter. It was a match made in heaven!
But all that bread, it had made me quite thirsty so I was forced to order a beverage and as a homage to my younger days in Ybor, I made it an adult beverage! I ordered the Pepito. It is a tequila based drink along with the fresh flavors of orange, cucumber and lime. It hit the spot for sure!
For the record, our bread intake so far has been very high! One might think this would discourage us from ordering anything else that involves bread. But no! Us Mesa’s are not quitters! And we are at the Columbia Restaurant and I am married to a Cuban so there was only one choice for our entrée. A Cuban Sandwich!! We did admit defeat a little bit and shared the sandwich. And I’m a reasonable gal so since we split the Cuban sandwich I thought it was only right to go ahead and have dessert! I enthusiastically ordered the Crema Catalana! It was flambéed tableside which made it even more fun. Crema Catalana is a Spanish style Crème Brulee. And this particular one was perfection! The custard was creamy and sweet and the top was crunchy which made for an incredible bite!
After taking in all those carbs we set out for some walking and shopping! The Ybor area has a diverse collection of little shops as well as many tattoo shops. La France is our favorite shop in the area! It’s a vintage clothing store that also carries jewelry, shoes and hats for both men and women. There is so much inventory, you could spend an entire afternoon going through it all.
My husband was aware of a small area in Ybor that is still owned by Cuba. Jose Marti Park is the name of this area. Jose Marti was a Cuban hero for many reasons. He was a philospher, a theorist and he was very active politically. He played a major role in Cuba gaining freedom from Spain. Cuba has owned this small park since 1956. On the Saturday that we visited, we were the only ones there. The soil in the park is actually from Cuba which I found to be pretty mind-blowing! It was a charming area that was well maintained. I am so glad we were able to visit it.
After all the walking and shopping, I wanted to check out Cigar City Cider & Mead. I am beginning my journey into craft beer and this seemed like a great fit! I have never tried Mead before so this was an adventure for me! If you would like to read about it, be sure to check out my post titled “Craft Beer Series: Cigar City Cider & Mead.”
