Comfort food as a genre has become increasingly popular over the recently in the culinary world. Standouts include (before they changed then closed) Fodder and Shine and the chain Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. It's an attempt to step back to simpler menus and dishes instead of the complex offerings that consume many refined kitchens.
Urban Comfort took over an old gas station on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg but kept much of its charm. The building still offers functional garage doors (albeit glass), and an industrial interior with pipe fitted benches and open ductwork. And, walking in, it just smells comfortable with a bouquet of fried chicken wafting through the place. Where's grandma?

Popular Rocco's Tacos and Tequila Bar doesn't hold up to the hype. 

Rocco’s Tacos and Tequila Bar, delayed for months, opened in February in its new digs at Bay Street in International Plaza taking over the space once occupied by the Blue Martini. For a solid year there's been a lot of anticipatory hubbub about how great it would be to add the brand to Tampa’s culinary map. I was asked to visit and shoot specific dishes for Creative Loafing Tampa and looked forward to seeing what all the clamor was about. I dined anonymously.

I appreciate stories of survival. Over the last several years owners Ricardo Castro and Rosana Rivera have navigated several challenges with their eatery. After leaving Hyde Park in 2017 they arose from the clamor in West Tampa. The fit is rather poetic. West Tampa has done it own surviving, and is now experiencing a slight Renaissance of interest and businesses including Petite Piquant, a slimmed-down version of the original bakery.

According to Nate, the manager of Bianchi's, the place is all about small plates and a great wine selection. They are competing with veteran restaurants in the same plaza like Yoko's Japanese Restaurant (great sushi), Osteria Natalina, and BT To-Go for the South Tampa food dollar, so the food better be really good. If the lunch is any example of the food, it's a great place to eat.

Long before Uber and Amazon ever thought about delivering food, doormet was in the game. Add the fact that their healthy take on gourmet food was around long before the Fresh Kitchens, et.al. in Tampa, and it makes sense that they are still going. While I have heard of them as early as 2011, I was not aware that it also offered dine-in eating. 

Always looking for something new, Cheezy's in Ybor sounded like an adventure. It's not only an Italian bistro, it also claims to be a speakeasy. That part was intriguing. 
Challenges start with reservations. They do not answer the phone but voicemail directs us to an online reservation form that we fill out with the anticipation that they will get back to us. They never do. We go anyway and the place- at 7:30- is empty but for one other party and a couple at the bar.

The newly re-opened of the Byblos restaurant started offering brunch about a month ago. I was curious as to how this Mediterranean eatery would apply its refined Middle Eastern take to brunch food. The weather outside was pleasant on an April Sunday morning so we elected to sit outside. Patio dining was pleasant especially with the addition of their new cooling apparatus. However, prepare for the whir of traffic going by on MacDill Avenue just feet away.

Cooper's Hawk opened in 2013 in the maze of mixed use businesses and office buildings crowding Boy Scout Blvd. in the Westshore Business District of Tampa. A large component of the CH business model is wine, sponsoring both a national wine club and tasting rooms at their several locations. 
The Tampa store is cavernous, divided in to several dining rooms, the tasting room, and a lovely outdoor patio area. The front entry leads into the tasting area filled with people and an unusual amount of merchandise - some wine related, some not so much.  Inside the rooms are remarkably cold and loud.. The patio outdoors is pleasant on a coolish April eve.
Service is friendly and attentive. Meals start with warm pretzel bread and sweet butter. I consistently hear yapping from restaurant owners about how bread is an added expense and inhibits customers from buying appetizers. This palette pleasing starter just teed us up the rest of our meal and is def a value added for this upper end eatery