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A Taste of History at The Columbia Cafe - Cooking Demos
The Tampa Bay History Center and the Columbia Cafe are partnering to bring you A Taste of History. Beginning in September, three culinary workshops will explore the origins and stories behind several of the Columbia Restaurants’ signature dishes.
September 8th - The Columbia''s Original "1905" SaladTM
September 15th - Columbia''s Cuban Sandwich
September 22nd - Columbia Sangria & Bread Pudding
Andrew Huse, USF Librarian and author of The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating 100 Years of History, Culture and Cuisine, will begin each program with the history of each dish and how it evolved over time.
Under the direction of the Columbia Cafe’s Executive Chef, you’ll then build your own Cuban Sandwich, mix your own 1905 Salad and stir your own batch of red sangria.
A Taste of History begins Wednesday, September 8th at 6:00 p.m. in TECO Hall. Cost for each session is $35 for History Center members and $40 for non-members. Registration for the three-workshop series is $95 for members and $110 for non-members.
Seating is limited and pre-registration is required. For more information, please contact Visitor Services at (813) 228-0097 ext. 0.
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Restaurant Week in Tampa Bay - August 29th - September 6th
Join us for Restaurant Week, from Sunday, August 29th through Monday, September 6th, when diners can take advantage of amazing deals at many of the Tampa Bay area''s finest restaurants, including The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, The Columbia in Downtown St. Petersburg at The Pier, The Columbia in Clearwater Beach on Sand Key, and The Columbia Café on The Riverwalk in Tampa.
For more information, and Restaurant Week menus, please visit:
http://www.visittampabay.com/dine-tampa-bay-2010/
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“1905 Day” Is Coming!
On Sunday, September 19th, all six Columbia Restaurants will roll back their prices for “1905 Day” to celebrate the 105th ANNIVERSARY of the fourth and fifth generation family-owned business. As has been the tradition since their 75th Anniversary, the Columbia has developed a special menu with the prices of yesteryear for this day.
From noon until 7:00 p.m. on “1905” Day, guests will enjoy the Columbia Restaurant’s world-famous Spanish cuisine for the prices they might have paid in the “good ole days”. Menu items will include:
Chicken & Yellow Rice “Ybor” for $2.95
Boliche (eye round of beef) for $2.95
Merluza “A la Rusa” for $2.95
Columbia’s Original “1905 Salad” for $1.95
Sangria for $.95 cents
Flan for $.50 cents
Richly-brewed American coffee for $.05 cents
On this day only, reservations are not accepted, and to go and take-out items are not available. The Columbia Restaurant was founded in 1905 and is Florida’s oldest restaurant. All Columbia Restaurants are owned and operated by 4th and 5th generation members of the founding family.
“1905 Day” takes place at the Columbia Restaurants* in Tampa’s Ybor City, Sarasota, St. Augustine, The Pier in St. Petersburg, Sand Key on Clearwater Beach and Celebration. All Columbia Restaurants are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
* The Columbia Café on the Riverwalk at the Tampa Bay History Center in Downtown Tampa will not offer the "1905 Day" menu, but will be open and serving from their regular menu.
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Richards’ Run For Life 5K on Friday, November 5th
This years’ Richards’ Run For Life takes place on Friday, November 5th, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Ybor City’s Centennial Park. Sign up now at: www.richardsrunforlife.org
Register early to receive a T-shirt!
100% of the proceeds will benefit the Advanced Prostate Cancer Collaboration (APCC) at Moffitt Cancer Center.
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Columbia Menu for Takeout
Our Columbia lunch and dinner menu items are available for takeout. Please call one of the six Columbia Restaurants or the Columbia Café on the Riverwalk in Tampa to place your order, and for pick-up details.
Please click here to find one of our Columbia’s that is near you to call in a takeout order.
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The Columbia Adds Vegetarian Choices to Menu
The Columbia Restaurant has added vegetarian choices to their lunch and dinner menu in their six locations that include Ybor City, Sarasota, St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Clearwater Beach and Celebration.
Vegetarians and those looking for healthier menu choices will find three dinner entrees to choose from, and a lunch entrée to try in our vegetarian section. Also listed are menu items that can be made vegetarian.
Vegetarian Dinner Entrees
Eggplant “Riojana”
Sliced eggplant breaded with ground plantain crumbs, smothered in our rich Rioja sauce of tomatoes, garlic, capers, olives and red wine topped with melted Galician Tetilla cheese.
Pasta con Trufas “Cristalino”
Fresh pasta pockets stuffed with truffles and cheese simmered in a rich creamy sauce made with Spain’s premium Cava sparkling wine, Cristalino.
Vegetarian “Cubana”
Yuca, black beans, white rice, platanos, tostones and sautéed fresh vegetables.
Vegetarian Lunch Entree
Eggplant “Riojana”
Sliced eggplant breaded with ground plantain crumbs, smothered in our rich Rioja sauce of tomatoes, garlic, capers, olives and red wine topped with melted Galician Tetilla cheese.
Soups – by the cup, or bowl
Cuban Black Bean and Rice Soup – a bowl is very large, enough for a meal.
Frijoles Negros prepared exactly like our grandmother, Carmen Hernandez did. Served over a bed of white rice and topped with diced raw Spanish onions. 100% vegetarian. tanos, tostones and sautéed fresh vegetables.
Gazpacho Andaluz -Spain’s famous cold soup of puree of ripe tomatoes, green peppers, onions, cucumbers and garlic. Topped tableside with finely diced vegetables and toasted Cuban croutons.
Menu Items that can be made Vegetarian
Tapas
Black Bean Cakes – ask for without guacamole and sour cream.
Salads
Beefsteak Tomato Salad – ask for without cheese
This was the favorite salad of our father, Cesar Gonzmart. Thick sliced beefsteak tomatoes, topped with sliced red onions, and crumbled Spanish Cabrales cheese. Served with extra virgin olive oil and Sherry wine vinegar.
Columbia’s Original "1905" SaladTM This can be ordered without cheese and ham.
The Columbia''s legendary salad tossed at your table. Crisp iceberg lettuce with julienne of baked ham, natural Swiss cheese, tomato, olives, grated Romano cheese and our famous garlic dressing (our 100 year old family recipe of fresh garlic, oregano, wine vinegar and Spanish extra virgin olive oil).
Entree
We also have an assortment of side items that when combined, make a nice platter, including Platanos, Mushrooms and Yuca. These can be combined with yellow rice.
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Enjoy Waterfront Views at the Columbia Cafe on the Tampa Riverwalk
Enjoy waterfront drinks, tapas and World-Famous “1905” Salad™ with a waterfront view at The Columbia Cafe on the Riverwalk in Tampa. The Columbia Cafe is inside the Tampa Bay History Center, next to the St. Pete Times Forum.
The Columbia Café offers a full bar and serves lunch and dinner daily with an outdoor terrace on the water, and waterfront indoor seating.
The menu has been chosen to reflect some of the traditional Spanish and Cuban dishes that have made our family restaurant famous for over 100 years.
The Columbia Café is open from 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m daily. There is an admission-free entrance on the Channelside Riverwalk.
Address:
801 Old Water Street #1905
Tampa, FL 33602
Telephone: 813-229-5511
E-mail: columbiacafe@columbiarestaurant.com
Hours: 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Serving Lunch & Dinner daily, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
Children''s Menu
Banquet space available
Founded in 1905 by Cuban immigrant Casimiro Hernandez, Sr., the Columbia Restaurant is Florida’s oldest restaurant and the world’s largest Spanish restaurant. Locations include the flagship restaurant in Tampa’s Historic Ybor City, St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, the Historic District in St. Augustine, The Pier in St. Petersburg, Sand Key on Clearwater Beach, Central Florida''s town of Celebration, and the Columbia Café on the Riverwalk at the Tampa Bay History Center. All Columbia Restaurants are owned and operated by 4th and 5th generation members of the founding family.
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Richard Gonzmart Interview on WEDU-TV
Richard Gonzmart was recently featured on WEDU-TV on the Suncoast Business Forum. Tune in for a fascinating discussion of the legends and myths of The Columbia, a 104-year-old family business.
Please click here to see the Columbia WEDU-TV interview.
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Columbia on Facebook
The Columbia Restaurant is on Facebook. You can view videos and photos, read about special events sponsored by The Columbia, and get information about all the restaurant locations.
You can also post your own videos and photos about The Columbia, and share stories about your experience at our restaurants.
Please click here to see the Columbia Facebook page
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The Gonzmart Family and The Columbia Featured on The Today Show
Richard and Andrea Gonzmart were interviewed live on The Today show by Al Roker on Thursday, January 29, 2009. Viewers nationwide enjoyed hearing about Florida’s oldest restaurant, owned and operated by members of the 4th and 5th generations of the founding family.
They also learned what makes a Tampa Cuban Sandwich unique. …(it’s the salami!) The Columbia’s Original "1905" Salad,™ named one of “One of America’s Top 10 Best Salads” in USA Today, along with Paella were sample by Mr. Roker.
The Columbia Restaurant Flamenco dancers were also featured on the show. The Today show televised their broadcast live from Ybor City as part of their pre-Super Bowl Coverage.
If you didn’t get to see The Columbia’s interview, or the Flamenco dancers performance, you can view both of them at Youtube.com, (type in “Columbia Restaurant Today show”) or on the Columbia’s Facebook page,
Please click here to see the Columbia Facebook page
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The Columbia Offers Gluten Free Menu Items
For a list of gluten free menu items, please see list below:
Spanish Bean Soup
Black Bean Soup
“1905” Salad
Lula Mae Salad
Beefsteak Tomato Salad
Chicken & Yellow Rice
Roast Pork
Palomilla
Shrimp Criollo
Paellas
Mahi Mahi Cayo Hueso
Mussels y Chorizo
Queso Fundido
Shrimp Ajillo
Flan
Crema Catalana
Moros y Cristianos
Snapper Bilbao
Filet Mignon
Delmonico Sonny
Pollo Valencia
Snapper Adelita can be made if not dusted with flour, just seasoned and grilled. Topping is okay.
Ternera Isabella can be made if not dusted with flour, just seasoned and grilled.
These Sauces Are Not Gluten Free
Boliche Sauce
Columbia Sauce
Barcelona Sauce
Alicante Sauce
Chacho Sauce
Amontillado Sauce
Mornay Sauce
What is gluten?
Gluten, is a mixture of proteins present in the cereal grains. The long molecules of gluten, insoluble in water, are strong and flexible and form many cross linkages. This gives flour its characteristic chewiness and permits breads and cakes to rise during baking as the gases within expand and are trapped in the gluten superstructure. Various flours have different ratios of gluten to starch (called hardness) and are appropriate for different types of foodstuffs. Thus soft flour is used for cakes, harder flour for pastry, hard flour for bread, and the hardest, or durum, for pasta. The hereditary disease called nontropical sprue is characterized by an inability to digest gluten. In this disease the gluten acts as an antigen (see immunity) and forms immune complexes that cause damage to the mucus lining of the intestine.
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Columbia’s "1905" SaladTM Selected as “One of America’s Top 10 Best Salads”
The Columbia’s Original "1905" SaladTM was selected as “One of America’s Top 10 Best Salads” by the Salad Guy, author Wiley Mullins in USA Today. The Columbia is the only restaurant in Florida named to this list.
Wiley Mullins, author of Salad Makes the Meal: 150 Simple and Inspired Salad Recipes Everyone Will Love, shared his list of favorite places in the United States with Kathy Baruffi for USA Today.
Regarding the Columbia, Mullins says, “The 1905 Salad is famous throughout Florida, and salad lovers travel near and far to enjoy it. No wonder it’s trademarked!” “Tossed and created at your table, this masterpiece of a meal includes the juiciest beefsteak tomatoes you’ve ever tasted, lettuce, tender baked ham, Romano and Swiss cheeses, olives and a deliciously smooth garlic dressing.”
The others places named to the list include Ching’s Table in New Canaan, Conn; City Grocery Café in Oxford, Miss.; Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, NY; Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.; 84 High Street in Westerly, RI; Café Pasquals in Santa Fe, NM; Firefly in Lenox, Mass.; Hall Street Grill in Beaverton, Ore.; and True in Mobile, Ala.
Link to story: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/10great/2008-05-08-10-great_N.htm
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Columbia Restaurant Removes Grouper from the Menu In All of Their Restaurants
TAMPA, Fla., May 1, 2007 - - The Columbia Restaurant has removed grouper from the lunch and dinner menus of its six restaurants in Florida. “We are taking a pro-active response to the difficulty in meeting the demand for authentic Florida grouper by taking all grouper items off of our menu,” said Richard Gonzmart, President and 4th generation family member for the Columbia Restaurant Group.
“We will offer grouper as a special only if we receive the entire fish from our supplier, not just a fillet; this way ensuring that we know we are serving what we say we’re serving,” he said.
Grouper is a prize catch because diners like its mild flavor and white, flaky meat. Florida is known for grouper because it''s caught in the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, or from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In the opinion of Gonzmart, the best grouper comes from the Gulf of Mexico.
Grouper also comes into the state of Florida from all over the world. More than seventy different species of grouper are imported into the United States, including Asian grouper that sells at half the cost of the kind caught in Florida.*1
“On top of that trade, unscrupulous businesses sell cheaper fish under the grouper name”, said Bob Jones, executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, which represents Florida fisheries, importers and exporters.*2
The Florida Attorney General''s Office recently tested fish sold as grouper at 24 restaurants in the Tampa area and found that 17 served a different fish.*3
“We will never compromise our family’s name and reputation by serving our guests any kind of substitute item. If we say it is grouper, it will be grouper caught in Florida,” Gonzmart said.
Gonzmart recently took a grouper sandwich off of The Columbia’s lunch menu and in its place is serving a Mahi Mahi Cubana Sandwich, which is Mahi Mahi seasoned and topped with sautéed onions, mushrooms, green peppers and smothered with cheese on Cuban bread.
He also took Florida grouper off the dinner menu, and is serving a newly created crabmeat dish called Langosta y Jaiba Enchilado, a mildly spicy sauce of Maine lobster meat and blue crabmeat, tomato, onions, green peppers, garlic, oregano, white wine and chili peppers, served over pasta. The Columbia is also working with other fresh fish from Florida and with a variety of fish from around the world for their menus and daily specials.
The Columbia Restaurant was founded in 1905 and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. Locations include the flagship restaurant in Tampa’s Historic Ybor City, St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, the Historic District in St. Augustine, The Pier in St. Petersburg, Sand Key on Clearwater Beach and in Central Florida''s town of Celebration. All Columbia Restaurants are owned and operated by 4th and 5th generation members of the founding family.
Please see www.columbiarestaurant.com for more information.
Sources: *1, *2 and *3 Florida Times-Union --February 13, 2007
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Longtime Waiter Appointed Columbia Ambassador - Will Lead Free Tours of Columbia Ybor City
Now you can experience a walk through Over 100 Years of Columbia Restaurant History with a guide who has over 50 years of first-hand knowledge.
Joe Roman, 80, started working at the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa’s Historic Ybor City in 1954 at the age of 26. He has always taken great pride in his work and it earned him a good living, on which he raised two sons with his wife of 59 years.
In 2002, after 48 years of work, Joe began to cut back on his hours due to problems with his knees, and then had to retire. He was very distressed that this meant he would not reach 50 years of service.
“We knew how important it was to Joe for him to reach that milestone,” said Gonzmart. “We created a position just for him in conjunction with our 100-year anniversary in 2005. Joe has been named our "Columbia Restaurant Ambassador." In this role, he continues what he does best, greeting guests and sharing the Columbia story with them. He will be giving tours of the restaurant. We don''t have to train him in our history, he lived it first hand.”
You can enjoy your own free tour of Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City with Joe anytime from 12-2 p.m. Monday –Friday. There is no formal sign up sheet, you can let your server know that you’d like to take the tour with Joe, and your server will have Joe visit your table and lead you on the tour at your convenience.
Joe Roman is a favorite among guests because he often spontaneously breaks into song. He earned his nickname, “The Singer Waiter,” in 1962, the year the first song that he sang to guests was released, Tony Bennett’s classic, I Left My Heart In San Francisco.
Joe has built his entire life around working as a waiter. He and his wife have two sons and four grandchildren. He was able to raise his family entirely on his salary as a waiter. He was born and raised in Ybor City, and takes great pride in sharing the history of the area with visitors and locals alike.
Joe has also received other honors for his loyalty and longevity. “For his dedication to his work and to our family, we inducted Joe into our Columbia Restaurant Hall of Fame in 2000,” said Richard Gonzmart, fourth generation owner of the Columbia. “We created our Hall of Fame to honor employees who have contributed to the legacy of Columbia Restaurant.”
In 2006, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio proclaimed August 16, 2006 as “Joe Roman Day” in the City of Tampa, Florida, to honor Columbia Restaurant’s Ambassador for over 50 Years of Service in the Hospitality Industry, along with acknowledging Mr. Roman’s commitment and dedication that have made a lasting impact on our community and its citizens.
In August of 2004 Joe was honored as the recipient of the Iris D. Larson Hospitality Award at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism held in Orlando, Florida.
The Iris D. Larson Hospitality Award was created to recognize hospitality/tourism industry professionals who exemplify the qualities of selfless spirit of service and leadership in their work experience.
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