Your first reaction to Ciro’s Speakeasy — the newest venture by veteran Tampa restaurateur Gordon Davis, with partner Ro Patel — could be stunned admiration. It won’t be, but not because the restaurant/lounge isn’t amazing. You just won’t be able to see enough to judge when you first walk in.
Ciro’s is the kind of place that, by design, seeps into your consciousness throughout your first visit, thanks to the thoughtful lighting scheme (almost oppressively dark throughout) and the calculated lack of publicity. The place has no website and buys no advertising, playing it so coy you might have trouble finding the front door hidden at the bottom of a condominium building at the south end of Howard Avenue.
But you need to find it, and give it a little time, because Ciro’s is stunning.
It makes sense that the first thing you take in will be the lounge area, illuminated largely by two discs of blacklit aquarium that are home to the languorous undulations of live jellyfish glowing in the ultraviolet light. Cleverly placed mirrors give your struggling eyes the impression that the lounge continues in rooms off to both sides. It took me 15 minutes just to realize that I’d been tricked, and the low-ceilinged space was all there was.
Beautiful and smart, but the real show is at the small bar on one end, where the resident mixologists display creativity that shows that Ciro’s charms are much more than skin deep.
The cocktail list reads like a retro-modern bar fantasy: old drinks made with modern ingredients, new drinks made in the old ways. Go on a weeknight, when it’s slower, to appreciate the touches that set this bar apart from pretty much every bar in the Bay area. Garnishes cut and prepared as you order, precise measurements of each ingredient, tiny samples taken by disposable stirrers to ensure the proper balance of flavors — care is taken with each drink made at Ciro’s.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.