Knife & Co. has opened very recently in Tampa and it's a spot I've been excited about for a while now. Its chef and co-owner, Gary Moran, is a pedigreed chef, having worked under Eric Ripert at Le Bernadin (one of the top 50 restaurants in the world) and at other famous institutions such as Tavern on the Green and Bouley in Manhattan. More recently, he's been the chef at Datz in South Tampa and now, with the help of his wife and a business partner, Moran has opened his own space on Kennedy Boulevard in the building formerly occupied by Algusto's.
Knife & Co. opened their doors last Thursday, November 3rd, and I was fortunate enough to be able to sample their lunch offerings.
The space is cleanly decorated, in a contemporary mixture of wood, stainless steel, concrete and tile. A long bar lines the east wall, and leads down to a very open kitchen where Chef Gary can be seen hard at work. The bar has 8 draft beers, most of which are microbrews from southern states including a couple from Tampa's own Cigar City Brewing. The wine list is short but very tasteful, and the bottled beer list is equally such.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.