For downtown St. Pete's Ichicoro Ane, the straightforward description "eating and drinking den" couldn't be more fitting. The new Japanese-inspired restaurant below Station House is intimate, dimly lit and lively, but not in an irksome sort of way, during a private cocktail party on Wednesday night, and I can't help but think, I kinda want to overstay my welcome here — with this cocktail.
That cocktail is Black Mage, a crazy-delicious combination of charcoal amaro, lime, pineapple and IPA (CL touched on activated charcoal's in-vogue-ness last month). It's one of the best drinks I've ever had, and also super Instagrammable.
Other cocktails whose names pay homage to the beloved Final Fantasy game series/universe were mixed throughout the evening, including Golden Saucer (gin, miso, lemon, rose water) and Megalixir (rum, banana, pineapple, lemon, orgeat).
Guests also chowed down on passed hors d'oeuvres for a taste of what's to come. There were bites like tuna poke, yakitori, hana yasai (fried cauliflower, gochujang buffalo sauce, oshinko), and karaage, the addictive Japanese-style fried chicken that folks who frequent Ane's smaller Tampa-based sibling, Ichicoro Ramen, probably know all too well.
As you enter, it's clear the minds behind Ane — chef-partner Noel Cruz, partner Robert Vergara, managing partner Kerem Koca and co-chef Branden Lenz — have put as much thought into the sophisticated, 6,000-square-foot place as they did with Ramen in Seminole Heights.
For one, the slatted-wall divisions separating each of the restaurant's "experiences" — the ramen-only room (seriously, you can't order ramen anywhere else while hanging at Ane), the main dining area, the main bar and the soon-to-be-completed lounge (where Station House's GWR used to be) — help Ane achieve a multilayered atmosphere as promised.
"We love the artistry of design and use of space, creating different moods and atmospheres with music and lighting and ambiance," Cruz told CL in August. "I think we'll really get to show all that."
The restaurant will start with dinner when the doors open to the public on Sunday, then expand into big brunch parties as well as lunch. Here, Cruz said during the sneak-peek event, the idea is to lure someone who's dropped in for a drink to the ramen shop, or get a group of diners to the bar after a meal. Who knows? Maybe you'll even discover all four experiences in one visit.
Now, take a little look inside the buzzed-about Ane, and refresh your memory on it's plans for St. Pete.
(P.S. one of our photogs, Nicole Abbett, was on-site holding down @cltampabay's Instagram Story last night, so be sure to check that out on mobile, too.)
