Located at 1919 E 7th Ave., in the former Stone Soup Company location, the new space revolves around its “apothecary” bar (which is a fancy term for a craft cocktail bar with a lot of bottles) serves a variety of both N/A and alcoholic cocktails—plus a marketplace filled with specialized goods and a food program that Chef Suz calls its “supporting member.” Chef Suz told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the restaurant can seat 52 people, plus eight more at the bar and 26 people upstairs.
Lara has been open for a couple weekends now, with a drink-only menu. But just last weekend, the food menu was introduced to the public, and emphasizes global comfort food with a Tampa twist, including elevated bar snacks like charcoal Maduro skewers and tuna tostado, as well as more adventurous dishes like white curry and chochoyotes.
“We’re definitely not scared,” said Chef Suz in a recent conversation with CL. “We’ll see what Ybor will let me get away with, but hopefully I can have some fun and maybe inspire some other chefs to have some fun too.”
In a way, Lara is 20 years in the making for Chef Suz, who started her culinary journey as a dishwasher at Tampa’s now-closed Viva La Frida, eventually becoming a line cook. She then helped open Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe and helmed its kitchen as the Executive Chef for about a decade before helping open Cass Street Deli in 2019. She also worked as Rooster & the Till’s sous chef in 2021 while finalizing business plans for Lara’s eventual debut.
Longtime fans of Chef Suz, will probably notice Lara’s staff is filled with a few “MVPs” and familiar faces from both Ella’s and Rooster & the Till.
“It’s already running so smooth and better than I can imagine,” add Chef Suz, “because the team is so strong and you have that camaraderie and work together for so long, and we’re all hustlers, and we’re all self managing.”
As of now the marketplace component of the concept is still in the works, but dinner and bar service is open Thursday-Saturday, from 5 p.m.-midnight, and Sundays noon-6 p.m.
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This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2025.