It's time to get naked.
Water Street Tampa is quickly becoming one of Tampa Bay’s hotspots for refined dining, and its newest addition—the farm-to-table restaurant Naked Farmer—will bolster that reputation even more when it debuts this weekend.
The farm-fresh eatery will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, Feb. 26 by giving out free tote bags filled with locally-grown vegetables to the first 200 diners. Naked Farmer is located in Water Street’s Raybon Plaza at 1001 Water St.— right next to the USF College of Medicine building and the recently-closed (and wildly popular) art exhibition Tampa Fresh Foods.
Driven by its main goal of serving local and seasonal ingredients, Naked Farmer provides a ton of information about its mission, ethos, and methodology on its website where it says that “chefs know the farmers by their first name,” as the restaurant has created its own direct supply chain with farms in Florida and beyond.
Although the farms Naked Farmer works with change depending on availability and seasonality, the restaurant currently works with St. Pete's Brick Street Farms, L& M Farms (Palatka), Dakin Dairy (Myakka City), Worden Farms (Punta Gorda), Perro Family (Delray Beach) and CB Farms (Clewiston).
And in terms of the menu, Naked Farmer offers a rotating, seasonal selection of dishes, and focuses on a build-your-own bowl style of ordering. Its current winter menu features roasted sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, roasted beets and parsnips and charred lemon and garlic broccoli.
And while there are several meat options like grilled salmon, chicken breast and grass-fed beef, there are also protein-rich vegan and vegetarian options which include grilled portobello mushrooms and eggplant with tomato pesto.
Alongside its harvest bowls and family meals are various types of sparkling waters, organic teas, lemonade, wine and locally-brewed beer.
The smallest bowl starts at $11. According to a press release, all proceeds from Naked Farmer’s opening day this weekend will benefit Metropolitan Ministries, a Tampa-based nonprofit that helps those experiencing homelessness.
The folks behind Naked Farmer are self-described as “on a mission to build a better food system from the ground up by feeding you the most local, farm-fresh food from nearby.”
On the Naked Farmer website, you’ll also find its “No List,” which states that none of its food includes GMOs, hydrogenated fats, artificial coloring or flavoring, artificial sweeteners, refined vegetable oils, antibiotics or hormones.
This is only Naked Farmer’s third restaurant, with its other two locations in downtown St. Petersburg and Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf—which both opened within the last few years.
Tampa’s newest farm-to-table restaurant will be open 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday-Sundays. Naked Farmer will offer both indoor and outdoor seating, as well as catering and third party delivery services.
And be sure not to confuse Naked Farmer with Bare Naked Kitchen—another health-forward, bowled-up restaurant that just debuted in South Tampa last month.
More highly-anticipated eateries set to debut throughout Water Street Tampa include Boulon Brassiere, Asian fusion spot Wagamama, Small Giant Bar and Restaurant, Noble Rice, Wine on Water and The Pearl—among many other upcoming concepts.
