A little over a year ago — Wednesday, June 3, 2009 — patrons of the Spanish eatery Valencia Gardens in downtown Tampa were stunned and saddened to discover locks on the doors of the Kennedy Boulevard restaurant, which had been serving the political class in Tampa since 1927. There was no final week of celebratory meals. No last supper. Nothing left but to mourn the place where, in the words of Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto, "more business was conducted over a bowl of Spanish bean soup and café con leche on a daily basis than anywhere else in town."
So a year later, where do movers and shakers go when they want a good lunch with a side of wheeling and dealing?
For Tampa's highest elected official, Mayor Pam Iorio, two places have become favorites over the past year. One is Algusto's, the Mexican restaurant virtually across the street from the venerated VG on Kennedy Boulevard (the mayor loves the food and the prices); the other is Mise en Place. She can depend on getting a good and healthy meal there, and knows she'll find "lots of people… I can talk to about city stuff," she said in an e-mail.
We asked her if it was true that she had her own favorite table at Mise. She said yes, though she insisted that it certainly wasn't designated for her alone.
Which is a good thing, because we'd heard that Tampa's first woman mayor, Sandy Freedman, also has a favorite table at the restaurant — the same table.
One insider told CL that he was there one day when both mayors arrived for lunch. Mise en Place owner Maryann Ferenc recalls the incident, too, and laughs about it, but she's not exactly sure how the potentially awkward situation was resolved.
Located just west of downtown Tampa, Mise en Place has been a buzzed-about restaurant since opening in its old location on Platt Street in 1986. And since the demise of Valencia Gardens, Ferenc is drawing even more business from the city's ruling elite.
The restaurant has long had politics on the menu. For the past decade, the adjacent Lafayette Room has been rented out for confabs with various high-profile national Democrats (including former party chairs Howard Dean and Terry McAuliffe, Virginia U.S. Senator Mark Warner, actor Leonardo DiCaprio stumping for Barack Obama, and Dennis Kucinich), as well as for local Democrats and Republicans.
Former Mayor Freedman says Mise has been a favorite of hers since it opened. "I like the food and I've known Maryann and Marty forever," she says of Ferenc and chef Marty Blitz. "I like the ambience; it's civilized. Not fast food. Not noisy, noisy." Freedman even digs the cloth napkins.
City Councilman John Dingfelder has also been known to frequent Mise, a place where he can "always count on running into another elected official or some of my constituents there… and the food is great too!"
Former City Councilman and now mayoral candidate Bob Buckhorn has been known to work the room wherever he's dining. He says it took him three months to cope with Valencia Gardens' closing, but he does have a few other favorites, include 220 East on Davis Islands, NoHo Bistro on Armenia Avenue and what he calls his political office in exile, the Irish pub Four Green Fields.
Power lunching isn't restricted to downtown. The West Tampa Sandwich Shop is a prime gathering spot for political insiders, and it's a key stop for many campaigns. This reporter was there when Tipper Gore packed the place months before the epic 2000 presidential election, and when Janet Cruz made an appearance during the special House District 58 race this past winter.
Other West Tampa Cuban restaurants of note include El Gallo De Oro (where former Judge E. J. Salcines has been known to congregate), the mom-and-pop Arco-Iris on Columbus Avenue and La Ideal Sandwich Shop off of Tampa Bay Boulevard.
Other Tampa hot spots for politicos include the University Club and Tampa Club in downtown Tampa, as well the Palm, Bin 27, J Alexander's and the Capital Grille, while City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena says she likes the funky Café Hey just north of downtown.
St. Petersburg has its favored lunchrooms as well. Mayor Bill Foster cites three: Parkshore Grill on Beach Drive, the Coney Island Sandwich Shop on MLK and Munch's in South St. Pete, which he calls "a wonderful burger joint." St. Petersburg Times CEO Paul Tash is known to frequent the posh St. Pete Yacht Club; other Times staffers have also been eyed there as well, and not just when the club is hosting a Suncoast Tiger Bay Club event.
Italian eatery Bella Brava has become a popular gathering spot, and St. Pete political blogger Peter Schorsch says that Kahwa Coffee draws officials like former Mayor Rick Baker for the occasional cup of java.
County Commissioner Ken Welch says the place for power lunches in Pinellas is Tucson's Grill off of Ulmerton Road in Clearwater, where both the Democratic and Republican Executive Committees hold meetings. His pal Rick Kriseman, state Representative in St. Pete, mentions the Habana Cafe in Gulfport, and BJ's Brewhouse and Da Sesto Italiano in Pinellas Park.
Besides good food, what makes a restaurant the go-to place for politicians? Most elected officials we spoke to really couldn't define it, but as a Supreme Court justice once said about pornography, "You know it when you see it."
Mise en Place's Maryann Ferenc says she's glad her establishment can be the town square for people to relax and talk about what's on their minds. "I think that's the purpose of a restaurant, where people can meet up spontaneously and you can exchange and touch base with people. It gives us the community sense."
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.