Technically, the closing of Restaurant BT’s Hyde Park location and its phoenix-like re-emergence in the now-thriving MacDill restaurant scene doesn’t qualify it as “new,” but for all intents and purposes BT has been reborn. The space is considerably smaller, elegant but humble, a far cry from its sprawling former home. And the chef herself — BT Nguyen — seems to have rediscovered the core of her cooking style, producing fabulous dishes that are familiar to her fans, but display a hell of a lot more soul than they did in the Hyde Park years. 2507 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa, 813-258-1916, restaurantbt.com.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2011.