Columbia: Florida’s Oldest Restaurant

In 1905, Casimiro Hernandez, Sr. founded Columbia. Today, it is Florida’s oldest restaurant as well as the world’s largest Spanish restaurant. The original location still receives much traffic today in Tampa’s historic Y-Bor City. Due to the immense popularity, six other locations have opened in different parts of the Bay including: Sarasota, Sand Key, St. Augustine, Celebration, Riverwalk Tampa, and the Tampa airport. Since moving to the Bay, I have been really impressed by the eclectic dining scene. Columbia is my favorite upscale dining option and definitely the one I would most recommend to new tourists.

Not surprisingly, this local gem has won many awards over the years for its’ outstanding Spanish cuisine. The menu features an extensive assortment of dishes to suit everyone’s personal taste. While they only offer a limited vegetarian menu, everything I have tried has been wonderful.

Each location offers its’ own unique setting, however, an evening visit to the original Y-Bor city location features the added bonus of live flamenco dancers. This dining room is also the most beautiful. I love dining here over the holiday season. All locations feature the same fabulous award-winning Spanish/Cuban cuisine.

The Sand Key restaurant, however, wins the award for the most beautiful al fresco dining. The patio overlooks Clearwater Bay and has been rated one of the most scenic restaurants by Opentable. The vibe at this location is the most low-key and relaxed, so a great choice if you are on vacation seeking a nice, but casual dining choice. You really cannot beat the views here!

Sarasota’s oldest restaurant

The Sarasota location opened in 1959, making it the oldest restaurant in the city. It also seems to be the most popular in the area, as evidenced by the number of tourists enjoying the patio dining on any given day. This particular restaurant is located in beautiful St. Armand’s Circle. This gorgeous outdoor shopping destination is the perfect place to stroll around before or after your meal. The interior is very pretty with beautiful statues, paintings, and plenty of tropical trees. The patio dining is a bit more relaxed for those wishing to come in after a tiresome day at the beach. Dining here is a great choice after a day relaxing in the beautiful quartz white sands of Siesta Key Beach.

Home of the famous Cuban Black Beans

Columbia is most famous for their Cuban Black Bean soup, a simple yet delicious combination of seasoned black beans, white rice, and onions. Most tourists order the “1905 Salad,” alongside the soup. In fact, on our first visit here, there was not a table in the restaurant that wasn’t ordering this mixture of iceberg lettuce, baked ham, Swiss cheese, olives, tomatoes, Romano Cheese, and garlic dressing. The salad was named for the year in which the original Y-Bor city restaurant opened. Unfortunately, as a vegetarian I had to skip out as it was premade with ham.

That being said, I absolutely love their Cuban Black Beans. Thankfully, it is vegetarian friendly so anyone can enjoy this savory starter. This dish is so amazing that I spent months trying to duplicate it at home and finally made a recipe that is pretty similar. This has become one of our family’s top dishes.

Spanish dining at its’ best

The menu features a large selection of Tapas, which are large sized appetizers meant to be shared across the table. Tapas are very popular in Spanish cuisine. Black bean cakes, shrimp sauteed in olive oil and garlic, shrimp and crabmeat casserole, and sliced chorizo and onion sauteed in olive oil are just a few of the treats on the menu. I really love the Black Bean cakes which are served alongside a side of sour cream and guacamole.

The extensive seafood selection includes: a variety of Red Grouper, Shrimp, Salmon, and Mahi Mahi dishes. Meat entrees include various Filet Mignon, Roast Pork, and Chicken dishes. Mike loves the Chicken and Yellow Rice “Ybor” which includes a delicious assortment of yellow rice, peppers, tomatoes, onions, spices, and olive oil topped with baked chicken. The Chicken Salteado, featuring sautéed boneless chicken, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic, mushrooms, and diced potatoes in a red wine sauce, is another of his favorites.

You will find a variety of Paella dishes, including a vegetarian option. Paella is a rice dish originating from Spain. The dish combines meats, vegetables, beans, and spices with a variety of flavors. The Paella Vegetariana dish was excellent – a great combination of all sorts of vegetables and beans (artichoke hearts, green beans, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, onions, and La Bomba Spanish rice cooked with a saffron broth). I really love this dish – it is one of the best in the Bay in my opinion.

Don’t forget about dessert!

Most of the time, I do not order desserts in a restaurant as I am way too stuffed to even consider anything. Occasionally, I make an exception on a birthday or special occasion. The one dessert I’ve tried here, Guava Cheesecake, was really delicious. They only offer a few options such as Key Lime Pie, Churros, and Flan, but they all sound delicious. I also love their house coffee. They also serve espresso and after dinner drinks.

Even Vegetarians can enjoy a meal here!

Fortunately, in recent years they have added a few more vegetarian options, although these are still limited. Black Bean cakes (mentioned above), the Black Bean soup, Paella Vegetarian, Queso dip with Cuban bread points, a tomato based salad, and Stuffed silver dollar mushrooms (spinach, artichokes, romano cheese), Eggplant Riojana give a few more options for veggie lovers.

There are a lot of great local dining options in the Bay metro, but this long running favorite is the best choice for those seeking authentic Spanish/Cuban cuisine. If you find yourself in any of the aforementioned cities, be sure to plan a lunch or dinner stop at one of the world’s best Spanish restaurants.