"Airie in the City" A Visit to PONTE Midtown's Newest Restaurant: Camisole Dress + Vintage Slingbacks

Dash Away All Hunter Green Maxi Dress: Red Dress Boutique, not recent, love this dress here.

Slingbacks: Vintage, not recent

Necklace: Kendra Scott

Elton Bangle: Kendra Scott

Cuff: Kendra Scott

Grayson bangle: Kendra Scott

Bangle: Kendra Scott

Earrings: C/O Ettika

Anklets: C/O Ettika

Lipstick: MAC Ruby Woo

PONTE

Midtown Tampa

Review and photos below.

Well, I have been waiting a long time for Ponte Modern American Cuisine to open and that finally is now! Ponte by the James Beard-nominated chef’, Chef Chris Ponte (also the Chef at OLIVIA & On Swann) soft opened last week(end), Thursday to be exact. The restaurant is like a classic Steakhouse, but there are modern touches throughout the menu that nod to a younger generation such as the modern gimlet (shown below).

Securing a reservation is a tricky waiting game right now because reservations are limited. I can tell you without a doubt my husband and I were brimming with excitement that a new upscale restaurant has been added to our amazing neighborhood in South Tampa.

The restaurant is beautiful, let's be honest everything constructed at Midtown Tampa is beautiful, but I love the distinct clean lines in the architecture and design of the building and space. The lighting is really nice and they have areas that are dim too. There is a separate bar area as well as out doors seating and free valet.

With it being our anniversary dinner we obviously were going all out (we usually don't need an excuse though). The menu is pretty straightforward and there were only 2 items that I wanted that could not be adjusted to make them gluten free; the caviar Blinis and the Escargot.

We had what I felt was really the best seat which overlooked the kitchen behind almost floor to ceiling glass windows. There are a lot of Chef's in the kitchen at once! I was actually allowed to go in the kitchen which was so cool and everyone was pretty excited.

The dinner was well paced with three courses.

Raw Kushi Oysters (highly recommend)

Salads:

Beet salad: red endive, gost cheese, Asian pears, citrus, mint. (highly recommend)

Modern Cesar salad with endive and lemon anchovy dressing (gluten free without the croutons).

Kampachi Crudo (highly recommend)

Mushroom soup: wild mushroom, Black truffle crème trumpet dust. (highly recommend)

Steaks and accompanying sides:

Denver steak Wagyu from Snake River Farms

Ribeye

Asparagus truffle Sabayon (gluten free without the panko crumbs).

Japanese White sweet potato. (highly recommend)

Whipped Yukon gold mashed potatoes

Finally desert:

Yuzu curd (without the crust it is gluten free)

which all told took in between 2 to 2.5 hours I think.

We had a pretty wide variety of items and some were new to me. Ponte has a lot of traditional items with their own modern twist to them such as the Cesar Salad with the Cesar salad vinaigrette foam.

The beet salad was also beautifully plated. We are not beet eaters, but as suggested you will love it once you have it if not for the beautiful plating, but for the taste and we can agree with that.

This restaurant has a lot to offer, we tried a lot of the menu items and it is not by any means inexpensive just to be honest. The restaurant does impose a mandatory 12% tip that goes to the back end of the employees like the Chef's, the expediters , the bartenders I believe. It is supposed to be disclosed at the end of dinner. I actually knew about it beforehand due to reading Yelp reviews and it was not a problem, although the wording was confusing.

Once we spoke about it, it made sense and it wasn't an issue at all. I just wanted to mention it because some people have said in reviews it was not disclosed and it would be strange to me to not address this. Anyhow, personally, I am always rooting for Tampa and I have so much love for any restaurant that really can expose people that are Celiacs to new foods or give them foods that they once had before the diagnosis and now can't. This is one of the reasons we frequent On Swann and OLIVIA so often.

I can't wait to return to Ponte, it is always great to have a new upscale restaurant nearby to celebrate life's great moments; both my husband and I love living in the city so much and a lot of it has to do with the availability of fresh, sustainable, gluten free foods, and non-chain restaurants. Next time I hope to try more items off the menu as well as any seasonal items available.

There will be more photos in the December City Life VLOG at the end of this month!

This was a great start to celebrating our anniversary of when we first started dating.

XOXO