Boulon Brasserie -Water Street Grand Opening | "Airie in The City": Cashmere Crop + Maxi Dress + Jimmy Choo

Tonight was the grand opening of Boulon Brasserie in Water Street district of Channelside. I find it always to be exciting to go to a restaurant on opening night, but even more exciting when you are seeing your city thrive! Water Street is a highly anticipated and developed area of the Channelside district which was very much forgotten and left to a lot of urban decay. After so many many years of watching Tampa rise to the top, so much so left and right Tampa is being voted as the #1 place to live in the U.S. for a myriad of reasons, finally we have this massive explosion of development in our downtown and Channelside District.

Water Street is very special because it was planned out so well. It is new, it is walkable, and it connects a lot of very key areas of this side of town like the Port, Sparkman Wharf, Ybor City (the trolley is still free), Riverwalk, HARBOR island, the Convention Center and Tampa Heights.

Now we have Water Street and so many new restaurants are open, not chains, but new concepts by our Tampanians who also live and work here who are restaurant owners and so many more entrepreneurs.

So, we have Boulon Brasserie which is a French restaurant. Tonight was the grand opening. I am so incredibly blessed to live in the heart of South Tampa I am available to attend a lot of events and grand openings and I did not want to miss this!

The building like most on Water Street is sleek and sexy in design and located juxtaposed the Edition Tampa as well as the Amalie Arena. You will most likely need a reservation all week at least for dinner, but most restaurants tend to have 1st come 1st serve bar seats which are full service and frankly to me they can tend to be the best seats in the house.

Dress: Lulus

Cashmere Crop: Free People, this item is sold out

Big Bow Cashmere Tank: Free People

Heels: Jimmy Choo Love 85

Lipstick: MAC Tarnished Reputation

The menu is precise I would say with French staples like Duck Confit, Steak Frites, Moules Frites, The omelette Gruyér , Le Burger and Frites, Escargot, Coq au Van, and much more.

There are many menu items to draw you in like Blue crab beignets, shrimp NOLA, fried oysters and Lobster pot pie.

So, for the Celiac you have a few options. Sadly, right now the Bouillabaisse is not Gluten-free. The Frites are also not cooked in a dedicated fryer or at least that is what I was told also. What I can say is the French omelette gruyér was delicious, and the seafood platter was also great. There is something for everyone and the staff and Chef can work with you on what can be adjusted to be Gluten-free also.

Since it was opening night a lot of items ran out like the soups, the Caesar was not available, and a few other items. I definitely will be coming back. Boulon Brasserie serves lunch and Brunch on the weekends. There are a lot of menu main dishes I did not mention and lots to explore. I already love this area so much so I hope you all stop by when you get a chance.

As far as my personal first experience, I liked the atmosphere in general, I like this area though, otherwise I woudn’t work & live here. I can say, my order was relatively simple and somehow, my husband's entree came out before mine and I did not have an appetizer at all. So, I was sitting at the table for probably an hour and a half with no food whatsoever watching him eat and my entree was literally just a petite seafood platter which was all raw food other than the shrimp cocktail.

I believe I ordered the omelette because something else I wanted was not gluten-free also and I just needed more protein to round out that meal for me, but it all took so long I did not eat much of the omelette when it arrived (it re-heated really well though). It actually was a manager that approached me and asked if I had any food yet and my husband say "she hasn't been served anything, but a cocktail". I am not sure what was up with that as everyone was eating around me and I hadn't ordered anything complicated. His entree also came out before the salad he ordered as his starter so there is that. I know it was the first night, and everyone apologized for the mistake(s).

I would return and try some other gluten-free dishes when it is not so busy and new. because I definitely undestand opening night is pretty much overwhelming. Overall, I was impressed with everything I saw.

Très Bein