Tuesday, we got to dine out at Union New American Restaurant & Lounge on opening night. This restaurant is located in the Westshore Business District juxtaposed to the First Watch on Westshore Blvd.
Union New American is another new concept by from Next Level Brands & restaurateur Jeff Gigante owners of Boulon Brasserie & Bakery and Forbici Modern Italian.
The building housing Union is large at over Nine thousands square feet. It has a large outdoor patio, bar area, dining rooms on the first and second floor as well as a second outdoor space.
With chic and sleek decor and architectural design, this restaurant fits in really well in the Westshore Business District in relation to International Plaza and Bay Street and joining Eddie V's and Ocean Prime in regards to fine dining.
A lot of this area is undeveloped in the way that a lot of these buildings are very old and empty at this point. There are hotels, strip clubs, a few restaurants across the street in a newer plaza as well as the Container Store.
As far as the menu and inspiration goes you may be familiar with the Chef at Union New American if you had ever dined at Ocean Prime over the last 8 years, Adam Polisei was the Chef there. Ocean Prime is one of my favorite restaurants and I could definitely sense the same detail and style of his cooking and execution in the dishes we ate. The food centers around cooking over a "hearth" with fire and coal which is not something I am accustomed to, but I am always open to new things. You can order light bites with hearth roasted seafood or sushi rolls as well as full blown elaborate entrees.
So, on to the review and our experience!
Dress: Red Dress Boutique, this is not recent
Belt: It's actually a scarf. Louis Vuitton, Scarf 90 in Garden Print
Louis Vuitton, Revival Mules in Garden Print
Bag: Louis Vuitton, Daily Pouch in pink
Earrings: Procure by the women's creative (local, but their online store is here).
you can use my affiliate code AIRIE15 for a 15% off discount online.
So, as for the first night and grand opening things were a little slow which is to be expected. It was pretty crowded when we arrived, but the crowd thinned out quite a lot once it got later. Our waiter was very nice and he was very attentive since we had to wait a while for our first course to come out.
I in general liked the decor and architecture of the building. It had very good energy and flow. The food: So, I will just say this, everything we ate was fantastic. I have absolutely nothing but great things to say about the food. I had the Alaskan King Crab legs and those were the best crab legs I have had in a long time since the pandemic. They were really fresh, but what stood out to me was rhe seasoning they put on them. I tried to really put my finger on what notes I picked up...
Sumac
Chilli
Paprika
and possibly Cumin.
If I am correct, that was absolutely delicious and I am wondering why no one has ever served up crab legs like that before. I will basically be back for those over and over again.
CUCUMBER GIMLET W/ TITO'S
NOT ON THE MENU (REQUESTED)
SHARED AAPPETIZERS
HAMACHI AND SALMON CRUDO: Pineapple Vin, Cucumber, Jalepeno, Cilantro, Avocado Mousse, Chili Oil.
Gluten free
HEARTH ROASTED OYSTERS: Bacon Chile Butter.
Gluten free
Ok, so now to robust kind of explosive flavor: The hearth roasted oysters with bacon, need I say more?
Speaking of hearth roasted, I have never had anything like that, but I am a fan now. I can't wait to go back and try brunch when it is available. We had some other things, but those are the items that stood out the most to me. I hope this is the first in many new restaurants opening in the Westshore Business District. That building alone had a space of like 300k square feet so maybe some other
restaurants might open in that same area, one can hope.
RAINBOW ROLL
MAI THAI W/ HAVANNA CLUB RUM
NOT ON THE MENU (REQUESTED)
My husband had General Po's pork chop with shrimp fried rice. This one wasn't gluten-free so I couldn't taste it, but he was raving about it. What I can say is that it didn't look too oily and heavy. He had a really similar dish last week at a different restaurant, but with steak and a fried egg on top and he got really sick unfortunately.
The sushi and sashimi crudo. My only complaint here is they have gluten free options, but they didn't have Tamari at all. I am sure they will remedy that though. The seafood however was prime. The Rainbow Roll was actually both of our favorites. It had a great flavor and you get three or four types of fish in it. It didn't have too much rice which was great.
WHAT HUBS HAD
GENERAL PO’S IBERICO PORK: Shrimp Fried Rice, Mandarin Pancake, Yum Yum Sauce.
HOUSE SALAD: Local Greens, Honey Crisp Apples, Bacon, Blue Cheese, Candied Pecans,
Dijon Vin.
Gluten free
WHAT I HAD
HEARTH KISSED ALASKAN KING CRAB
#TampasoChic maybe I should claim this as my own along with my other two that I have used since 2011 #foodiva and #fashionablefoodiva
Well, I will be back when the next new place opens!
Moving to South Tampa was the best thing my husband and I ever did other than the obvious!
XOXO
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