South Tampa to Welcome Newest Carmel Café & Wine Bar

Carmel Café & Wine Bar will introduce its modern interpretation of Mediterranean cuisine when it opens its newest neighborhood location on Aug. 14.

The first free-standing is location will call 3601 W. Swann Avenue home. The 4,000-square-foot restaurant offers both indoor and outdoor seating, a full service bar, a vibrant color scheme and will initially be open for dinner nightly. Hours will expand to include weekday lunch beginning Sept. 17 and weekend brunch – served both Saturdays and Sundays - launches Sept. 22.

Designed by Alfonso Architects of Tampa, this stylish South Tampa restaurant will display original artwork created exclusively for its interior by the award-winning firm’s founding principal and president, and noted painter, Albert Alfonso.

“We are extremely excited to introduce the Carmel Café & Wine Bar experience to South Tampa. This is the first location we have been able to design and build from the ground up which marks a new milestone for us,” said Chris Sullivan, a founding partner of Carmel Café. “Opening in South Tampa has always been one of our goals and we are very pleased to be here.”

The business is widely renowned for its signature Mod Med cuisine, offered as either small or large plates, that features flavors influenced by the Mediterranean rim countries. The food pairs well with the restaurant’s global selection of old and new world wines, with many available in three-, six- or nine-ounce pours as well as by the bottle. Seating arrangements will allow guests to easily share dishes at communal tables or enjoy an intimate dining experience in a booth and the innovative MenuPad app.

The MenuPad is tablet-based technology that allows Carmel Café guests to completely customize their dining experience by using tableside iPads to review colorful photos and detailed descriptions of each dish, control the preparation, presentation and pacing of their dining experience and identify the perfect wines to pair with the food.

“We offer our guests much more than a place to enjoy great food, fine wines and to have fun. This is a very different dining experience that encourages our guests to leisurely share several small plates, casually meet for a glass of wine or cocktail or just relax and enjoy their favorite menu items,” Terry Ryan, a founding partner of Carmel Café said. “With the MenuPad, our guests control the pacing of their food and wine orders so they are able to get exactly what they want, the way they want it, when they want it.”

In addition to dinner nightly from 5 p.m., the South Tampa site will offer a prix fixe dinner menu two nights a week, a “Five After 5 @ Carmel” menu Wednesdays that features wines and flatbreads for $5 each and monthly wine dinners starting in September.

The prix fixe “Dinner for Two” offer available Sundays and Mondays lets two guests create a customized, four-course meal for a combined cost of $24.95.

On Wednesdays, glasses of select red and white wines from Italy and Spain and various flatbreads are available from 5 —7 p.m. for $5 each.

Monthly wine dinners highlight exceptional wines that Carmel Café Executive Chef Steve Cook complements with a multi-course menu of Mod Med cuisine created specifically to pair well with the featured wines.

Beginning Aug. 14, the new South Tampa Carmel Café will serve dinner 5 - 10 p.m. Monday - Thursday, 5 p.m. – 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 5 – 9 p.m. on Sundays.

Starting Sept. 17, South Tampa’s Carmel Café & Wine Bar will be open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Brunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays beginning Sept. 22.

Reservations are available by calling (813) 964-6889. For more information, go to: http://www.carmelcafe.com.