Pane Rustica – Tampa, FL

 

A week or so ago, I went out to dinner with my Grandma Anne to celebrate my new job and engagement.  One of my favorite restaurants is Pane Rustica – but somehow I had only ever made it there for lunch (you can read about their lunch here).  We decided to try it out for dinner and it exceeded my already high expectations.  Dining for lunch is a more casual experience, but at dinner, they transition over to table service and dim the lights for ambiance. 

Their owners Kevin and Karyn Kruszewski are some of the nicest people, and I have several friends who work there.  Pane has catered the Christmas party at my parents’ condo the last few years, and I’m hoping to have them cater our wedding! 

We were served a fresh loaf of their in-house baked bread with hummus, olives, cherry peppers, and olive oil while we decided on our entrees.    

I tried their special – Herb Grilled Hawaiian Opah – since I’d never had that fish before.  It was served with root vegetable puree, roasted fennel & Brussels sprouts, Florida peaches, micro arugula, and pomegranate coulis.  The fish had texture like salmon, but was milder in flavor.  I was served a huge portion – and the accompanying vegetables were perfect.  I love Brussels sprouts, but I think even someone who didn’t would have enjoyed these. 

Grandma had the Pan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops.  She opted out of the chorizo that normally is part of that dish, but it included crispy potato coins, local snap pea shoots, creamy corn fondue, and chile oil.  The scallops were enormous – and very flavorful.  She cleared her whole dish. 

I ended up taking some of my meal home so we could have room for dessert!  I’ve had their espresso cookies several times before – crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside.  This time we had the cookies in a sundae with ice cream and fresh fruit.  Yum!!

I took my leftovers home, but when I went to unload them I had a surprise!  I was sent home with an extra box of pastries – a scone, muffin, and cupcake.  We enjoyed those over the next few days.  The cupcake frosting tasted like it was made with Oreo filling. 

 

Can’t wait to go back again – you really can’t go wrong with anything you order there.  Super happy with our meal! 

Pane Rustica is located at 3225 S MacDill Ave, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open from 8am – 5pm on Tuesday, 8am – 10pm Wednesday through Saturday, 8am – 3pm on Sunday, and closed Mondays.  11am – 11pm.

Pane Rustica – Tampa, FL

While Lance’s parents were in town, we ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Pane Rustica.  Several of my friends work there, and their food is incredible.  They are Zagat rated and they’re on Tasting Tampa’s list of Top 10 Restaurants in South Tampa.  

I have actually only ever dined for lunch, which is more casual and fast-paced.  Everything is so fresh – from their hearth-baked pizzas, to gourmet sandwiches, salads, and pastas.  They bake their own bread, plus they have gelato!  Their specials change regularly, and no matter what you order, you’ll enjoy it.  If you can’t decide, they even have an option called “Shut Up & Eat, don’t ask…You’ll love it!!!”

 

 

Since everyone in town knows how great their food is, they tend to get pretty busy for lunch.  My friends that work there give me a hard time because I nearly always order their daily Roasted Acorn Squash special filled with chicken salad (the salad changes regularly, so sometimes it’s always slightly different).  Depending on who prepares yours, it may come with a happy face!   

 

I got my usual and Lance’s mom, Rita, ordered the squash as well, and LG had a slice of pizza with pear and balsamic vinegar. 

 

 

If you order a water to drink, they have dispenser set up with flavor infused water – this time it was strawberry, lime, and basil.  It is so refreshing, and the food was perfect as always. 

My parents’ condo threw a holiday party on Sunday night catered by Pane Rustica, and since I was the official photographer, I was lucky to enjoy even more of their delicious food later that weekend.  

They served beautiful cocktails, crab cakes, prosciutto wrapped shrimp with mango drizzle, lamb lollipops, and more!  My friends Pate, Katie, and Alex were bartenders and servers for the event.  If you ever need catering, go talk to the owner, Kevin, at Pane and you won’t regret it. 

 

 

 

Pane Rustica also had some sweet espresso cookies and mini raspberry tartlets at the party.  But the dessert I was most impressed with was actually baked by our family friend, Margaret Colby.  She is only in high school, yet bakes some of the most beautiful desserts you’ll ever see!  She made gingerbread snowflake cookies that were almost too pretty to eat. 

 

 

It was a great weekend with lots of remarkable food!

Pane Rustica is located at 3225 S MacDill Ave, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open from 8am – 5pm on Tuesday, 8am – 10pm Wednesday through Saturday, 8am – 3pm on Sunday, and closed Mondays. 

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Everything!

 

Last week we got the Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer in the mail outlining their October specials.  This month they have literally everything pumpkin you could possibly imagine!  Pumpkin bread, coffee, cereal, pancakes, waffles, cinnamon rolls, ice cream, seeds, pies, yogurt, cream cheese, soup, chai tea, beer, ravioli, croutons…and that’s only half the list!

 

 

Since I’m a big fan of everything pumpkin (see these recipes I shared in a previous post) I had to restrain myself from buying out the whole store.  Most of the times I try to visit Trader Joe’s in the middle of the days on weekdays to ensure easy parking.  Since I went on a Sunday afternoon, it was crazy!  Cars were lined up waiting for spots to open up in their small lot.  I’ve never had a problem the other dozen or so times I’ve visited though...just maybe avoid going at peak times if possible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Thu had sent me a photo of her cooking their Pumpkin Ravioli last week, so I added that to my shopping cart, along with a variety of other fall goodies.  About half my cart ended up with pumpkin flavored foods, but they have a ton of other fall flavors that I’m excited to try – Carrot Ginger Soup, Organic Tricolor Quinoa, Toasted Coconut Pancake Mix, and Creamy Toscano Cheese with Cinnamon. 

 

When I got home, I snacked on the cinnamon cheese with Pumpkin Cranberry Crisps.  I loved the flavor, but I still prefer their Raisin Rosemary Crisps.  The Toscano with Cinnamon would be nice to pair with fruit, but I really like their Toscano with black pepper and the one soaked in Syrah wine – both have bolder flavor than the cinnamon kind. 

 

 

I splurged and bought their Dark Chocolate Speculoos Cookie Butter Cups – had they been milk chocolate I may have been able to resist, but I love dark chocolate.  They are like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but filled with cookie butter instead!  I think this may be my new favorite candy.  It’s probably a good thing that they’re individually wrapped; otherwise it would be too easy to grab a handful of them. 

 

 

Our friends Tony & Katie hosted a BBQ party at their home last night for the season premiere of The Walking Dead.  I’m not a fan of the show since I’m scared of blood and zombies, but I got to spend some time with all our friends which was fun.  Our friends Pate & Katie work at Pane Rustica, so they brought by some spooky treats from their bakery. 

 

 

I threw together a salad I had bought that afternoon from Trader Joe’s.  The Harvest Blend comes with baby spinach, kale, lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower.  It also includes roasted pumpkin seeds, dates, raisins, pumpkin cornbread croutons, and pumpkin vinaigrette.  It wasn’t an overload of pumpkin, but it was a nice hearty and crunchy salad.  I may buy some of the Pumpkin Cornbread Croutons on their own since they sell them separately. 

 

 

I also brought the Kennebunkport Brewing Co. Pumpkin Ale – and both Katies had other pumpkin beers as well!  We made a sugar rim for our glasses with 3 T brown sugar, 1 T white sugar, 1 T cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg.  The sweet rim made it taste like we were drinking pumpkin pie!  Although all our drinks were pumpkin, they were 3 different shades.  The Kennebunkport ale was actually a very light pumpkin beer, while the Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale was the darkest.  The Southern Tier Brewing Company Pumking was rated #3 best pumpkin beer recently on Thrillest.com (#1 was made by our local Cigar City Brewing).  According to this article, sales of pumpkin beers have gone up 1500% in the past 10 years!!! So I'm sure many of you out there are enjoying pumpkin beers this fall as well. 

 

Looking forward to trying all the other things I bought yesterday! 

Trader Joe's is located at 3808 W Swann Ave, Tampa, FL 33609 and is open 8am – 9pm every day.