Heather and I had an Italian place picked out for a Tuesday night, but while she was doing some internet research beforehand, she stumbled across Lumbre and something about it really intrigued her. I checked OpenTable, and even on a Tuesday the earliest reservation available was 9pm — a little late for dinner, but we took it as a good sign that the place was doing well. So we booked the nine o’clock and headed over.
I’d never even heard of it, despite it sitting right across the parking lot from Willa’s, where I often go for breakfast. Apparently Lumbre has only been open a couple of months.
It’s a Spanish tapas-style restaurant, and I’ll throw out the spoiler now: this place was better than Spain Restaurant & Toma Bar downtown in every way — food quality, atmosphere, service. A fantastic experience start to finish.
The menu is a single page, divided into three sections we actually ordered from: bocados (small bites), entrantes (starters), and platos principales (large format). We skipped the cheese and charcuterie section — how fancy can you really make cheese and sliced meat — and skipped the large-format plates too, since most are designed to feed two to four people. Instead we opted for six of the smaller tapas-style plates.
We chose the marinated olives, the matrimonio, the croquetas de jamón, the patatas bravas, the pulpo, and the cannelloni.
First, the marinated olives — a mix of olives marinated in some kind of light citrus sauce I’d never encountered paired with olives before. Quite good, and a good tease for everything that followed.
Next came the patatas bravas: crispy potatoes with bravas sauce and a bit of aioli. I ordered these specifically to compare against Spain Restaurant downtown, where the patatas bravas were disappointing. Here, they were excellent — clearly fried in hotter oil, so they stayed moist inside with a light, crunchy crust, and the bravas sauce paired with the potato perfectly. Fortunately it was a smaller plate, because it would have been easy to fill up on it alone.
Then the pulpo — octopus, properly tenderized (a technique in itself), served over a mashed potato purée with pickled shallots. Nothing wrong with the purée, but we weren’t convinced it actually went with the octopus; we think we’d have preferred the octopus on its own. Regardless, the octopus itself was excellent.
The matrimonio was next — anchovies marinated in vinegar, served on a small piece of bruschetta. Fantastic. This was clearly not canned anchovies that had been sitting around for months; these were two fresh pieces of anchovy sitting on a jam, some salsa verde, and the bread. So fresh it’s hard to even compare them to the anchovies you’d get on a Caesar salad. Marvelous.
Then the croquetas de jamón — ibérico pork in a béchamel sauce, served in what looked like round hush puppies with a light cheese filling. Absolutely nothing heavy about them: a thin crust, a croquette that melted in your mouth, and the ham, cheese, and crust flavors balanced perfectly. This was my favorite item on the menu.
Last was the cannelloni, stuffed with braised short rib, mushroom, and a veal demi-glace — no cheese, just the pasta itself. The short rib was properly tenderized. Excellent dish.
We also ordered the mushrooms, which took the humble mushroom to a new level — served in a small ceramic dish, marinated with sherry and pancetta, with an intact egg yolk on top. Visually it was really cool, and I’m generally a fan of egg yolks, but I’m not convinced the yolk actually enhanced the flavor so much as the presentation. The mushrooms didn’t need the help — they were excellent on their own.
For dessert, we tried two: the Basque cheesecake, served with poached pear and shaved goat cheese on top — a fine cheesecake that could hold its own against most others in town. And the torrijas, similar to a light square of bread pudding served over whipped yogurt, chunks of plum, and some cream. Really good — Southern-style bread pudding is often good but heavy, and this was light and balanced, in keeping with everything else during the meal. It was hard to pick a favorite between the two desserts; I’d recommend trying both.
I’m still not drinking alcohol these days, so alongside water I tried their watermelon soda — clearly fresh-crushed watermelon mixed with soda water and served immediately, not a bottled soda brought in from somewhere else. Delightful enough that I had two.
Service was excellent all night. The hostess seated us within sixty seconds of arriving, and our waitress was extremely attentive — kept our water glasses full, cleaned up between courses, kept fresh flatware coming. Since it’s tapas-style, the food didn’t all arrive at once; kitchen staff brought each dish out as it was ready. We sat at the counter facing the kitchen, which gave us a great view of the cooks preparing food for the whole restaurant, not just us — genuinely fun to watch.
One thing we didn’t try but have on the list for next time: their whole fish, a sea bream, cooked over the open fire and then plated tableside by the head chef in front of us.
All in all, one of the best restaurant experiences we’ve had in Tampa. Apparently one of the founders was formerly a chef and manager at Rocca when it first opened, then spent time in Spain, and has now come back to Tampa to open his own place. I would not be surprised if this restaurant earns a Michelin star within a year or so. Highly recommend.
