An Oldie and So Goodie

  Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, Florida (right outside of Tampa) is the oldest, continuously run restaurant in Florida.  It was established in 1905 and has been serving up delicious cuban and spanish food ever since.  The restaurant itself is beautiful and offers live flamenco shows nightly.  Columbia is huge (the world's largest Spanish restaurant as a matter of fact) and still has a packed house with a waiting line out the door every night. 
   They have a very extensive menu so I followed my tried and true tradition of asking our server what their favorites are.  Ours replied with the "Boliche Criollo".  It is a slowly roasted eye round of beef, stuffed with chorizo, in gravy.  It is served with black beans, rice, and platanos.  I was sold.

    It was wonderful!  The beef was super tender and soaked up the flavorful gravy beautifully.  You can never go wrong with adding chorizo and, while there wasn't a huge amount of it, it was a great added flavor and kick in the beef.  I think the gravy is the super ingredient in this meal.  It added so much flavor and juice and was unlike any gravy I've ever had.  The platanos were sweet and ripe and the rice and beans were fantastic.  All in all, this was a fantastic meal in a very memorable place.