The Spark Channelside Has Needed
Tampa, Florida USA
Cuisine Style: American, Asian-fusion, Eclectic, Mexican, Vietnamese
Average Price: $ - $$$
Dined in: December 2018 and January 2019
By Sean Overpeck (CFE)
**A full article and index glossary of restaurants, wines, recipes and travel for
Wine Dine and Play are in the pages section above, or by following these links:
Sparkman's Wharf opened to the public on November 30, 2018, and is situated near the Yacht Starship dock along the Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa. Sparkman’s Wharf celebrates the best of Tampa from good year-round weather, waterfront views, music, craft beer, and a variety of eclectic dining. The park is on the southwestern portion of the property. A 27,000-square-foot building, where Thai Thani and Hablo Taco were located and demolished in late 2017 to make way for the new park. The Channel District is a busy area that brings people to the Florida Aquarium, a warship repurposed as a maritime museum called the American Victory Ship, and for hockey fans there is the Amalie Arena to where the Tampa Bay Lightning play, also hosting big-name rock and pop acts year-round.
Splitsville and the Hooters are the only two holdouts to the old Channel Side. The Splitsville Southern + Social menu is inspired by two-time James Beard Award winner Chef Art Smith with classic Southern fare. Chef Art brings his World Famous fried chicken, made-from-scratch cheese biscuits, shrimp and grits, short rib sliders, and signature flatbread to the menu. Hand-crafted cocktails, specialty cocktails, and 45 varieties of canned beer. Splitsville has six locations across the country including three in Florida with the other two in Orlando and Miami. The other three locations are in Anaheim, California, Foxborough, Massachusetts, and Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Sparkman’s Wharf is named after Stephen Sparkman who was born in Hernando County in 1849, locally educated, and became a lawyer by trade and is credited for helping turn Tampa into a strong center of ocean-going commerce. As the region’s first congressman, Sparkman secured the federal funding to dig the deep-water channels to downtown, creating Port Tampa Bay and allowing larger ships to come closer to downtown and historic Ybor City.
The many dining garden vendors cater to both visitors and the neighborhood, serving everything from Mexican street food to Detroit-style pizza and Açaí bowls. The Fermented Reality Biergarten serves 30 taps of only craft beers with an emphasis on Florida craft beer as well as wines, cold brewed tea, and natural sodas. There’s a stage for live music and both the lawn and the wharf have a variety of activities on the calendar. On our visits, my wife and stepmother have both had the Dockside Chardonnay, a 12.5% ABV. Medium body wine, which according to the winemakers’ notes has a fruity taste of pineapples, citrus, and butter, with hints of daisies, tulips, and vanilla.
The dining garden has restaurants inside eclectic shipping containers that reminded me of the Re: Start shopping and dining complex in Christchurch, New Zealand. After the devastating earthquakes that hit the city from 2010-11, while the city rebuilt, to encourage a revival of business, Re: Start was built so people could dine and shop from old and new Christchurch restaurants. Sparkman’s shipping containers feature ten of Tampa’s restauranteurs experimenting with new culinary concepts in a relaxed outdoor setting. Those vendors include The Boat Run Oyster Company which is a tide-to-table concept driven by the love for the water, commitment to sustainability, and taste for experience-driven food. Their raw oysters are supplied with hand-raised tide tumbled oysters from a sustainable farm located in Cedar Key, Florida.
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Boat Run |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Oysters at Boat Run |
BT in a Box offers French Vietnamese fusion with a creative twist; providing food lovers with innovative and fresh mixtures of organic ingredients, small farm meats and poultry, wild fresh-caught seafood, and local Florida produce, all at affordable price points. Chef and restaurateur BT Nguyen was born in Vietnam, where her love for cooking began in her family's kitchen. When Saigon fell in 1975, Chef Nguyen fled as a refugee to the United States. There she put herself through college and ultimately directed her passions for design and food towards the creation of a number of restaurants in Tampa. From this restaurant, we had the chicken phở gà, with wonderful aromatic hints of star anise, fresh noodles, and broth.
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Chicken Pho at BT in a Box |
Flock and Stock presents a fresh, simple, and approachable focus on high-quality American roadside favorites, such as burgers, chicken sandwiches, tenders, and fries. They have partnered with Harris Ranch Beef and Heartland Fresh Foods to serve grass-fed and sustainable products. My father and stepmother enjoyed a tasting for there tenders and waffle fries.
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Flock and Stock Chicken |
The Foundation Coffee Co. offers locally brewed craft coffee, committed to serving only the highest quality ingredients paired with outstanding customer service. The next restaurant where we spend several trips to visit was created by Chef Ferrell Alvarez and restaurateur Ty Rodriguez called Gallito a modern taqueria, putting a twist on classic Mexican street food while always maintaining a love for all things proper. Losing track on the cerveza selections ordered to include the Modelo Especial and Pacifico, there was also the water in a box which doesn’t get more green and sustainable. We had the Carne taco with avocado, tomatillo salsa, and quesillo cream cheese flan. As with Spanish flan, the Venezuelan quesillo version has the caramel poured into a mold first and then the custard mixture is added. Once the quesillo is baked, it is turned out so the caramel is on top. Beef with tomato and avocado are typical mainstays to a taco, but this was the first time I tried flan, and the lite sugar and rich savory cream cheese flavors packed an incredible punch into that taco. Secondly came the pork belly taco with charred piña with roasted onions. Piña is an extremely healthy fiber made from the leaves of the pineapple plant and is commonly used in Central and South America as well as the Philippines. This was by far the best taco of the many we sampled, and on two different visits to Sparkman’s Wharf, we ordered three of these pork belly wonders. From the unique textures of the tropical pineapple to the onion and the pork, all flavors blended together for a new type of taco experience. Finally came the chicken taco with cotija cheese, crema, and cilantro.
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Pulled Pork and Carne Tacos |
Montados by the Mise En Place restaurant group presents traditional Spanish-style tapas, shareable appetizers, and snacks. With the addition of Spanish wines including cava and sangria.
Swigamajig is a no-frills fish kitchen that’s all about the fresh catch and modern swigs. Owned by Edison Food + Drink Lab they have reinvented Florida’s iconic seafood shack, combining the allure of outdoor bohemian dining with a serious seafood menu, craft cocktails, beer, and wine.
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Swigamajig restaurant |
The Corners Pizza is a labor of love, and the product of partners Chef Noel Cruz who introduced Tampa to ramen, and restaurateur Branden Lenz, bringing Detroit-style pizza to the waterfront. The crust is thick and airy nearly the size of a Chicago-style pizza with crispy cheesy edges, topped with the most simple ingredients. We shared the Ezzo pepperoni pizza, with marinara and Brick Cheese from Wisconsin, which is made in a brick-shaped form. The color ranges from pale yellow to white, and has a sweet and mild flavor when young, and matures into a strong, ripe cheese with age.
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| Sparkman's Wharf / NFour Corners Ezzo Pizza |
Whatever Pops offers wholesome, authentic organic foods such as ice pops, gelato, grilled cheese sandwiches, and Açaí Bowls which are a thick blend of anti-oxidant rich frozen Açaí berries mixed other fruits, topped with crunchy, gluten-free granola and unsweetened coconut, local honey, and freshly-cut fruit. Extra toppings are available including chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, Base Culture’s locally made almond butter or natural peanut butter. Eat with a spoon.
This rounds up the tour of Sparkman’s Wharf which continues to grow and will bring more businesses it's a way as well as people. On the opening night, they expected close to one thousand people, and over seven thousand attended, and the restaurants ran out of food. On our visits, there were over two thousand people each time, and this was on weekdays, so this if anything tells the tail of what is to come.
Please see these guidelines for Tipping in Restaurants and on following proper etiquette, customs, cultures, and avoiding assumptions when you dine out.
Other noteworthy tasting venue articles and restaurants similar to Sparkman's Wharf:
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See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary”
Other Tampa restaurants, and articles on Wine Dine and Play:
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Café chain for health-minded breakfast, brunch, & lunch
Tampa, Florida, USA
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Inside the Rivergate Tower
Tampa, Florida, USA
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Sports bar, eatery, and driving range
Tampa, Florida, USA
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A few Florida restaurant favorites:
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Italian eatery in the Thunderbird Resort
Treasure Island
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Rustic Italian bistro with modern takes on classic dishes
Winter Park
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3rd Review with chimichangas
St Petersburg, Florida, USA
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See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary by country”
Final notes, review basics, observations, and more pictures:
Most reviews are subjective, depending on the writer; but they should also be responsible, and respectfully written, upholding the truth, and accurately conveying the experience to the best of the writer's knowledge, even if it includes metaphors the restaurant may not like to read about. My ratings are by the stars I award (from 0 to 5). The rating is calculated on a point accumulation of six separate factors based on individual experience. They include wine and other beverage selections, plate presentation, customer service, restaurant or café ambiance, food quality, and wow factor. To see more details of this rating list, read this article:
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Restaurant styles:
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Casual dining
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Cuisine Styles at Sparkman's Wharf:
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American, Asian-fusion, Eclectic, Mexican, Vietnamese
Allergen or dietary accommodations:
Gluten-free choices, Low Carb Choices, Pescatarian, Sustainable, Vegetarian Options
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Reservations:
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Not Required
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Dress code:
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Casual attire
It’s Florida, everybody wear’s flip-flops!
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Child policy:
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The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a kids menu or cater to them; however, for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended that kids not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette.
If not then:
Hire a Babysitter!
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Sparkman's Wharf Experiences:
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Place for foodies, Contemporary, Modern, Trendy, Hotspot, Great outdoor dining, Good for special occasions, Scenic views, Tourist grabber, and a Neighborhood Gem.
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Payments:
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Cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
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Parking:
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Sparkman's Wharf has a public garage and other lots
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Wifi
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The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
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Noise level:
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Medium to Loud
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Smoking:
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Sparkman's Wharf is a non-smoking area
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Sparkman's Wharf
615 Channelside Drive
Tampa, Florida 33602
Contact Information:
Restaurant website:
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Maître d or host:
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+1 813-345-5881
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Email Us:
Website contact:
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Serving hours:
Eastern Standard Time
(GMT, Zulu, or UTC - 5:00)
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Wed-Sun
11:00 am - 11:00 pm
Mon - Tue
Closed
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Social Media
And
Accolades for Sparkman's Wharf:
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****
The worlds best restaurants is a subjective list of who is writing it and changes on a regular basis. The Wine Dine and Play best experiences are based on my highest rated stared restaurants, meaning that the visit was an outstanding or extraordinary experience. From cafés, chains, mom + pops, hole in the walls, to fine dining including a few Michelin spots. Visit the Top 100 page to see the entire list.
A few to tease you with…
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Medieval-style British cuisine banquet plus 2-hour dinner show
London, England, UK
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California cuisine & fine dining chain
Orlando, Florida, USA
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French & Canadian cuisine
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
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Other Sparkman's Wharf Pictures:
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Arial view |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / under construction |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Art logos |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Dining Garden |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Container restaurants |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Night Gallito restaurant |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Chicken Taco |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Drinks at Gallito |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Box Water |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Boat Run kitchen |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Swigamajig menu |
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| Sparkman's Wharf / Night lights |
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
Who is John Galt?
TTFN
