Edison Food + Drink Lab = product + technique + creativity2. The Tampa dining scene has been ever evolving over the years. Though I only moved to the area in the summer of 2015, I have been dining here as far back as 2004 when my father and stepmother moved to the area upon their retirement. During my time in Afghanistan and when I would come back to the states on leave, my folks and I would plan different places to go that they had heard about, and in 2014 the name Edison was mentioned on that list. It would be another two years, but my folks, wife, and I would dine and see what this new Tampa blend of haute cuisine and comfort food had to offer.
What exactly is Molecular Gastronomy? By definition, it blends physics and chemistry to transform the tastes and textures of food. The term Molecular Gastronomy is commonly used to describe a style of cuisine in which chefs explore culinary possibilities by borrowing tools from the science lab and ingredients from the food industry. Most chefs prefer other terms like "modernist cuisine,” or "avant-garde cuisine". Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck says molecular gastronomy makes cuisine sound elitist as though you need a degree in rocket science to enjoy it. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814) was one of the early pioneers in the science of food & cooking. The term "molecular gastronomy" was coined in 1988 by the late physicist Nicholas Kurti and the French Institut national de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) chemist Hervé This. Prior to dining at Edison, I had only been to two restaurants where this form of modernist cuisine was used, Alinea in Chicago and Vue de Monde in Melbourne, Australia.
Chef Jeannie Pierola has worked as the Executive Chef at Berns Steakhouse, rated by the Tampa Bay Tribune as the best restaurant in town year after year. She was invited to the James Beard Foundation four separate times, has served a former President, and been on several television programs to include Food Nation with Bobby Flay. In 2012 she opened Edison with the goal of being a “relaxed casual restaurant where superb everyday hand-crafted comfort food and daily inventions of food and drink are served to an eclectic audience of area foodies.”
The parking lot is small, however, they do offer valet which I highly recommend. The restaurant is a little darker then some I've been to with lower lighting, matched with a black colored ceiling. Down the hallway from the entrance is the main dining room where there is a large chalkboard on the wall to the left, and the white marble bar to the right. Behind the bar from the ceiling down to the liquor displays in corrugated metal letters with the sayings “Livewire, high voltage, warning hot, and 220 volts spike” Four rows of the lettering to which I have no idea what they mean. We were seated in one of the booths below the Edison sign on the wall opposite the hallway entrance side and began to review the drink and dinner menu.
Menu:
Sparks
Cold Start
Hot Start
Solid + Soluble
Sharing
Entrees
The Mixology Lab was the specialty drinks menu which consisted of 10-12 different house-made cocktails with my with trying the Gypsy Ballad containing Tres Agaves Reposado tequila, Yellow Chartreuse, pineapple, lemon, and fresh oregano. Other interesting named drinks on the menu were the Alligator Milk with Oregon Ransom Old Tom gin, toasted cardamom syrup, grapefruit juice, India pale ale and the Ironside with Mount Gay XO rum. There was also the Rare Wine Co. Historic Series Madeira ‘Malmsey-New York,’ which had maple syrup, orange juice, Angostura bittered-candied pecan.
My stepmother had a glass of Riesling, her preferred varietal from the Hermann J. Wiemer Winery, from the Finger Lakes, in New York. From what I have seen in restaurants across the country it is rare to see a Finger Lakes wine on the menu, I guess they like to keep the good stuff for themselves up there. My father and I shared a bottle of Chapoutier ‘Belleruche,’ from the Côtes du Rhône. To start we chose one item each from the sparks portion of the menu and the sharing portion, beginning with a Spanish Jamón Serrano Ham Zeppole with rosemary doughnuts, wrapped in the Serrano ham, with a piece of compressed melon, drizzled saba, which is a compressed grape that is cooked until it reduces, and looks similar to a balsamic drizzle or glaze, and topped with the parmesan snow. Zeppola or zeppole is a deep fried pastry from the North Eastern regions of Italy that is similar to a doughnut or a fritter.
Spanish Jamón Doughnuts
Our second starter, a cheese Board with four varieties of cheese including garrotxa, which is a goats milk cheese from Catalonia, Moses Sleeper, which is a speciality French brie-style cheese produced by Jasper Hill Farms based out of Vermont, followed by an aged clothbound cheddar, and finally from Great Hill Blue comes a Massachusetts non-homogenized and raw milk blue cheese, all served with dried + fresh fruit, mixed nuts, local honey, and warm baguette pieces. Other items on these two menu areas if these are not fitting to your palette are bone marrow with sunny side up quail eggs, a burrata cheese with heirloom tomatoes, a charcuterie board with more Serrano ham, chicken liver foie mousse, and surryano ham from Virginia. They also have some wood-roasted oysters with sriracha butter and potato-crusted oysters to round up those two sections.
Both starters were very good, and so far we were all pleased with what we had, as the pairings of items were interesting in themselves. Our server was a bit slow and a little hard to find at times, but overall service on a more attentive side then some restaurant experiences in Tampa. Some of the plates came out faster then we would have liked, which shows a small lack in anticipation of needs, and on reading the guest, especially after we mentioned that we wanted to take our time and enjoy everything we had read about. Also, there seemed to be a slight lacking knowledge on the menu itself based on the way our questions were answered when we posed certain ones.
From the hot and cold start portions of the menu, there were other interesting selections such as char-grilled octopus, lump crab squash blossom Rangoon, and a garam masala-seared foie gras. As we were deciding on the entrees my father was having a difficult time as he is a typical meat and potatoes type of guy, but my stepmother wanted the steak from the menu, and the only other beef option was a filet mignon, which would have been perfect for him except it was stuffed with blue cheese to which he hates. On the cheeseboard, my stepmother and I ate the blue cheese. Thank god for the only steak he wanted my stepmother was getting because he likes his steak burned to a crisp and covered in A-1 or Heinz 57! So he was having some trouble, though the rest of us were ready to go. My stepmother ordered a salad since she was having the steak frites dish. From the Solid + Soluble portion of the menu was the black truffle caesar salad, with baby organic romaine, topped with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, and fried white anchovy’s.
Other selections from this portion of the menu was a beet salad which my wife was having as part of her entree. A baby kale + kabocha squash salad, or a Fuji apple and baby spinach salad with one of my favorite blue cheese selections on it from Maytag Farms based out of Iowa. As I mentioned earlier my stepmother had the steak frites which in this case was a wood-grilled New York strip, with arugula and cippoline onion salad, a tomato gratinée, hand-cut fries, and a side dish of béarnaise sauce. My wife ate lite having two items from the Solid + Soluble menu, the first as I mentioned earlier was the roasted baby beet + Burrata salad with haricot vert, blood oranges, charred spring onion, avocado chimichurri, and a pepita cotija crumble. Pepita is a Spanish pumpkin seed mixed with the raw milk Mexican cotija cheese from the state of Michoacán.
Beet Salad
The plates were decorated nicely and put together informal fashion, but Edison is advertised as being molecular, and I didn’t really see a lot of that as I had in other places, there was a different combination, but still molecular was not noticed. Next, to go with the beet salad she enjoyed a bowl of their almond coconut gazpacho + coconut-crusted Florida rock shrimp topped with Fuji apple coconut salpicon, green curry oil, and micro cilantro. While enjoying her entree she ordered a few glasses of the Château d’Esclans, ‘Rock Angel,’ Côtes de Provence Rosé.
My dad finally decided on the spicy Jamaican-fried organic chicken, which was a take on the classic southern chicken and waffles, served over a banana bacon waffle, some collard greens, chayote, diced green tomatoes and chilies, and all topped with a rum curry coconut syrup. This dish had a lot going on from the classic southern fry, to some Indian hints with the curry which my dad doesn’t like much Indian food either, Mexican chilies, then the jerk flavors in the flour batter, which I have to say after having a taste did not thrill me all that much either. The dish had your palate going in too many different directions at the same time. The collard greens were a little bland in my opinion and not cooked long enough either.
Jamaican-fried organic chicken
For my entree, I decided on the maple and Bourbon-glazed Florida black grouper with cracked conch burgoo stew, topped with organic pea tips, charred okra, hedgehog mushrooms, and Key West conch hush puppies, which compared to the ones I had eaten in Key West recently, they were not bad, and the fish itself was very delicate and flaky. One thing you will find in just about every restaurant in Central Florida that serves fish is the black grouper. Organic and local scores high marks for Edison, but it could have gone higher if the flavor profiles and pairings weren’t all over the place. Some dishes it was hard to distinguish one flavor from another or to figure out why it was paired, to begin with. Other entrees include porcini seared yellowfin tuna, red snapper, sweet corn seared sea scallops on top of what was mentioned earlier.
Dessert:
My stepmother wasn’t feeling too well, so we all decided to bypass desserts or after dinner cocktails and call it an evening. On their menu they do have some interesting combinations as well; from Chè ba màu (literally "three colors chè") with tropical + sub-tropical fruit, yuzu brown sugar granita, a tarragon gelée, chilled Thai coconut kaffir soup, toasted sesame peanut crunch, crystallized ginger, and shiso Fumi furikake. They also have a duck egg pistachio genoise, with red wine fig reduction, strawberry salad, pistachio tuile, almond lace cookie, and a Florida goat milk ice cream that they call the green acres dessert. These two are among five on the menu.
Please see these guidelines for Tipping in Restaurants and on following proper etiquette, customs, cultures, and avoiding assumptions when you dine out.
Other Noteworthy Eclectic Cuisine Articles and Restaurants:
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:
Overall from this experience and the score factors outlined in the ‘about page’ section, based on my individual experience and rating,, I give Edison a 4 out of 5 stars, meaning that they not exceeded my expectations and were far above the average dining experience of most restaurants, but even with the flaws in service it was still an outstanding experience.
A strong build-up with a lot of favorable reviews from the news made the trip to Edison very enticing as those articles are meant to do, but as you can see from the ratings above, the delivery was not all the way there. I enjoyed the experience, but unless you're a major foodie, and your palette can handle some very strange combinations, then it may not be the place for you.
Scores are detailed in the factor chart below:
Formula Factor Conclusions and Overall Ratings
Max Points Possible:
Total Points Awarded:
Total Points deducted:
Ambiance
9.5
8
1.5
Food quality
10
9
1
Plate presentation
10
9
1
Customer service
9
5.5
3.5
Alcohol and other beverages
9
8
1
Total regular points awarded
47.5
39.5
8
Total percentage Before Bonus
0.831578947368421
“Wow” factor BONUS
5
2
0
Total bonus percentage
0.0421052631578947
Total percentage with a bonus for the final star rating
0.873684210526316
Stars Awarded (see chart below)
0 - 5
4
**A full break down and explanation of the observations and point disbursement is available in the linked article above. To receive a detailed copy of your score, feel free to contact me at any time and I will provide it to you.**
Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, California, Oregon, Washington State, New York, Virginia, South Africa
Corkage fee’s:
The Restaurant allows a party of four a limit of 1 bottle of their own wine with a $20 corkage fee
(bring one + buy one, we’ll waive the fee!)
Restaurant style:
Casual to Conservative dining
Cuisine Style:
American, Eclectic, Gastropub, Molecular
Allergen or dietary accommodations:
Farm to Fork, Gluten Free, Low Carb, Organic, Pescatarian, Vegetarian
Reservations:
Not Required, But Recommended
Walk-Ins:
Accepted
Dress code:
Casual to Conservative attire
Its Florida, everybody wears flip-flops
Child policy:
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 inproper etiquette.
If not then:
Hire a Babysitter!
Experiences:
Place for foodies, Modern, Trendy, Hotspot, Great bar, Rustic, and a Neighborhood Gem.
Payments:
Cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
Parking:
Valet, Private Lot
Wifi
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.
Succulent palate of early fruit, balanced with a refreshing crispness, revealing the true qualities of the Riesling grape. A brilliant texture carries into a lingering finish
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.
