The old port warehouse blocks between downtown and Ybor, rebuilt into high rises, patios and the Florida Aquarium. Cargo ships and cruise ships pass at the end of the street, and the dining is what grew around them: a sushi room, a taqueria, a Greek restaurant and a tavern that predates all of it.
District Tavern is the neighborhood bar of the Channel District, a block off Channelside Drive, and it is the room downtown workers and residents use when they want a kitchen open late rather than a show. Its posted hours run from late morning to three in the morning Tuesday through Saturday, which is later than almost anything else in the district.
JoToro sits on the corner of Sparkman Wharf in the Channel District and describes itself as a friendly neighbourhood taco joint that happens to have a Michelin star chef. That chef is Joe Isidori, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America after his father's restaurants, cooked in Miami Beach, New York and Las Vegas, was named a StarChefs Rising Star and won the New York City Wine and Food Festival Burger Bash three times. The kitchen calls its food Fine Mexican Provisions: wood-fired tacos, knife-and-fork burritos, Mexico City style street corn and a grilled Thai watermelon feta salad, with craft margaritas and tequila flights. Visit Tampa Bay lists it for its plant-based tacos and enchiladas.
