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Ybor's fresh approach

Bullish investors keep up the push to refine the district and its image.

By Eric Smithers, Times Staff Writer
Published February 15, 2008

Savor sashimi and sake while relaxing on a bed? You can at Raw Sushi and Sake Lounge, where event and entertainment manager Shane Swift straightened the linens upstairs recently. Normal seating is downstairs. Raw Sushi offers a trendy atmosphere, top-notch sushi and delivery.
	[Daniel Wallace | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Daniel Wallace | Times] Executive chef Rico Bordayo prepares sushi for the evening at Raw Sushi at 1919 E Seventh Ave. Owners Bob and Christina Volini decided to roll the dice on a trendy restaurant in Ybor. "Ybor is cyclical," Bob said. "It always has been." [Daniel Wallace | Times] Raw Sushi executive chef Rico Bordayo created this dish; some of the tidbits are on the restaurant's updated menu.

New businesses have opened since the GaYbor District Coalition and other efforts to revitalize the district gained steam last year. The GaYbor coalition includes more than 20 gay and straight businesses in Ybor.

Streetcar Charlie's, a gay bar and restaurant, and Steam, a Friday-only gay men's club, plan official openings today. Other gay bars include Lounge 7@14 which opened last July, and Forge, which opened in October. White Room, a gay martini bar, is set to open this year.

Raw Sushi and the burlesque house Honey Pot, which don't cater specifically to gay crowds, opened within the past four months.

The coalition is striving to not only attract gay tourists and businesses, but to promote Ybor.

"Ybor City has always been a little of this and a little of that. That's the flavor here," said coalition president Carrie West. "All we're doing right now is just stirring that pot."

Another big wooden spoon in this process is the Ybor City Development Commission, which is exploring how to attract potential retailers.

Joe Howden, chairman of the group's retail development committee, said Ybor is transforming from an entertainment district to what he feels it should have been all along: a mixed-use district.

"That's the kind of community cohesion we have wanted in Ybor City for some time," he said. "What's happening now is it's changed and it's not as exciting as it was and you don't have 50,000 people down here on a Friday night partying, so people go, 'Oh, well, Ybor is failing,' but that's not really a fair assessment."

'Took a huge chance'

Bob and Christina Volini know all about change. After selling real estate for a combined 26 years, the Palma Ceia couple opened a hip sushi restaurant in one of Tampa's most talked-about neighborhoods.

Stowed away on Ybor's east side at 1919 E Seventh Ave., Raw opened Nov. 1 in the same building that once housed the now-defunct Sushi on Seventh. Indeed, the original door handles shaped like the number seven are intact.

The couple had no experience owning or managing a restaurant. So why sushi and why, of all places, Ybor?

"We have some good merchants in Ybor now that take some pride here and are trying to bring in an adult crowd," said Bob Volini, 44. "I think it's time to come back."

The Raw Sushi owners say the setting replicates downtown Tokyo - top-notch sushi, a full bar and sake lounge, and about half a dozen beds for dining, of course. The restaurant bed trend is gaining popularity in metro areas like New York City and Miami.

Raw wants to one-up local sushi shops with a trendy atmosphere and guaranteed delivery to areas of Channelside, Harbour Island, Davis Islands and most of South Tampa within 35 to 40 minutes.

"We went out and did something different. We took a huge chance," Bob Volini said. "They say a restaurant will break you or make you a millionaire. I'm hoping for the other."

Exits and arrivals

Catering to the South Tampa adult crowd is a new concept in a neighborhood fueled by nightclubs, eclectic shops and tattoo parlors.

For Brian Cornacchia, owner of Big City Tavern in Centro Ybor, the neighborhood's image was enough to drive him out. For more than seven years he ran one of its best-known restaurants but closed it last week. He blames it on Ybor's image of crime, kids and inconvenience.

"Simply put, my clientele just doesn't want to come to Ybor," said Cornacchia, adding that business had declined over the last six months. "I just didn't see it getting any better."

Volini disagrees - to a certain extent. "That stigma that you're going to get jacked here, it's just not true," he said.

"But would I venture four blocks that way?" he said, pointing east. "No. Absolutely not."

Volini said the GaYbor coalition can be credited with some recent improvements. Since October, the number of panhandlers roaming outside his restaurant has been cut in half. And the problem child nightclub Fuel, which was right across the street from Raw, has shut its doors.

The development commission has been displaying the works of local artists in some vacant storefronts to beautify the main strip.

Manny Alvarez, 45, has lived in Ybor his entire life and has seen it go through bad times. He always intended to open a restaurant in the historic district but had to find the right location.

"Ever since (Seventh Avenue) opened back up, it's gotten better," said Alvarez, co-owner of Streetcar Charlie's. "We went through a bad period a year ago, but this area generally goes up and down."

Streetcar Charlie's, next to a streetcar stop on Eighth Avenue, is decorated with Tampa streetcar colors and Cuban art. Alvarez and co-owner Charlie Moresi hope to cater to different groups of people who frequent Ybor. Regardless of any stigma attached to the district, Alvarez said the recent changes are all positive.

Volini agrees with the sentiment. He has faith his restaurant will thrive and more businesses and customers will come here, as they have in the past.

"Ybor is cyclical," he said. "It always has been."

Eric Smithers can be reached at (813) 226-3339 or esmithers@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 14, 2008, 22:33:16]