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Cheap Thrill
By CHRIS SHERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 15, 2001
Tomatina
Photos here of the annual tomato-pelting festival in Bunol, Spain, will delight you. Quality, style and price of this new Italian chain of the same name will astonish you.
Tomato sauce is tangibly fresh, of course, homemade pizza dough is crackling crisp and the menu spills over with goat cheese, pesto, prosciutto, baby spinach, roasted eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes and wicked semifreddo desserts. Add an open kitchen, hip decor and anything-to-please service, and you'd think you're in a an upscale independent or a $20-a-head chain. Nope, most entrees are under $8, salads and starters $3.50 to $5; average check is under $11. This brings the best of new style food and decor in at prices that undercut popular high-end chains as well as neighborhood Mom-'n'-Pops.
Tomatina's signature piadine is an Italian wrap of flatbread, a bit messy and fine for kids, but rather dull for me. Best bites are baked polenta, soups with asparagus and peas, and pastalike pastina with spinach, mushrooms, pancetta and Parmesan, as hearty as light can be.
Concept inventor is Michael Chiaretto, a Napa Valley chef who tried to create a low-priced family place with the same quality as his famous Tra Vigna. There are three Tomatinas in California; Eddie DeBartolo opened the first here in the restaurant village next to Veterans 24, and plans three more this year. 9214 Anderson Road, Tampa; (813) 290-7744.
- CHRIS SHERMAN, Times food critic
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