Tampa fine dining institution Mise en Place is on the move this fall, leaving its longtime location across Kennedy Boulevard from the University of Tampa to begin a new chapter in Ybor City.
The Bay Area culinary icon’s new digs are the first-floor restaurant space in the Casa Gomez office building at the gateway to the Ybor City Historic District.
For Mise en Place founders and owners Maryann Ferenc and chef Marty Blitz, it’s the restaurant’s third home in 39 years of business and, Ferenc says, its last. For Ybor City real estate mogul and investor Darryl Shaw, the developer behind Casa Gomez and its adjacent sister project, Casa Marti apartments, it’s a significant get to have a renowned fine dining destination with a reputation that can convince other restaurants to follow its lead as the first to make the move.
“We’re seeing a lot of restaurant interest in Ybor,” Shaw says. “A lot of the really good restaurateurs are saying I know I need to be in Ybor, I want to be in Ybor, but I’m not sure now is the right time. Essentially, they’ve been on the fence. Mise en Place coming helps establish the precedent and demonstrates that a really good reputable restaurant can come into Ybor. I think that bodes really well for Ybor.”
Right place, right time
Built on a former vacant city-owned lot on the city block between Seventh and Eighth avenues east of Nuccio Parkway, Casa Marti and Casa Gomez are part of Shaw’s strategy to use a mix of redevelopment and renovation projects on vacant properties and older industrial sites to create a walkable, mixed-use district with more going on during the day and on weekdays. Getting there means more residents, retail shops, local businesses, corporate offices – and more restaurants.
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Carole DevillersTampa fine dining institution Mise en Place joins real estate developer Darryl Shaw's Ybor revitalization with its upcoming move to Casa Gomez, shown here in 2024.Ferenc, who launched Mise en Place with Blitz in 1986 as a catering business, has known Shaw and his family for years; his father was her dogs’ veterinarian. She says the decision to move to Casa Gomez and history-rich Ybor is a case of the right place at the right time.
“One thing I realized early on in my restaurant career, especially in Florida and Tampa-St. Petersburg, is that we have to engage with tourism, because we are more than just a restaurant, we are part of a destination,” Ferenc says. “And I’ve always said that we can’t be considered a truly great destination if we leave our historic district behind. We could be great in a bunch of other ways, but you can’t be truly great if you leave your historic district behind. Then, as Darryl began to build and invest in this community in a heartfelt way, we began talking about it. Marty and I decided, if we’re ever going to do something, if we’re going to do one more move, it should be now. Darryl is doing all these projects at the same time; it just made sense. We said, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’”
On top of culinary creds like a spot in Florida Trend magazine’s Golden Spoon Hall of Fame, a Michelin Guide recommendation, and its longtime reputation as a Tampa Bay foodie favorite, Mise en Place has a track record for moving to an area and proving a business can succeed there. That’s what happened in 1992, when the restaurant moved from Platt Street to a then-rough-and-tumble stretch of Kennedy across from UT. During 33 years at 442 W. Grand Central Ave, Mise en Plave survived and thrived, leading a gradual revitalization that hit a high point when the upscale Oxford Exchange complex opened a few storefronts down in 2012 and cemented the corridor as a destination.
“When we moved to Platt Street, it was not a good location,” Ferenc says. “When we moved to Kennedy and Grand Central, it was a worse location than Platt Street. But we built community there. It’s the same thing now. And Darryl has laid everything out for us to do that. He’s done all the hard work. He’s invested all the big dollars. Now the rest of us just have to get it done.”
Ferenc expects other restaurants will “see we’re willing to take a shot” and decide it’s time to get in on Ybor.
“Because we’re not foolish,” she says. “We’re not foolhardy. We’re thoughtful. But we’re committed to the community.”
Shaw says Mise en Place’s status as a pioneer business in the revitalization along Kennedy and deep community ties make it an ideal fit for Casa Gomez and the big picture strategy to revitalize Ybor while preserving its roots and urban feel.
“She believes in the urban core,” Shaw says of Ferenc. “She believes in the history and the culture of Ybor.”
At Casa Gomez, Mise en Place will have ample parking – the 1,200-space Palm Garage is just a stone’s throw away – and a TECO Line Streetcar stop right outside the building. There’s also a rooftop terrace bar and restaurant space with views of Ybor, Gasworx, and downtown. Mise en Place and Shaw are working on an arrangement to activate that space.
Becoming part of the neighborhood
Mise en Place plans to stay open at the Kennedy location through October 31st and go out with a bang by reviving Yelloween, a Halloween costume party put on in collaboration with French Champagne house Veuve Clicquot.
“That’s going to be our final night,” Ferenc says. We used to do that every Halloween. We’re going to bring it back for one year.”
The restaurant will reopen at Casa Gomez approximately two weeks later. But they're not waiting until the doors open to become part of the neighborhood.
On a Sunday afternoon in July, Ferenc and the restaurant’s front-of-house staff
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Mise en Place FacebookMise en Place's new Casa Gomez location at the start of build-out make the rounds in Ybor ahead of the big move. They stop and hang out at Sky Puppy Brewing, located in another of Shaw’s renovation projects, Casa Bomberos on the 1300 block of Eighth Avenue. They visit Casa Gomez to check in on the build-out of their future home and check out the rooftop terrace.
Next, Ferenc visits La Creperia Cafe, and then Cheeseology, businesses she wants Mise en Place’s loyal following to get to know.
“Our 39th anniversary is this September,” she says. “We’ll hit our 40th anniversary in Ybor City. So we’ve gained the trust of a lot of people when it comes to food and drink and hospitality. If we can take that loyalty and spread it around to other places like this and make them super successful, then I would consider us a success. This is not just about us moving here. This is about an enclave of fabulous foodies moving here with us who will then go and explore other things here.”
Continuing the momentum
Mise en Place continues a stretch of noteworthy progress for Shaw’s Ybor redevelopment projects over the last year and change. Casa Marti and Casa Gomez both opened, with Casa Gomez's three floors of office space fully leased. Sky Puppy Brewing opened in Casa Bomberos, the renovated 19th-century building on East Eighth Avenue that was Ybor’s first firehouse.
The upscale apartment community La Unión Residence and Social Hall opened on Nuccio Parkway in late 2024, the first piece of the 50-acre mixed-use Gasworx district linking Ybor, downtown, and the Channel District that Shaw and real estate developer Kettler are developing in collaboration. Kettler and Tampa’s Duckweed Urban Grocery have announced that the local boutique grocery store will open a location at La Unión in late 2025.
And construction has intensified at Gasworx, where the next phase includes two more residential buildings, a Class A office building, renovating and repurposing a vacant warehouse as an indoor marketplace, a pedestrian-friendly street with outdoor dining, a park, and a new TECO Line Streetcar stop.
For more information, go to Mise en Place