Columbia Restaurant - Ybor City
Between 21st and 22nd Sts
Cuisines: Spanish
About
Columbia celebrated 100 years in 2005. Its tile building occupies an entire city block in the heart of Ybor City. Tourists flock here to soak up the ambience, and so do the locals because it's so much fun to clap along during the fire-belching Spanish flamenco floor shows Monday through Saturday evenings ($6 per person additional charge besides dinner charge). You can't help coming back time after time for the famous Spanish bean soup and original "1905" salad. The paella a la Valencia is outstanding, with more than a dozen ingredients ranging from Gulf grouper and Gulf pink shrimp to calamari, mussels, clams, chicken, and pork. Another favorite is boliche (eye of round stuffed with chorizo), accompanied by plantains and black beans and rice. Entrees come with a crispy hunk of Cuban bread with butter. Lighter appetites can choose from a limited menu of tapas, including "Cuban caviar" (a spicy black-bean dip). The decor throughout is graced with hand-painted tiles, wrought-iron chandeliers, dark woods, rich red fabrics, and stained-glass windows.
