<div id="c3be0912bb716eee4ca644c1dfc4ecde4"></div>Ash at Water Street in Tampa is about to make its debut with the Italian-inspired restaurant from the Proper House Group serving its first guests on April 13 during a soft opening.
You can make reservations at Ash beginning Saturday, April 6, and its alter ego bar next door, appropriately named Alter Ego beginning Friday, April 5.
Sure, the renderings of Ash look fancy, and believe me…the place is going to look incredible when it’s done… but, at the same time, it’s not pretentious. This is the way the team at Ash is going to approach their menu too.
Fancy, but approachable fancy.
A press release about the opening pretty much summed it up: “The restaurant exudes the charisma of the cool kid at the party—refined yet approachable.”
We recently got a sneak peek with cool kid Chef Ferrell Alvarez, one of the four partners of Proper House Group, as the finishing touches came together. So let’s dive into the menu, the restaurant design, and even Alter Ego.
The menu at Ash
The menu at Ash is Italian-inspired featuring local, sustainable and seasonal ingredients, but don’t expect them to go all in on one cuisine. While you’ll find Italian dishes like pasta on the menu, Ash is not going to be a traditional Italian restaurant.
“I’m not a traditionalist in general, so you’ll find dishes with Japanese components, you’ll find dishes with Latin components, some Indian components. I’m really excited to showcase the menu. It’s just really fun. It’s nonpretentious, it’s very approachable,” said Alvarez. “It’s delicious and it’s something we’re really proud to bring to life here at Water Street.”
Here’s a peek at a few menu items they’ve curated along with Ash’s executive chef Andrew Duncan:
- Binchotan grilled Jimmy Nardello peppers, accompanied by fermented sunchokes, pistachio gremolata, and dressed with creamy sunchoke fonduta.
- The House-made Malfade pasta, boasting toasted garlic, ramp top oil, pickled ramp bulbs, Dungeness crab, and crab roe butter – a play off classic aglio olio pasta.
- Pork Chop ‘Milanese’ features a 22-ounce center-cut chop from Olivor Heritage Farms in Dover, brined with spices and citrus, then pan-fried in smoked pork fat. This dish is complemented by a sweet and acidic date and spicy dijon mostarda, accompanied by a charred chicory salad with three variations of radicchio, each contributing to a blend of bitterness and brightness.
Since their first restaurant Rooster & the Till, earned a MICHELIN Guide Florida Bib Gourmand award, we had to ask…will the Proper House Group aim for recognition with Ash too?
“We don’t focus on winning awards. We don’t change anything. We don’t wake up every day and set our goals on MICHELIN. Some people like to do that, that’s just not who we are. We just want to have fun, support really good staff, a really great community, and offer the best type of product we can.”
Good answer, chef.
It’s not just the food getting special attention. Of all things, the team at Ash put a lot of thought into the ice for your drinks and it won’t be one size fits all. They’ll have three kinds of ice in addition to the custom-made ice that will be brought in. Pretty cool, right? (Literally…)
Let’s move on to the cocktails…
The wine and cocktail menu
You can expect an Italian-forward cocktail menu, curated by beverage director Jon Howard. As you’d expect, they’ll put their twists on these traditional Italian cocktails in both taste and presentation. There will be five sections on the cocktail menu: Zero Proof, Aperitivo, Martini, House Drinks, and After Dinner.
Alvarez teased a martini program with tiny tinis which we can’t wait to see.
For those of you who prefer a glass of wine, Ash’s general manager David Madera has put his focus on a wine program that “embraces a philosophy of championing boutique, family-owned wineries, nurturing relationships with emerging talents and future icons of the wine industry.”
They promise it will be an unforgettable drinking experience.
Seating in the bar area
The bar will have 12-14 stools in addition to two large banquettes with three tables of two each. Alvarez says it will be possible to push the tables together to seat as many as 8-10 people in each section for anyone curious. (Good to know for planning a girls’ night out!) They’ll have additional tables in the window area of the bar too.
Alvarez tells us the two smaller tables by the window (not banquettes) and the bar stools will be available for walk-ins. You will want to make a reservation for the dining area and bar banquette tables.
Chef’s table at Ash
The chef’s table experience at Ash won’t be a traditional chef’s table. It’s an intimate chef’s booth in front of the kitchen pass.
“The u-shaped oversized booth will fit up to 6 people and you’ll have a direct view of the kitchen where Chef Andrew will be standing every night, so he’ll be able to serve you directly. The intimacy of it is going to be really cool. We’ll also offer food there that we won’t offer anywhere else,” said Alvarez.
“That table can be booked regularly or we can go big and offer you a really cool one-off menu—I think that’s going to be a diamond in the rough.”
Outdoor seating
Alvarez tells us they are also planning to place 7-8 tables of four on the outdoor patio so you have the option to enjoy outdoor dining along Water Street.
A few basics…What are the hours at Ash?
At first, Ash will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. Reservations are encouraged. You can expect regular hours to begin this summer.
Alvarez says they will next expand to open for lunch and eventually offer brunch on the weekends.
Where is Ash located?
The exact address of Ash is 420 S. Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. It is located on the ground floor of the Asher apartment building in Water Street.
Where to park
There are several parking garages and street parking options around Water Street, but the closest parking spot is where we parked in a paid lot located on the corner of Cumberland and Nebraska.
The Atmosphere at Ash
When you think about what makes a great restaurant, it goes beyond just the food. It starts with how the place makes you feel when you step through its doors. Proper House Group and their design team carefully considered this.
Every curve, color, texture, and light placement at Ash is intentional to make you feel welcome. Maybe almost like a hug?
“We want people to feel comfortable. We don’t have to be fancy, that’s not us. It’s not who we are,” Alvarez told us.
The space is also not overwhelming, and you could say it’s even small by some restaurant standards. That’s how they like it.
“We’re going to have about 80-84 seats on the interior that includes the bar, so it’s still very small, very much our model, just like Rooster & the Till that’s 72 seats on the inside. We like that type of framework in terms of the volume, and our capacity, because it allows us to control quality, just to do what we like to do. The 300-seat restaurants are well and good, but that’s just not how we operate. We have our little niche and we like to stick to it.”
The Proper House Group also owns Nebraska Mini Mart in Seminole Heights, Dang Dude and Gorditos in Sparkman Wharf in Tampa, and Gallito Taqueria at Sparkman Wharf and The Joinery in Lakeland.
From the curve of the handcrafted terrazzo bar to the texture of the walls of the bathrooms, every single surface, shape, and piece of furniture is intentional.
“When Gin [Braverman of Gin Design Group] and I first met, we were walking around the Water Street area and we were looking for inspiration. She saw the awning that connects the Cora parking garage to the Cora building, and that awning has an organic flow with a very natural look at the sides. It immediately spoke to her as a designer and that kind of set the tone for all of the architecture to have this kind of curvy vibe,” he told us.
The curvy vibe is felt throughout the space from the cloud above the bar to the custom-designed lights that curve over the dining room.
Even the plates were custom-designed for this space and menu. The team worked with ceramist Melissa Monroe from Chicago who also helped them design the plateware for Rooster & the Till. Some of her ceramic works will be on display at the restaurant and available for purchase.
You will also notice ash wood used throughout the restaurant like the locally handcrafted tables, side stations, and wine racks. While the ash wood is a nod to the restaurant’s name, it wasn’t the inspiration behind the name…
So what inspired the name Ash?
Ash isn’t named after the residential building it occupies, Asher. In fact, they settled on the name Ash for this restaurant concept before the Asher name was announced.
“It’s a complete coincidence,” said Alvarez.
“A little behind-the-scenes knowledge….we originally called it Ash because we were going to do live fuel. We were going to be cooking off of wood ovens or hearths in the back, but that was a bit of a liability with the landlord having a residential building. So, we had to pivot a bit, but we didn’t deter from the name. Coincidentally, Asher was announced as Asher. We had already launched our brand by that point, so we didn’t want to recoil. Quite frankly, it’s kind of funny now, but that’s how Ash came to be.”
Ash’s alter ego bar, Alter Ego
Right next door to Ash, is the Proper House Group’s first bar concept. It will also welcome guests for a soft opening beginning April 13. You can book your reservation at Alter Ego here.
While Ash is light and airy, Alter Ego is dark and sexy. The light mauves of Ash are a dark mauve next door, but the curves carry over. And that’s what inspired the name.
Alter Ego will be reservation-based with 50 seats, however, they will have a small number of spots for walk-ins, based on capacity. There will be a doorman to let people in as space becomes available.
There will also be a semi-private booth that can seat 4 people.
“Reservations for Alter Ego are going to be sold in 1.5-hour increments. So when you reserve your table, you have your table for an hour and a half. If you want to stay longer and there’s not a reservation at that table then you are welcome to stay. If there is a reservation, then we’ll kindly ask you to stay, but you’ll be in a standing room only at that point,” Alvarez told us.
Alter Ego Hours
Alter Ego will be open Monday through Wednesday from 5 p.m. until 12 a.m. and Thursday through Sunday from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. Reservations are recommended.
Unique Events
Alvarez says they’re planning unique experiences, including booking well-known DJs from around the world at least once a quarter.
“Those will be ticketed events and they’re going to be really cool because to go see people of a high caliber in a space that only seats 80 (50 seats/30 standing) that is only focused on quality cocktails and food, is going to be something really unique for our area,” said Alvarez.
The opening lineup includes DJ Epik from Sacramento, California, Angelica Rose, and Rich Medina from Miami and Spreadsheets from Orlando.
Cocktail menu and bar
Even though Alter Ego is a bar, there will be a small food menu with small handheld items and a caviar service. The wine and cocktail menu will also include a champagne program that we can’t wait to experience.
The guys at Proper House Group and their team are pretty excited too as opening day nears for both concepts.
“We are very humbled to be down here,” said Alvarez. “To be able to be a part of the growth of the community is really cool. We all love Tampa.”
