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La Victoria Brings Coastal Mexican Family Recipes — and a Morning Café — to Downtown Tampa

Published

5 days ago

October 21, 2026

Downtown Tampa is getting a double dose from one new kitchen. La Victoria debuted for dinner service on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 105 W. Tyler St., taking over the former Melting Pot Social space — and followed it the next morning with a café program of its own.

Owner Erick Meza describes the restaurant as an “authentic elevated coastal Mexican concept” built on family recipes passed down through generations, paired with a modern approach to drinks and service. The 3,700-square-foot space seats about 150 guests. La Victoria is Meza’s first restaurant of his own, opened with partner Andrew Gus Thieken; his family owns and operates Mexican restaurants in Ohio and Connecticut, making La Victoria the family’s fifth restaurant overall and its first in Florida.

Executive chef Terrell Manning leads the kitchen, and Meza said Manning “brings a twist to make it more modern but we are not sacrificing on the authenticity.” Menu details previewed on the restaurant’s Instagram include tacos on blue corn tortillas, bone marrow and raw seafood.

The restaurant runs two services. A café program started Friday, October 23, running 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and featuring coffee beans sourced from Mexico, while dinner runs 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. The bar lineup is Mexican-inspired, with cocktails built around palomas, aguas frescas and margaritas, plus an infused mocktail program incorporating flavors such as jicama and horchata. As Business Debut reported, Meza said the restaurant would open while still waiting for its liquor license to be approved. Tampa Latest reported ahead of the opening that the restaurant was expected to bring approximately 75 new jobs to downtown Tampa.

Two services, one kitchen and a family’s fifth restaurant: La Victoria arrives aiming to cover downtown from morning coffee straight through dinner — and to give Tyler Street another reason for Tampa diners to linger a little longer.

We Speak Dining & Drinks

Georgia Grabs Two of the South’s Three New Michelin Stars as Atlanta’s So. Fox and Gay’s Uberto Join the Guide

Published

4 days ago

October 22, 2026

We Speak Media

Georgia owned the room at the 2026 MICHELIN Guide American South ceremony. Six Georgia restaurants received new distinctions at the unveiling at The Pinnacle in Nashville on October 21 — and the state’s two new one-star restaurants, So. Fox in Atlanta and Uberto in Gay, were two of only three new stars awarded across the entire seven-state region. The third went to Dakar NOLA in New Orleans.

The second annual American South selection covers 265 restaurants across 44 cuisine types, with 22 starred restaurants, 59 Bib Gourmands and 184 Recommended restaurants in total. Georgia now counts 10 starred restaurants statewide.

So. Fox, in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood, is helmed by chef Myles Moody and sommelier Rachael Pack, and its name pays homage to the Southern fox, another term for the indigenous muscadine grape. Inspectors praised dishes including corn dumplings in sweet corn sauce with lump crab and a roasted apple granita, along with Carolina Gold rice with toasted shrimp and drop dumplings with nettle and confit rabbit.

Uberto operates inside the World of Quercus resort in Gay, roughly an hour south of Atlanta, where chef Ryan Smith serves a tasting menu built on fermentation and preservation, open to non-resort guests on Friday and Saturday nights. Critics highlighted his miso and Alabama blue crab chawanmushi, cold-smoked, dry-aged Rohan duck grilled over binchotan coals with carrot puree, and fig ice cream with buckwheat sponge. Smith also received Michelin’s new Mindful Voices award; Uberto sources more than 90 percent of its produce from its on-site regenerative farm, which runs entirely on solar power and uses no chemical pesticides or herbicides.

Georgia’s new Bib Gourmands are Summerland in Atlanta, chef Anne Quatrano’s cafe on Collier Road, and Tipsy Thaiger in Roswell, while Pink Lotus in Atlanta and Spring 2nd Branch in Marietta joined the Recommended list.