(L-R in foreground) Darryl Shaw, Maryann Ferenc and the Mise En Place team. Credit: c/o Amy Martz / Mise en Place
For Maryann Ferenc, this weekend marks the end of an era at 442 W Grand Central Ave. Founded in 1986 on Platt Street, Mise en Place moved to a then-unknown block across from the University of Tampa in 1992 and turned it into a destination now bookended by Oxford Exchange to the east and Tori Bar to the west.
After Friday’s Halloween night rager, restaurant founders Ferenc and Chef Marty Blitz will close the door on Grand Central one last time and prepare to start a new chapter in Ybor City.
“It is a really unique perspective on Tampa, because you are looking at history,” Ferenc recently told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about Mise en Place’s new view of Jose Martí Park, the waterfront, and downtown Tampa. “You can’t help but imagine what Ybor was like when it was so bustling, and it was, it was the center of commerce and life for Tampa. You kind of feel the energy there.”
Ferenc and Blitz gave patrons a sneak peek at the future during a recent field trip to the new Mise en Place on the ground floor of developer Darryl Shaw’s Casa Gomez building at 1229 E 8th Ave., but the rest of us will have to wait a month longer than expected
“Nobody’s fault, really, just circumstances” she told CL about the unplanned delay opening now set for December, adding that contractors ran into more stuff than they expected to in the new building.
In the meantime, Ferenc and Blitz have a plan to take care of their team of about 15 people while they’re in between buildings.
“We want to keep them together, and we will, because that’s the right thing to do. And we’re finding ways to do that,” Ferenc explained.
They’ll all get more time to train together after the finale bash, but Mise en Place has also reached out to local food banks to see if staff can help, especially as the government shutdown rolls on.
“We don’t usually have the luxury of time, and this will give us the luxury of some training time, time together, off time, things like that we don’t normally have,” she said.
In the meantime, the team is focused on this final week of service, which includes a throwback power lunch and studio show on Thursday, plus the Halloween party, which should be a nod to wilder Oct. 31 nights Mise used to host back in day when Clicquot was reason we all made bad decisions.
Ever the optimist, activist, and true believer, Ferenc says Mise en Place is planning on staying in touch with regulars by popping up at other restaurants that their regulars like to frequent.
While she’s jazzed and feels great about the move, Ferenc is also frank about the reality of essentially being closed for a month.
“I think the only thing that scares me is not everyone loves change. There’s already a lot of feeling the world shifting under your feet, and so I get concerned about the clients and the staff that feel it’s just too much change. And that adds additional stress,” she said.
She, too, has borne stress over the half-decade since the pandemic, but she’s not lost sight of how fun it is to run a restaurant.
“There’s a lot to do, and I’m serious about my work, and I care about my clients, and taking care of everybody. I want to not forget to have some fun here. Because 34 years in that space has been wonderful,” she said. “It’s been hard too, but there’s so much joy, so many people.”
And instead of letting worry consume her, Ferenc pivots back to her faith in her team, the Mise En Place faithful, and their ability to get things done, adding that when the universe has a game plan, you have to just roll with it and know things will be OK.
“I’ve always said, in times that are scary, just be yourself more. Be yourself, whether it’s yourself as an individual, ourselves as an entity—like, ‘What is Mise?’—just be that more,” Ferenc said. “Don’t let the fear make you stop doing things.”
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This article appears in Oct. 30 – Nov. 5, 2025.
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