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Mise en Place\u2019s new dining room (Carole Devillers)![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5175.jpg\")
The bar is open at Mise en Place (Carole Devillers)![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5185.jpg\")
Mise en Place\u2019s new location in Ybor City (Carole Devillers)![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5189.jpg\")
Mise en Place\u2019s cocktail hour is 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (Carole Devillers)<\/p>\n
In the food world, trends come and go. The new, trendy thing is hot \u2014 until it\u2019s not. There are plenty of examples in the Tampa Bay area\u2019s dining history.<\/p>\n
Mise En Place is a notable exception. The Tampa fine dining institution has been on the tip of foodie tongues for 40 years, defying conventional wisdom about the precarity of the restaurant business and spawning offshoots, brand extensions, pop-ups, and fierce loyalists.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s started a new chapter in Ybor City.<\/p>\n
Last year, Mise closed its longtime location along Kennedy Boulevard across from the University of Tampa with a Halloween party. Its new home \u2014 the ground floor of the Casa Gomez office building at the gateway to the Ybor City Historic District \u2014 places it in an emerging food hot spot in one of the city\u2019s oldest neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistoric districts need to thrive, and Ybor City is a special place,\u201d says Mise en Place co-founder and co-owner Maryann Ferenc. \u201cWhen I moved to Tampa, we came here to blow off steam, dance, drink, and listen to live music.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Back then, the neighborhood\u2019s scrappier days were reminiscent of Ferenc\u2019s native Detroit. Nowadays, young professionals in suits walk past while the TECO Streetcar rumbles by every so often. The new space on 8th Avenue faces Jose Marti Park and highlights a shift taking place in Ybor. Vacant spaces are being redeveloped and activated. There\u2019s life on the street. The din of construction \u2013 and clucking chickens \u2014 is constantly in the background.<\/p>\n
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Mise en Place brings fine dining to the gateway of the Ybor City Historic District. (Carole Devillers)![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5197.jpg\")
Mise en Place is on the ground floor of Casa Gomez in Ybor City (Carole Devillers)<\/p>\n
Will fine dining customers make their way to the new spot? They certainly did 34 years ago, when Ferenc and her fellow co-founder and co-owner, chef Marty Blitz, made the bold move from Platt Street to Grand Central Avenue, once a no-man\u2019s-land between downtown and Davis Islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love experimentation,\u201d Ferenc says. \u201cIt feeds my love of hospitality in the broadest possible sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years, Ferenc and\u00a0 Blitz have done anything but rinse and repeat. They\u2019ve cultivated a catering business. For about a decade, they managed Sono Cafe at the Tampa Museum of Art and operated a wine bar at Tampa International Airport, where they now run The Cafe by Mise En Place in Airside F.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More recently, the pair ran The Dewey, a rooftop bar and grill at The Berkeley Beach Club on St. Pete Beach\u2019s Pass-A-Grille. Hurricanes Helene and Milton wreaked havoc there in 2024, and The Dewey closed permanently last year. <\/p>\n
The comic irony in these culinary business endeavors is that Ferenc is a self-professed non-cook.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a culinarian,\u201d she says. \u201cMarty makes the food decisions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blitz, the head chef, still asks all the staff for detailed feedback on new dishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTelling him something is \u2018good\u2019 won\u2019t fly,\u201d Ferenc says. \u201cHe wants notes!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mise\u2019s menu has always been considered New American\u2014innovative modern cuisine rooted in French cooking. Asked how Mise has maintained the attention and excitement of Tampa foodies, Ferenc is pensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe evolve authentically,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t chase trends, but we notice and integrate them, if it makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The real throughline for the pair over the last four decades is a deep commitment to community.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy gift,\u201d Ferenc says, \u201cis building platforms for talented people. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many former Mise employees have gone on to launch food and beverage businesses. But it\u2019s bigger than that. Ferenc\u2019s platforms don\u2019t just launch talent; they magnetize a place. That\u2019s why Ferenc works with Visit Florida, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board to promote Florida tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cFoodies love going out in search of culinary experiences on the periphery,\u201d she says. \u201cHospitality and adventure go hand-in-hand, and I love showing how great a host we \u2014 me and my team, but also the Tampa Bay region \u2014 can be to locals and visitors alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
She hopes Ybor residents and neighbors will become Mise regulars and longtime fans from across Tampa will rediscover an area they\u2019ve not explored in a while.<\/p>\n
With easy parking,\u00a0 Sky Puppy Brewing nearby for a pre-dinner drink, and a streetcar stop out front, Mise En Place\u2019s new spot in the heart of Ybor City feels like a natural fit.<\/p>\n
Mise En Place is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; brunch Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; cocktail hour Tuesday through Saturday 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.; dinner Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.<\/p>\n