soho backyard
I've been spending more time than usual in SoHo lately. While it's not nearly as one-note as I had previously thought, it is still somewhat one-speed, with bars and restaurants packed out to the doors on weekend nights, and crowds of college students getting college drunk all week long to a soundtrack of Top 40 tunes and horns honking in congested Howard Avenue traffic. It's an area I'd head to for a wild night out, but it's close to the last area I'd think of for a quiet afternoon cocktail, or to B.S. with some friends over food and beers.
It's possible that this reputation had something to do with the concept behind the SoHo Backyard, a little bar and restaurant at the end of the strip that is in ways both the antithesis and perfect representation of the SoHo vibe.
The name is as plainly descriptive as it is evocative. Everyone loves hanging around in their — or maybe a friend's — backyard, sipping drinks and shooting the breeze, and the SoHo Backyard is designed in some ways to replicate the experience. But it's also a somewhat literal name: the Backyard is tucked away, hidden in the back of a lot between Armenia and Howard — a backyard to the main Howard Avenue strip.
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If you're looking for the place with nothing but an address, you might not even find it. Heading down Armenia, you'll need to pull into the parking lot for the Gourmet Pizza Company and drive through to the end, where a new lot opens up and the SoHo Backyard comes into view. From anywhere else on Armenia, Swann or Howard, you'd never see it.
Just like a fenced-in, backyard sanctuary at home, the SoHo Backyard features tree shade, a nice open-air breeze and plenty of privacy and isolation from the chaos just a block or two down the road. Large, distressed copper panels serve as both weather and noise blockers as well as aesthetic counterpoints to the clean wood slats marking the patio perimeter. When the weather is nice, it's almost mandatory to sit on the patio and enjoy the breeze.
The interior is dark and filled with typical SoHo swank: plush, high-backed booths upholstered in gold fabric; an open kitchen; and two separate bars with rows of premium spirits lit in mellow blues and purples. There's not much hard separation between the indoor bars and dining area and the outdoor patio, which gives the otherwise-small space a roomy, open feel, especially when the sun is still out.
Monroe Of Soho/rubideaux Apartments
While the bars and restaurants of SoHo offer plenty of variety, none of them feel like much of a neighborhood bar — except for the SoHo Backyard. It feels like the kind of place that only those in the know would show up to; more of a spot for the residents of the walking-distance condos than for the typical nightlife college crowd that SoHo is known for. The interior is covered in vintage photos of Tampa — images from its cigar-producing past, historic thoroughfares and the famous minarets of the nearby University of Tampa. This is a Tampa bar, make no mistake.
While the SoHo Backyard puts much emphasis on Chef Narja Campbell's Florida-Caribbean fusion menu, it's also a great place to drink. There's a decent beer selection (mostly bottled), more than a handful of wines and a varied spirit list that's perhaps just a little bit biased toward premium bourbon. After all, what makes a better backyard drinking session than good Bourbon?
The best part is the weekday happy hour. With the exception of some top selections, like Johnnie Walker Gold and Blue label Scotch, everything — everything — is half off. Want a Woodford Reserve Backyard Old Fashioned? $5. A Hendrick's Gimlet with muddled cucumber? $5.50. Enough said.
Soho Backyard A Hidden Alternative To Tampa's South Howard Scene
With its "secret garden" location and laid-back, neighborhood bar vibe, SoHo Backyard is a much-needed alternative to the SoHo scene. I'm sure those who have taken the trouble to actually find the place appreciate this, as will the ones that make the effort in the future.
With its "secret garden" location and laid-back, neighborhood bar vibe, SoHo Backyard is a much-needed alternative to the SoHo scene. I'm sure those who have taken the trouble to actually find the place appreciate this, as will the ones that make the effort in the future.
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