Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe - Tampa, FL

Wow! Stepping into Ella's is like stepping into another world. Ella's has lots of lovely, open space with an upstairs seating area overlooking the dining area below. And there is lots of cool art on the walls. Take a closer look at the art and you will see it is made up of a lot of old stuff, such as the painted refrigerator door or bedstead. The front grill of a car overlooks the small stage, where one can enjoy the music of whatever band happens to be playing. Check out Ella's website for a music schedule. The tables are neat, too. They look like they are made up of part old tables, with a metal top. Besides the upstairs and downstairs dining area, you can grab a seat at the bar or there is a large patio to enjoy your meal. However, in our case, we were there to enjoy the wonderful music of local singer/songwriter Rebekah Pulley, so my family and I grabbed a table near the stage.

This was our first time dining at Ella's, and we happened to be there on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon means Sunday BBQ at Ella's. The Sunday BBQ gives you a choice of ribs, beef brisket, pork-sammy, beef bun, or a combination. Along with that you can choose one side: macaroni and cheese, zucchini fritters, sweet potato fries, etc. I opted for the beef bun and the sweet potato fries. The beef is served with barbecue sauce and a pickles and the sweet potato fries were served with a spicy ketchup that went perfectly with the crispy sweet potato fries, which I loved. The beef bun was very good, not the best I've had, but still very good, and I was very satisfied. Along with my meal, my husband and I enjoyed a bottle of the Malbec Rose that turned out to be very nice.

There was only one disappointment about the meal and that is that being a Sunday BBQ, they didn't really have any vegetarian options. There was a choice of one salad, which didn't really sound too much like a let's make a meal out of it salad. The only choice left was the sweet potato fries or zucchini fritters, which were delicious, but not really a meal. I looked over the menu for the rest of the week and there are a lot of lovely options for vegetarians that you don't find at other places, but Sunday evenings don't really offer a lot in that direction. Perhaps a vegetarian chili to go with the theme of BBQ, or some other option??? Other than that, I think Ella's is excellent and I look forward to visiting there again.

Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe
5119 N. Nebraska Avenue
Tampa, FL 33603
813-234-1000