Three Tampa Restaurants Get Michelin Stars

The exciting announcement of Tampa Michelin Star restaurants came Thursday in Miami. There have been Michelin starred restaurants in Florida before, but now there are three in Tampa awarded the honor. Which restaurants are they?

The honor of a Michelin Star

First, you need to know how difficult it is to achieve this status in this industry. The Michelin Guide now rates more than 30,000 restaurants and hotels. Only the top handful earn the coveted stars. The guide has been around since 1920 from the same brothers who began making Michelin tires. They wanted to provide a guide with travel information. It took about 103 years to get there, but Tampa now has been honored with stars for three restaurants.

Here they are:

Rocca – 323 W. Palm Ave., Tampa, 33602
A contemporary Italian restaurant, Rocca is led by Chef Bryce Bonsack, who already worked in two Michelin-starred New York restaurants.

Koya -807 W. Platt St., Tampa, 33606
An intimate Japanese restaurant, Koya is an 8-seat restaurant that features a tasting menu. This menu is always changing as the ingredients are at their peak. Good luck getting in. Koya only begins booking a month in advance.

Lilac – 500 Channelside Dr., Tampa, 33602
Lilac offers a prix-fixe menu with a four-course meal. Mediterranean influenced, but with Florida ingredients, Chef John Fraser combines his Greek heritage and French techniques for his creations. You’ll find Lilac on the ground floor of The Tampa EDITION.

Click here for more information about Florida restaurants in the Michelin Guide.

2023 Tampa Theatre Summer Classics Movie Series

• Sunday, June 4: Mrs. Doubtfire (PG-13, 1993) 3 p.m.

  Robin Williams in dresses as a woman to get a job as his ex-wife’s housekeeper. The film earned an Oscar for best makeup and Robin won a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture. The film also stars Sally Field and Pierce Bronson.

• Sunday, June 11: Vertigo (PG - 1958) 3 p.m.

  Classic Alfred Hitchcock. Equally great in the film is Jimmy Stewart.

• Sunday, June 18: The Flying Ace (1926) 3 p.m.

  Filmed in Jacksonville, Florida, its set is being refurbished to become a silent film museum. It also was honored in 2021 by the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress.

• Sunday, June 25: Fantasia (G - 1940) 3 p.m.

  Among Walt Disney’s highest achievements in film, Fantasia is amazing to see on the big screen. The film earned Leopold Stokowski and Walt Disney honors from the Acadamy Awards.

• Sunday, July 2: Enter the Dragon (R - 1973) 3 p.m.

  Another National Film Registry honoree, Enter The Dragon is considered to be Bruce Lee’s first big Hollywood film. Sadly, Lee died before the movie had completed post-production. It’s a great martial arts classic.

• Sunday, July 9: Mamma Mia! (PG-13 - 2008) 3 p.m.

  Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan star in this musical based around the hits of ABBA. It was nominated for multiple BAFTA and Golden Globe awards.

• Sunday, July 16: The Breakfast Club (R - 1985) 3 p.m.

  If you were alive in the 80’s, you know this film well. John Hughes’ film features 5 students in school detention at school. The Brat Pack of Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall star with Paul Gleason as the instructor who has to oversee their in-school punishment. Another film honored by the National Film Registry.

• Sunday, July 23: 2001: A Space Odyssey (G - 1968) 3 p.m.

  Writer/Director Stanley Kubrick sends us into space to find something on the moon. Kubrick was nominated for Best Director, and the movie did win an Oscar for Best Effects/Special Visual Effects.

• Sunday, July 30: The Lion King (G - 1994) 3 p.m.

  The 1994 Disney classic won two Oscars for its music with the help of Hans Zimmer and Elton John. It probably didn’t hurt to have a cast that featured the voices of Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Rowan Atkinson and Whoopi Goldberg. Nathan Lane, Robert Guillaume and Ernie Sabella certainly can’t be left out either. Oops… and Cheech Marin… and Moira Kelly… and Jim Cummings…

• Sunday, Aug. 6: Planet of the Apes (G - 1968) 3 p.m.

  When astronauts come out of hibernation on their long trip, they find themselves on a planet ruled by primates. As a human, Charlton Heston doesn’t understand his place in the apes’ land. However, he’ll eventually learn where he is, and what happened… Don’t want to risk a spoiler here.

• Sunday, Aug. 13: Titanic (PG-13 - 1997) 3 p.m.

  It’s the romanticized telling of one of maritime’s most famous disasters. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star in this film that won 11 (yes, eleven) Oscars.

• Sunday, Aug. 20: Casablanca (PG - 1942) 3 p.m.

  If you’ve seen Casablanca, there’s little you need to know, other than you’ll need to buy your tickets as early as you can. If you’ve never seen it, you need to. You’ll learn just why so many of the lines from the movie are remembered so many years later. The romance between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman simply pulls you in. Add in legendary performances of Claude Rains, Paul Henried, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson and you have the makings of what’s considered one of the finest films Hollywood has ever released.

• Sunday, Aug. 27: The Silent Clowns (1919-1927) 3 p.m.

  Each year, the Summer Classics Movie Series features several silent films accompanied by Tampa Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ.

  For 2023, there will be four silent films presented: The Scarecrow (1920) with Buster Keaton, Pay Day (1922) with Charlie Chaplin,  Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919) with Harold Lloyd and The Battle of the Century (1927) with Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel.