This elevated Mexican restaurant is coming to downtown Tampa

A new restaurant plans to serve upelevated Mexican cuisine for the downtown Tampa crowd.

La Victoria is taking shape at 105 W. Tyler St., the former Melting Pot Social space underneath the AVE Tampa Riverwalk apartments. It’s more than a year and a half in the making for co-owners Erick Meza and Gus Thieken.

Meza grew up in his family’s Mexican restaurants in Ohio, cutting onions and peppers and helping out as needed during winter and spring school breaks. When his dad was looking to expand into a fifth eatery, Meza, who was doing property management in New York City, decided to take a stab at the family business and gave his high school buddy and fellow Ohio University alum Thieken a call.

Thieken moved to Tampa in 2023 toopen Water StreetgastropubThe Pearl as a beverage manager. He said he was taking notes throughout the experience, eager to learn the ropes of launching a restaurant from Ohio-based hospitality group Cameron Mitchell Restaurants. Thieken left his post as The Pearl’s general manager earlier this year to go all in on La Victoria with the Meza family.

La Victoria will offer classic Mexican dishes with a modern spin and put an emphasis on service and hospitality. Meza and Thieken have tapped executive chef Terrell Manning, a St. Petersburg native, and assistant general manager Mack Shaffer, who worked closely with Thieken at The Pearl’s downtown Columbus location, tohelp bring the new restaurant to life.

Meza’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Michoacán, Mexico. La Victoria will pay homage to the area and his family’s story. The restaurant’s logo features the cathedral where his mom and dad got married, and the Meza family’s recipes arereflected in the food alongside Manning’s modern technique and personality, including dishes he’s developed through the years.

As Thieken put it: “Everything’s going to bevery intentional.”

“We’re not trying to have every option under the sun when it comes to our food menu or our cocktail menu or our tequila menu, but we just really want to hand-select items that we think are going to continue to point back to this concept: authentic, elevated Mexican,” he said.

Dinner, which Manningdescribed as La Victoria’s “North Star,” will showcase menu items like slow-braised duck mole and carne asada tacos topped with roasted bone marrow. Other highlights include several tuna dishes, such as the tuna aguachile served inside a taquito, and the ceviche featuring three preparations on one elegant plate: traditional shrimp, a spicy octopus version and leche de tigre paired with whitefish.

The lunch lineup isa descendant of the dinner menu, and weekend brunch promises fun eats like chilaquiles and tortas.

Manning has dreamed up anine-course tasting menu that’s especially ambitious.Offered Thursday through Saturday in La Victoria’s private dining area and limited to 20 seats, the experience will be deeply rooted in Mexican fare with touches of molecular gastronomy, high-end ingredients (think caviar or A4 and A5 Miyazaki wagyu) and a zero-waste approach.

“If we have duck on our tasting menu, every single part of the duck will be used for that specific dish,” Manning said. “Nothing will go to waste.”

Goat pozole, an amuse-bouche, is one of the courses he’s excited for guests to try. Another dish has bluefin tuna three ways, pairing kama toro, the cheekbone of the fish, with bluefin ice cream and tuna bone marrow.

Manning’s passion for food began early. His grandmother taught him how to cook at age 7, and growing up he worked in the catering business she brought down to Florida from Chicago. After cutting his teeth as a prep cook at The Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, he went on to join restaurants specializing in various cuisines, from East Asian to Indian to West African.

His desire to expand his culinary repertoire goes back to his grandmother, who he said learned to make an array of foods,including Mexican dishes, by exchanging recipes with her co-workers at a Chicago Nabisco cookie factory. Manning turned to her for guidance while crafting the menus for La Victoria, picking her brain about how she approached bites such as the tacos and tamales he enjoyed from his childhood. Dinerswill get a taste of some of her recipes.

“She’s 88, but she’s still the best chef that I’ve ever met,” he said.

Like the food, the cocktails will spotlight new takes on classics, whether they’re jazzed up with a fresh technique or a unique ingredient. Expect a thoughtfully curated selection of tequilas, wines and nonalcoholic offerings (hello, agua frescas!).

And La Victoria has more in store beyond that.

The restaurant is carrying over a subscription-based tequila locker program that the Meza family had up north. In the private dining area that’s separated from the main dining room with a curtain, 24 lockers will be available for guests who want to purchase a bottle of tequila and keep it in-house. The program includes access to special events and tastings.

La Victoria alsowill operate as a cafe in the morning, slinging fresh pastries, smaller breakfast items and a few drinks like Mexican coffee, cafe con leche and house-made horchata. The team is looking into sourcing its beans from Mexico.

The 3,700-square-foot restaurant can seat about 150 inside and out front, where a few tables are planned. To create a warm and sexy vibe, the dining room will feature subtle, soft Mexican textures and patterns,many greens, reds and browns.

“Our designer’s done a great job as well, making sure that she’s hand-selecting items that are representative of Mexico,” Meza said.

There’ll be an open kitchen and a mix of booths, standalone tables and high-tops to settle into. Ifdiners want to watch Manning’s crew make ceviche or shuck oysters, they should snag a spot in front of the raw bar display on the left side of the horseshoe-shaped bar, the centerpiece of the restaurant.

La Victoria is slated to open in late September. As the restaurant’s build-out nears completion, the team has started fine-tuning dishes and interviewing for front- and back-of-house positions.

The restaurant will join a handful ofother Mexican eateriesin the downtown Tampa dining mix, including Urban Cantina, Nueva Cantina and the forthcoming Rreal Tacos and Matilde.

Still, Meza said he and Thieken believe there’s a need for “good, authentic Mexican food” that La Victoria can fill. Foot traffic and development also attracted them to downtown. They see a lot of opportunity in the area.

“I think it’s great for us to be a part of this growth and a part of this development with the city. So we very much want to grow with the city. We very much intend this to be a celebration for the city,” Thieken said. “We want to be a part of the community.”

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