Two years after Helene pushed a wall of water into St. Armands Circle, a visit to the Columbia Restaurant group’s Ulele on the Hillsborough River in Tampa shows how a restaurant can be built to sweep out the flood and reopen.
—On the eve of the day when a tidal wave deluged St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, we reflect on what happened and did not happen. The eye of the hurricane named Helene lurked 80 miles offshore yet threw a band into Lido Beach that pushed an estimated 12.5-foot tidal wave into the center of the Circle. It flooded the lowest point on the Circle, the Columbia Restaurant, anchor of the commercial district.
—We worried that the Columbia would close. In a show of the resilience of the Circle, the Columbia and its neighbor Venezia swept out the water, dried out the floors, and in short order reopened for business. This turning point marked the beginning of a revival from a weather disaster of a famous destination for visitors. The Columbia Restaurant group and the Gonzmart family that owns it have demonstrated how to make restaurants on barrier islands resilient to storms.
—An oasis on the Hillsborough
—We located the Columbia group’s Ulele Restaurant on the Hillsborough River flood plain in the historic Tampa Heights neighborhood of Tampa. Once the Water Works pumping station in a riverfront industrial zone, it has now evolved into the focal point of a chic parkland, an aquatic park and a neighboring Armature Works food court. This urban oasis invites visitors to stroll through cast bronze hyperrealist and cartoon sculpture gardens and small spaces ideal for contemplation over morning coffee, leisurely lunches and romantic evenings. The novel setting continues naturally past an outdoor bar, into the floor of the interior of the main restaurant and then re-emerges outside in the park.
—A princess, a grill and a menu with a story
—A massive bronze bust and a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Princess Ulele dominate the path to the restaurant. A 16th-century Native American woman of the Tocobaga tribe in Florida, legend has it that Princess Ulele (you-lay-lee) saved the life of a young captive Spanish sailor who had been condemned to die by her father, the chief of the tribe. The Gonzmarts commissioned Arizona sculptor Vala Ola to create these works.
—The Native American theme of Ulele carries over to its menu, featuring Native Chili with alligator, wild boar, venison, duck, ground chuck, cranberry beans and chili spices, and a vegan Native Sauté, a mix of freshly sautéed portobello mushrooms, red onions, zucchini, squash, green beans and white wine in a house-made sauce of chopped vine-ripened tomato, garlic, lemon and basil, served over a wild rice blend. With its proximity to Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, one would expect great seafood, and Ulele delivers charbroiled oysters, soft-shell crabs, fresh fish and a special spiny Florida lobster. Ulele’s oversized barbacoa grill not only broils oysters, it also grills fish, steaks, chops, chicken and a special meatloaf.
—Art in a Matisse garden
—The Native American and nautical themes carry over to the furnishings, décor and artwork. “The Laughing Horse,” a bronze sculpture by Peruvian Victor Delfin, towers over the ground floor dining room. The large “In the Garden” painting by Dutch artist Erick Renssen reprises the Picasso Cubist style, and his work fits neatly into the rich wood panels and bronze statuary around it. Visiting Ulele is like walking into an art gallery in a Matisse garden.
—Built to sweep the water out
—The integration of Ulele into the gardens of Water Works would seem at first glance to pose a flood risk on a coast plagued by violent storms. Ulele has a higher elevation and distance from the coastlines where a tidal surge peaks. It also sits on the natural Ulele Spring, where the spring has an established drainage path that clears tidal surges and heavy rainfall quickly. When flooding does occur, the open layout of Ulele makes it easier to sweep storm waters outside and dry the floors.
—The University of South Florida in Tampa has studied the damage caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 and has recommended enhancing the passive barriers of beaches, sand dunes and drainage paths, among other alternatives to sea walls and levees. The lessons the Gonzmarts have learned since the Columbia Restaurant opened in 1905 seem particularly relevant today.
—S.W. Hermansen has used his expertise in econometrics, data science and epidemiology to help develop research databases for the Pentagon, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Agriculture, and Health Resources and Services. He has visited premier vineyards and tasted wines from major appellations in California, Oregon and New York State, and internationally from Tuscany and the Piedmont in Italy, the Ribera del Duero in Spain, the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale in Australia, and the Otago Valley in New Zealand. Currently he splits time between residences in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and St. Armands Circle in Florida.
—Rich Hermansen selected his first wine list for a restaurant shortly after graduating from college with a degree in mathematics. He has extensive service and management experience in the food and wine industry. Family and friends rate him as their favorite chef, bartender and wine steward. He lives in Severna Park, Maryland.
