The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine
Behind the scenes at one of Florida's most beloved restaurants

The Columbia is Florida's oldest and most honored restaurant. Founded in 1905 as a cafe catering to immigrant cigar workers in Ybor City, it has grown into one of the culinary touchstones of the state. Handed down from generation to generation, the Columbia remains family owned and operated, with seven locations from St. Augustine to Sarasota.



In The Columbia Restaurant, Andrew Huse provides an in-depth look at the people who made the restaurant great. With a historian's eye for accuracy and a storyteller's ear for delicious anecdotes, Huse traces the fortunes of the Columbia from the founder, Casimiro Hernandez Sr., to his great-grandson, fourth-generation restaurateur Richard Gonzmart.



The Columbia's history is rich with stories of secret stashes of liquor, backroom deals with gangsters, waiters who never forgot an order, business challenges from the Great Depression to urban renewal and beyond.



Keeping in mind why people fall in love with a restaurant, the book includes favorite recipes from across the years, along with hundreds of color and black and white photographs that trace the Columbia's evolution across the century.

1112011991
The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine
Behind the scenes at one of Florida's most beloved restaurants

The Columbia is Florida's oldest and most honored restaurant. Founded in 1905 as a cafe catering to immigrant cigar workers in Ybor City, it has grown into one of the culinary touchstones of the state. Handed down from generation to generation, the Columbia remains family owned and operated, with seven locations from St. Augustine to Sarasota.



In The Columbia Restaurant, Andrew Huse provides an in-depth look at the people who made the restaurant great. With a historian's eye for accuracy and a storyteller's ear for delicious anecdotes, Huse traces the fortunes of the Columbia from the founder, Casimiro Hernandez Sr., to his great-grandson, fourth-generation restaurateur Richard Gonzmart.



The Columbia's history is rich with stories of secret stashes of liquor, backroom deals with gangsters, waiters who never forgot an order, business challenges from the Great Depression to urban renewal and beyond.



Keeping in mind why people fall in love with a restaurant, the book includes favorite recipes from across the years, along with hundreds of color and black and white photographs that trace the Columbia's evolution across the century.

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The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine

The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine

by Andrew T. Huse
The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine

The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine

by Andrew T. Huse

Hardcover

$40.00 
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Overview

Behind the scenes at one of Florida's most beloved restaurants

The Columbia is Florida's oldest and most honored restaurant. Founded in 1905 as a cafe catering to immigrant cigar workers in Ybor City, it has grown into one of the culinary touchstones of the state. Handed down from generation to generation, the Columbia remains family owned and operated, with seven locations from St. Augustine to Sarasota.



In The Columbia Restaurant, Andrew Huse provides an in-depth look at the people who made the restaurant great. With a historian's eye for accuracy and a storyteller's ear for delicious anecdotes, Huse traces the fortunes of the Columbia from the founder, Casimiro Hernandez Sr., to his great-grandson, fourth-generation restaurateur Richard Gonzmart.



The Columbia's history is rich with stories of secret stashes of liquor, backroom deals with gangsters, waiters who never forgot an order, business challenges from the Great Depression to urban renewal and beyond.



Keeping in mind why people fall in love with a restaurant, the book includes favorite recipes from across the years, along with hundreds of color and black and white photographs that trace the Columbia's evolution across the century.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813033655
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Publication date: 11/12/2009
Series: Florida History and Culture
Pages: 317
Product dimensions: 9.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Andrew Huse is a librarian with the University of South Florida's Special Collections department who lectures across the state about Florida food and foodways.

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