A few years ago, we enjoyed our first brunch experience at Carmel Kitchen and Wine Bar in South Tampa. When we ordered brunch on an IPad, we had a great experience. Now, years later, we were invited back by our new friends from Bailey’s Catering to try out the new, updated brunch menu at Carmel. Bailey’s, formerly located in Hyde Park Village, then on Davis Islands was a full menu restaurant that closed shop to focus on the catering portion of their business. And are we glad they did!
Now, Bailey’s has teamed up with Carmel to offer guests an amazing culinary experience through brunch served on Saturdays 9-2pm and Sundays 10-2pm. We were so excited when we got the invite that Ryan and I jumped at the opportunity to taste these amazing treats.
We headed over on a Sunday morning to get our taste test on. We met Kim Bailey, owner of Bailey’s Catering, as we walked in and he explained his hope that we came ready with our appetites. Luckily, we did, so we had no trouble getting started on chowing down. It was really nice to sit down and be served water with Aunt Hilda’s complementary bite-size fresh homemade blueberry muffins. They were tiny bites of deliciousness that set the scene for an amazing brunch to follow.
We quickly decided on our brunch cocktails of choice: Ryan went for the Strawberry Bellini and I for the Landmark Mimosa. As we sipped on our cocktails, we began discussing our plan of attack for this brunch session. We decided to start with Soulful Fried Chicken and Waffles and a 2 Eggs Any Style, poached of course with well done bacon. As you can tell, not many pictures were taken during brunch that day because of the lack of time the dishes sat untouched. We scarfed down ALL of the food we tasted so quickly, it was crazy.
Throughout the tasting session, Kim came over and chatted with us explaining how things were made and the careful thought that went into each dish. He also recommended we try the Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes (even if just a small one) and of course, we couldn’t leave without taking a Homemade Cinnamon Roll to go. So, we listened to our mentor for the day and did as he said. And were we glad we did?! The tastes that we experienced for not only a brunch, but any meal we have had around town, were nearly unheard of! The freshness and attention to detail all the way down to the poaching of the eggs, the tastes of the homemade preserves and the 100% Maple Syrup were ON POINT! We honestly cannot say enough great things about the hospitality and awesome experience we had at Carmel Kitchen and Wine Bar that day. We owe a HUGE thank you to Kim Bailey of Bailey’s Brunch and hope our hashtag of the fun we had sticks #BaileysBrunch. Enjoy!
-Nicholas
Disclosure: We received brunch through a Bailey’s Catering partnership in exchange for our honest review. All opinions are our own.
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