Datz Smoked Bacon Burger Credit: Datz

Satirist Peter De Vries once said that “gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.” If the frequency that I visit Datz on MacDill Avenue in South Tampa is an indication of a deep-rooted emotional issue, frankly, I don’t want to be cured. For me, visits to Datz are foodie therapy sessions.

Datz is a culinary emporium like none other in Tampa Bay. It’s a full service restaurant and bar featuring modern artisanal comfort food. It’s a market brimming with craft beers and wine, fresh desserts, extensive imported cheeses and cured meats and an addictive cold brew coffee. It’s an education center where people can learn to prepare Vietnamese street food or to cook with mustards.

The cornerstone of the Datz menu will always be their sandwiches and understandably so. Many well-intentioned dieters have been foiled with Datz heaping sandwiches like the “Yo Vinny” or “April in Paris” – both constructed with phenomenal ingredients on artisan breads. The homemade Datz chips topped with a mild blue cheese drizzle rounds out a satisfying sandwich platter.

Clearly, the Datz menu is much more than just sandwiches.  Owners Suzanne and Roger Perry are constantly innovating the menu, be it through the introduction of house-smoked sausages, new brunch items like Red Velvet Pancakes and Eggs Barbacoa or a cocktail menu featuring small-batch local liquors swirled with premium mixers.

It is an exciting time to be involved with distilled sprits because microbatch distillers are now able to mass produce their products.  Embracing this trend, Datz recently unveiled a bourbon, whiskey and scotch list that may be the most extensive in the Tampa Bay area– and quite possibly in the entire State of Florida.

Insiders have told us that Datz is pioneering a new concept (it’s very hush-hush) in the coming months that we’re certain will impress South Tampa diners. In the meantime, we’ll still look to Datz for our weekly foodie therapy.