"We're not chef-driven"
Willas wants to bring a classic neighborhood spot to the North Hyde Park

By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 8, 2021

Nate Siegel wants to be clear: Willa's, the new restaurant he plans to open in North Hyde Park this spring, is not about any chef or any scene.

"We’re not chef-driven," he said. "I’ve worked with amazing chefs, but it’s not about that. We want this place to open and feel like it’s been here for 30 years. It will not be a buzzy spot, a spot that’s scene-y."

Siegel and his business partner, Merrin Jenkins, are more than 18 months into the construction of Willa's — a multimillion-dollar transformation of a 1920s warehouse at 1700 W. Fig St. The construction has been a massive undertaking, involving all-new plumbing, electrical, mechanical and structural systems. In June, when the neighborhood flooded, Willa's took in two inches of water, and the opening was pushed back by about six months.

Yet Siegel, a Tampa native who spent close to a decade in New York hospitality before returning to his hometown in 2016, is as excited as he's ever been. His vision has changed little throughout the construction obstacles and delays (historic renovations are complex projects; besides the unknowns of a 100-year-old building and the flooding, a wall fell during construction).

The 4,700-square-foot building will host Willa's in the space that fronts Fig Street; Willa's Provisions, a coffee shop and retail space, will be positioned in the front of the building facing Rome Avenue with a coffee counter, grab-and-go case and items from the owners' favorite makers. The two have separate entrances but are connected within the building.

It's the kind of place, in Siegel's words, that "you wish you lived across the street from."

From concept to fruition, Willa's has always been about serving a neighborhood, Siegel says. And that neighborhood is booming: Siegel estimates there are 2,500 apartments within eight blocks of Willa's, and more are on the way. An ongoing stormwater infrastructure construction project along Rome Avenue will wrap up in April, and Willa's has more than 100 on-site parking spaces.

He didn't set out to open a restaurant in North Hyde Park, but as he became reacquainted with his hometown, the opportunity was obvious. He spent about two years as Mise en Place's vice president of operations before leaving at the end of 2018 to focus full time on Willa's. It's privately funded, he said, between himself, Jenkins and a minority partner.

"I was starting to look around and found this place in North Hyde Park, which I just fell in love with," he said.

The packaged goods, along with what Siegel anticipates being a "huge" takeout business, are key to navigating the pandemic and a post-Covid world.

"With Covid, the playbook's void," Siegel said. "We have no rules anymore; we can really do anything as long as it’s really good. That’s all we’re trying to do. We’re not trying to be new or flashy. Classic, simple, but great quality."

Beyond that focus on the classics — Willa's will feature, among other items, a "great rotisserie chicken" — Siegel and Jenkins want to be the antidote to a stereotypical restaurant culture, known for hostile chefs and substance abuse.

"Restaurants have been broken for a long time in terms of the lifestyle and the perception it’s not a great industry," he said. "We’re just trying to show it doesn’t have to be this really toxic environment that you only work at to make ends meet or while you’re writing a book."