Long before the Bay Area was booming with businesses, famous faces from all over would flock to the world-renowned Tampa Bay Hotel. The Henry B. Plant Museum's latest exhibit takes visitors back to that era via the hotel's dining room, and menus showcasing its elaborate meals.
- Dozens of actual menus from 19th, early 20th Century on display
- Menus surrounded by art, fashion of the period
- "Menus: The Epicurean Experience" runs through Dec. 23
Inside the dining room at the Tampa Bay Hotel, elaborate meals with up to ten courses were served up for any and all occasions. It wasn’t just about eating but being part of the finest dining experience.
"A lot of major league baseball players were here for spring training at the time, and there's a great story that Babe Ruth actually hit the longest home run of his career on the grounds here at Plant Park, so all these people would've been eating in our dining room at the Tampa Bay Hotel," Museum Relations Coordinator Lindsay Huban said.
Dozens of actual menus from the Tampa Bay Hotel's dining room are on display and are surrounded by art and fashion from the late 19th and early 20th Century.
"These menus are incredible -- there might be ten courses and there are foods on there that we don't really know what they are today, things like chow-chow and hodge-podge," Huban said.
"We hope that when you leave this exhibit, you have a better idea of what it would've been like to be a guest to be eating and dining at the Tampa Bay Hotel and maybe take back an idea or two for your own kitchen," Huban said.
“Menus: The Epicurean Experience” will be on display at the Henry B. Plant Museum through December 23, 2017. For more information, visit www.plantmuseum.com.