La Septima owner Dahlia Fernandez, along with husband and partner Ronnie, has a menu that uniquely blends the Cuban, Spanish and Italian flavors drawn from their Ybor City roots. In the nine years since they first opened on Parsons Avenue just north of Brandon Boulevard, the restaurant has become a community staple.
Over Cuban toast and scrambled eggs, we talked about the impact of a 2003 fire, the saga of the exploding biscuits and how famed restaurant owners Bern and Gert Laxer inspired them to bring a taste of Ybor to Brandon.
Pull up a chair and join us.
ERNEST: La Septima opened in 1995, but you guys have actually lived here since 1973, and you've operated restaurants and pubs here and in Tampa. What's it been like?
DAHLIA: We've had it all. We've had an experience.
RONNIE: Here's what happened. After we sold Cafe-By-The-Bay (on South Howard), my brother and us split ways. We did RJ's Pub in Valrico, then we sold that and did Ronnie's By The Bay on West Shore and then we sold that and said we weren't going to do any more restaurants. We did some remodeling of houses, then Gert and Bern Laxer said do "your food." DAHLIA: The reason we got to know Bern and Gert Laxer was because when we had Cafe-By-The-Bay, if you're familiar with it, it had about seven parking spots. We had employees, we had customers we wanted to accommodate, so he made friends with Gert down the road and she let us use their parking lot, which wasn't used until after 5, for our employees.
But you said you weren't going to do restaurants again?
DAHLIA: I venture to say any restaurant owner, or if you've been in the business for any period of time, it's like in your system, in your blood. It's almost like a love-hate relationship. There are days, like last week, where I said I'd give this place away. Yet, you come in the next day for the next challenge.
Was there any hesitancy about whether you could succeed out here serving "your food?"
RONNIE: I thought it was going to be successful right away because we've had 30 years in the business. This is our ninth restaurant/bar/pub whatever, so I knew what we needed to do to get the people in here as far as price point, value, quality of food.
DAHLIA: You have to remember, too, Brandon hadn't really been exposed to a lot of Spanish food. If you wanted Spanish food, you had to go to Ybor City to get it. So, that's why our concept was bring Ybor City to Brandon. That's why we decorated with all the old Ybor stuff. Some of these people don't know about the old Ybor. It was actually a community; people helped each other.
Tell me about the fire in March of 2003.
RONNIE: It was rainy season, there was a leak in the roof, the water hit the transformer causing the transformer to arc. It burned the sign, it burned some of the fascia board, which caused smoldering. It looked much worse than what it was. Of course, the fire department tears everything down looking to see where the fire is going. The Tampa Tribune makes a wonderful picture saying that we burned down, which we did not.
Was there a lot of damage inside?
RONNIE: There was no damage, none whatsoever. The fire marshal said as far as I'm concerned you can open up right now, but you have to have the health department come in. The fire was on a Sunday, the health department was here on Monday at 10:30 in the morning. They made a walk-through, they said there was no smoke damage, no damage at all, open your doors for business. But people thought we were burnt down and we lost over $600,000 in sales for that year.
DAHLIA: The fire was in March of 2003, and people were still calling around the holidays and saying, Have you opened since the fire? I'm so glad you rebuilt since the fire. And it wasn't like we didn't advertise. I really gave the Tampa Tribune a hard time. I told them, How can you put a picture in that says: Le Septima burns down. They put in a full-page ad, but it was only in Brandon. It wasn't enough. We ran an ad ourselves and every ad after that was, We're open, we're open.
A Southern Living magazine article should have given you a lot of exposure, but it didn't quite work out that way, did it?
DAHLIA: In April of 2003, they came out and did a photo shoot and said we were going to be in the September issue. Then they called in November and said you're going to be in between the February and the April issue of 2004. April comes and it's in there. Two weeks after it was out, they had to recall that issue off the newsstand because it had a bad recipe that caused biscuits to explode. They really had egg all over their face because they supposedly have a test kitchen. The recipe got republished, but our article didn't.
So if they had picked a different issue ...
DAHLIA: Exactly, but at that point, the magazine also had been 80 percent distributed. So we still had a lot of people who said they saw it.
What's the key to running a successful restaurant?
DAHLIA: As an owner, you gotta be there. You have to be willing to work along side all of your employees, know what they do and do their job, respect what they do for you. You have to be here for your customers. I've seen a lot of restaurants fail for many reasons, but one, for sure, has been the owner. We know when we go out to eat, we like to see that person come over and recognize you've been there before, chat with you. I don't know if it's because we're Latin or what, but we're kind of kissy-huggy people, so we bring that to our customers.
You guys met 40 years ago this month at Hillsborough High, and you've been married 36 years. Was it love at first sight?
DAHLIA: I think pretty much. In this day and time, I think we appreciate each other more and more because people we went to high school with are already on their second or third marriage. Or divorced and not remarried at all. That's sad. You see more and more of it with the younger people.
RONNIE: It's called work.
DAHLIA: Anything worth it, you have to work for.
RONNIE: I'm not complaining at all.
DAHLIA: I'm happy to hear that.
DESSERT: A postscript from ErnestBeing a part of the community is critical to Ronnie and Dahlia, both 56. Not only do they give generously to projects at their church, Holy Innocence Episcopal, but they help feed old-timers at the annual Tony Saladino Sr. Baseball Tournament. Ronnie said a man recently came in to purchase Cuban sandwiches for Hurricane Charley emergency workers in Wauchula. Not only did Ronnie tell him to put his money away, but he told him to come back the next day and get some chicken and yellow rice for the workers.
- Ernest Hooper also writes a column for the Tampa & State section of the St. Petersburg Times. Lunch With Ernest is edited for brevity and clarity. To suggest lunch partners, call Ernest at 226-3406 or e-mail hooper@sptimes.com
