Tampa chef announces new bar and market Lara, coming in early 2024

There’s a new bar and market concept coming to Tampa in 2024. Suzanne Lara, a Tampa chef who went by Suzanne Crouch until she recently got married, announced on social media today that she will be opening LARA.

Lara was the chef at Cass Street Deli and Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe and a sous chef at the Rooster & the Till. LARA will be the first concept that she has owned herself.

“It’s very exciting,” she said during a phone interview. “I’ve been waiting to share this news for over a year now. … I’ve been thinking about it since 2019. And I’ve been chipping away at putting the idea into fruition behind the scenes for the last two and a half, three years. So it’s really awesome to see it finally starting to take shape and happen.”

Lara said she has not signed a lease for a space yet, but is looking in the Tampa Heights area.

The bar is inspired by pharmakeia, the ancient Greek practice of making tonics and brews as remedies or intoxicants. The menu will include a full range of cocktails, beer and wine — especially natural wines and nonalcoholic beverages.

The goal of the bar is to provide a drinking experience Lara calls “abstract intoxication” — not simply the feeling of being drunk or caffeinated.

“Uppers, downers, laughers, screamers and everything in between,” she said.

The market will be a bazaar concept of locally grown foods, specialty goods and beverages, while the kitchen will be a “supporting cast member” that sources ingredients from the market. It aims to open in early 2024.

To follow along with the progress, visit laratampa.com and @lara.tampa.