Rooster & the Till

Rooster & the Till

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Rooster & the Till built its name on a simple bet: global ingredients and technique, deployed without the usual marketing haze around them. The kitchen backs it up. Foie gras gets paired with a pear-cashew take on Nutella, and the romano beans, cooked with Iberico ham XO sauce and a grapefruit kosho foam, are the kind of vegetable dish that makes a table stop talking. This is food built for sharing, and it rewards ordering wide.

The cocktail list matches the kitchen's ambition instead of trailing behind it. A piña colada gets reworked with miso caramel; a rum and passion fruit drink reads simple and lands more complex than that. Neither feels like an afterthought bolted onto a food menu.

The recognition has been consistent rather than a one-time fluke — back-to-back Bib Gourmands from Michelin, a Beard semifinalist nod for the chef, a spot on a national list of restaurants worth traveling for. None of that is the reason to go. The reason is a kitchen in Old Seminole Heights taking a tired restaurant cliché and actually making good on it, plate after plate.

The Spot
Rooster & the Till opened in Old Seminole Heights in 2013 as a 37-seat restaurant working off a handful of induction burners. It has since grown into a 72-seat operation, co-owned by chef Ferrell Alvarez alongside Ty Rodriguez and Chon Nguyen.

The kitchen runs an always-changing tasting menu, supplemented by guest chef series and pop-up events. Dishes that have built a following among diners include gnocchi, wagyu beef, and katsu.

Michelin awarded Rooster & the Till a Bib Gourmand in both 2025 and 2026. Chef Ferrell Alvarez was named a semifinalist for Best Chef South by the James Beard Foundation in 2017.
THE FACTS
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AWARDMichelin Guide Bib Gourmand2025–2026
AWARDJames Beard Foundation Best Chef, semifinalist2017
CRITICCovered by Creative Loafing Tampa
CRITICCovered by The Infatuation
RATINGS4.6 stars across 1,349 reviews4 sources
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City

Tampa

Neighborhood

Old Seminole Heights

Price

$$$

Cuisine

American

Chef

Ferrell Alvarez

Owner

Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026
Recognition
James Beard Semifinalist 2017
Recognition