Cereal-centric café brings taste of nostalgia to Ybor City
YBOR CITY, Fla. - Sugar Smacks, Fruity Pebbles and Cookie Crisps are no longer the things of your childhood past. One restaurant in Ybor City will take on your breakfast sugar fix, whatever it is.
CerealHolic combines the owner's passion for Cocoa Puffs with mainstream of menu offerings. The idea was born from the difficulty of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The pandemic has obviously hit us pretty hard," shared owner Lisa Lawson. "I got furloughed back in March...and then I got furloughed again in July."
So, she and her husband decided to try something new.
"CerealHolic is a cafe and bar," Lawson explained. "Of course, we have food. We have cereal. We infuse it in our food. We infuse any kind of cereal you want."
There are 30 different cereals to choose from in the bar, from childhood favorites to more contemporary selections. Visitors can choose their favorite flavor or multiple flavors to infuse with their meal.
They can also decide on menu items already infused such as "Hit the Road Jack," which combines a signature burger with Apple Jacks, apple cider bacon, and jack cheese.
Kids can enjoy their favorite macaroni and cheese with the added crunch of Honey Nut Cheerios as a topping. But cereal really is comfort food for Lawson.
"It's really like a nostalgia bar too," she said. "Because that's kind of what cereal is. It brings people back to like when they were in their kitchen or their living room or their downstairs basement playing video games eating a bowl of cereal."
CeralHolic also has a full-service bar.
"Fun time during the day and after 10 p.m. it's over 21," Lawson explained.
Cerealholic is located at 1909 North 15th Street in Ybor City. It is open for breakfast, dinner and late-night snacks. A menu can be found here.
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