Ybor Aficionado Days

Without a doubt, the Ybor Aficionado Days Tapas Trail is one of the most organized festivals I have ever been to.
To be fair, 2015 is the 9^th annual one, so these organizers have this event down pat. From online ticket purchasing to check-​in, everything ran smoothly. I was so impressed by the layout of the festival badge and the map given to assist festival-​goers in their Tapas Trail Quests.
My festival BFF and I got to Ybor an hour after the event had started, but we were able to hit six of the ten restaurants featured. We hustled and stuffed ourselves on some great food and drinks. The restaurants were more than generous in their tapas portions and everyone was very friendly.
The restaurants we were able to visit were the following:
1) Ybor Wine Bar — cheese and charcuterie
2) The Improv — OMGumbo!
3) Carne — amazing Ropa Veja Sliders
4) Bernini’s — ran out of food but we had great Martinis on the house :)
5) Carmine’s — Calamari and a definite heavy pour by Brad
6) Al’s Finger Lickin’ Good BBQ — Al was more than generous and served full plates to everyone
The after-​party was held at the building of the Ferlita Macaroni Factory off of 22^nd Street and 6^th Ave. The interior of the building and the rooftop were stunningly and beautifully redone.
At the after-​party there was dessert provided by La Segunda Central Bakery, Buddy Brew coffee provided by Blind Tiger, and an assortment of other goodies from other sponsors.
I will definitely make plans to attend this event every year. I will also try and show up on time in order to stop at every participating restaurant/​cigar shop. Or maybe they could make the event four hours?
Be mindful that it is hard to drink at every stop, so may want to alternate at every place. Well, unless, you are a speed drinker or just on a mission to be blotto. Also, this event is family friendly, so you can bring the kids along.