Dave Decker
Nana's owner Anisa Mejia poses outside of her restaurant and smoothie spot at 1601 E 4th Ave.
Nana’s Restaurant & Juice Bar, located at 1601 E 4th Ave., took to social media earlier this month to announce that the popular vegan eatery would be temporarily closed until further notice.
Owner Anisa Mejia has passed all health inspections and successfully operated on the premises for almost two years, but has been forced to shut down following code complaints filed with the City of Tampa’s Code Enforcement department. One complaint mentions a “change of use without permit,” since the property is not zoned for a restaurant—something Mejia assumed wasn’t a problem since the building was once a barbecue restaurant.
Nana’s received a stop work order on Wednesday, April 10 while the enforcement complaints are under investigation; Mejia has since started the change of use application process in order to reopen as soon as possible. She’s also working with a lawyer to help her with these rezoning issues.
The 29 year-old, mother of a seven-year-old daughter, had to lay off seven employees (including a few family members) after the stop work order shut down her brick-and-mortar, but still has to continue paying rent and utilities for the business while doors are temporarily closed. After the complaints, Meija, in her typical sunny fashion, told followers, “We are here trying to rectify the situation and I hope we will be open soon. Sending hella peace, hella love, and hella good vibes.”
Mejia said that she’s received lots of messages from people asking how they can support Nana’s through its temporary closure. And if you’ve ever frequented Nana’s as a customer, you’d know that the vegan eatery has a slew of die-hard supporters, many which Mejia knows and greets by name. She says that some even travel as far as two hours to indulge in her smoothies and “meals of the day,” which range from traditional Dominican fare inspired by her grandmothers to from-scratch Italian, Asian and Mexican dishes.
Since the closure earlier this month, Mejia has hosted pop-ups at other vegan spots throughout the greater Tampa area, including fellow Ybor City haunt La Sétima Club, Brandon’s Vine Vegan and WeVegan Cafe. She’s also had a recurring guest spot at a popular food truck park at 4914 E Broadway Ave.
“If you guys didn’t know, Nana’s Restaurant & Juice Bar was shut down by the City of Tampa for zoning issues with no end in sight. If you have ever been to Nana’s then you know how special this place is to the community,” co-owner of WeVegan Cafe Effren Denson shared on Facebook in promotion of Nana’s pop-up last week. “Not only is the food absolutely amazing but this space was a place that also brought many people together and the love was always felt.”
In addition to hosting pop-ups, Mejia has been tapping into private chef and catering gigs, as well as meal prep services. She described herself as “not a GoFundMe type of person,” adding that she doesn’t want people to pity her and would rather exchange her services instead.
While the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of fear and disappointment, Mejia’s ultra-positive and grateful demeanor—which is the foundation of her spirituality and ethos—has kept her hopeful. At the end of the day, she just wants to feed good people good food.
“In many ways, this is one of the biggest lessons in my life so far, I feel like I’m about to start a new chapter in my journey, but not being able to nourish my community right now has absolutely crushed my spirit,” Meija told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “I wish I had a rich uncle or something to help me get out of this situation, but I don’t. And that’s the reality for working class people in Tampa.”
The owner of the lot that Nana’s operates on is Joseph Gaspar Monte, and he greatly sympathizes with Mejia, calling the current zoning issue “the saddest thing he’s dealt with in a long time.”
“I’ve owned that property there for decades…I’ve never seen anybody crueler as the bunch that are making the complaints right now,” Monte told CL in a phone call. “Whatever’s happening there isn’t deserved, they’ve been picked on quite a bit..I’m very disappointed with the neighbors.”
The zoning complaint that resulted in the stop work order was certainly not the only one that Nana’s has received over the last several months.
Public records acquired through Accela show that folks have filed complaints about the height of the restaurant’s fence, the noise from the restaurant’s concerts, a lack of “conformance to Ybor City parking lot requirements,” and hosting events without permits. A similar zoning-related complaint was made in October 2023, stating that a “restaurant-type business is operating on property.” All in all, almost a dozen complaints have been filed between late 2023 and now.
Under Florida Statutes 162.21 and 166.0415, anonymous code enforcement complaints are no longer accepted. Records related to the code complaints were marked as “locked” as of April 15, so it wasn’t clear who made the complaints against Nana’s.
Calls and emails to the city’s code enforcement department have not been returned. In response to a public records request from CL, the City of Tampa said it’s “determined the complaints were opened by the code inspector as proactive.”
Although it’s still unsure who is behind the complaints, Meija and her landlord definitely have their suspicions. What is clear, however, is that Nana’s clientele is left without a place to have nourishing plant-based dishes and take part in community-centered events like yoga, daytime vegan barbecues and other community-focused events, with third party event promoters hosting late-night concerts and other gatherings after hours.
“Ninety-percent of the people that come to my restaurant are people of color, and they don’t have access to good nourishment and the safe, welcoming space that we’ve created anymore,” Meija adds. Since the closure almost three weeks ago, Nana’s has received an outpouring of support from both her customers and local business owners.
“Nana’s Restaurant & Juice Bar is a fine representation of Ybor’s history and culture. A family owned hard working small business owner establishment. It’s unfortunate the City of Tampa doesn’t work hand in hand to help young business owners trying to contribute to our culture fix their zoning issues,” Crowbar owner and fierce Ybor City defender Tom DeGeorge wrote on social media last week. “We allow people that live in condos that are committed to the gentrification of Ybor City to force our culture out because it’s loud or trashy to them.”
“It’s almost like an angry pitchfork mob mentality of elitists that get to decide how and in what way they want Ybor City’s history represented and by who,” DeGeorge added.
Representing the Hispanic, immigrant-lead legacy of Ybor City was one of the main reasons that Mejia wanted to open a business in the historic district in the first place. She remembers visiting its cigar factories on field trips as a child and being fascinated by its eclectic culture.
“If you really tap into what Ybor was, it was a port that immigrants have always been to flourish in,” Mejia says. “We are trying to add value to the neighborhood and honor the history and legacy of Ybor, as well as encourage our people to eat healthier.”
Five days after Nana’s was temporarily shut down by Code Enforcement, Daryl Shaw’s new, 33-acre Ybor Channel development—that Mejia publicly expressed concerns about last year—was initially approved by Tampa City Council. The mixed-use development could eventually render Mejia’s neighborhood unrecognizable and continue the trend of gentrification and small business closures throughout the late-night district.
While Pepper’s Island owner Rodney Dhanraj—who operates a Trinidadian spot blocks away from Nana’s—personally has no qualms about the forthcoming development, he recognizes that the vegan restaurant’s closure is “a sad thing because they’re doing such a good thing for the community.”
“I went to Anisa for advice when I was opening my own restaurant, and they were extremely helpful and didn’t push me away like other business owners did. I consider her family,” Dharaj told CL. “This situation makes me wary as a small business owner because now I’m scared to host parties or concerts in fear of being shut down, too. I’m a small fish in a big ocean and if someone wanted to shut me down—even though all of my permits are in order—I’m sure they’d find a way to.”
With Mejia’s lease coming to an end soon amidst these zoning-related issues, the future of Nana’s flagship location in Ybor City is still up in the air. But neither Mejia, her team, or her loyal customer base have given up hope just yet.
Keep up with any updates with Nana’s Restaurant & Juice Bar by following @nanas_ybor on Instagram.
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