The Columbia is Florida's oldest and most honored restaurant. Founded in 1905 as a cafe catering to immigrant cigar workers in Ybor City, it has grown into one of the culinary touchstones of the state. Handed down from generation to generation, the Columbia remains family owned and operated, with six locations from St. Augustine to Sarasota.

In The Columbia Restaurant, Andrew Huse provides an in-depth look at the people who made the restaurant great. With a historian's eye for accuracy and a storyteller's ear for delicious anecdotes, Huse traces the fortunes of the Columbia from the...