Noble Crust Coming To Wesley Chapel

Artist rendition of Noble Crust in St. Petersburg.

Noble Crust, a hip north St. Petersburg restaurant featuring Italian-Southern fusion, is coming to the Shops at Wiregrass mall.

Wiregrass general manager Greg Lenners confirmed that the restaurant, created by the same folks who brought the Bonefish Grill to Wesley Chapel, has signed a lease and begun construction on its 3,200-sq.-ft. location, which will be right next to Pinchers Crab Shack.

The Noble Crust team includes TJ Theilbar and Tim Curci, who helped develop Bonefish Grill and Hops Grill and Bar, executive chef Rob Reinsmith and financial consultant Jeff Strouse.

Noble Crust will be built next to Pinchers Crab Shack.

Theilbar told us in June he was in negotiations, and that “We have some very specific requests as far as the look trying to work through the logistics.” Those issues have all been resolved and plans to open the restaurant by the end of the year are underway.

The Noble Crust website says it is hoping for a Spring, 2017 opening.

The eatery has received mostly rave reviews since opening its St. Petersburg location in Feb., 2015.

Although the name of the restaurant suggests a pizza place, and Noble Crust does serve different versions of the Italian pie, it is much more than that under the direction of Reinsmith.

“Everything we do is in house and from scratch,’’ Theilbar said.

Noble Crust’s brunch has been voted one of Tampa Bay’s best by various publications, and it features items such as deviled eggs, ricotta gnocchi, Lemon Ricotta pancakes, Bronzed Salmon Benny and fried chicken and waffles.

Some of the restaurant’s dinner favorites include its popular beef-and-veal meatballs, southern fried chicken, shrimp and grits, sweet potato ravioli and rigatoni and short rib ragu.

And of course, there are pizzas, like the Noble Pig, which features sweet fennel sausage, spicy soppressata and pickled cherry peppers, and the Roasted Mushroom, with shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Gluten-free crust is also available.

The menu changes often, says Theilbar, who adds that the restaurant employs an off-site production kitchen where all of its fresh pasta, sauces and cured meets are produced. A larger, 7,000-sq.ft.facility is being built off Racetrack Rd. in Tampa.

To learn more about Noble Crust, visit noble-crust.com.

Hetzler-Nettles Picked To Head Up New Cypress Creek Middle/High School

Carin Hetzler-Nettles, center, is the choice to head up the new high school in Wesley Chapel.

Carin Hetzler-Nettles, who is credited with helping breathe fresh life into Wesley Chapel High (WCH) since taking over as principal in 2009, is moving on to a new challenge: opening a new school right down the road.

Hetzler-Nettles has been appointed the new principal at Cypress Creek Middle-High School (below), which is scheduled to open in time for the 2017-18 school year.

Cypress Creek is located on Old Pasco Rd. The new school will have close to 2,000 students (see page 10) in grades six through 11 next year, with a large portion of those former students at WCH who will be familiar with their new principal.

Hetzler-Nettles, 42, has been a district employee since 1996. She started as a special education teacher at River Ridge Middle School in New Port Richey, taught at East Bay High in Gibsonton and then returned to Pasco County when she took a teaching job at Mitchell before receiving a promotion to assistant principal in 2004.

While at WCH, Hetzler-Nettles was named the Secondary Principal of the Year in Pasco County for 2012.

Dade City Chamber Celebrating 20 Years Of Kumquats January 28!

Dade City’s annual Kumquat Festival will be held on Saturday, January 28, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. This year is the milestone 20th anniversary of the event, which celebrates the kumquat, “a unique and funky little fruit,” as described by John Moors, executive director of the event’s host, the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce.

Kumquats are small citrus fruits grown near Dade City, and the annual festival also is an opportunity to show off the city’s historic downtown district’s eclectic restaurants and new places to shop, such as Flint Creek Outfitters, a new, high-end sporting goods and camping gear store.

This year’s festival will include 440 vendors and 40 sponsors, with a car and truck show, farmers market, arts & crafts, children’s activities and all kinds of kumquat pies and other products.

“It’s an authentic, old-Florida style festival,” says Moors, “including down-home, local entertainment on the historic courthouse steps all day.”

He estimates about 35,000 people attend each year, but exact numbers are unknown because the event is not ticketed and there’s no gate.

“It’s certainly a milestone that this is our 20th year,” says Moors. “It’s marvelous that, for 20 years, the community has pulled together to put on this completely volunteer-run event. Again this year, our 200 volunteers are working extremely hard to make it a really enjoyable day.”

Admission and parking are free, and free transportation also is provided from multiple satellite parking lots.

For more info, visit KumquatFestival.org.

Nibbles And Bytes

Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen Getting Closer

Although yours truly isn’t a big fan, the Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen being built on S.R. 54, on previously vacant land located directly adjacent to O’Brien’s Irish Pub & Grill in the Wesley Chapel Village Market, does have a building rising out of the ground and should be completed by sometime in early 2017.

The 44-year-old, New Orleans, LA-based fried chicken chain now has more than 2,000 locations not only nationwide but around the world.

And, with its location right off the S.R. 54 exit of I-75, Popeye’s is likely to enjoy success here in Wesley Chapel, too. We’ll keep you posted as the opening gets closer.