Feel At Home At Kiran Indian Grocery Store On Cross Creek Blvd.

With more than 8,000 items in a store of only 1,200 sq. ft., you might be surprised at the variety of products available at Kiran Indian Grocery. You’ll find everything from beauty products to Masala spice mixes and delicious chocolate, juices and cookies.

EVEN IF you’re not originally from the sub-continent of India, even if you’ve never really loved Indian food, I know you’ll find something you like or want or need if you visit the Kiran Indian Grocery, located on Cross Creek Blvd. in the Cross Creek Center plaza, next to Saffron Indian Cuisine.

The one thing I know for sure is that you won’t find better people than the owners, Kiran and Sudeer (photo on this page; I won’t even try to spell their last name correctly).

Although Kiran is the one who is almost always at the store, she gives credit to Sudeer, a software engineer who handles the books for the popular, albeit tiny (1,200-sq.-ft.) grocery for being “my support system, my partner.”

Theirs is a story of true love so unique that Sudeer wrote a novel (his first) about their life together called No Big Deal. If you think the Indian people are boring because they’re usually so polite and proper, read this book. Sudeer approaches their often difficult life together with the same genuine sweetness and sense of humor he and his wife always show in person. 

What About The Store?

Kiran opened her first store in the Pebble Creek Collection in 2003. She moved it to E. Fowler Ave. in 2010, but found a new location where more of her original New Tampa customers could more easily visit on Cross Creek Blvd. in 2014.

“Really, all of my customers who still live here have followed me wherever I have opened,” says Kiran. “I love my customers and always remember the products they purchase, even if it’s been years since I’ve seen them.”

In other words, if you previously were a customer at either of Kiran’s previous two locations, don’t be surprised if she remembers you by what you bought at her store. She is an absolute expert at knowing what products to stock for her customers, which is no small feat, as the people in every state in India don’t just have different cuisines, they actually speak entirely different languages from each other. That means that Kiran has to learn enough of these other languages to stock as many of the products as possible that people from every part of the world’s second most populous country (as well as from Pakistan and Middle eastern countries, too; she even has an assortment of Halal meats) will purchase.

“I feel a little like a doctor,” Kiran says. “I have had to learn enough of these other languages to know how to stock many of the same items made by different companies because my customers won’t buy the same products from different parts of India than the ones they grew up with.”

In other words, if you’re looking for Masala spice mixes, teas and even rice, Kiran crams about 8,000 items into her little store, including multiple brand names and options from virtually every part of India to satisfy her customers.

I’m not knowledgeable enough about India or the different cuisines favored by each area to know anything about what to buy at Kiran Indian Grocery. The good news is that Kiran does. Every time I visited the store to research this story, she gave me different items to sample, from fresh cilantro, Indian radishes and cucumbers to some of the most delicious chocolate and cookies you’ll find anywhere (more on all of that sweet stuff below).

I consider myself to be relatively adventurous when it comes to trying different foods, but I’ve never been partial to any kind of curry or chutney, which of course, are among the staples of many Indian cuisines. To date, I have enjoyed the frozen veggie and chicken-and-veggie samosas Kiran has given me to sample, and her fresh fruits and vegetables (some of which are organic) are always outstanding.

I have brought back coconut milk, mango juices and items like the peanut chikki bars (sort of like peanut brittle), spicy cashews, pickles and surprisingly salty dried banana chips for everyone in the office to sample and I have enjoyed the unique lower-glycemic-index basmati rice Kiran suggested for those who have or are trying to avoid getting diabetes.

But, there’s no doubt that my favorite items at Kiran Indian Grocery are the Indian and British versions of such standards as Kit-Kat and Cadbury bars, which definitely taste better than their American counterparts, as well as chocolate wafer cookies and sandwich cookies known as “bourbon cremes,” which look like rectangular Oreos but taste a hundred times better. Yes, if you have a sophisticated sweet tooth, Kiran Indian Grocery is the place for you.

Kiran also stocks a variety of beauty products that Indian people use at the front of the store.

Speaking Of Sweet Things…

Before I ever stepped into her current store, I already had started getting to know Kiran because she is a member of the same Rotary Club of New Tampa Noon that I belong to as well.

But, while I try to help our Rotary Club by promoting its events, Kiran actually lives the Rotary International motto of “Service Above Self” every day.

Kiran’s high school teacher is a member of a Rotary Club in India that has been trying to help children from her area of India who have a particular skin condition they get from often unsanitary conditions at their school. Kiran has gotten our Rotary Club to buy plates, tablecloths, napkins and glasses for the school as an international service project and is using her own money build benches for the children, so they don’t have to sit on the floor at school.

“I tell my customers that they helped pay for those benches,” Kiran says with her always-sweet-smile. “I couldn’t do it without them spending money here.”

She also provides ongoing financial support for the Humane Society of Tampa, to make sure the animals kept at the shelter are properly bathed and have their shots. “I tell them to just charge my credit card when they need something,” she says. “I just love animals.”

Kiran Indian Grocery (10042 Cross Creek Blvd.) is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. every day (until 9 p.m. on Fri.-Sat.). For info, call (813) 994-6202 or see the ad on pg. 42.

Down To Earth Approach Makes Devolder Law Accessible & Successful

Elizabeth and Bryan Devolder of Devolder Law took a non-traditional approach to becoming lawyers, but say they love helping clients with their family law and other legal problems.

When Bryan and Elizabeth Devolder decided to re-invent themselves at the ages of 35 and 37, respectively, they could have picked something easier, like a nice sales job, or buying a successful restaurant franchise, or maybe even starting their own business.

Instead, they both decided to become lawyers. “It’s crazy,” Bryan says.

But it worked.

At Devolder Law, located in the former Hunter’s Green Model & Visitor Center, Bryan and Elizabeth have found immediate success in their new profession. Since opening in August of 2016, Elizabeth says business has been brisk and is well ahead of their projections after just six months; Bryan adds that they have doubled the amount of clients they expected at this time.

Through various forms, including advertising in the Neighborhood News, the internet, word of mouth and a solid reputation in the community, the Devolders are growing.

The secret to their success might be the same thing that drew them into law in the first place — a desire to seek out answers and solve problems, while meeting people’s needs in an informal manner that makes them feel at ease.

“We’re not about us, were about the client,’’ says Bryan. “We recently had a consultation where we were the fifth attorney one client had visited. They decided they wanted to be with us, telling us other attorneys gave a 30-minute sales pitch on how cool the attorneys were. They told us we were the only ones who talked to them about what they wanted.”

The Devolders are graduates of the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School satellite campus in Riverview, FL.

Bryan was working as a computer engineer for Verizon, and Elizabeth had been in sales for the Yellow Pages when they both decided to pursue a different path.

The seed for a change was planted when Bryan had a mortgage company, and during that time had worked almost daily with a title attorney friend. Bryan would teach him a little about the mortgage business, and his friend would teach him real estate and title law. When both of their businesses were knocked out by the 2008 housing market crash, his friend told Bryan “you need to go to law school. You’re smarter than me and I’m a lawyer, and you’d be great at it.”

Those words stuck with him. When the Devolders were dating, they made a list of 10 things they wanted to do, and taped them to the inside of their bathroom medicine cabinet mirror, where it remains today.

“Get a new car was on the list, get a boat was on the list, and get a J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree was on the list,” said Elizabeth, who was on the debate team in high school and had been told she’d make a great lawyer decades ago but never really thought much of it.  “We had both had enough interest in the law that when we were dating, we said that would be a fun thing to do. Before we had kids. Before anything.”

“We talked about it,’’ says Bryan, “but it was more like, wouldn’t it be cool? Like, hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we went skydiving?”

He married Elizabeth in 2009, and they had their first child in 2010. That put a hold on plans to become lawyers, because there are few choices for people who want to work during the day and become lawyers in their spare time. Stetson’s St. Petersburg campus was an option, but the driving back-and-forth would just add too much time to an already hectic schedule.

It wasn’t too long after that when WMU-Cooley Law School opened its campus in Riverview.

The Devolders visited before the campus was even built, in a little office, and were convinced the school’s schedule and mission, to make the law accessible to everyone, fit theirs. They studied for three months and both passed their Law School Admission Test (LSAT) — finishing within a point of each other, although they exercise a little lawyer-spouse privilege when asked who got the higher score.

In Jan. of 2013, they both started law school, even though Elizabeth knew her journey would also include adding to her family. “I had to commit to having babies in law school,’’ Bryan said, laughing.

The Devolders took afternoon classes, night classes, weekend classes, and they say they couldn’t have done it without family help. “We didn’t go on vacation for three years, I gained 30 pounds, I didn’t golf, no birthdays or anniversaries.”

“I spent my 40th birthday in Secure Transactions Class,’’ says Elizabeth, who also served as the editor-in-chief of the WMU-Cooley Law Review.

How busy was it? A pregnant Elizabeth took a law school exam one morning, and afterwards headed right for the hospital to be induced for the birth of the couple’s second child.

“She got the highest grade in the class,’’ says Bryan, proudly.

Your Team Of Lawyers

They discovered they had very different study habits. Elizabeth is more detail-oriented, and Bryan is more of the big picture guy. “He would get me out of the weeds, and I would get him attending more to the details that if I hadn’t been there, maybe he would have missed,’’ she says.

Elizabeth handles most of the estate planning, with Bryan taking on most of the litigation.

“I like to do the writing and he is very good at thinking on his feet, the litigating part,’’ Elizabeth says. “We use our strengths to help our clients.”

The Devolders have the hardware to show the extent of their success. In the spring of 2015, they competed, along with another student, at the American Bar Association’s Law Student Division Client Counseling Nationals, and beat out 66 other American Bar Association-approved law schools and 111 teams for the title, which Bryan likens to a small, unknown college winning the NCAA Final Four or College Football Playoff.

“It’s a little Cinderella story in terms of law school,’’ he says.

Bryan graduated in Jan. of 2016, and Elizabeth graduated in April of the same year, both finishing at the top of their class. Later in 2016, Elizabeth was among 25 future lawyers named in the National Jurist’s inaugural “Law Student of the Year” feature.

In August of 2016, they opened their firm in Hunter’s Green, the same community where they also live.

The Devolders say WMU-Cooley helped make the law accessible to them, and they now return the favor by making it accessible to their clients. And, while the task of meeting with an attorney can be stressful to many, the Devolders try to put every client at ease.

“We are very down to earth people,” Elizabeth says. “We weren’t born with silver spoons in our mouths, we didn’t become Harvard lawyers at 25. We worked hard our whole lives, we understand the value of money and we understand the challenges that people have. And, we answer the phone.”

Bryan turns his cellphone over and reveals a Batman sticker. “This is the Bat Phone,’’ he says. “We give this number to our clients, we are available 24/7. Ask any other attorney if they will answer their phone at 2 a.m., or if they even give that number out.”

Rachel Hallford says she was blindsided when her husband asked for a divorce after 10 years and two children.

“From the first phone call I had with him, I knew Bryan was the attorney for me,” Rachel says. “He is such an amazing guy who is really there for his clients. He can be reached any time no matter whether the issue is big or small. I personally had a few freak outs and I didn’t want to bother him but I called anyway and he was so nice, patient, supportive and calmed me down every time.”

While many attorneys may focus solely on one aspect of the law, recommending other lawyers to handle related problems, Elizabeth says Devolder Law will take extra steps to make things easier for its clients. They have helped family law clients who have to sell their homes with lease agreements and sales contracts, reviewed various contracts and deeds and dealt with tax and bankruptcy issues.

“Problems don’t happen in a bubble,’’ she says. “We solve legal problems, and related problems. The concept of sending people away to go to another attorney only benefits the attorney by keeping their job nice and small and simple.”

The Devolders do not let conventional wisdom slow them down. When they set their minds to something, they say, they get it done, whether it’s going back to school to become lawyers, or guiding a client through a difficult process.

Devolder Family Law is located at 8709 Hunters Green Dr., at the front of Hunter’s Green before entering the community. right before  It is open Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. For additional information, search “DevolderLaw” on Facebook, visit DevolderLaw.com or call (813) 724-3880.

Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex Finally Moving Forward After BCC Vote

The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved regular business item R5 that green-lit the RADDsports  Wiregrass Sports Complex, as well as agreeing to double the Tourist Development Tax (TDT), or bed tax, in order to help finance it.

The $44-million project, which will be built on part of a 224-acre parcel located northeast of the Shops of Wiregrass owned by the county (that was previously donated by the Porter family), has taken on many manifestations over the years but RADDsports’ proposal won over county commissioners at nearly every juncture.

“I had to sit here, look (former Major League Baseball star) Gary Sheffield in the face and tell him, no,” BCC chair and District 2 commissioner Mike Moore said, referring to a failed plan for a Wiregrass Ranch baseball complex at the same site in 2015.

“That was a bad project,” Moore said, “but this is a good project.”

The journey to build some sort of sports complex is eight years old, and a 5-0 vote by the commissioners indicated that they think they have finally found the right one.

“I 100-percent support the project and the steps that went into it,” said BCC vice-chair (and Dist. 4 commissioner) Mike Wells.

The project design calls for a multi-purpose sports complex that is anchored by a 98,000-sq.ft. multi-purpose building, which can host volleyball, basketball, cheerleading and other indoor events. The sports complex also will include eight outdoor sports fields, an outdoor amphitheatre and event lawn as well as pavilions, a playground and trails.

“This complex, along with (Florida Hospital) Center Ice, Florida Hospital of Wesley Chapel and Saddlebrook really put us on the map,” said Pasco strategy policy administrator Richard Gehring.

Funding sources for the planned complex include $11 million previously set aside by the BCC ($8.5-million in tourist tax funds and $2.5 million in excess bond proceeds from a prior half-cent sales tax bond), a county-backed loan of $14,253,700, plus $18,750,000 in private equity and debt from the Mainsail Development, which will be building a hotel on the complex site.

The two-percent increase in the TDT is expected to generate $1.2 million annually, which will help by paying down the loan, along with the revenue RADDsports says the complex will generate (the company says that by year six, the gross revenue will be approximately $4.6 million).

A super majority vote (four of the five BCC commissioners) is required to officially pass the TDT increase. A vote will be held at a future meeting, following a public hearing.

Despite doubling the TDT, it would still be lower than the TDTs in both Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.

There also was some discussion about losing hotel revenue to Hillsborough County. Commissioners cited the December lacrosse tournament hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods at Wesley Chapel District Park and how the county lost a lot of hotel revenue with people electing to stay at hotels in Hillsborough County, including several in New Tampa.

Gehring recommended creating a list of nearby, “preferred” hotels within the county and charging a fee for not using one of the preferred hotels.

The RADDsports proposal includes a Mainsail Development project for a $19-million, 120-room Marriot branded Residence Inn to be privately financed. The county says the sports complex will generate 27,000 room nights per year.

Saddlebrook Resort owner Tom Dempsey, as well as Saddlebrook general manager Patrick Ciaccio,  were two of a handful of speakers to voice their opinions before the commissioners debated the sports complex project.

Their  800-room resort has nearly a quarter of all the available hotel rooms in Pasco County, and as a result, collects most of the bed taxes.

“I’ve been in the sports business for 30 years and I think this project is questionable,’’ Dempsey said. “A tourist tax from Day 1 is a loser. I disagree with the two-percent tax increase.”

Other nearby hotels in Pasco include: a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites planned on nearby property in Wiregrass, an 80-room Holiday Inn Express that just opened east of I-75, and a 125-room Hilton Garden Inn that is currently under construction at S.R. 56 and Silver Maple Pkwy.

New Start & End Times Coming, But Not Until Next Fall

 Note: This story has been updated since it was printed in our April 21 issue hitting mailboxes today and tomorrow. Superintendent Jeff Eakins made an announcement after we went to press that he will propose to the School Board that changes in the bell schedule be postponed to the 2018-19 school year.

Superintendent Jeff Eakins emailed parents April 17 saying that he will now recommend the proposed bell schedule be implemented in 2018-19, not next fall.
Superintendent Jeff Eakins emailed parents April 17 saying that he will now recommend the proposed bell schedule be implemented in 2018-19, not next fall.

Hillsborough County Public Schools has released a proposal that changes the times school will start and end, which will affect start and end times for all elementary, middle and high school students in New Tampa. While originally the plan called for changes to be made this fall, for the 2017-18 school year, school superintendent Jeff Eakins sent an email to parents on April 17 saying that he will now recommend these changes be implemented for the following school year, 2018-19.

“Currently, many students are consistently late to school because there’s not enough time for our buses to pick up and drop off students,” explains Eakins in a video emailed to parents and staff in late March. “This means our children are losing valuable instructional time. When students are late to class, it affects the learning environment for all children.”

The bell schedule originally proposed for 2017-18 adds instructional time at the elementary level in most schools, with one exception in New Tampa. Turner Bartels K-8 students would lose 5 minutes of a day that already is longer than most elementary schools. For middle schools, students would lose 20 minutes, and high schools lose 32. Middle and high school students will keep their seven-period day, but may see the elimination of homeroom, a shorter time for lunch, and class periods that may be reduced by a minute or two.

Eakins says additional benefits of changing school bell times are that the new times may allow for more time for music, art and physical education at the elementary level, and that “
 all students will benefit, due to an increase in quality planning time for teachers.”

Eakins wrote in his email to parents that he still feels the proposed plan is still the best option for meeting the school district’s goals. However, the proposal drew a large amount of public outcry, not only because of the time changes but also how the proposal was created. The plan, released on April 4 and available online at SDHC.k12.fl.us/doc/1855/administration/resources/belltimes/, proposes the following changes:

School Current Bell Schedule Proposed Bell Schedule for 2017-18
High (Freedom & Wharton) 7:33 a.m. – 3 p.m. 7:15 a.m. – 2:10 p.m.
Middle (Benito & Liberty) 9 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. 9:30 a.m. – 4:25 p.m.
Elementary (Chiles, Clark, Heritage, Hunter’s Green, Pride & Tampa Palms) 8 a.m. – 2:15 p.m. 8:35 a.m. – 3:05 p.m.
Turner Bartels K-8 8:45 a.m. – 3:35 p.m. 8:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.

The Board is still expected to consider the proposed recommendation — which may include revisions based on comments from the community — at a specially called meeting on Tuesday, April 25, 3:30 p.m.

To share your thoughts on the proposed changes, email bellschedule@sdhc.k12.fl.us.

Kwan Ming Bistro Keeps Improving Its NY-Style Chinese Cuisine!

THE CUISINE that I miss the most from when I lived in New York City is still Chinese food, hands down. To be honest, there still isn’t a place in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel that really compares to the incredible Chinese food I have loved all of my life.

That having been said, I do still enjoy quite a few of the Chinese places in our area and one of the places that has really grown on me the last few months in Kwan Ming Bistro, located on S.R. 56, in the same Seven Oaks Plaza as Wolf’s Den and Cabana Spas. Owner/chef Henry Lo opened Kwan Ming in 2012, but I will admit that I didn’t like it as much then as I do now.

I believe that Henry, who has 40 years of Chinese cuisine experience and is known for his creative specials printed on a specials board inside the restaurant, has grown as a chef and the addition of assistant chef Nick Shalna in 2015 has given Henry the freedom to explore his more creative cuisine options and better control the quality of the food at his restaurant. Kwan Ming bills its food as Hong Kong-style Chinese cuisine, but I believe several of its offerings are as close to NY-style as you’ll find in our area.

“Don’t give me any credit,” says Nick. “Henry is the chef. I’m just trying to help him make sure that the fact that the two of us cook everything here will continue to make sure that our quality stays consistent.”

I believe the formula is working. Let’s start, as I always do, with the appetizers. I can’t really enjoy a Chinese meal without spare ribs, egg or spring rolls and dumplings and Kwan Ming’s are all very good.

I like my Chinese-style ribs with as little sauce as possible, but while the honey-glazed ribs at Kwan Ming are slathered with a little more sauce than I usually like, they are tender, meaty and delicious, albeit a little bit on the messy side. And, speaking of messy, the gooey General Tso’s chicken wings are very tasty, although not as spicy as some of the General Tso’s recipes I’ve had at other places. 

The pork egg rolls and veggie spring rolls aren’t particularly large, but they are served crispy and the homemade duck sauce makes for a nice dip. I also prefer my pork dumplings more pan-fried than a deep-fried, but the flavor of Kwan Ming’s fried dumplings is excellent, as is the homemade dumpling dipping sauce.

I also enjoy the Beijing hot-and-sour and Hong Kong-style wonton soup and plan to try Henry’s unique vegetable garlic soup on a future visit.

Ahh, Yes, The Entrées         

I’m still exploring the huge selection of entrĂ©es at Kwan Ming Bistro, but I do have a number of favorites. My two favorites to date are probably the beef with fresh asparagus and the Su Choi Chow fish with fresh vegetables, which features nicely sautĂ©ed chunks of fresh, white fish.I usually order the sauce a little spicy, but I will suggest that if you like your food spicy, ask for it that way. I love the heat I feel when I enjoy a great Szechuan or Hunan-style Chinese dish, but I think Henry and Nick tone down the spiciness unless you specifically ask for your dish extra spicy.

Other favorites among our Neighborhood News staff include the General Tso’s chicken, the kung pao chicken (shown as one of several available lunch specials in the photo on the next page), the beef with broccoli and the Mongolian pork.

I also really love Kwan Ming’s fried rice, from the house special fried rice shown on the next page (I order it without the shrimp, of course), which actually gets a nice flavor boost from the addition of fresh red peppers, to the simple pork fried rice. I’m not the biggest lover of Chinese noodle dishes, but Kwan Ming has a wide variety of not only lo mein dishes — there’s even a mixed seafood lo mein and a k-krab special lo mein — but other noodle dishes, too. For example, Nick says that those who like broader Chinese-style noodle dishes will love Kwan Ming’s beef ho fun, which is made with hand-cut, house-marinated flank steak and homemade rice noodles.

Speaking of special, the aforementioned specials board always attracts a lot of attention at Kwan Ming Bistro, for good reason. Although none of these dishes are pictured here, Nick says the following are his favorites: the true king crab lo mein, the deep-fried Chinese eggplant, the lobster kew and the seafood volcania, which features krabmeat, U10 scallops, white fish and shrimp.

“We also have an extensive number of vegetarian options,” Nick says. “We will even use water to cook your vegetarian meals, instead of chicken broth.”

And, although neither whole Maine lobster nor Hong Kong-stye whole duck aren’t on the menu, Nick says they can get them for you — with a day’s notice.

“We don’t keep a lobster tank here,” he says, “but, if you give us one day’s notice, we will gladly order a whole lobster for you.” He adds that Kwan Ming serves Halal meats as approved on Zabiliah.com.

He also notes that the duck also takes a day because Henry will hang the ducks — as I remember them doing in Chinatown in New York City — to help the fat drain out and leave nothing but succulent duck with crispy skin. I definitely plan to try this one sometime in the future, too.

And of course, even though Kwan Ming certainly isn’t a fancy place, it does accept and recommends reservations for weekend evenings and also offers beer and wine, including Tsingtao Chinese beer and others. There’s also a variety of hot teas, including some Chinese specialty teas.    

Kwan Ming Bistro is located at 27607 S.R. 56. It is open every day except Monday for lunch and dinner, as follows: Tues.-Fri., 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., and noon-9:30 p.m. on Sat. and Sun. For more info, search for “Kwan Ming Bistro” on Facebook or visit KwanMingRestaurant.com. For dinner reservations, call 994-2328. And, Kwan Ming Bistro stays open on Christmas Eve & Day and New Year’s Eve & Day.