Stark Injury Law Provides Expert Help For Injured People In Wesley Chapel

George Stark is a long-time resident of Wesley Chapel who expertly helps his neighbors who experience injuries due to motor vehicle accidents or the negligence of others.

When George Stark, a successful personal injury lawyer who has been based in downtown Tampa for since 1987, moved with his wife to Saddlebrook in 2007, he opened a satellite office in Wesley Chapel, next to Saddlebrook Resort in the Brookside Professional Center off S.R. 54.

For the past 11 years, Stark Injury Law has grown locally so that now, he says he spends most of his time in his Wesley Chapel office and is as familiar with Pasco County courts as he is the courts in Hillsborough County.

Stark Injury Law helps those who are injured because of someone else’s negligence, often because of car accidents, but also because of slip-and-fall accidents, defective products, medical negligence and other causes.

“All injuries are serious,” he explains, and he says he is knowledgeable and experienced in handling a variety of cases, “from sprain and strain injuries that are not disabilities, to those that are catastrophic.”

Stark also says that anyone who has been in an accident should consult with and — if appropriate — retain the services of an experienced lawyer.

 “A law firm is needed to assist in the various activities necessary to successfully pursue a claim both prior to and, if necessary, after litigation,” he explains, “including investigating, documenting, evaluating and ultimately negotiating a settlement or filing a law suit.”

Stark is a graduate of California State University and Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. 

He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1976 and first got started in the Tampa Bay area as an assistant public defender for Hillsborough County that same year. He was assigned to the felony division and continued to work as a public defender until 1981.

 He also worked in a general civil practice before opening his own firm in Tampa 31 years ago.

Stark says he is proud that his practice has grown by word of mouth.

“As a referral practice, I’ve been in business long enough that now I have three generations of people I’ve represented,” he says.

Here’s One Such Referral

Wesley Chapel resident Michael Nowe is one of Stark’s satisfied clients who is now referring his attorney to others. While Nowe says he has mostly recovered from a car accident several months ago, his case has already been fully resolved to his satisfaction.

“He is a really great guy,” Nowe says about Stark. “He and his staff explained the whole procedure, so I knew exactly what was coming. They were very detailed and specific, very knowledgeable, and for every question I had, they had an answer.”

Nowe says Stark and his wife, Maxine, who has recently taken on administrative and bookkeeping duties for the office, after retiring as a teacher several years ago, came to his house after the accident for a consultation.

“They sat with me and it was very personal,” Nowe says. “It was almost like a friend coming over.”

George Stark and his staff at Stark Injury Law have decades of combined experience providing legal services to diverse communities and a Wesley Chapel office location in the Brookside Professional Center.

Stark says that’s what he wants people to understand about the difference between hiring Stark Injury Law versus some of the big advertisers you might see on TV. 

“Most of those folks [who hire a large firm] never see a lawyer,” says Stark, “unless their case cannot be amicably resolved by way of settlement.”

He says that nearly all of the cases he takes on — and the vast majority of those who are taken on by all other firms, too —are resolved by settlement.

“I pride myself on my ability to be successful in trial,” says Stark, “but the reality is that personal injury cases rarely go to trial.” 

He says the busiest trial lawyers, such as himself, are only in court one or two times a year.

In fact, he says, 95 percent of cases are resolved by settlement within six to nine months, often without even filing a lawsuit.

“That’s the norm,” he says, “and not just for my office.”

That’s what Nowe says he experienced, as well.

“I figured it would take at least a year to resolve my case,” Nowe says. “It turned out to be about four months. It was pretty quick and wasn’t a long, drawn-out process.”

Nowe also agrees that Stark is hands-on in maintaining a personal relationship with his clients, too.

“I advise all of my clients that they control my schedule,” says Stark. “My clients can speak with me at any time, and if I’m not available, they just schedule a telephone conference. No one is left hanging.”

In addition to being accessible to his clients, Stark says he makes no decisions without their personal involvement.

“I enjoy the dialogue with the clients,” he says. “It’s important for them to understand the process and make an informed decision. I hope they’ll listen to what I have to say, but ultimately it’s not my case, it’s their case.”

Helping You Help Yourself

Stark also says that helping people get the care they need is an important part of the role he plays.

“The average person comes in and they’ve been in an accident, they’re traumatized and they’re not sure who to seek for medical care and attention,” Stark explains. “We encourage people to maintain good relationships with their doctors. The most important thing before getting the case settled is getting good patient care.”

Stark says that, if a patient is unsure where to turn for proper care, he can refer them to physicians he has worked with before. 

“We point people in the right direction, so that they get excellent care for their injuries and then, if necessary, get appropriate documentation in order to document those injuries,” he explains.

Stark adds that he welcomes calls from anyone seeking the assistance of an attorney, whether or not he is able to personally assist them. 

“I’ve had a broad range of experience,” he says. “I can take questions that aren’t necessarily within my area of expertise — I know a lot of people — so I’m happy to assist in making referrals.”

Nowe says it’s worth the phone call to reach out to Stark Injury Law.

“They are super nice, too,” says Nowe. “I really want to stress how incredibly nice they are.”

Stark Injury Law is located at 29150 Chapel Park Dr. in the Brookside Professional Center. Stark’s downtown Tampa office is located at 400 N. Ashley Dr.

You can reach attorney George Stark by calling (813) 991-6161, by visiting StarkInjuryLaw.com, or see the ad on page 3 of this issue.

Wesley Chapel’s Todd Yonteck Is Hoping To Bring Filmmaking Back To Florida

Wesley Chapel’s Todd Yonteck

The motion picture industry in Florida has had its ups and downs.

For example, Florida was a boomtown in 2011 when “Dolphin Tale” was being filmed in Clearwater. 

But, more recently? Consider Ben Affleck’s 1920s gangster-era film entitled “Live By Night,” which premieres worldwide on January 13. The movie is set in Ybor City.

There’s only one problem, however — it was shot entirely in Brunswick, GA, which was able to offer the film’s producers as much as 30 percent in tax credits on expenditures. 

Cities in Florida couldn’t match that, and therefore lost a golden opportunity to bring revenue to the area and build the filmmaking industry in the region and state.

When state funds for film incentives dried up in 2012, the onus fell to local production companies to pick up the mantle. 

Guys like Wesley Chapel’s Todd Yonteck, the CEO of his production company called Digital Caviar.

The Red Carpet 

If you happened to have been promenading downtown St. Petersburg on December 7, you might have seen a red carpet rollout at the AMC Theatres Sundial on 2nd Ave. 

(l.-r.) Catrina Patti & Todd Yonteck, “Bernie the Dolphin” co-writer Marty Poole, Kristen Yonteck, and St Petersburg Film Commissioner Tony Armer.

Decked out on the carpet were acclaimed actors Dahlia Lagault (“The Walking Dead” Seasons 5 and 6) and Patrick Muldoon (“Starship Troopers”) for the premier of their new film, “Bernie the Dolphin.”

Actors, producers and writers huddled together for photos, took interviews and later filed into Theatre 1 for the film’s first theatrical screening, its world premiere. 

“Bernie the Dolphin,” which Yonteck helped produce, was shot entirely in Pinellas County and at Marineland Dolphin Adventure in St. Augustine. 

Yonteck is a Seven Oaks resident and an emergency room physician at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel. You could call film production his side hustle, although considering the amount of work involved, it’s much more than that.

“I have two jobs that are full time,” Yonteck said, after the premiere of “Bernie the Dolphin.” 

In 2010, Yonteck and a friend, Paul Prator, began dabbling in film production. Initially, they took on a lot of commercial work. In 2013, they opened a storefront in Ybor City. 

By 2015, a second office had opened and Prator stepped away from the company. 

The commercial work was steady, Yonteck says. He booked and produced commercials for Verizon and USF. 

But, something was missing. 

“You don’t get to have as much creative fun with commercials,” Yonteck says. 

His transition to more creative projects began slowly in 2013, when Digital Caviar had begun to produce some short films. 

Todd Yonteck at his Wesley Chapel studio.

Staffers like partners Michael Brown, Victor Young and Conrad De La Torres came on board. Staffers Josh Long, Brandon Hyde and Brittany Hoppe also joined the company. 

Digital Caviar’s first feature film came out in April of 2015, when “Crazy Lake,” a slasher film shot almost entirely in Brooksville, was released.

In December of 2015, the company embarked on a comedy, “Tropical Paradise 2.”

In 2017, Yonteck and Digital Caviar were hired to help on a joint production between Sarasota’s Ringling College of Art & Design and director Kevin Smith — famous for the cult film “Clerks” — called “Killroy Was Here.” 

“The project started as a short in order to help the students get hands-on experience, doing the actual jobs in a production and also deliver the film,” Yonteck said. “It went so well and Kevin (Smith) was so excited after the shooting experience that he wanted to turn it into a feature.”

Smith came back in January of 2018, and then again over the summer, to finish principal shooting. The film is currently in post-production under Smith. 

Before the chance to work on “Bernie the Dolphin” came along, Yonteck had seven producer credits — six for short films — to his name, as well as others for camera and electrical equipment, editorial, sound and production manager. 

The concept for “Bernie the Dolphin” began circulating in 2017 when Yonteck, a longtime attendee of the Cannes Film Festival in France, could not attend. 

“We either go or we send someone (to Cannes) every year,” Yonteck says. “It’s a great place to search for source material and to network. People see you, hear your name a few times and they’re more comfortable working with you.”

Yonteck wasn’t in attendance at the 2017 festival, but St. Petersburg Film Commissioner Tony Armer was. 

Yonteck says that Armer got into conversation with reps from Grindstone, a branch of Lionsgate. The Lionsgate reps were talking up a concept that involved dolphins and oceanside locations. 

Armer worked to convince them that Florida, Pinellas County in particular, had the locations they needed and the production companies to interview to make it happen. 

By May of 2017, Grindstone and Digital Caviar were in contact and a local Clearwater-based writer, Teri Emerson, was tapped to write the script.

“The project was pretty much green lit by August of 2017,” Yonteck said. “We started finding the people to put it together and we had most of it solidified by the end of the year.”

Principal shooting began in January of 2018.

Keeping It Local

Yonteck was happy to work on a project filmed in Florida. Many film projects have left the state for better incentives elsewhere, reducing the number of opportunities for local producers.

The 2012 film “Magic Mike” was made in Florida, but the 2015 sequel, which is partially set in Tampa, was shot entirely in South Carolina. And, the 2017 drama “Gifted,” which is set in St. Petersburg, was actually filmed in Savannah, GA. 

Georgia, thanks to its 30-percent tax incentive, now ranks third in the nation for film and television production and, according to an April 2017 story in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, had an economic impact of $7 billion in 2016. 

“People talk about the Ben Affleck movie a lot, how it was written for Tampa, it was a story about Tampa and Ybor City, but they ended up building Ybor City in Georgia,” Yonteck says. “They just got so much value in incentives.”

The effect a movie can have on local business and a local economy often cannot be understated.

When the first “Dolphin Tale” movie was released in 2011, after having used the Clearwater Marine Aquarium for a major location, it bolstered tourism in Florida by more than $2 billion, according to a March 2015 article in The Hollywood Reporter. 

Attendance at the aquarium spiked from 76,000 to 750,000 annually the year after the film’s release. Unfortunately for industry workers in the area, the film’s production company, Warner Brothers, isn’t based in Florida. 

“A lot of the money in incentives that we did have went to big projects like ‘Dolphin Tale,’” Yonteck said. “I think it’s better to give the incentives to companies that stay and don’t pack up and leave when they finish shooting.”

The cast and crew for “Bernie the Dolphin” was almost entirely Floridian. The same holds true for the cast and crew of “Bernie the Dolphin 2,” which will be released in 2019.

“A lot of the actors were locally cast and the entire crew was Florida-based,” Yonteck says. “People are going to where the work is. We’ve been able to keep some people here in town but it’s hard to find good talent and when you train people up, they often go elsewhere but we’re going to keep trying to shoot here.”

The production shifted back and forth between St. Petersburg, Clearwater and St. Augustine. What worked for “Bernie the Dolphin” was the production value of the ocean access in Pinellas County, as well as at the ocean park in St. Augustine. The film was shot in January, taking advantage of the mild winter in Florida. However, Yonteck says a couple of cold blasts made for some funny moments in production.

“One day of shooting it was super windy and cold on the beach,” he says. “It was kind of funny because the actors were freezing and we had to make it look like it was warm.”

With “Bernie the Dolphin 2” already in post-production, Yonteck and Digital Caviar continue to support the film industry in the region and state in their efforts to make Florida competitive and more attractive for filmmakers. 

Oh, and by the way— Yonteck provides a tip of the cap to his current hometown in “Bernie The Dolphin” as well.

An Easter egg — generally an inside joke hidden in a film or video game — in the film comes in the form of Yonteck’s boat, “Impulse Buy,” which acted as a platform and support boat, and it also was featured as the boat belonging to Kevin Sorbo’s character, Winston Mills. 

Only a local might catch “Wesley Chapel, Florida” emblazoned on the boat’s stern, during an aerial drone shot, but we sure did. 

Want To See It?

Bernie the Dolphin is currently available in On Demand options for cable/satellite  customers that include Frontier and Spectrum. It also is available through iTunes. Yonteck expects an electronic copy or Blu-Ray option to be available for purchase by February.

Wesley Chapel Preps For Busy 2019

The Steak-K-Bob at Saltgrass Steak House.

Restaurant and retail news is golden.

And, it seems, never ending. Already this year tentative plans have been revealed to build a Rock & Brews Restaurant on the south side of S.R. 56 just east of the Tampa Premium Outlets, right next to a proposed Saltgrass Steak House.

Both are part of the Cypress Creek Town Center Development of Regional Impact (DRI).

Nothing seems to get our readers more excited than news about the Cypress Creek Town Center.

In January of 2018, we broke the news about Earth Fare, HomeGoods, Chipotle, Walk-Ons Bistreaux and Blaze Pizza coming to the already burgeoning commercial and retail development on S.R. 56. It was the most popular story on our website all year, with twice the traffic as the story that was second — an update on the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) that should begin construction at I-75 and S.R. 56 any day now.

Chuy’s was one of 2018’s popular restaurant openings.

In fact, Cypress Creek-related stories and maps (2) — touting the arrival of restaurants like Chuy’s and Mellow Mushroom as well as many others — held the Nos. 3 and 6 spots on our 2018 web traffic rankings.

Wesley Chapel was gripped by Cypress Creek Fever in 2018, and there’s still so more to come. Earth Fare, HomeGoods, Walk-Ons and Blaze should all open in the first quarter of 2019, Chipotle just recently opened, and vertical construction has begun on Hobby Lobby, Burlington, Five Below and others.

The list of new places being built all across Wesley Chapel is seemingly endless. In addition to Mellow Mushroom, Chuy’s, Bahama Breeze and the Hyatt Place Hotel on the north side of  S.R. 56, there was MOD Pizza and Nationwide Vision At Home on the south side near the Tampa Premium Outlets. 

A little to the east of I-75 on 56,  the Hilton Garden Inn hotel on the south side opened and in the Wiregrass Ranch DRI a few more miles to the east, the even newer Fairfield Inn on the north side of 56 did as well, as did Nothing Bundt Cakes highlighting a slew of new stores at the Shops at Wiregrass. 

Main Event could be open by the end of the year.

Main Event Entertainment is building an entertainment center offering bowling, laser tag, adventure courses and food and drink, between the outlet mall and I-75 (in the same area as the Rock & Brew and Saltgrass Steak House proposals).

Along with the new Wiregrass Sports Complex, which broke ground in 2018, and an indoor athletic facility at Wesley Chapel District Park, those complaining about there being nothing to do in The Chap should hopefully find some peace.

And, the development wasn’t limited to places to shop and eat — houses are going up at near-record levels, and Wesley Chapel broke ground on one fire station (No. 38) while revamping another (No. 13 on Old Pasco Rd.)

Getting to those places might be an issue in 2019 (early frontrunner for Story of the Year!), as the DDI at S.R. 56 and I-75 is just one of a number of major roadway projects being built in Wesley Chapel.

While the S.R. 56 extension from Meadow Pointe Blvd. to U.S. 301 in Zephyrhills made great progress basically out of view in 2018, the DDI will begin work smack dab in the middle of it all. Combined with the widening of S.R. 54 from Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to Zephyrhills that started in 2018, driving in our area should be interesting in 2019.

But hey, at least there’s someplace to go.


The Learning Experience Offers Award-Winning Experience For Your Child

When Jhana Pardue fell in love with the curriculum at The Learning Experience, and the way they treated her son, and pretty much everything about the facility, she decided to buy her own.w

She didn’t expect, less than two years later, to have one of the top locations across the country, to have more than two dozen employees, a waiting list and to have had all of the growth she has had.

“It has been amazing,” say Jhana, unable to contain an ear-to-ear smile from behind her desk at the The Learning Experience of New Tampa, which is located across County Line Rd. from the SuperTarget, behind L.A. Fitness.

Jhana Pardue is proud of all the awards her New Tampa location of The Learning Experience has earned, but is even more excited about all of her happy, successful students and their happy parents. 

Last year, 90 percent of the school’s first two VPK classes of 39 total students were reading — thanks to the Fun With Phonics program and great teachers, she says — by the time they graduated to kindergarten. This year, there are four VPK classes of 67 students, and Jhana says at least 90 percent will again graduate with the ability to read.

“I want to say 100 percent, but I don’t want to jinx it,” she says.

And remarkably, the building feels and smells as clean as it did when it opened in July of 2017, an underrated but big factor for many parents.

“I would definitely say they are very well organized and very clean,” says Rashida Powe, whose 19-month old daughter was the second child enrolled at the New Tampa location. “Being clean is an important factor when you are dropping your child off for a long period of time. By far, of all the places I looked at, they were the cleanest.”

That is just part of the reason for the educational preschool’s early success, and those at the corporate headquarters in Deerfield Beach, FL, have noticed.

In April, Jhana’s New Tampa location was selected for the company’s 2017-18 Rising Star Award, which is awarded to only one of the company’s 250 franchises nationwide. The award is for new academies — there were 50 eligible locations — that have been in existence for 18 months or less and had significant growth in enrollment, staff and revenue.

While picking up that award at the national convention in Boca Raton, Jhana also received a Center of Excellence designation, which is given to schools that receive a score of 95 or better on their inspections in the spring and fall. The New Tampa location was one of only 15 to receive the award last year.

“And, we’ve already confirmed that we earned it again,” Jhana says. “We actually scored higher than last time.”

When Jhana picks up that award next year at the national convention in Austin, she also has been told she’ll be receiving yet another award.

“It’s a surprise,” she says. “We don’t know what it is, just that we’re getting it. I’m nervous, but excited.”

There will be no resting on those laurels, however, Jhana says. If anything, the quick and rewarding success just means she, director Amy Rath and the rest of the staff must maintain their current high level. Today, she has 28 employees, 24 of them full-time, and they all are working together to make New Tampa’s The Learning Experience the top choice for area parents.

“I wasn’t thinking about awards, I really just wanted to make an impact and help families with their children,” says Jhana. “I wanted a well-rounded, inclusive school where all of my children can be successful and can all be individuals. Sometimes, I feel a lot of schools put a box there, and the kids have to fit in that box. It’s important to me to let them be who they are. I wanted to build that kind of culture.”

School History & Programming

The Learning Experience was founded by Michael and Linda  Weissman in 1980 with a single location in Boca Raton, and was built on teaching through cognitive, physical and social principles; or as Jhana says, “Learn, Play and Grow.”

When it comes to learning, all of the Learning Experience schools use the proprietary Learning Experience Academic Program (L.E.A.P.) that Jhana says was written by educators with years of experience. It guarantees that children will graduate with “exceptional core academic skills.” 

The curriculum was written around what the school’s founders believe are the six stages of development – Infant (6 weeks to 1 year old), Toddler (1-2 years old), Tawdler (2-2-½ years old), Prepper (2-½ to 3 years old), Preschooler (3-5 years old), and Kindergartner (5 years old, but not offered at all locations, including Jhana’s).

L.E.A.P. includes sign language for infants and toddlers, a phonics program and even foreign language programs. Mandarin is taught for one year, as well as Spanish. 

“It’s definitely one of the things that sets us apart,’’ Jhana says.

L.E.A.P. workbooks include a journal, an interactive book and Fun With Phonics, which is specifically designed to teach reading to 3- and 4-year-olds.

There are both indoor and shaded outdoor play areas at The Learning Experience of New Tampa, located off County Line Rd.

Children also take part in activities that promote a healthy and active lifestyle.  The Learning Experience offers eight enrichment programs for children, like Yippee 4 Yoga, Suddenly Science, Dancing Feet, Talent Sprouts and Super Soccer.

Mascots like Flexi Flamingo (P.E.), Lionstein (Science) and Bubbles the Elephant — the leader of the mascots — help lead the children through their day.

“We learn through play,” Jhana says. “The children think they are playing, but they are actually learning. We do this through small group activities, more 1-on-1 interaction and more individualized teaching.”

Jhana says the program is followed strictly, but with a few personal touches she thinks makes the New Tampa school so successful.

“It’s all about finding the right staff members,” Jhana says. “There are a lot of schools, a lot of competitors, that also have a really good curriculum. But, it’s about the execution. We don’t cut corners; it’s really making sure we’re doing it and taking pride in how we do it.”

That includes things like adding a teacher to a classroom to improve the learning experience. While the state mandates an 11-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio, Jhana — who has an Early Childhood Education Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree, to go with her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Accounting & Business Administration from the University of Central Florida in Orlando — has put herself in classrooms and added teachers if she felt they were needed. 

“Now we have three teachers in a model built for two,” she says, proudly. “We give our staff the tools they need to do their jobs, and the parents see that we really mean it.”

Powe says even after a long day at school, sometimes her daughter is still not ready to leave at 6 p.m.

“Their curriculum is awesome,” she says. “They have so much detail with the kids — they are doing something every 15 minutes. My daughter was walking at 10 months, her motion, her development, is advanced. She is 19 months now and her vocabulary is advanced. She knows sentences, at least 10 colors, can count to 10, and even some sign language. I’ve just been really impressed. It’s definitely worth my money.”

All lead teachers are required to have their Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate, which is equivalent to an early childhood education A.A degree, Jhana says. Assistant teachers have to complete 45 hours of Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF) Child Care Training.

There are cameras in every room and, in the office used by Amy and Jhana, there is a 32-inch television to monitor 16 security cameras.

“There’s also an app that lets you know everything, from when your child had their diaper changed, to when they went outside and what they ate for lunch,” Powe says. “Friday, I knew she worked on math, drew pictures and had music class. It’s pretty cool.”

To learn more about The Learning Experience of New Tampa, located at 20780 Trout Creek Dr., visit TheLearningExperience.com/our-centers/fl/tampa/new-tampa, or call (813) 575-8268.

Bosco’s Owners Celebrate Two Years In Wesley Chapel With New Menu Items!

WHETHER YOU LIVE in Meadow Pointe II or Epperson, the husband-and-wife owners of Bosco’s Italian-to-Go, located in the Freedom Plaza on S.R. 54 (near Curley Rd.), are proud to deliver their pizza and Italian specialties to your door.

“We’re one of the only pizza places that delivers both to Epperson and to all four areas of Meadow Pointe,” says co-owner Charles Frankulin. “If you have a Wesley Chapel address, we’ll deliver to your door.”

Charles and his wife Nancy, whose first date was their senior prom at Wesley Chapel High, took over a reasonably successful little pizza place two years ago next month and continue to put their own imprint on Bosco’s already pretty good menu.

Go Gator!

The most recent additions include some that are, well…pretty unique.

“We wanted to have something that no one else in Wesley Chapel was offering and we decided to give gator a try,” Nancy says. “We now serve gator fettuccine Alfredo, gator on pizza and even something we’re calling ‘Swamp & Turf’ pizza, with both gator and steak.

Gator Alfredo

Charles is quick to point out that, “People who say they don’t love gator because it’s usually too tough are usually talking about gator tail, which is tougher because their tails are so muscular. We’re bringing in tender gator belly, farm-raised in Louisiana.”

I certainly have always been one of those folks who has never been too impressed with the chewiness of gator tail, but I’ve also always been at least somewhat adventurous when it comes to food, so I gave both the Cajun-style gator fettuccine and Swamp & Turf pizza a try, and offered samples to senior video producer Gavin Olsen and sales assistant Janet Levins.

We all agreed that the gator is indeed tender and sweet, almost like a cross between lobster and calamari, but I definitely enjoyed it more with Bosco’s mild (not overly thick or cheesy) Alfredo sauce.

I definitely recommend giving it (or the chicken fettuccine Alfredo) a try.

I also really enjoyed Bosco’s new Tuscan-style tater tots, which are basted with a small amount of oil and baked in Bosco’s conveyor belt oven and come out crispy, with a hint of garlic (third photo from the top on the next page).

Garlic knots.

And, speaking of crispy, although they’re not a new menu item, I wanted to give a shout out to Bosco’s garlic knots. I’ve always preferred regular, crispy Italian bread to knots with my lasagne, meatballs (photo, left) or chicken parmigiana, but Bosco’s come out super-crispy, without overdoing the garlic. Nice!

Another tasty new menu item is the smoked mozzarella raviolis (photo, right), which are stuffed with the flavorful, smoky cheese and covered with Bosco’s zesty red sauce and fresh (not smoked) mozzarella.

Meatball sub.

The only new menu items we haven’t sampled yet are Bosco’s crispy boneless or bone-in wings with Frank’s Redhot Sweet Asian chili hot sauce. I’ve always loved sweet Thai chili sauce, so I’m sure Bosco’s oven-baked wings will be great with them.

And, even though Bosco’s hasn’t yet toyed with keto pizza, they do offer 14-inch gluten-free pizzas, for those who are reactive to gluten.

“We sell quite a few gluten-free pizzas every week,” Nancy says. “There’s a pretty steady number of regulars asking for them.”

Speaking of demand, although I didn’t get a great picture of them either, you have to try Bosco’s crispy cinnamon sticks with cannoli icing for dessert. Decadent! There’s also cannolis, cheesecake and tiramisu on the dessert menu.

To celebrate their second anniversary, the Frankulins are offering one-topping, 14-inch pizzas for only $7.99, with the coupon from Bosco’s ad on pg. 35 of this issue. Congrats, Nancy and Charles!!

Bosco’s Italian-to-Go (30122 S.R. 54) is open every day but Sun. for lunch and dinner, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and until 11 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. For takeout or delivery orders or for more info, call (813) 907-2440 and tell Nancy and Charles I sent you. Or, visit BoscosItalianFL.com!