Day: October 13, 2019

I have seen the highs and the lows over the last six years with my friend Dirson De Mesquita, the owner of OTB Delights Café, now located in Nye Commons, on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just south of S.R. 54.

Dirson had started his successful, healthy-eating-oriented restaurant concept in the same plaza as The Hungry Greek and Dickey’s BBQ a little further south on BBD (across from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel) when he decided to find anther location in 2018.

What he didn’t know was that he would be closed for several months (basically, from August until December) that year, as he agreed to leave his old space in order for the new tenant — Umu Japanese & Thai — to get started on their build-out while he began building the new OTB.

Bottom line? Dirson and his wife Ana weathered the storm of several months with no OTB income and have been thriving in their new location ever since.

“Our breakfast business has definitely picked up since we’ve been here,” Dirson says. “And our lunch crowd has been about the same.”

The new location is definitely a nicer layout and even though OTB is the only restaurant in Nye Commons, which doesn’t have a particularly easy entrance to get into either, people have been finding it (it’s located less than four miles north of the Pasco County line) — and loving many of the changes to the menu. 

But, What About The Food?

At its old location, when OTB only served healthier turkey bacon for breakfast, I’ll admit I didn’t go out of my way to enjoy my most important meal of the day there.

But now, with the new OTB even closer to my office, Dirson has added not only real bacon, but a variety of delicious new breakfast menu items.

My favorite is still the “breakfast plate”, with your choice of three regular or chocolate chip pancakes, two eggs any style (over easy for me, of course) and three strips of that (extra crispy) bacon — a bargain for only $9.99. And, even though it comes with pancakes, I still add OTB’s tasty marble rye to soak up my egg yolks.

Just as delicious, but understandably more expensive ($12.99) is the steak and eggs breakfast, with a nice portion of thinly sliced steak and three eggs your way. Newer breakfast items include “Omelette’ing You Go,” a three-egg omelet served with your choice of side (try the fresh fruit) and toast. You can choose any three ingredients from the following list: any cheese, grilled onions, grilled peppers, tomatoes, baby spinach, arugula, red onion, diced ham, diced turkey, sprouts, pepperoncini, black olives and mushrooms — and all for only $8.99.

You avocado lovers will flip for the Good Morning Ciabatta, with two eggs your way, tomato, avocado and provolone on a tasty seeded, multi-grain ciabatta hoagie roll.

There’s also a breakfast burrito, chicken-quinoa eggs-travaganza and a tasty hash-and-eggs breakfast made with real corned beef and sweet potato home fries; an asparagus-bacon eggs Benedict; the Yolko Ono, with eggs, Black Forest ham, tomatoes and Havarti cheese on a multi-grain ciabatta; as well as an Acai bowl (with granola, bananas, strawberies, coconut flakes and organic Acai.

And, since Dirson is from Brazil, you know he’s serving great coffee, too.

Don’t They Serve Lunch, Too?

Although most people don’t think of a hamburger as a “healthy” option, Dirson’s grass-fed artisan burger is seasoned, hand-pattied, grilled to order and delicious. There’s also tasty veggie and turkey burgers.

OTB’s lunch selections also feature a variety of salads, including the Asian orange ahi tuna salad, with a generous portion of seared rare tuna, Mandarin oranges, toasted almonds and sprouts; a blackened portabella Caesar as well as a chicken Caesar; a seared steak delight salad and “salmon gone wild” salad. OTB doesn’t have the biggest selection of salad dressings, but all of them are pretty tasty. I especially enjoy the sesame ginger and spicy Santa Fe dressings.

Many of the salads also are available as “Rice Rice Baby” bowls. My favorites are the Shanghai chicken (with jasmine rice, sesame seeds, toasted almonds and the sesame ginger dressing), and the steak delight rice bowl (top right on this page), with black beans, jasmine rice, tomatoes, caramelized onions and blue cheese crumbles, with balsamic.

OTB Has Meal Delivery, Too?

Busy working adults, especially those with younger kids, are turning more and more these days to meal delivery services like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, but Dirson decided to get into the meal delivery business locally because he can promise the same dependable delivery of fresh meals with advantages over those other services.

“We don’t mass produce anything,” Dirson says proudly. Your meals aren’t taken out of a fridge and put into a box, they’re made to your order. You tell us what you want, we make it fresh and deliver it when you want it (guaranteed to arrive between 4 p.m.-9 p.m. on your chosen date to ensure freshness).”

The best way to get started is to call (813) 906-2229 or order online at OnlyTheBestDelivery.com. 

You’ll find a huge selection of options online and even though there are actual menu items, Dirson promises that “everything is customizable. If the menu calls for an item to be served with broccoli, you can substitute asparagus, add sprouts, whatever you want.”

And, OTB’s portion-controlled meal delivery service has complete one-week meal plans, keto meals (like keto pesto parmesan chicken and veggies), plant-based meals (like mushroom taco lettuce wraps), special items for kids (kids’ sliced steak and sweet potato mash), desserts (like vegan, gluten-free cookies) and even raw, cold juices (try the cold press juice sampler, with green, yellow, red and bunny juice) available for delivery. There’s even a full catering menu that is fully customizable to your specifications, for events large or small.

Best of all, the food is delicious and guaranteed to arrive fresh, whether you like pulled chicken or ahi tuna with broccoli, quinoa or rice (two left photos on this page) or anything else on OTB’s extensive menu, Dirson’s delivery manager Jen will make sure your order is right — or she’ll make it right.

After six years, I’ve come to expect nothing less from Dirson and OTB!

OTB Delight Café, located at 4839 BBD Blvd., is open Monday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, call (813) 906-2229 or visit OTBDelightCafe.com.