The game of golf received a boost during the pandemic, as more people took up the game, especially at places like Heritage Isles and Hunter’s Green Country Clubs.
So, it makes perfect sense that a golf store & hi-tech training facility would open nearby.
According to City of Tampa permitting records, GOLFTEC will be moving into part of the space formerly occupied by Pier 1 Imports in Highwoods Preserve off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.
GOLFTEC, founded in 1995, will be taking over a portion of former home goods store, on the end closest to Westshore Pizza.
GOLFTEC offers golf lessons, golf instruction and custom club fittings in what it calls a state-of-the-art Training Center. It uses certified coaches and technology to help improve your golf game. For $125, locations offer 60-minute swing evaluations, where motion measurement sensors are attached to the student’s shoulders, arms and hips. The results are evaluated by coaches using hi-def video and other tech and if desired, a lesson plan is formed.
GOLFTEC has 15 locations in the U.S., as well as locations in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Nearby, there are locations in Carrollwood and on Boy Scout Rd. in the Westshore business district.
NEW RESIDENCES: Cross Creek Blvd. is getting some of its first building projects in years, as dirt is being moved in two different spots for new townhomes.
We reported in February of last year that both projects had been approved after some debate. Combined, the two townhome projects, towards the eastern end of Cross Creek Blvd., will bring 95 total new residences to the area.
One parcel is located at 10801 Cross Creek Blvd, east of the New Tampa Dance Theatre, and directly across the street from the entrance to the Heritage Isles community. It will have nine buildings and 60 attached single-family residences.
Further east, a second parcel will consist of six buildings and 35 single-family residences.
Stuffed strawberry French toast, (Photos by Holly K Photography)
Since opening the second local location (the other is on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in New Tampa) of The Brunchery Breakfast & Lunch on S.R. 56 in March of this year, owner Alket (Al) Marku says he is thrilled with the way the Wesley Chapel community has already embraced the former long-time location of Wolf’s Den.
Despite having some competition nearby, Al says, “Our Wesley Chapel location is actually beating our sales in New Tampa, which is kind of amazing to me.”
Al, who was originally a partner in the New Tampa location when it opened in 2019, bought it outright from his former business partner in 2021. He and his wife Erinda Kostandini will open their third Brunchery location in the Lithia area sometime later this month and will open a fourth location in Riverview in the summer of 2023. “We plan to open many more locations,” Al, 37, says. “We think we have a great variety of menu items that will be welcome wherever we open.”
Breakfast Feature
Unmatched Breakfast Options!
Breakfast at The Brunchery definitely offers a little something for everyone. My favorite is what is known as the “Breakfast Feature,” which features two eggs any style, with your choice of bacon or sausage, seasoned home fries and a homemade biscuit, which I sub out for The Brunchery’s tasty marble rye toast. Oh, and although you can sub grits for the potatoes, I add a side of grits because it’s so worth having all of it!
But, if you don’t “just” want eggs for breakfast, The Brunchery more than has you covered. There are nine different Benedicts, including smoked salmon, corned beef hash, crab cake and chorizo sausage Benedicts. There also are four different skillet breakfasts, including Al’s favorite chorizo skillet.
Need something sweet? There are four varieties of French toast, including plain, orange pecan, loaded (with strawberries, blueberries and bananas) and the awesome stuffed strawberry French toast shown on this page.
There also are homemade muffins, breakfast crepes, three different pancake and three waffle options, including excellent crispy fried chicken & waffles.
“Our sweet breakfast items may be our most popular,” Al says, although he says items like avocado toast, fluffy omelettes (including heart-healthy egg white omelettes) and bagel & lox breakfasts also are popular. And, even the coffee is delicious, and there are specialty and iced coffee drinks available, too.
What About Lunch? Â
Although Al says that the majority of people who visit The Brunchery at lunch time still order breakfast items, Jannah and I really enjoy his smaller lunch menu, too.
My favorite lunch item is the grilled chicken melt with crispy bacon and Swiss cheese on a Kaiser roll. Jannah raves about the chicken salad croissant and I also am partial to the Reuben sandwich (corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss on grilled marble rye with thousand island dressing). Also on the menu are a BLT avocado wrap, chicken Estrada (grilled chicken breast, spinach, mushrooms, feta and Swiss cheese and may) and even a half-pound cheeseburger.
Please note that while The Brunchery’s New Tampa location serves wine-based cocktails like mimosas and peach mango sangria, Al says they aren’t yet available at Wesley Chapel, but should be within the next few months.
Special Thanks Go Out To…Â Â
Al, who is originally from Albania, says that his entrepreneurial spirit was instilled in him by his family, especially his father Alexander. However, he says his training in (and love of) the restaurant business was provided by the man he calls his mentor, Anthony Moissis, who still owns Anthony’s Family Restaurant in Eastlake, OH, where Al first moved when he was just 15 years old. “It was a great learning experience for me,” Al says, “Anthony taught me everything I know about the restaurant business, especially how to take care of not only my customers, but also my employees. My parents were still back home in Albania, so Anthony’s family became my family in the U.S.”
About three years later, Al and his brother Alphonse opened Alexander’s Restaurant in Ohio. Years later, when Al and Erinda (who are expecting their first child in a month or so) decided to move to Florida, he brought those experiences with him to The Brunchery.
“I love this community,” Al says. “I appreciate all of the customers who support us.”
Speaking of support, Al says he and Erinda would appreciate your vote when you enter the Neighborhood News Reader Dining Survey & Contest. Â
Both Brunchery Breakfast & Lunch locations — 27607 S.R. 56, Unit 110, and 17507 Preserve Walk Ln., New Tampa — are open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. every day. For more info, call (813) 994-9666 (WC) or (813) 533-7271 (NT) or visit LoveBrunchery.com.
Wharton High’s drum line has brought home the “W” in a local battle for the best, held on Oct. 15 as part of the King High School Lion’s Pride Marching Festival.
While the festival, established in 1997, primarily helps high school bands sharpen their skills on the, ah, march to the height of the season, it allows drum lines the opportunity to choreograph a performance to show off their talents, too, in the Lion’s Pride Battle of the Drum Lines.
When the Wharton students asked director Marques Rudd if they could plan a routine for the competition, he signed them up. They did the rest.
Percussion captain Josh Benalcazar and other percussion leaders — including AJ Coveyou, Clara Riusech and Jeya Williams — came up with music, visuals, and choreography. Then, they planned rehearsals for all 18 members of the school’s drum line.
In addition to playing rhythm and cadences on snares, tenors, bass drums and cymbals, they created choreography to determine their placement on the field, and added visuals such as dancing, swaying, and moving in eye-catching and fun ways.
Wharton won the Lion’s Pride Battle for the first time ever. The Wildcats stunned five-time defending champion Strawberry Crest in the semifinals, and then were chosen as the best drum line in the finale against Spoto.
“It was crazy to me that we were able to put this together entirely student-led,” Benalcazar says proudly. “We had to really think outside the box and be creative.”
Rudd agrees that the students’ creativity is what propelled them to take home the competition’s bragging rights.
“Their interaction with the crowd was awesome,” he says. “They even threw in some cartwheels and something from the Cha Cha Slide.”
Rudd says he’s proud of the students and the fact that they came together to create something they weren’t required to do as a class assignment. He noticed their hard work, and it paid off for them.
“It was surreal when we won and they called our name,” says Josh. “It took a minute for it to process in my brain. It was a dream for me to be able to win such a big competition.”
Angela Brown is escorted into the Liberty Middle School media center by principal Frank Diaz, where she is surprised by a band and Hillsborough Superintendent of Schools Addison Davis (photo on next page), who announced that she has been named the Hillsborough County Assistant Principal of the Year for 2022-23. (Photos: Hillsborough Schools)
It began as just another ordinary day for Angela Brown.
The Liberty Middle School assistant principal showed up for work in the morning, helped make sure all of the students were off to class and, after that was done, she headed to the testing room to get things ready for her day.
But then, the day took an extraordinary and unexpected turn. She got a call from Liberty principal Frank Diaz asking her to report to the media center with literacy coach Corissa Russell, who was with her.
When they had just about reached the media center, Russell handed Brown off to Diaz, who led her inside. A band started playing.
“The first person I noticed was (Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent of Schools) Addison Davis, then I saw my boyfriend (Ben Gainer),” Brown said. “Imagine a person who doesn’t like surprises, and likes being in full control all the time. I turned to Mr. Diaz and asked, “What’s going on here?”
What was going on was this: Davis was there to congratulate Brown for being named Hillsborough’s Assistant Principal of the Year for 2022-23.
“It was definitely a surprise,” she says. “A nice surprise.”
Brown has been at Liberty since the school opened in 2002, and the award is a testament to her skills as assistant principal of curriculum.
The school district’s Assistant Principal of the Year Angela Brown receives a gift basket from Hillsborough’s Superintendent of Schools Addison Davis.
Diaz has only been at Liberty for three months, but it was apparent from his first day that Brown was a gem.
“She’s been a rock here for quite some time,” Diaz says. “Her attention to detail is spectacular. She assures that students are placed in the right classes with the right teachers. She really looks at the students as individuals and on the basis of what they need.”
Brown’s responsibilities include student safety, overseeing the curriculum for the school, student schedules, assessments and testing, to name a few.
“A lot of it is just making sure that instruction is happening and our teachers are equipped with the tools they need to deliver excellent instruction to the students,” Brown says.
And, it often goes beyond that. While being an innovative scheduler, it’s the extra things not in her job description that makes Brown special. That includes sometimes driving kids home, visiting family homes to make that needed connection and mentoring other assistant principals who are just starting out.
“The one thing I pride myself on is building relationships,” she says. “It’s all about navigating the world of school every day and keeping a smile on my face, because it definitely is hard work. But every day, I find something to laugh and smile about, and I try to instill that to everyone on campus.”
Brown, who recently turned 52, is a graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, which she attended on a track scholarship.
She got her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Education degree, with a concentration in sports administration, but thought she would some day be working for a sports organization.
But, her old principal at East Bay High talked Brown into filling in as a substitute teacher for someone out on maternity leave.
“I was so in love with teaching, from that point on I did everything necessary to be a certified teacher,” Brown said, which included earning her Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale.
Brown started her teaching career at Greco Middle School in 1996, and moved to Liberty in 2002 as a Success Coach, which back then was called Student Intervention Specialist. In 2013, she became an assistant principal.
“I’m so blessed to be able to stay and see all the different families come, all of the siblings of siblings, students who are now parents and have kids at Liberty,” Brown says. “It’s definitely been amazing.”
Diaz says students continuously come back to the school to talk to her.
“She remembers the names of students from 10-12 years ago,” an impressed Diaz says. “That’s nice.”
Brown says it’s all about changing lives and providing direction. She recalls one of her students, back in 2006, having a tough time of it. Brown had to continually suspend him, and told him, “If I have to keep suspending you for you to get it, that’s what I’m going to do.”
He got it. In 2008, that student, Nelson Agholor, was named Hillsborough County’s Turnaround Student of the Year and went on to earn a football scholarship to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles and is currently a wide receiver with the New England Patriots who still visits Liberty and “Auntie Angela” each year.
“It’s very rewarding when you see certain kids (who) always seem to find me or always seem to reach out to me and stop by the school,” Brown says. “One of the good things about being at same school is they always know how to find you 15 years later, just to say thank you and tell you how grateful they are. Honestly, that’s what keeps me going from year to year, knowing that somehow I made a difference with someone.”
Judging by her recent accolades, Brown’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.
