Our friends at BayCare Wesley Chapel (WC) Hospital (4501 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.) continue to engage the community so that as many people as possible can get to know the nearly three-year-old, 86-bed hospital.
On Oct. 6, BayCare WC Chaplain Reid Isenhart (at left in top photo) hosted a Pet Blessing event, in honor of the Feast Day for the Catholic Patron Saint of the animals, St. Francis of Assisi. “We always strive to set high standards for compassionate care for people, Chaplin Reid said, “but we also like to recognize the gift of our animals, including the therapy animals who come to the hospital.”
With nearly two dozen animals in attendance — including two young piglets, a chicken and a bunny brought by “Connected City” resident Michael Pultorak (left) — Chaplain Reid said, “Research shows that pet owners consider their pets to be full family members. Today, we also have animals who assist us not just emotionally, but also with sight and sound and to recognize seizures and even cancer, so we bless them all.”
Then on Oct. 15, BayCare WC hosted a North Tampa Bay Chamber Coffee Social (photo, right), where the hospital’s director of operations Bill Sedey gave attendees more info about the hospital: “This hospital features a 20-bed emergency room, a 12-bed intensive care unit, helipad for transporting critical patients, all private rooms and a great partnership with the under-construction YMCA next door.” Other hospital staffers also made presentations about BayCare WC’s imaging center, staffing and more.
If you’re a fan of the classic sitcom “Seinfeld,” I’m sure you remember the episode when Kramer goes back to work at H&H Bagels (below left photo) after being on strike for twelve years.
Well, that episode, and H&H’s appearances on “Sex and the City,” “The Office” “Entourage” and other TV shows and movies, helped keep one of Manhattan’s best-known “real New York” bagel shops in people’s memories for years, after being founded in 1972 on the Upper West Side by Helmer Toro and Hector Hernandez.
Today, H&H Bagels has 13 locations — seven scattered around NYC, plus one in California, one in Washington, DC, one in Knoxville, TN, and three in Florida, including the newest location at 1155 S. Dale Mabry Hwy. in South Tampa (bottom photo). There also are eight more locations coming on-line, including five in the Sunshine State, one in California, one in North Carolina and one in Chicago.
Yes, the H&H name is growing again, thanks to CEO and Florida State University grad Jay Rushin (top right photo), who worked on Wall St. in Manhattan for 20 years before taking over at H&H eleven years ago (he also has family in Tampa).
Having lived just a few blocks from the second H&H location on 2nd Ave. in Manhattan, as soon as I heard it was opening here, I knew I wanted to check it out. The company’s kettle-boiled-then-baked bagels in New York were as good as any I had ever had, so I knew I had to sample the location here as soon as it opened.
“We bake everything fresh here,” Rushin told me during the Tampa location’s soft opening on Sept. 30. “The bagels are made with that famous New York water, boiled, frozen and shipped here. We then bake them every day.”
And yes, the bagels are pretty great. I, of course, had to have a toasted, scooped-out sesame bagel with cream cheese, Nova Scotia salmon and I was surprised and thrilled to be able to add a shmear of real whitefish salad, plus a slice of tomato. Just yum!
Jannah also loved her bacon, egg and cheese on a scooped-out, toasted whole wheat bagel (right) and Charmaine said the avocado on her avocado, egg and cheese on an asiago cheese bagel was just “so fresh and delicious.” Also available are sausage and Jersey-style Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwiches, plus an egg white and avocado option.
H&H carries 13 varieties of fresh bagels (above photo) — from standards like onion, everything and cinnamon raisin to egg, blueberry and even jalapeño cheddar options.
And, unlike other bagel places that offer a Baker’s Dozen — 13 bagels for the price of 12 — when you buy a dozen at H&H, you pay for ten bagels and get the last two free.
“It’s just another one of our different ways of doing things,” Jay said.
In addition to that perfect house-made whitefish salad, H&H also makes its own tuna, egg and chicken salad, and offers deli sandwiches with roast beef, roasted turkey, Black Forest or Taylor ham and also sells the salads, the deli meats, the Nova and even cheddar, American, pepper Jack and provolone cheese by the pound. Also available are to-go tubs of plain, flavored and even tofu cream cheese, plus lox spread, butter, jelly and peanut butter.
Also baked in-house are chewy brownies, chocolate chip cookies (photo above), croissants, muffins and chocolate and cinnamon streusel cake slices.
And, while H&H doesn’t sell cappuccinos, lattes and other “fancier” coffee drinks, Jay says the hot coffee is a private H&H blend roasted in Wisconsin by Ruby’s Coffee Roasters, which was named for founder Jared Linzmeier’s grandmother, Ruby Szitta. Also served are iced and cold brew coffee, a variety of hot teas, iced sweet tea, green teas, apple and orange juice, chocolate milk, lemonade, sparkling water and even Mexican Coca-Cola.
“We’ve looked for more locations in the Tampa Bay area,” Rushin told me, “including in Wesley Chapel, but the market is tough. We need 1,400 to no more than 2,000 square feet.”
So, go give H&H Bagels a shot. You’ll put a smile on Jay’s face — and on Kramer’s! For more info, visit HHBagels.com or call (813) 214-7010. You also can order pickup from Grubhub, Seamless, DoorDash, Postmates or Uber Eats. — GN
