Paleta Mia For Artisan Ice Pops, Waffle Sticks, Shakes & More! 


(Clockwise from top left photo) Genesis Bermudez, co-owners Olimar Cedeno & Luis Ledezma and manager Dannelys Zavala invite you to try the new Paleta Mia at the KRATEs.

Although co-owners Luis Ledezma and his wife Olimar Cedeno are from Venezuela, they say they were inspired by a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, to open the first-ever Paleta Mia shop in Wesley Chapel in the KRATE Container Park at The Grove. 

Luis and Olimar already owned the successful Mojo Grill Latin Fusion restaurant at the KRATEs, but when they saw another KRATE directly across from Mojo Grill go out of business, they decided to expand what they already were doing in their Paleta Mia food truck into its own former shipping container. 

“We have been bringing the Paleta Mia truck to schools, local sporting events and even the monthly Market Elaine events at The grove for a while,” Luis said. 

“And everyone who’s tried them have told us how much they enjoy them,” added Olimar. “So, we figured, why not?” 

Luis and Olimar agreed that they loved the freshness of the Mexican paletas, but she has added gluten-free and vegan options to a huge variety of not only fruit flavors (like mango, kiwi and pineapple), but also paletas made with Oreo cookies, Nutella, bubble gum flavor and more. 

You can add tasty toppings to your favorite paletas, which come in a rotating variety of flavors.

Paleta Mia also offers a variety of delicious toppings, from marshmallows to sprinkles, fresh milk and white chocolate, M&Ms and more. The toppings also can be added to Paleta Mia’s amazing waffle sticks, which Luis said they first tried during a trip to London, although these light and delicious sticks originated in India. 

“But we added the toppings to make them more mouth-watering, too,” he says. 

“Our whole goal is to offer healthier options using tropical flavors,” Olimar adds. 

To become a master paletera herself, Olimar took classes at both the Pregel Institute in Miami and from Fany Gerson, aka “The Newyorkina,” a famous master paletera. 

Paleta Mia, which Luis and Olimar hope to expand into a franchise business in the future, also offers delicious hand-made shakes and organic aguas frescas using many of the tropical flavors. The shakes even include a whole paleta! 

“Paleta Mia is dedicated to our 14-year-old daughter Mia, to teach her the importance of hard work,” Luis says. 

Paleta Mia (5854 Goldview Pkwy) is open Mon.-Thur., 3 p.m.-9 p.m., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. & noon-7 p.m. on Sun. For more info, see the ad on pg. 37, call (813) 451-6142 or visit MyPaletaMia.com. 

Our editor’s favorites are the freshly made shakes & waffle sticks.
Photo provided by Luis Ledezma.

Story Update: Wesley Chapel’s New Contract Postal Unit Expected To Open By August! 

The new postal contractors say no exact date has yet been set for the CPU to open in Freedom Plaza on S.R. 54. 

STORY UPDATE! Unfortunately, we had to go to press with the July 11 Wesley Chapel issue two hours before we got additional info for our cover story. Please read that revised story here. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this snafu may cause.

 So, I recently found out — after telling you last issue that the Zephyrhills Post Office folks said they didn’t know when, where or even if the Wesley Chapel Contract Postal Unit (CPU) was going to re-open — that there is, indeed, a new location for the CPU that is currently under construction and is expected to open by the end of July or the first week in August. 

The CPU — which is still not a “full” post office but which is able to match U.S. Postal Service prices for stamps, Express and Priority Mail and is able to offer Certified and Registered Mail options — will likely be completed by new contractors Jevon and Cindy Williams by the end of this month, but once the construction has been completed, about a week of training is still required before the CPU can officially reopen. “Although we already have shadowed people at the Zephyrhills Post Office to see how it all works,” Jevon says. 

The biggest concern about the location in Freedom Plaza (above and below) for when the new Wesley Chapel Contract Postal Unit opens by the end of this month or early August is a lack of parking, although new contractors Jevon and Cindy Williams say the new CPU will have more visibility from S.R. 54 than the former location on Boyette Rd. 

Although no one at the Zephyrhills Post Office spoke with me “on the record,” my friends at Bosco’s Italian-to-Go at the eastern end of what is known as the Freedom Plaza on S.R. 54 (about 1/4-mile east of where the CPU on Boyette Rd. that closed at the end of January was located) told me they had met Jevon and Cindy, who told me how excited they are to serve the Wesley Chapel community. 

This husband-and-wife team of Realtors based in Wesley Chapel, with EXP Realty, say they also will sell a variety of items (which haven’t been decided on just yet) and provide free coffee to their customers. 

“Plus,” says Jevon, “this location will have a lot more visibility from S.R. 54 than the previous location on Boyette Rd.” 

Parking Concerns 

There’s no doubt that the biggest challenge whenever Wesley Chapel’s long-awaited CPU opens in its new location will be parking. 

Freedom Plaza is already pretty busy, as the main portion of the plaza facing S.R 54 includes popular restaurants like Bagelicious & More and Taco Son, plus a nail salon, a barber shop, a martial arts studio, the Grey Wolf Armory and Your CBD Store of Wesley Chapel. 

The post office will be located in the separate building which actually sits parallel to 54 and already includes the Great Hope Preschool, a Smoke Shop, the new Bath to the Bone dog grooming studio, as well as Bosco’s. The lot already gets pretty crowded and doesn’t really have room for expanded parking. 

There also is a drainage ditch located between Taco Son and the post office and the property behind the CPU’s building is owned by a different property owner. 

How much more that parking will be strained remains to be seen, but if you ever tried getting anywhere near the old CPU the last two or three weeks before Christmas, you know that parking at the new location during the holidays will definitely be a major issue. 

Jevon and Cindy agree with Bosco’s owners Nancy and Charles Frankulin, who said they are “excited to have the (CPU) next door, but, we are a little bit concerned about how the parking is going to work.” 

However, Jevon adds, “All I can say is that we are going to make it work.” 

Story Update: $836 Million For Local Road Improvements? Plus, Our New Online Ads

By now, anyone who regularly drives the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) at S.R. 56 or the new Overpass Rd. exit at I-75 has to recognize that these transportation improvements have helped relieve traffic in the Wesley Chapel area.

And, with new lanes now open eastbound and opening soon westbound on S.R. 54 between Curley Rd. and Morris Bridge Rd., it appears that Wesley Chapel’s biggest traffic problems are continuing to improve.

Even so, I still hear (and see on Facebook) lots of complaints about our traffic issues and the amount of money that is or isn’t being spent to do something about fixing them.

Does $836 million in state transportation improvements sound like nothing has been done?

Almost $530 million of that total has been spent since 2002 on a wide variety of transportation capacity projects serving Wesley Chapel’s 33543, 33544 & 33545 zip codes — and that amount doesn’t include the hundreds of millions more that Pasco and the developers of Wesley Chapel-based communities have spent to improve the roads in and around all of our area’s new subdivisions. Even so, another nearly $187 million of the remaining $300+ million is what has been spent improving the state-owned roadways in New Tampa (nearly $187 million; see below). The remaining $94.5 million has been spent in San Antonio, just north of Wesley Chapel. 

Thanks to our new editorial research contributor (and new local Realtor with Florida Executive Realty) Joel Provenzano, who previously worked for the Florida Department of Transportation (aka FDOT), I am proud to be able to break down just the state funds that have been spent to make traffic less of a nightmare for those of us who live and/or work in and around New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.

I do realize that, with the continued explosion of new homes and businesses in our area, more money will need to be spent to keep our area from turning into another Dale Mabry Hwy. or Brandon Blvd. I, for one, however, am happy to not be sitting in traffic as often as I was before all of these improvements were made.

Check Out Our Online Ads!

Over the past few years, as online advertising has infiltrated pretty much every part of our lives, we have had just a couple of online ads on our website — NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net.

But, as the number of visits to our site has grown exponentially the last 2-3 years, I have always wanted to offer local businesses the opportunity to place ads on our site — which now averages 30,000 visits every month — I just wasn’t sure what to charge for those ads.

Well, those rates are now set and the first of those online ads are now up on our site. 

So, whether you want to supplement your print ads or advertise with us online only, call (813) 910-2575 or email ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com.

Nibbles & Bites: Gorkhali Kitchen Wins Michelin’s Bib Gourmand Award!

Although I admit to having missed it when three Tampa restaurants were awarded Michelin Stars last month, I wanted to congratulate the owners of Gorkhali Kitchen, the Tampa Bay area’s only Nepalese-Himalayan restaurant, located in the Cross Creek Center plaza at 10044 Cross Creek Blvd., which was one of only two Tampa eateries to win the Michelin Bib Gourmand award (the other was Psomi, a Greek concept in South Tampa).

Michelin Stars are offered to the best of the most upscale eateries, while the Bib Gourmand awards are given to restaurants with “consistently good quality, good value cooking,” but both awards are presented only after multiple Michelin Guide inspectors make multiple visits and all agree on the restaurant’s quality.

Gorkhali’s Nepalese (and Indian) fare includes the country’s signature Momo dumplings, sizzling Tandoori lamb chops and chicken wings, tender goat dishes and the Nepalese fried rice (with chicken) shown here.

Gorkhali Kitchen co-owners Rajesh Pathak, Reena Widdoes, Poonam Gurung and Menora Panthi have rightfully been inundated with new customers since the announcement.

Gorkhali Kitchen is open every day for lunch and dinner. For more information, call (813) 388-6404 or visit GorkhaliKitchenTampa.com.

Grand Hampton: The Movie Series Makes It To Orlando Film Fest!
Photo provided by Antony Capers.

Speaking of congratulations, I also have to give big props to filmmaker Antony Capers and his talented cast and crew of “Grand Hampton the Movie Series – Super Vita,” which has been invited to the nonprofit Orlando International Film Festival (OIFF) the weekend of July 13-16. 

Capers says, “Being a part of the OIFF is huge, and a great accomplishment. We have no celebrity actors or figures in our movie, we had no production budget, nor any high-end specials effects, but yet myself, and Annette (Simmons-Brown)wrote a movie that had a strong enough story to make an impact.”

Capers & crew, who got to present (photo) and even film a portion of the series at the historic Tampa Theatre in downtown Tampa earlier this year, says that although “Grand Hampton” will be one of about 200 short and feature-length films presented at the OIFF, “I think being in this film festival will help expose our ‘Grand Hampton the Movie’ brand to a wider audience… Hopefully being in the festival, we can get enough eyes on it and possibly get a movie or production deal from Netflix, HULU or a service like that because our story is very unique and different.”

To see all episodes of “Grand Hampton,” visit “Grand Hampton the Movie Series” on Youtube.

Sportsman’s Warehouse To Replace Best Buy In August

Those who enjoy outdoor activities — including hunting, shooting, fishing, camping, boating, outdoor cooking, etc. — will be thrilled to know that Sportsman’s Warehouse is expected to open in The Walk at Highwoods Preserve (in the former location of Best Buy) on (or around) Thursday, August 17. 

For more info, including how to register to win a GMC AT4 truck and outdoor gear package, visit Sportsmans.com.

Azteca D’Oro Is Open At The Shops At Wiregrass!

Although it wasn’t yet open when we went to press with this issue, the opening of the new Azteca d’Oro Mexican restaurant at the Shops at Wiregrass (across from The Living Room; left photo) took place last week, with a Grand Opening event the weekend of June 24-25.

We were planning to visit and take both pictures and video last week, so look for updates on NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net as soon as you receive this issue in your mailbox.

I met with co-owner Victor Ramos and the rest of the Azteca team the day this issue went to press, where I got the only picture I could (right photo) of a fully completed area inside this beautiful new, upscale Mexican dining experience. 

Azteca d’Oro (2000 Piazza Ave., Unit 170) is open every day for lunch and dinner, with Azteca’s “Buy One, Get One” Happy Hour available all day on Sunday and Monday-Saturday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.). For more information, visit Aztecadoro.com.

Checking Out The Third Annual Rum & Seafood Festival! 

Our congratulations go out to Florida Penguin Productions for putting on a successful third-annual Rum & Seafood Festival at the Tampa Premium Outlets on June 3, despite the constant threat of bad weather that could have caused the event’s cancellation.

A steady stream of adult visitors paid $15 per person to get into the Festival, which featured live music, dozens of vendors — including Siesta Key and Sailor Jerry rums, FishHawk Spirits and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey — and great seafood food trucks like Charm City Eats, Super Grouper, Got Lobstah? and From the Soul to the Sea. Among this year’s highlights were the Crab Races (that I unfortunately missed) and the “rooftop” bar. 

The  North Tampa Bay Chamber received a portion of the event’s proceeds.

Introducing Astro Craft Ice Cream’s New Ice Cream Chef!

This is just a sampling f the delicious flavors at Astro Craft Ice Cream on S.R. 56. (All Photos by Charmaine George).

It was only six months or so ago when we first told you about the new Astro Craft Ice Cream, located in the same plaza on the north side of S.R. 56 as Mellow Mushroom.

Even so, there’s so much new happening at Astro that we knew we needed to update that story.

Still owned by Ferdian Jap and Gio Tran, the co-owners of Zukku-San Sushi (located about a 1/4-mile east of Astro) and Ato at the KRATE Container Park, Astro now has a new ice cream chef — Adrian Carter. Carter, who is proud of his love of ice cream, completed an online course through the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts based in Boulder, CO, and also completed the intensive one-week Penn State University Ice Cream Short Course in University Park, PA, now in its 128th year — where representatives of Ben & Jerry’s, Baskin-Robbins, Blue Bell, Haagen-Dazs and many others have learned the secrets of ice cream making.

New Astro ice cream chef Adrian Carter prepares the signature sundae for June (below, left).

“It’s super-competitive,” Carter says of the course. “But you really learn the best ways to make the best ice cream.”

Carter, who first met the Astro owners at their location at Armature Works near downtown Tampa, is proud of the changes he’s already made to Astro’s already delicious flavors and he promises to continue to add new varieties, starting with the unique new passion fruit-raspberry sorbet, which is made with oat milk, “so it still has a creamy, more ice cream-like texture and taste,” Carter says.

He also has made subtle changes to many of my already favorite flavors at Astro — including adding real bananas to the banana pudding peanut butter cookie flavor (which is still my #1 favorite).

Father’s Day-inspired June signature special.
Ube chocolate chunk ice cream cone.

Carter says that most months, Astro offers a new “signature” creation. For June (which still has a few days left), the Father’s Day-inspired special was the brown sugar whiskey cookie dough (made with a newly upgraded whiskey), with chocolate-covered pretzels, a caramel “flavor shot” and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Also new is the ube ice cream with dark chocolate chunks. Ube is a purple Fillipino yam (sweet potato) with a mellow flavor that blends well with the chocolate.

Astro’s exclusive Cuban ice cream sandwich.
The revamped brownie sundae.

And, despite my concerns, Carter also has begun baking Astro’s brownies and chocolate chip cookies in-house, rather than buying them from Mike’s Pies. I loved the Mike’s brownies, but the house-baked brownies are equally delicious, chewy and decadently dense — so good as the base for a brownie sundae with a chocolate, caramel or honey flavor shot.

One thing Carter didn’t mention changing was Astro’s exclusive Cuban ice cream sandwich (above, right), made with Cuban bread from Tampa’s La Segunda Bakery, pressed around Tampa guava cream cheese or creme brulée café con leché ice cream. So good.

Photographer Charmaine George and I both also raved about the cinnamon snickerdoodle marshmallow ice cream, made with marshmallow Fluff, graham crackers and lots of cinnamon. Charmaine said it “tastes like Christmas.” The seasonal flavor for July is red, white & blue vanilla ice cream, “for the kids,” Carter says, adding that Astro’s mobile ice cream van also is available for catered events. 

Astro Craft Ice Cream (25700 Sierra Center Blvd.) is open Mon.-Thur., noon-9:30 p.m.; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. & 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Sun. For more info, visit AstroCraftIceCream.com, find the location on Facebook or Instagram.

A dish of the new passion fruit-raspberry sorbet with a honey flavor shot.