Author: Gary Nager

Rotary Golf Open A Record-Breaker!

Congratulations go out to the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, which meets every Wednesday for lunch at Omari’s Grill at the Lexington Oaks Golf Club (GC), for hosting a record-breaking first-ever Charity Golf Open on Apr. 30. The golf tourney attracted nearly 130 golfers to the recently revamped Lexington Oaks GC course.

Although no final figures were available at our press time, current president Jodie Sullivan said it probably raised more than any of the club’s previous fund raisers and benefited the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office Charities, as well as the club’s community projects.

It was a hot day, but the golfers complimented the course, the Lexington Oaks staff (including owner/WC Rotary member Anass El-Omari), the Rotarians and the camaraderie — even though no one won the car donated by Parks Ford or the Sandals vacation by sinking a hole-in-one.

Lunch was served prior to the shotgun start and an awards dinner reception — which also included a cool silent auction of sports memorabilia — was held immediately after in Omari’s Grill.

“This was a great event for the club, the community and the charities,” event chair Justine Esposito said.

For more information about the club, visit WCRotary.com. — GN

golf rotary club of wesley chapel

The Ever-Changing Face Of Our Neighborhood News Online Videos

Gary Nager

When I first started what was then called WCNT-TV (Wesley Chapel New Tampa Television) with a partner in 2016, my intent was to create something of a hyperlocal TV news station that would one day become a 24-hour “channel” featuring news and informational content solely about New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.

A couple of years later, not only had I taken over complete control of our online content from that former partner, we began focusing on short news and informational videos about the people, businesses and restaurants in our communities. That same year, as I was re-branding our online video content as NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net, with the help of a former producer, I applied for — and was stunned to receive — one of only 86 grants worldwide (and one of only 23 in the U.S.) from Google to expand that video content, as part of the online giant’s attempt to combat the growing proliferation of “fake news” online.

I was told by Google that even though our Neighborhood News print editions were only about two tiny (but growing) markets, a big reason we received a grant was because we had been in the business of providing real news to and for the residents and businesses of these two small submarkets of the Tampa Bay area for 26 years.

And, that grant money from Google did help us expand our online presence from an average of one video release every two weeks to more than two releases each week of 2019.

Unfortunately, Google didn’t see fit to provide us with another grant for 2020 in order to keep that momentum going the following year, which then ended up also being the year that Covid-19 changed everybody’s business.

Thanks to a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, however, I was able to retain and continue paying all of our employees, including videographer/video producer Charmaine George, but with most people not venturing out of their homes, and working mainly from home from March through much of the summer last year, it was harder for us to continue putting out the same amount of content and even harder to create and release content that people wanted to watch, despite having so much less to do outside.

Even so, we were still able to put out more than two video releases per week, with 74 total releases for 2020, which were viewed nearly 200,000 times, with a Facebook (search “Neighborhood News”) reach of more than 300,000, bringing our overall viewership to close to 2 million through our first five years.

Our ten most-viewed videos of 2020 (all of which were viewed more than 5,000 times each, reaching an average of 12,000+ people each on Facebook) were primarily about new business and restaurant openings, especially Aldi, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County (which had three of our top-10), The Grove, Aussie Grill, Main Event and Pasta di Guy.

Our pace for new video releases has slowed somewhat in 2021, and fewer of you have been watching them, although we also have been encouraged by the fact that our most-watched video ever was our exclusive sneak peek of the all-new Grove Theater (photo) in January, which has, to date, been viewed by more than 32,000 people with a Facebook reach of more than 53,000. We also have had decent viewership of videos about New Tampa’s new Fresh Kitchen and others.

To that end, our plan is to greatly expand our focus on dining and new business opening videos for the rest of 2021. So, if you or someone you know has a new business or one opening soon in either of our distribution areas, please email me at ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com.

Thanks for watching!

Blue Heron Senior Living To Host Open House Apr. 28!

Whether you’re a senior citizen considering assisted living yourself or you need memory care for an aging parent, I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity to check out the Blue Heron Senior Living & Memory Care getting ready to open off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. south of S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel, which will be the first in our area that also will provide on-site skilled nursing and rehabilitation services in either of our distribution areas.

Blue Heron, which is being developed by TLC Management, is hosting an incredible Open House celebration on Wednesday, April 28, 1 p.m.-3 p.m., so if you or someone you love is considering moving to an assisted living facility, you should definitely visit that event (or call the number at the end of this story to arrange a tour if you can’t make it that day).

The Open House event will include a variety of foods prepared by Blue Heron’s in-house chef, refreshments, live music and tours of this beautiful new addition to the Wesley Chapel community.

Blue Heron’s community relations director Sarah Dymond and executive director Kimberly Lehigh took the Neighborhood News on a recent sneak preview tour of the 159,000-sq.-ft. facility and we definitely came away impressed.

The place, which is visible from I-75, looks huge from the outside (see drone photo), but actually is laid out so that it still feels cozy, comfortable and homey.

The entrance lobby is warm and inviting, with comfortable seating and a gas-fired fireplace where residents and visitors can sit and enjoy each other’s company. Directly behind the lobby is the equally attractive main dining area, while to your right is an open kitchen area called The Bistro, where residents can enjoy grab-and-go snacks, coffee drinks and other beverages (there’s even wine on tap) and watch TV as they enjoy their snacks and beverages.

Behind the main dining room is a beautiful outdoor patio, complete with a gas grill, a putting green and plenty of umbrella-covered seating, all overlooking a sizable pond. The outdoor area also will feature live music events for residents.

The first floor also features a great workout facility/wellness center, as well as an art studio/gallery, spa/salon and a life enrichment center.

The separate and secure Memory Care area, which has its own lobby, its own dining room and 22 studio apartments featuring a front-porch-cottage theme, also is on the first floor.

The upper floors are home to Blue Heron’s 73 one- and two-bedroom assisted living apartments, all of which are beautifully designed, with their own kitchens, washer and dryers and easy-access showers.

And, perhaps best of all, Blue Heron is a true rental community, with no buy-in required. “Our residents are free from long-term financial commitments,” Sarah says, “and have the flexibility to manage their own assets and investments.”

Skilled Nursing & Rehab, Too

As mentioned earlier, Blue Heron is the only assisted living facility in either of our distribution areas that also offers both short-term rehabilitation services and skilled nursing care on-site.

For residents who require 24-hour nursing care, Blue Heron has private suites in its health & rehabilitation center, where each resident will enjoy consistent care delivered by a dedicated team of professional, licensed specialists.

Offering short-term rehab in Florida’s newest state-of-the-art therapy center, Blue Heron’s health and rehabilitation blends the comforts of a luxury hotel with advanced therapies and facilities in a unique “Return to Home” program that includes private suites, advanced therapy equipment, physical, occupational and speech therapies, virtual reality workouts and neighborhood amenities.

“There’s really nothing like us in this community,” Lehigh says. “Our leadership team is super-excited. I believe we’ve hired the best of the best.”

For more information about the Apr. 28 Open House at Blue Heron Senior Living (5085 Eagleston Blvd.) or to arrange a private tour, call (813) 454-0513 or visit SeniorLivingatBlueHeron.com.

assisted living facility Blue Heron

Why The Neighborhood News Is Still Your Best Local News Source

Gary Nager

I have to admit that I was really excited to see (on Mar. 26) WFTS-TV’s ABC Action News set up its “Good Morning Tampa Bay” morning show outside the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, where my wife Jannah is the director of marketing for RADDSports, which manages the programs at the campus.

“Good Morning Wesley Chapel” was the fifth stop on the morning show’s ongoing tour of Tampa Bay communities, so I had hopes to find some new information that maybe managing editor John Cotey, videographer Charmaine George and I haven’t been able to bring you because we’re a three-person team, while ABC Action News has an entire team of reporters, anchors and producers who created multiple features between 5 a.m.-7 a.m. that day about our area.

As a 27-year veteran of covering the news and information coming out of Wesley Chapel, I have to say that I was expecting more — and better — information coming out of that show.

First of all, anchor Deiah Riley started off by calling the Sports Campus the Sports Complex and repeated throughout the morning that the Sports Campus features 16 volleyball courts and eight (at first she said 18) basketball courts (both correct), plus 56 fencing “lanes” and 8 wrestling mats?

Here’s the thing — the Sports Campus does have room for that number of fencing pistes (the correct term) and wrestling mats, but has yet (or any plans) to host a fencing or wrestling event. There was no mention of the Sports Campus’ state-of-the-art cheerleading facility, indoor and outdoor soccer under the direction of former Tampa Bay Rowdies head coach Stuart Campbell or the Yo Murphy Performance training area we told you about in our Feb. 16 issue.

OK, so the producers of “Good Morning Wesley Chapel” obviously didn’t read any recent issues of the Neighborhood News to get their information, but there were mistakes and discrepancies throughout the morning.

For example, Riley’s pre-recorded report mistakenly repeated multiple times during those two hours that the ever-expanding Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. is part of the county’s sports tourism efforts and re-branding as “Florida’s Sports Coast” — when the WCDP always has been intended for local residents (unlike the Sports Campus). That report also said that WCDP’s inclusive playground (the first of its kind in Pasco) was paid for by impact fees without mentioning the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, AdventHealth, the Lennar Foundation and others who gave money for that project.

And, speaking of sports tourism, there was no mention of AdventHealth Center Ice, in the heart of Wesley Chapel, or the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in nearby Zephyrhills.

Plus, while there was a short feature about the new Grove Theater, there was no interview clip with developer Mark Gold, nor any mention of The Grove’s coming-soon KRATE container park, which will bring dozens of new eateries to Wesley Chapel. The theater piece also mentioned its sushi bar, but not the Bistro restaurant.

And, while there were good stats provided about the rise in average home prices in Wesley Chapel, the Realtor interviewed is based out of South Tampa and featured an interview with a family who bought a home with a large body of water behind it which likely also wasn’t located in Wesley Chapel.

The two best features were about Wesley Chapel youngsters, one of which was an update on Janiah Hinds, who we featured back in August 2020 for her “Slay it Proud” T-shirt line. The other was an excellent “Deiah’s Brag Book” feature about 12-year-old soccer player Peyton Wheatley, who suffered a life-threatening event back in late Feb., too late to get the story in our Mar. 16 issue. To help Peyton’s family, visit GoFundMe.com and search “Peyton’s Road to Recovery.”

abc action news Neighborhood News Wesley Chapel

Garden Mediterranean Grill — So Close & So Authentic!

Even though there are quite a few Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurants located in New Tampa, based on what I’ve already tasted and heard from customers, it’s still well worth a few-minute drive to the Eagle Plaza on Oak Grove Blvd. at S.R. 54 in Lutz to try the new Garden Mediterranean Grill.

Owners Raja Saad and her husband, Chef Hedi Jlassi (top photo) are both from the Arabic North African nation of Tunisia and they offer a huge variety of delicious Mediterranean-influenced food in a beautiful, but casual setting.

The restaurant now called Garden Mediterranean Grill has had a number of previous tenants, including a Latin restaurant and a number of coffee shops, but Raja and Hedi and their family believe that they have brought the right cuisine and the right price to the location — and yes, the food is delicious!

Whether you dine as a couple of bring a large family or group of friends to the Garden, you’re sure to find plenty of options, as well as huge portions.

To start, try the Foule (pronounced “fool”; center photo, far right), a delicious dish of puréed fava beans, garlic, lemon and topped with virgin olive oil. It’s served with the fluffiest pita bread I’ve had anywhere. To really get into the variety of starters, however, Raja and Hedi recommend the appetizer platter, which includes hummus, baba Ghanouj (mashed, cooked eggplant), labneh (strained yogurt), falafel (fried, ground chick peas) and grape leaves. Other starters include fried calamari, Nabulsi fried cheese, tabouli (chopped parsley, diced tomatoes, onions, dry mint, lemon juice and olive oil), shakshouka merguez (sautée of Merguez sausage and eggs cooked with tomatoes, onion, garlic and spices and even shrimp scampi.

So far, the only salad I’ve sampled is the tangy house salad (diced tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, parsley, herbs, olive oil and lemon juice), but there also is a great-looking Greek salad, fattoush, tahini and Caesar salads. You also can top your salad with a variety of meats and seafood, including chicken kabobs (so good) or shawarma, beef or lamb shish kabobs, kufta (ground lamb) kabobs, delicious, fresh-cut gyro meat, salmon or shrimp.

I haven’t sampled any of the sandwiches yet, but I have had several of the meats available as sandwiches as entrée platters. The sandwich that looked the most interesting to me was the chicken shawarma quesadilla, which is a nice Middle Eastern take on the popular Mexican dish which combines sliced chicken shawarma meat and a delicious garlic sauce with cheese, onions and tomatoes stuffed inside a soft tortilla. There’s also fish, shrimp and falafel wraps on the menu.

The perfectly-season meat entrée platters all include long-grain yellow rice and amazing grilled veggies (onions and red and green peppers; Jannah and I order them well-cooked). Among my favorite entrées so far are the gyro, beef shawarma and chicken kabob platters, but my can’t-miss option so far is the lamb chop platter. You get four tender, delicious rib chops that are grilled to perfection.

Other entrée options include Turkish kabobs (ground lamb and beef, but Raja says they are different from kufta kabobs), Merguez sausage, lamb shanks and chicken tekka, which is a marinated half-chicken char-grilled in what appears to be an Indian-influenced blend of spices. I didn’t taste it but photographer Charmaine George said it was outstanding.

Although I can’t eat shrimp and personally don’t love salmon or tilapia, the seafood entrées include shrimp kabobs, salmon, fish and mixed seafood platters, as well as the char-broiled whole fish of the day, usually red snapper or bronzino. There are also are large meat-lovers’ platters (with shish, kufta and chicken kabobs, gyro and beef and chicken shawarma) and royal meat-lovers’ platters (add lamb chops, shrimp and salmon), both in sizes to serve 2-3 and 4-6 people, although all of them honestly look like they could serve even more people to me.

Desserts & Beverages!

Like most Mediterranean restaurants, Garden Mediterranean Grill offers dessert favorites like baklava, warbat (filo dough stuffed with cream) and a variety of cakes, but my favorite so far are the almond baklava fingers shown and the salted caramel cheesecake. I’ve yet to try the baklava with ice cream, but it’s definitely on my list. As for beverages, try the Turkish coffee, the Moroccan mint green tea and the fresh mint lemonade.

Left to right: Mint lemonade, salted caramel cake and hot tea being poured.

Garden Mediterranean Grill is located at 1900 Oak Grove Blvd., Lutz (zip code 33559) and is open Mon.-Thur., 10 a.m.-10 p.m., 10 a.m.-11 p.m. on Fri., 9 a.m.-11 p.m. on Sat. and 9 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sun. For more information, call (813) 528-8088 or see the ad on pg. 39 of our latest issues for a Grand Opening Special 15%-off coupon.

chicken food lamb mediterranean