Another small (20-store), but growing chain is the Brooklyn Water Bagel Co., which opened a couple of weeks ago in the plaza just west of the intersection of S.R. 54 (aka Wesley Chapel Blvd.) & I-75 — and, for me, it is the New York-style breakfast (and lunch) place people in our area have been hoping would open here for a long time.
Local franchise owner Daniel Kurland says the key to everything made fresh at the Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. is the “Brooklynized in Wesley Chapel” water, which is a filtration and mineral-adding system that makes our local water taste much better.
“We even use this great-tasting Brooklynized water in our soda machine and coffee,” Kurland says. “Come on in and taste it for yourself!”
All I can say, after two weeks in business, is that the bagels are “legit” and kettle-boiled before they area baked, and the bacon, egg & cheese (top right, with a seeded “Black Russian” bagel) and Nova Scotia salmon (top left) bagel sandwiches definitely taste authentic.
The omelets are huge and fluffy (and served with crisp hash brown “cakes”) and the selection of hot and cold coffee (served at a coffee station, top center) is amazing!
Try the “Brooklyn Infusion,” which combines vanilla, caramel and Kahlua flavors. There’s even a coffee-flavored ice cube dispenser for you iced coffee fans!
The Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. (27835 WC Blvd., # 101) is open every day, 6 a.m.-3 p.m. For more info, visit BrooklynWaterBagel.com or call (813) 775-2275 — GN
The third-ever Chuck Lager America’s Tavern to open in the U.S. is now open and serving up deliciousness in the former Primebar location in the Shops at Wiregrass.
Although there has definitely been a lot of remodeling done inside, the more important thing is that the food at Chuck Lager’s (2001 Piazza Ave.), which features a menu created by celebrity TV chef Fabio Viviani, is significantly better than anything we ever had at Primebar, no matter how many times that menu was changed.
fig & prosciutto flatbread
meatballs in deliciously creamy polenta
French onion burger
bourbon & rye flights.
chicken parmesan
sautéed broccolini
grilled flat iron steak & fries
Our favorite dishes after just a couple of visits include the Fabio’s meatballs, which sit in deliciously creamy polenta, the unique fig & prosciutto flatbread, the crispy but tender chicken parmesan, the grilled flat iron steak frites and the perfectly sautéed broccolini.
Chuck Lager opens at 3 p.m. every day and has cool drink specials like cotton candy cosmos & bourbon & rye “flights.”
When you stay in business for 27 years and have had to move more than one or two times, you definitely dread having to do it again.
Well, I will be celebrating my 27th anniversary of owning and publishing the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News in a new location (more on exactly where that is below) in February, which will be our sixth office location in all that time.
I doubt that anybody can name all five of our previous office locations, but rather than make a contest out of it, I’ll tell you all of them at the end of this editorial. (if even I can remember them).
This would definitely have been the worst and hardest move, business or residence, of my entire life, if not for the help of several of the advertisers who appear in this publication and one Rotarian I greatly admire.
I don’t consider myself to be a “hoarder,” per se, but those of us in the news business are supposed to save records for at least a certain period of time and I may have taken that to something of an extreme in my nearly three decades of serving the same distribution areas.
In addition, there was a time when we would order many hundreds (500-600 or more) of extra copies of each issue, so that we could, by leaving copies around the community, provide more people with all of the information they couldn’t get anywhere else. But, not only did that never benefit the business financially, it left us with hundreds of extra copies of hundreds of issues of the paper. Do the math. That’s literally “crap-tons” of paper!
We started ordering and saving fewer extra copies a few years ago — and we’ve always thrown out/recycled hundreds of copies each year, but all I knew was that we couldn’t (and shouldn’t) take it all with us to our slightly smaller new office, located less than a half-mile west on S.R. 54 from the office we were leaving, both of which are very close to Saddlebrook Resort.
Shred (360)Your Troubles Away!
So first, I called on Cam Caudle, a U.S. Army veteran and member of the Rotary Club of New Tampa (the club that has been meeting on Friday mornings at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club for almost as long as I’ve been in business). Cam also is a recent (2015) “Franchisee of the Year” of Shred360, an incredible mobile document destruction company.
So, whether you have years of no-longer-needed financial and other records that you want to safely dispose of, or thousands of copies of publications that you’ll never need (or both), Cam will send his mobile unit to your home or office and will shred all that paper, on-site which will then be recycled. (Note – The Neighborhood News is and always has been printed on 100% recycled paper, no matter which stock we’ve been using.)
In our case, Cam’s guy Ed (photo above) pulled the truck up to our office, and we dropped those thousands of copies into a rolling bin from our second floor stairs. The bin then got loaded into the truck (several times) and I was able to watch, on a small monitor, 27 years of my memories literally being torn to shreds…in a good way.
Got a large or small shredding job for Shred 360? Cam does some shredding events for charity throughout the year, but his prices are very fair and his people are as excellent at their jobs as Cam is funny.
Call Cam at (813) 944-2223 or visit Shred360.com and tell him I sent you (and told you to watch his stand-up comedy debut. Really funny stuff, but not suitable for kids!)
Why Is This Hauler Smiling?
Next, I definitely needed a good junk guy to get rid of…well, everything that wasn’t coming to the new office that wasn’t able to be shredded.
And believe me, that was a lot of stuff. We had several old filing cabinets filled with old advertising agreements, office furniture that wasn’t going to be needed in the new office, a safe, and a whole lot more.
And, it just so happened that our old friend Don Smith — also known as The Happy Hauler — of Smith’s Clean-Up Service (top left photo) had just started back up advertising with us again.
Don’s another hard-working man. I stuffed lots of large, contractor-sized bags of garbage and he carried those bags — and the aforementioned filing cabinets and other garbage — to his waiting trailer and loaded all of it by himself.
Don told me that when he receives items he believes will be useful to local charities — like The Children’s Home Foundation of Tampa or the Sunrise of Pasco Hospice — he’ll set those aside and drive them to the organizations. He told me our filing cabinets, the safe and some of the furniture might be useful to those charities. Best of all, he was done in less than an hour and his rates are extremely reasonable.
So, for everything from single item pick-ups to yard waste, construction debris, small building tear-downs and yes, office (or home) clean-outs, call Don at Smith’s Clean-Up Service at (813) 727-6655. Be sure to tell him that Gary from the Neighborhood News sent you!
Who’s Gonna Clean This Mess?
Another aspect of moving out of one office and into another is that the place you’re leaving has to be broom-clean and even though the place you’re moving to should also be broom clean, I wanted both offices to be as clean as possible.
For our “move-out” clean-up, I chose the company that’s been cleaning our office at the last three or four of our locations and the last at least 10-15 years — D Ultra Cleaning Services.
My friends Eduardo and Deborah Ferreira of D Ultra have always been reliable and although some of their cleaning folks don’t speak much English, Eduardo and Deborah are both bilingual in English and Spanish and anytime I’ve had an issue over the years, they’ve always taken care of it right away. They’re good people who also do grout/ceramic cleaning, pressure washing, carpet and window cleaning and house and light commercial cleaning.
Call D Ultra Cleaning Services at (813) 758-9710 or visit DUltraCleaningService.com.
Because both jobs were so big and I had limited time to get them both done, I decided to let my other friend Celly De Freitas of Clean-it (at right in photo above, which was not taken at our new office, by the way) take on the job of getting our new office sparkling clean before we moved into it.
Celly came with her outstanding crew and in less than two hours, made the new office ready for primetime — or at least for us moving in.
Clean-it has other excellent references, is licensed and insured and also has been cleaning homes and offices in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel for nearly 20 years. Call (813) 505-0431 for a free quote today.
What I Really Need Is A Nerd!
I don’t know about your business, but our office has to have working computers and I still don’t know the difference between a server and a network and had no idea how to make sure we were able to safely move all of our desktop computers to the new office.
So, I called my friend Michael Varnadore, the owner of Nerds To Go Computer Service of New Tampa (photo top right), which has a brick-and-mortar location in the Pebble Creek Collection (behind Kobé Steakhouse; one of our former offices was in the same plaza).
I have had a service agreement with the New Tampa Nerds to Go for over a year, but I never felt as fortunate to have it as I did as we got ready to move. Mike said to me, “Gary, this is why you hired us. We’ve got you covered.” and dispatched his newest Nerd, Derik Jenkins, to our old office a few days before our move.
Derik came to see how things were connected to make sure that we could move the whole shebang safely, and when he came back, he got it disconnected, reconnected and up and running — and we literally never missed a beat.
If this kind of peace of mind is important to you, you should definitely visit Nerds To Go at 19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Ste C-6, or call Mike’s awesome sidekick, Maxine, at (813) 321-1700 or visit NerdsToGo.com. Also, check out the ad in our latest issue for a great Black Friday special on an Acer Aspire TC-865 Desktop PC and other deals.
So, there you have it. Our new office is in the Westbrook Professional Park at 28949 S.R. 54, Wesley Chapel 33543. As soon as we get everything put away, we’ll host an Open House/party to show off our new digs.
In the meantime, listed below are all five of our previous offices:
1. Gerry Mann Financial Building (11201 N. 56th St., Temple Terrace)
2. Palm Plaza (12108 N. 56th St., Tampa/Temple Terrace)
3. Pebble Creek Collection (19651 BBD Blvd., New Tampa)
4. Shoppes at Amberly (15345 Amberly Dr., Tampa Palms)
5. Brookside Prof. Park (29157 Chapel Park Dr., Suite B, Wesley Chapel)
Thanks again to all of our advertisers and friends who helped get us moved in quickly, cleanly and safely.
Emily Murphy & Guy Carmeli are proud to offer Pasta di Guy’s fried ravioli, hand-cut zucchini noodles with pesto, pasta alla aglio e olio, broccoli & bacon and large market salad.
For anyone who has ever had freshly made pasta, you know there’s literally nothing quite like it. Most Italian places in our area use the same hard, dry pasta that you buy in the grocery store and while there’s nothing “wrong” with it, if you want to taste the difference between fresh, homemade pasta and what most everyone else serves, you now have that opportunity on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel.
Pasta di Guy, which opened a few months ago in the space formerly occupied by the second location of OTB Café on BBD, just south of S.R. 54, has just what you’re looking for to satisfy that craving.
It is owned by Guy Carmeli, who received his formal training at the London location of the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Guy says he first learned about fresh pasta, however, while working as a sous chef at an excellent Italian restaurant located in his native Israel (outside of Tel Aviv). And, even though Cordon Bleu is most famous for French cuisine, Guy says “They actually teach every style of cooking there and they’re very strict. They tell you when you start there that you’re not a chef and probably won’t ever make it.”
Even so, Guy excelled — especially at creating sauces — and after working at a number of restaurants for several years in England, he moved to the Tampa Bay area less than two years ago and started the Pasta di Guy food truck, which soon developed an almost cult-like local following.
A few weeks before starting his food truck, Guy met his girlfriend Emily Murphy, who has been with him ever since and the two started looking for a location for a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
“The food truck did great,” he says, “but the kitchen, of course, was very small, so what we could offer was very limited. Emily and I knew that we could do more.”
So, when they found out the former OTB location was available, they acted quickly, signed a lease and started designing the fast-casual Italian restaurant.
“We literally re-designed everything, especially in the kitchen, from the floors to the equipment,” he says. “We ordered a lot of the equipment from Italy and had to wait a while for some of it.”
Pasta with bacon and broccoli
One of those pieces of new equipment was the amazing pasta machine, which made Guy happy, even though having it created a lot more work for him and Emily.
“We are here every morning, making the pasta for the day,” says Emily, who says that currently, the strozzapreti (which literally means “Priest chokers” in Italian, but they are a longer form of twisted cavatelli pasta and comes out naturally “al denté”) is the only pasta that is made in-house (the penne, although a delicious imported Italian brand, isn’t made at the restaurant).
“And the sauces, too,” Guy adds. “We have to get in early to make all of the sauces for the day, too.”
Among those homemade sauces are the Alfredo (which Guy says is his top-seller), the Bolognese (which carries an up-charge; more on that below), traditional marinara, vodka (Alfredo and marinara mixed together), creamy pesto, aglio e olio (garlic & oil) and butter sauce.
Guy says that after Alfredo, Bolognese is probably the #2 seller, but marinara, vodka and pesto are all close behind.
How To Order
Whether you choose to dine in, take out (with touch-free curbside pickup) or have your order delivered (also no-contact), Pasta di Guy offers a create-your-own pasta bowl. You choose your pasta (strozzapreti, for $9.99, penne, $7.99, or delicious, hand-cut, gluten-free zucchini noodles, $8.50), your sauce and your favorite add-ons (these are each an extra charge, but so worth it!), including grilled chicken, bacon, Italian sausage, broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms.
Pasta with sausage
All of these pasta dishes are topped with parmesan cheese, fresh herbs and black pepper, unless you specify which ones you don’t want. The fresh basil is literally grown on the counter at the restaurant.
And, Don’t Forget…
Although Guy says he still plans to expand the menu (and perhaps open additional locations), Pasta di Guy also offers a great fried ravioli appetizer in marinara ($8.50), crunchy breaded-and-fried zucchini sticks ($6.50) and either two 6” bread sticks ($1.50) or a bread sticks bundle ($5.50), all served with a side of marinara dipping sauce.
There’s also delicious, made-in-house salads, including small (both $3.50) and large (both $7) Italian and Caesar salads (with homemade Italian and Caesar dressings), as well as a large market salad ($8), with arugula, fresh raspberries, feta cheese, candied pecans and red onions with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette dressing. You can add grilled chicken to any of the large salads for $2 more.
“We buy the freshest local ingredients and produce — including a lot of organic items — we can find,” Guy says. “I’ve had to refuse a lot of the items from the big local suppliers, but we think it’s worth it.”
And, save room for dessert because Guy offers two decadent options — cannolis filled with house-made cheesecake cream in crispy shells and an authentic raspberry panna cotta (Italian for “cooked cream”), which is sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and topped with a smooth raspberry glaze. Guy conducted an informal survey on Facebook and the pana cotta won out over tiramisu as the second dessert option (it was his favorite anyway).
And, while he adds that opening just before the pandemic hit has made building a following “a little more challenging,” he and Emily are confident that once you give Pasta di Guy a try, you’ll become another one of their growing roster of regular customers.
Pasta di Guy (4839 BBD) is open every day (except Mon., when it’s closed) for lunch & dinner, 12:30 p.m.-9 p.m. For info, visit PastadiGuy.com, or call (813) 388-6676. Mention this article and receive $5 off your purchase of $25 or more!
Rock & Brews, located at 26000 S.R. 56, wasn’t yet open when we were invited to a great Family & Friends preview on Halloween night, but it’s definitely open — and rockin’ — now!
And, you and your family should definitely go.
The place is huge, with plenty of room for socially distanced dining inside and outside and the food is excellent. And, even though Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock group KISS usually attend the Rock & Brews openings (since they’re also part of the chain’s ownership), Wesley Chapel managing partner Scott Paul said that as soon as the two feel safe enough to allow themselves to be surrounded by the swarms of fans who usually greet them at the openings, “their appearance here is on hold. But, rest assured, they will be here!”
In the meantime, the new Rock & Brews should definitely be on your must-try list.
From a delicious filet, to “sweet heat” chicken and unique bruschetta, the food is obviously fresh and the atmosphere, according to Paul (and yours truly), “is pure Rock & Roll!”
Our Rock & Brews already features live music shows on its beautiful covered outdoor patio every Friday and Saturday night. For info, visit RockandBrews.com or call (813) 537-6016 and please tell them I sent you! — GN
