Fire damage will keep Las Palmas closed until late spring, 2022.
One of the saddest pieces of business news we heard recently was that a 20-minute kitchen fire had closed Las Palmas Latin Grill, located in the same plaza as Five Guys Burgers & Fries and LA Fitness at County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
Owner/chef Ramses Garcia says that although there is no definitive time line for Las Palmas to reopen, he estimates at least 5-7 months. At our press time, Ramses said that the cause of the Oct. 11 fire was not yet known and that heâs thankful that no one was injured.
In the meantime, there is some good news, as Ramses announced on his Facebook page he will soon be serving his popular Cuban sandwiches (and other dishes) from a food truck.
“I have some good news…I have purchased a food truck to hold us until the insurance company decides when are they going to release funds for the cleanup and rebuild,” Ramses wrote. “The plaza landlord has given me permission to place the truck in the parking lot of the restaurant for the time being.”
Ramses doesn’t have an exact date for the debut of the food truck, but said it is already registered with the DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation) and the Division of Hotel and Restaurants.
“Iâll keep you posted of updates as we get close to open,” Ramses wrote. “I’m really trying hard to have this done as quick as I can. I probably look at 15-20 trucks before I picked these one. The truck is in âthe bagâ and soon ready to serve those awesome Cubans we make for the best customers in my world⊠my Tampa peeps!”
One of his customers, Cynthia Havard, started a GoFundMe page to help Ramses rebuild, and if you want to help out, CLICK HERE.
Also at our press time, Las Palmas was either leading or in second place among our readersâ Favorite Latin Restaurant and in the top-10 for Favorite Restaurant of any kind in New Tampa, so obviously, a lot of people are unhappy that it has had to close, even if itâs just temporarily. â GN
With its restaurant open for a year already, Florida Ave. finally opens what may be the stateâs largest craft brewery!
I honestly donât know if Florida Ave. Brewing Co., located in the former location of Sports + Field on S.R. 56, is now the largest craft brewery in the state, but itâs not for lack of trying to find out on my part.
The long-awaited Grand Opening and North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting of Florida Ave.âs brewery at its 34,000-sq.-ft. S.R. 56 location was held on Oct. 8, where CEO Anthony Derby and his family (and partners, including company president Joe Redner) unveiled their huge (for a microbrewery) brewing warehouse, complete with gigantic, stainless steel beer kettles â big enough, Derby says, to produce up to 50,000 barrels per year of Florida Ave.âs huge variety of beers.
Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore called it the largest family-owned brewery on the west coast of Florida. But, when I tried to do some research of my own into the largest craft breweries in the entire state of Florida, the largest I could find was the unrelated Florida Beer Co., which is based in Cape Canaveral and reportedly produced nearly 33,000 barrels of its variety of beers in 2018. I couldnât find similar numbers for 2019 or 2020, but while Florida Ave. likely wonât get close to producing its 50,000-barrel capacity this year or next, it certainly could challenge Florida Beer Co. for the largest craft brewery in the state sooner than later.
Either way, itâs been a long and difficult, more-than-two-year journey for Anthony, his mom (and company CFO) Toni and the rest of the Derby family just to get the brewery open, even though the adjacent restaurant and its huge outdoor patio and indoor private event spaces have been open and successful for more than a year.
Anthony says the Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of the delays for the brewery, as many of the important pieces of equipment, especially in the canning line (top left photo on next page), as the machines and parts had to come from Italy, where everything ground to a halt in 2019. Once the equipment finally made its way over here nearly two years later, Florida Ave. had to get it all put together, up and running and inspected by multiple agencies before the brewing process could begin â which wasnât until May of this year. Derby says it takes at least two weeks to actually make beer, but the equipment all had to be tested again and again in order to re-create the beers that Florida Ave.âs Seminole Heights factory â which produces about 7,000 barrels per year â has been brewing for years and has been providing for the restaurant since it opened last year.
Anthony admitted that there have been a lot of challenges but he is confident it will all end up being worth it â and he thanked both North Tampa Bay Chamber president Hope Allen and Moore for their help in getting the project to this point.
Moore said that when he first heard about the project in 2019, he said, âDo you have a time machine? If not, can you get it open by tomorrow?,â and called Florida Ave. a âbeautiful asset to the county.â
Florida Ave. Brewing Co. currently employs more than 120 people at the S.R. 56 location alone, with about 20 other employees out in the field. And yes, now that it is officially open, you will soon be able to tour the state-of-the-art Florida Ave. brewery.
What About The Food & Beer?
Even though I havenât been able to give you the full story about the brewery, Iâm just about officially out of space to tell you about all the great beers, hard seltzers and full liquor bar, the comfy bar stools and the delicious chef-created food at Florida Ave., but some of my favorite dishes appear on this page, including the Korean bibimbap beef bowl, the Chinese-style sticky ribs, the specialty burgers, the crab cakes and sesame-seared ahi tuna appetizers and the perfect Florida Ave. wings.Â
But of course, for most of you, the stars of the show at Florida Ave. Brewing Co. will be the beers. My favorites are the most basic â the lager, Dead Parrot light lager, and the brown ale, but I also enjoy the âYouâre My Boy, Blueâ fruit beer, the Rollinâ Dirty Irish red ale and Jannah likes the Key lime hard cider, the tangerine splash and other fruit-flavored beers and hard seltzers at Florida Ave.
Based on both the crowds we see there whenever we go for dinner or to watch a Lightning game there, as well as all of the votes it already has received in this yearâs Reader Dining Survey for Favorite Restaurant and for Favorite Bar in Wesley Chapel â a lot of you already enjoy the place, too.
So please, do me a favor â please visit Florida Ave. Brewing Co. and tell anyone who works there that you read about them in the New Tampa Neighborhood News!
Florida Ave. Brewing Co. is located at 2029 Arrowgrass Dr. and is open every day at 11 a.m. for lunch and dinner. Happy Hour is Mon.-Fri., 3 p.m.-5:30 p.m.For more information call (813) 452-6333 or visit FloridaAveBrewing.com. Reservations are accepted for parties of eight or more only.
It was back in August when I saw the announcement that Skipperâs Smokehouse â the recently reopened, venerable restaurant and music venue in North Tampa â was going to host a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tribute band in honor of what would have been the late rockerâs 71st birthday.
Gary Nager
Editorial
I told Jannah, who is as big a fan of Pettyâs music as I am, that I was buying tickets right away â after all, if we canât ever see Gainesvilleâs favorite son in person anymore, we might as well go spend an evening sharing our love for him, his band and his music with a few hundred other people at the first live show weâve attended at Skipperâs since it reopened.
The show took place on Oct. 16, four days before Tomâs birthday and twelve days after the fourth anniversary of his passing from what has been ruled an accidental overdose of the prescribed painkillers he took in order to be able to keep performing for his legion of fans.
When I bought our tickets online, I didnât realize that the show, which started at 8 p.m., was actually a twin bill â prior to the Petty tribute by the Broken Hearts Band, the Stevie Nicks Experience (SNE) tribute band opened the show with a full 90+-minute set of tunes by Fleetwood Mac and from Stevieâs solo career. Considering that Nicks and Petty became close friends as part of the Los Angeles rock music scene in the mid-to-late â70s, the combination wanât surprising, but it did make for a long night, especially considering that I was on deadline with this issue.
Even so, both bands performed their tribute hits admirably. The SNE got the fans going by rocking out on âThe Chain,â âYou Make Lovinâ Fun,â âLandslideâ and pretty much every recognizable song by Fleetwood Mac and Nicks herself. Although the fans were very receptive to the performance, there were only a few hardcore Nicks lovers dancing to the music and honestly, the set was probably at least 15-30 minutes too long because most everyone in attendance was there (us included) to celebrate Pettyâs birthday, not Fleetwood Mac.
The SNE closed their set with the Petty-Nicks duet âStop Dragginâ My Heart Around,â with Broken Hearts Band frontman Shawn Scheller coming out from backstage to sing Tomâs part, but his microphone seemed a little off for the song, which made me (and Jannah) a little nervous about how Scheller and his band would sound when it was their turn to take the stage.
But, we were wrong. Scheller and the Broken Hearts sounded perfect, from âJamminâ Meâ to open the set to âDonât Do Me Like That,â âMary Janeâs Last Danceâ and, of course, âAmerican Girl.â
The crowd was much more raucous and the dance floor more packed for this second set, but there were very few people under age 50 in attendance and the Skipperdome offers very little seating for attendees, so people with bad knees (like me) were begging for more places to sit during the show. The much sadder thing for us, though, was that the magic we hoped to feel by sharing our love for a true Rock & Roll Hall of Famer somewhow wasnât there.
Although Scheller & Co. were pretty spot-on with most of their renditions, the performance overall felt more like listening to Tom Petty Radio on Sirius XM in my car than it did a Petty concert, which is what I guess I wanted it to feel like. Yes, I got to sing along with most of my Petty favorites, but I do that whenever Jannah and I go to karaoke bars, so I left feeling a little empty.
The show was a too-real reminder that while his music lives on, Tom himself is sadly gone forever and it seems that no tribute band will ever make me feel the way Tom, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and the rest of the Heartbreakers did.
But, speaking of Tom Petty Radio, yours truly will be a guest DJ on the channelâs âThe Last DJâ show, where Petty fans get to pick and introduce their five favorite songs by Petty, The Traveling Wilburys, etc.
Because he has such a legion of devoted fans, my âLast DJâ segment wonât air until early 2022, but Iâll give you a heads-up once that date is actually announced.
Pick Of The Week 1: Blue Fin Japanese Restaurant! For those who complain about all of the chain restaurants that have opened in Wesley Chapel, one thing you should realize is that already we have quite a few excellent non-chain Japanese places â and you can add one more to that already-impressive list.
Blue Fin Japanese Restaurant has finally opened at 6034 Wesley Grove Blvd., next to Treble Makers in The Grove, and offers great Japanese specialties, from a huge assortment of sushi rolls to the excellent gyoza dumplings pictured top left (and other appetizers), to large portions of chicken teriyaki with fresh veggies, hibachi (but not prepared tableside) filet mignon and many more. It is open every day for lunch and dinner and serves beer, wine and sake.
For more info, call (813) 803-4709 and please tell Lawrence, the owner, that I sent you. â GN
Windy City Pizza Replaces Full Circle Pizza In Pebble Creek! If youâre a fan of authentic deep-dish Chicago-style pizza but you havenât yet tried the new Windy Cindy Pizza that opened recently in the former Pebble Creek Collection location (at 19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in New Tampa, a mile or so south of the Pasco County line) of Full Circle Pizza â what are you waiting for? I brought the large Chicago deep dish pie with pepperoni & sausage pictured above to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus & everyone raved. Iâm not from Chicago, but this deep dish is legit!Â
Tim and Matt, the owners, are both originally from Chicago (and previously owned Windy City on N. 30th St., near USF, and promise that their deep-dish and thin-crust Chicago pizza is authentic, as are the Chicago Italian beef sandwich and Windy City nuggets (fried homemade pizza dough served with pizza dipping sauce) and more.
For more info, call (813) 388-5844 or visit OrderWindyCityPizza.com. â GNÂ
Itâs Chickân, Not Cluckinâ Last issue, we told you that the former location of Hardeeâs on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (next to Goodyear Auto Service) was going to be come a new chicken restaurant called Cluckinâ Fun, but we were only half-right.
The banner sign that had been up came down because the building was being re-painted, but according to the leasing agent, the new non-chain fried chicken place will actually be called Chickân Fun, and also said that it should be ready to open within the next 45 days. â GN
LĂŒfka Refillables Hosts A Chamber Ribbon Cutting! Congratulations to co-owners Danielle Howard (right in photo) and her mom Gail Sickler (center), who hosted a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event on Sept. 23 at their new Wesley Chapel location of LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store at 27221 S.R. 56.Â
LĂŒfka, founded by Kelly Hawaii (left) and her husband Parosh in Seminole Heights in 2019, offers eco-friendly personal care (Jannah loved the handcrafted soap I bought for her) and cleaning products, including many refillable and zero-waste items.
For info, call (813) 596-9376 or visit lufka.com. â GNÂ
Pick Of The Week 2: Green Market Cafe! Located next door to LĂŒfka (at 27225 S.R. 56) is the sixth location of a Tampa Bay-area chain called Green Market Cafe.
Green Market definitely could have been included in our most recent issueâs âHealthy Food & Drinkâ story, with its menu of salads (like the almond chicken salad in the first photo), healthy bowls, wrap and other sandwiches, house-made soups (like the excellent spinach feta soup Jannah and I sampled recently) and unique drink options like Kombucha and CBD-infused water.
Green Market Cafe makes it easy to order, whether online (with pick-up and delivery options), at the self-service kiosk inside the store or at the counter, and proudly proclaims that all locations buy their produce âdirectly from the source â our local farmers. We strive for balanced nutrition…and wholesome ingredients free of hormones and preservatives â all at affordable prices.â For more info, call (813) 803-4590 or visit visit GreenMarketCafe.com for the current specials. â GN
When classically trained chef Anass El-Omari and his wife Susana Herrera purchased Lexington Oaks Golf Club about three years ago, I was excited about the prospect of having another real restaurant in Wesley Chapel.
And, although Anass at first revamped the existing golfer-oriented menu at the golf courseâs restaurant, which he re-named Omariâs Grille, he ended up scaling back his everyday offerings of fresh fish, pasta and filet mignon, and has kept the menu smaller and simpler since reopening Omariâs after the Covid-19 pandemic shut it down for a few months in 2020.
But now, while Omariâs regular menu is still mainly comprised of burgers, sandwiches, wings and other fast, simple foods favored by the golfers who frequent his completely renovated golf course, Anass has brought back some of the dishes I loved on his original Omariâs menu as specials on Friday evenings.
Anass loves both cooking and talking about cooking. So, in conjunction with this article, we recorded our second âCooking With Anassâ segment that was released a few days before this issue arrived in your mailbox, where he made an amazing Cajun pasta (above), with both Andouille sausage and top sirloin steak in a semi-spicy cream sauce thatâs as good as anything youâll find in any fine dining establishment.
Now that things have gotten a little more normal in this Covid-crazy world, people are again looking for great places to host events like weddings, quinceañeras, baby showers, anniversary parties and even memorial gatherings and you canât go wrong if you host your next event for 20-80 people at Lexington Oaks.
Omariâs offers a complete appetizer catering menu â featuring burger sliders, mini-croissants stuffed with chicken and tuna salad and more â as well as a sit-down dinner menu for events, so you can serve London broil with mushroom sauce, orange chicken and a variety of shrimp dishes, plus a dessert bar. Anass and his staff also can custom-design pretty much anything else youâd want to serve.
And, while the indoor space currently is limited to 80 people, Anass says he plans to extend the room out to the existing patio area, so that up to 120 people could fit in the air conditioned, indoor space. And, there is an additional covered outdoor space that can fit another 60 or so people.
âI think Wesley Chapel really needs an event space like this,â Anass says, âand the food will always be good. âPlus, we have the area down by the water (photo above) for weddings (as in the photo above) and the people love it.â
Omariâs Grill at Lexington Oaks Golf Club (16333 Lexington Oaks Blvd.) is open Wednesday & Thursday, 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m., 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. on Friday, 11 a.m., and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday & Sunday. For additional information, call (813) 929-4217, visit LexingtonOaksGolf.com. Or, call the golf courseâs main number â (813) 907-7270 â to talk to a catering specialist about scheduling, and designing a menu for, your event.
