Omari’s Grill At Lexington Oaks — Delicious Food, Great People!

Anass El-Omari and his wife Susana Herrera

When I first met Anass El-Omari and his wife Susana Herrera several months ago, I was hopeful that their plan to completely revamp not just the look of the clubhouse at Lexington Oaks Golf Club, but also the food served there would work out for them. After all, we have plenty of chain restaurants in Wesley Chapel, but we have so few non-chain, sit-down, mom-&-pop restaurants in our area with great food.

Well, if you haven’t tried Omari’s Grill & Bar at Lexington Oaks yet, I hope the pictures on this page and this short writeup will convince you to go check it out.

Anass, who is originally from Morocco, was trained at the world-renowned Cordon Bleu Institute in Paris, France, and just from the sauces he has been serving alone, his extensive training and experience is obvious.

Anass met Susana in her native Colombia, where she was working as a TV network news anchor for RCN Television (Radio Cadena Nacional) in the Colombian capital city of Bogota.

About two years ago, his varied business interests (including banking software) brought their family (they have two children together) from Colombia to Florida, first to the Grand Hampton community in New Tampa and eventually, to Wesley Chapel, where he ended up buying the Lexington Oaks golf course and restaurant, a change of ownership that took place about a year ago.

“We were planning to just buy a small vacation home in Epperson, because of the lagoon, but the kids loved it here, so this is now home.”

Oh Yeah, The Food!

The lunch and dinner menus at Omari’s Grill may be somewhat limited, but there’s no doubt that all of the dishes Jannah and I have sampled together so far have been outstanding — and Anass is always coming up with daily specials.

My favorite items on the dinner menu are the flounder almendrine, which I thought I had shown in my Nibbles & Bytes column before, and the Chef filet.

For only $14.99, the flounder is sautéed in a Mediterranean-style butter sauce, with large chunks of fresh tomatoes. The 6-oz. filet ($20.99) is super tender and served with a fresh basil and white wine cream sauce. It was served with two fresh asparagus spears and we also enjoyed a side of cheesy baked broccoli.

The Chef filet

I also love the fresh pear and brie cheese and the calamari appetizers and the Cajun chicken pasta with onions, peppers and salami in a semi-spicy Cajun cream sauce.

Although I can’t indulge in any of the multiple shrimp and lobster options on the menu because of my accursed shellfish allergy, Susana says her favorite dish on the menu is the lobster pasta, which is linguine served with generous chunks of lobster in a ginger cream sauce, with a touch of garlic and white wine. 

The mahi-mahi, served with a mango salsa.

The special on our most recent visit was a super-thick cut of amazingly fresh mahi-mahi, served with a mango salsa that added a delicious touch of fruit without being overly sweet. 

Although dinner currently is only served at Omari’s Grill Wednesday-Friday, it is open for lunch every day except Monday and the lunch menu features plenty of your favorite sandwiches, including Anass’ take on the classic Cuban, a Cajun chicken sandwich with bacon and cheese (of course), a Philly cheesesteak, classic BLT, as well as burgers, wings, a Buffalo chicken wrap and even shrimp tacos. 

Strawberry cheesecake

I’ve only sampled Omari’s catering-style food for lunch when I’ve visited the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, which meets for lunch at Omari’s every Wednesday at noon. Anass and Susana don’t only host the club, they’re also members and say they look forward to getting more involved with the Rotary’s service projects, especially since the Lexington Oaks golf course is getting ready to close for renovations for three months shortly after this issue reaches you.

“While the greens are being resurfaced,” says Anass, “we will be really focusing on the restaurant side. We’ll do a lot more menu specials and host more special events.” 

Speaking of special events, Susana says that the Easter brunch held last month “completely sold out.” But, despite lots of requests, Anass says he will not repeat the brunch special for Mother’s Day, so he and Susana can spend her special day together.

“I haven’t had a day off in 243 days,” he says. “But, I’ll be thinking about new specials.”

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, you should always save room for dessert at Omari’s Grill. All of the desserts are homemade, including an authentically French creme brulee and the totally decadent New York-style cheese cake shown in the far right photo on this page, which is served with fresh strawberries and a chocolate sauce that has other ingredients Anass wouldn’t share with me. “The sauce is a secret,” he says with a smile.

Omari’s also caters to families with an affordable kids menu (nothing more than $5) and there is a beautiful covered patio that can seat about as many people as the inside dining area, which features a premium, full-liquor bar with very reasonable prices.

For more information about Omari’s Grill & Bar (26133 Lexington Oaks Blvd.), call (813) 907-7270 or visit LexingtonOaksGolf.com and please tell Anass and Susana I sent you!  

My ‘25 Years Of Neighborhood News’ Celebration Rocked Bayscape Bistro!

Office & sales assistant Janet Levins checks in readers at our “25 Years of Neighborhood News” Celebration at Bayscape Bistro.

When I purchased Neighborhood News on February 26, 1994, with a former partner, I had no idea I’d still be doing the same job 25 years later. 

At that time, this was a once-a-month, quarter-folded direct mail newspaper with only “spot” color (not full color) on four pages,that was delivered to 6,500 households in what wasn’t even yet referred to as “New Tampa.” Our only Wesley Chapel distribution back then were the few hundred copies that were being dropped off each month at the Meadow Pointe I clubhouse. I quickly added mailing to the first few hundred homes in the original portion of Meadow Pointe, as well as to the few hundred homes in the community surrounding Saddlebrook Resort.

All I knew then was that, in addition to homes, roads with no traffic signals and thousands of heads of cattle, the areas that would one day be called New Tampa and Wesley Chapel had a lot of vacant land, most of which already had development plans in place. I started calling the phone numbers on every sign along both Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa (at that time, the portion in Pasco County was only known as County Road 581) and Cross Creek Blvd.

And even though the Neighborhood News I purchased already had a reasonable number of advertisers, I knew that the key to getting people to actually read the publication was to tell them about the plans for the new developments coming to their community.

Celebration attendees got to enjoy delicious appetizers.

As you can see from the first few of the 50 covers (see gallery below), I and my “staff” of one part-time writer/editor made sure that we told the residents in my two distribution areas everything we could about the plans for the homes, apartments, businesses, roads, libraries, churches and recreational opportunities that were coming “in the future.”

Well, 25 years later, I and my still-small staff of one outstanding full-time managing editor, a few great freelance writers and a few in-house support staffers continue to give you more news and information about everything that is still coming to our now-separate distribution areas.

A certain publisher plays to the crowd.

The 50 Neighborhood News front pages include an average of two covers per year for every year we’ve been in business, although there are a few years along the way that didn’t make it to these pages — not because nothing “important” happened those years, but because most of these front pages are about “firsts,” meaning the first story we published (and believe me, especially in the beginning, no other local news media covered most of the stories we did) about a particular subject affecting our readers. 

In order to give you that true historical perspective in a small amount of available space, there aren’t nearly as many covers from the era of 2015 until the present, even though managing editor John C. Cotey has probably broken as many big news stories in those 3+ years as I did between 1994-2000, but most of you have been here for most of John’s biggest stories, whereas the vast majority of our readers weren’t living here from the start.

But, What About The Party?

So, even though my anniversary of buying the paper was actually in February of ‘94, my first issue as the publisher and editor was April of that year. In addition, as we told you on last issue’s cover, I got married in late March, so I didn’t really want to host the party until after that event.

I was thrilled that Eddie Bujarski and his wife Lourdes, the owners of the Bayscape Bistro in the Heritage Isles Golf Club on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, agreed to not only host the party on April 12, but also to put out a beautiful spread of both hot and cold munchies for what turned out to be more than 100 guests. I, of course, provided a karaoke DJ for the event, just as I had done at our first “Meet the Publisher” karaoke party way back in May of ‘94.

But, most of the folks who attended the 25th anniversary event weren’t there to sing (even though Jannah and I and some of our friends may have been) — almost every reader who attended said they just wanted to be there to thank me for being an important part of their lives here in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. We had folks from Epperson to the north and Tampa Palms to the south, and from Lexington Oaks to the west to K-Bar Ranch to the east attend and many came in groups of people who all had at least one thing in common — they all love the Neighborhood News!

I also was thrilled that several of our wonderful advertisers also found time to check out the celebration — and find out more about our new Video & Online Subscriptions. Among the attendees were Realtors Karen Tillman-Gosselin and her husband Renynold Gosselin, James and Alexis Staten of Olympus Pools, Pam Edmonson of Creative Permanent Makeup by Pam, Derek Usman of Usman Law Firm and Ramses Garcia of Las Palmas Latin Grill all showed up to party with me, Jannah, John, office and sales assistant Janet Levins, senior video producer Gavin Olsen and his assistant Charmaine George.

As you can see, there are a lot of front pages we’ve had to leave out to keep the number of our historic covers at only 50, especially from 2017-present. 

Even so, pictured here are (left-right and top-bottom)our historic win as Small Business of the Year from what was then known as the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce; Wesley Chapel resident Mike Moore’s first election to the Pasco County Board of Commissioners; the Grand Opening of the Tampa Premium Outlets; our first story about the indoor sports complex which is finally beginning construction in Wiregrass; our first cover story about the “Connected City”; our story about the definitive history of Wesley Chapel being published by a local author; our WCNT-tv Preview Party; the opening of what was then known as Florida Hospital Center Ice; the first Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel hosted at the skating complex; our first explanation of the Diverging Diamond Intersection; a visit with the first families that moved into Epperson, prior to the opening of the Crystal Lagoons® amenity that is now open to the public (pg. 5); John’s great story about all of the new pizza places (almost all of which are now open) coming to Wesley Chapel; our nominee for our best New Tampa cover headline ever (“Bruce B. Done”) and a certain publisher’s nuptials from last issue. Impressive, right? — GN   

What Are You Doing For The Derby Tomorrow?

If you don’t already have plans as to where you’re going to watch the Kentucky Derby tomorrow (Saturday, May 4), I have a suggestion for you — but only if you like enjoying great food and beverage, games and entertainment, and hanging out with actual thoroughbred horses to benefit great causes.

The Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon (the club that Jannah belongs to that played such an important role in us getting together) is teaming up this year with the Rotary Club of Dade City to present the second annual “Hats & Horses: A Kentucky Derby Party!,” which will again be held at the beautiful Waller Ranch in Dade City, 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Tickets at the door to attend cost $100 per person, but that includes delicious gourmet heavy hors d’oeuvres, an open, premium liquor bar, big screens to watch the Derby, plus gaming, music, photos with the thoroughbreds and more. 

And, best of all, it’s all to benefit the selected nonprofit charities supported by the two Rotary Clubs.

For more info, visit HatsandHorses2019.eventbrite.com or call Rebecca Smith at (307) 851-4312. 

Nibbles & Bytes!

Check Out Al-Sham Palace!

In my Nibbles & Bytes column last issue, I told you about a new Jamaican restaurant with authentic cuisine. This time around, I’m going to let you in on one of New Tampa’s best-kept secrets if you love truly authentic Middle Eastern food.

It’s called Al-Sham Palace, located at 19651 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., in the Pebble Creek Collection, the plaza behind Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. Al-Sham Palace, which has been open for around a year or more, is owned and operated by Hadil Simreen, who says that her restaurant’s cuisine features authentic Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian-style versions of classic Middle Eastern dishes that are usually “Americanized” (my word, not hers) at most other places.

So, whether you like authentically spicy beef or chicken shawarma sandwiches (photo, left) with tahine or tzatziki sauce, or delicious steak kababs with nicely grilled onions, falafel, fried kebbie, hummus or tabouleh, Al-Sham Palace is your place!

And, with the coupon in the ad in our latest New Tampa issue, you can get $5 off any purchase of $30 or more (restrictions do apply)!

 For more info, search “Al-ShamPalace” on Facebook, stop in or call (813) 907-8233 and please tell Hadil that I sent you! 

Las Palmas Goes Back-To-Back!

Even though I personally still prefer their amazing merluza a la Russe (crispy fish with “Russian” sauce) and lechon asado (roasted pork), if you’re looking for the Best Cuban Sandwich in Tampa, it’s hard to argue against the still-new Las Palmas Latin Grill, located next to Five Guys at 6431 E. County Line Rd. (across from LA Fitness and Winn-Dixie).

Co-owner/chef Ramses Garcia and his wife Ana (photo above) were thrilled to have been awarded the title of “World’s Best Historic Cuban Sandwich” — for the second year in a row — at the 8th annual International Cuban Sandwich Festival, again held in historic Ybor City.

In other words, no matter what Cuban fare you prefer, you can’t go wrong at the new Las Palmas Latin Grill!

For more info, stop in or call (813) 803-3903 and please tell Ana and Ramses that I sent you! 

Smallcakes Is Open!

Are you looking for a new and delicious dessert place? Smallcakes has opened in the Shoppes at The Pointe in Tampa Palms. Located at 17010 Palm Pointe Dr., between Ciccio Cali and our friends at the Palms Pharmacy, Smallcakes features 12 signature flavors (photo above) of full-sized cupcakes, special flavors daily, plus homemade ice cream, and the brother-and-sister co-owners Justin and Marissa Dewdney are Freedom High grads. And, although they both live about an hour away, they say they chose the Tampa Palms location because they had sampled Smallcakes in a couple of other places and felt that our area would love it.

Established in Kansas City, MO, in 2008, Smallcakes now has more than 200 stores (many in Texas and Georgia), including the closest ones to us, in Oldsmar and Lakeland.

Marissa and Justin also say that anyone who thinks that “print is dead” doesn’t realize the power of the Neighborhood News, as they have had “dozens of people” telling them that they heard about Smallcakes from my recent small writeups in this column. And, considering that Smallcakes is located in the same area as Ciccio Cali, Koizi, Palm Thai, Stonewood, Olive Garden and Red Lobster, I told the Dewdneys that they should offer a special cupcake deal to anyone who brings in a receipt from any of the aforementioned eateries!

For more info, call (813) 442-4938 or visit SmallcakesCupcakery.com and please bring them those receipts!

Here & There, This & That…

• I mentioned last issue that it wasn’t very long ago when there were as many as three frozen yogurt shops in New Tampa alone, but today there is just one, La Berry Yogurt Café, which we incorrectly reported as closed in our Mar 22 New Tampa issue, although it is has been under new ownership for a little over a month. Please go and try La Berry and tell them that I sent you!

• Although I personally enjoyed the German specialties (schnitzel!) at the former Prost Kitchen & Bar in the Palms Connection Plaza at 2802 E. Bearss Ave. (between BBD and Livingston Ave.), the owners of the pub decided to take it in a different direction.

Only open under its new name — Bearss Tavern & Tap (although the outside sign says “Bearss Kitchen & Bar”) — for a week or so at our press time, the redesigned restaurant has retained some of the old menu (including an artisan grilled cheese sandwich, served with tomato bisque), but has added many new items I am excited to try. The one sandwich I did sample when I stopped in — a pesto grilled chicken sandwich (photo above) on crispy sourdough bread — was excellent. I also look forward to trying the chargrilled chicken penne pasta, the artisan pizzas and the flatiron steak frites. Stop in, call (813) 466-5249 or visit BearssTavern.com and tell them I sent you!

• Sadly, while I thought that the new Rice n’ Beans was set to open in the former Cody’s Roadhouse space on WC Blvd. shortly after our last issue came out, it still wasn’t open as I went to press with this issue. The Lutz Rice n’ Beans closed two months ago. — GN

Nibbles & Bytes: Jamaican Cuisine Is Here!

Ya, Mon! The Hummingbird Jerk House Is Open!!

So, if you like authentic — and I mean truly authentic — Jamaican cuisine, you really need to check out the new Hummingbird Jerk House, which opened at the end of last month in the space in North Palms Village (at 17631 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Unit F) formerly occupied by Dairy Queen (next to Oakley’s Grille).  

So, those who love braised oxtail, goat or chicken curry, jerk or brown stew chicken (or snapper; the sauce is amazing!), Jamaican beef patties, coco bread, cow foot and even escoveitch (photo below) — which is a whole snapper, fried, then covered with onions, sliced carrots, scotch bonnet, pepper and vinegar — this is your place.

I will say that every time I’ve been there, the place has been packed with happy diners, many of whom told me they were on their third or fourth visit, even though the place had only been open a month or so at our press time. Please note that the full menu listed at TheHummingbirdJerkHouse.com isn’t yet always available, but owner Patrick Murrel and his staff’s daily menu board keeps getting closer to the full menu every time I’m there. 

For more info, call (813) 512-2558 and please tell Patrick and his crew that I sent you! 

Twistee Treat Is Open In The Chap!

Even though there’s been one on BBD in New Tampa for several years, folks in Wesley Chapel seem to be very excited about the recent opening of the new Twistee Treat on an outparcel of the Wesley Chapel Village Market on BBD, just south of S.R. 54.

Our video about Wesley Chapel’s new Twistee Treat (5258 Village Market) had a Facebook reach of nearly 13,000 people and was viewed more than 8,500 times!

If you go to check it out, please tell the folks at the new Twistee Treat that you read/heard about them from the Neighborhood News!

Here & There,  This & That…

• It wasn’t very long ago when there were as many as three frozen yogurt shops in New Tampa alone, but today there is just one, as Frogury closed recently. The lone survivor is La Berry Yogurt Café, which we incorrectly reported as closed in our Mar 22 New Tampa issue, although it is now under new ownership.

Of course, here in Wesley Chapel, we have not only Happy Cow and Menchie’s but also multiple gas stations serving “FroYo.”

• On the other hand, the new Smallcakes is now open. Located between Ciccio Cali and our friends at the Palms Pharmacy (in Tampa Palms), it will carry a variety of delicious cupcakes, but also homemade ice cream. The Oldsmar location (3705 Tampa Rd.) reportedly has been very successful. 

• Also closing over the last few months was Tarek’s Café in Tampa Palms, although those who enjoy Tarek’s home-style cooking can still visit the original location on the USF Campus, just off BBD Blvd., south of E. Fletcher Ave.

• Sadly, while I originally believed that the new Rice n’ Beans was set to open in the former Cody’s Roadhouse space on WC Blvd. shortly after our last issue came out, it still looked to be at least a couple of more weeks away as I went to press with this issue, although a Google search landing page says it should be open before this issue reaches you. The Lutz Rice n’ Beans closed almost two months ago.

Congrats, WC Rotary & PEF!

My sincere congratulations go out to the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, which meets Wednesdays at noon at Omari’s Grill at Lexington Oaks Golf Club, which hosted a super-successful fourth annual Duck Fest at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge on U.S. Hwy. 41 in Land O’Lakes on March 10. 

That Rotary Club is the one my wife (see page 1) Jannah Nager belongs to and although the event raised more than $5,000 to benefit the club’s selected nonprofit charities — Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Tampa Bay and the Pasco Sheriff’s K-9 Assn. — the primary goal of event chair Jodie Sullivan and her outstanding committee was to make the Duck Fest an even more family-friendly event and there’s no doubt they succeeded. 

There were literally hundreds of families on hand for the event, where thousands of small rubber ducks were blasted by hoses operated by the Pasco County Fire Rescue Department, with the top 50 or so ducks to reach the finish line earning their “owners” a great prize — including a top cash prize of $1,000 for the first-place duck!

All major sponsors of the Duck Fest were invited to decorate much larger-sized rubber ducks and several local businesses were awarded trophies for their decorations. Our favorite was the award-winning “Goddess Laguna” duck (decorated by NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net’s own Mollyana Ward and her cohort Kim Brierly at Lagoon Realty.

The Rotary Duck Fest also featured a super-cool Classic Car Show (photo, left) and an appearance and demonstration by Titan, one of PCSO’s amazing K-9 officers.

• I also want to congratulate Jannah and everyone at the Pasco Education Foundation — the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports Pasco County’s schools — for hosting their most successful (ever) Foundation Ball at Heritage Springs Country Club in the Trinity area of New Port Richey, raising about $140,000 to pay for scholarships for graduating high school seniors and stipends for teachers in Pasco schools.

And remember, the WC Rotary’s 2nd annual “Hats & Horses” Derby Party is Saturday, May 4! — GN