Nibbles and Bytes

FHWC Opens Wound Care Center
Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), which will be changing its name to AdventHealth Wesley Chapel in January 2019 (see Business Notes on page 13), continues to be at the forefront of health care in our area. The hospital recently opened its Wound Care Center inside the FHWC Wellness Plaza, the building due north of the hospital itself.

FHWC CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb and dozens of Adventist Health dignitaries, local elected

officials/political candidates and North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce members were on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 27, and everyone in attendance (including yours truly) came away truly impressed with this latest addition to FHWC’s plethora of medical services for the community.

Although the Wound Care Center has plenty of state-of-the-art technology for caring for all kinds of wounds, lesions and lacerations, the coolest things we saw as we toured the facility were two hyperbaric chambers (photo far right), which traditionally have been used for people with the “bends” from scuba diving, but which (we were told) also can help with healing for those who have chronic sores and wounds that don’t heal, from diabetes or after radiation therapy for cancer.

Congrats also go out to the local catering company called C•B•K Catering & Events, which served amazing edible cones filled with a zesty chicken salad, plus delicious cheese tortellinis and perfect bruschetta at the event.

For more info about FHWC and the new Wound Care Center, visit FloridaHospital.com. For more info about C•B•K Catering, visit CBKTampa.com or call (813) 699-3060 and please tell Chase Mayer the New Tampa Neighborhood News sent you!

VIPs Check Out The Hyatt Place
In our last issue, I mentioned that the new Hyatt Place Hotel & Sierra Conference Center were getting ready to open, which actually happened on July 30.

On Aug. 9, representatives of the new hotel hosted a VIP event we attended, where members of the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) of Commerce Board of Directors and other local VIPs took tours of the 132-room hotel and got to sample some of the tasty food that will be served in the Hyatt Place’s Gallery restaurant.

The Hyatt Place Hotel is located at 26000 Sierra Center Blvd. For more info, stop in or call (813) 803-5600 or visit Hyatt.com, and please tell the hotel’s staff that you read about them (again) in the New Tampa Neighborhood News!

Umu To Replace OTB Café

Although OTB (Only The Best) Delights Café closed its original location at 2653 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel several weeks ago, have no fear.

Not only is OTB set to reopen sometime in September in its new location a couple of miles further north at the new Nye Commons (4873 BBD), but there already is a new restaurant getting ready to open in its old location.

The Thai owners of Umu Japanese & Thai have been transforming the old OTB space into an elegant-looking future home of great sushi, Bento boxes and other Japanese and Thai favorites and hope to be open sometime in September.

 

Are You Crazy About Keto Pizza? Please Try This At Home!

The pepperoni Keto pizza from 900º Woodfired Pizza

From what I see on Facebook, even though I don’t “get” it personally, everyone in Wesley Chapel is completely insane about the crustless pizza being sold in our area for those who are on the Keto diet.
Yes, Keto pizza is all the rage, even though I can’t personally eat more than one small ”slice” of it, but not because it isn’t tasty. All I can tell you is that if I ate more than one slice of Keto pizza at a time, I might not go to the bathroom for the rest of the year. Just saying.

 

On the other hand, someone very near and dear to my heart is on the Keto diet, so we’ve simply had to try it at a couple of local pizza places. And, all I can tell you is that my fiancée Jannah McDonald definitely has improved on any version of it we’ve tried in our distribution area. And, best of all, this improved keto pizza is something you can make at home yourself, especially if you just happen to have a working toaster oven.

Our story begins (as so many in this publication seem to, John Cotey) at 900º Woodfired Pizza in the Shops at Wiregrass mall, where owner Steve Falabella became a local Facebook sensation when our mutual friend Jennifer Ames, the administrator of the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook group, posted a photo of 900º Woodfired’s Keto pizza.

And yes, Jannah was among the hundreds (thousands?) of locals saying “I have to try that” following Jennifer’s post.

Jannah’s finished Keto pizza.

Literally the next day, we were at 900º trying it out and we both agreed that although it did taste like pizza, the “crust” — a double (or triple?) layer of cheese and nothing else to “hold it together” — was not only ridiculously filling, but should also come with a warning about having to have at least a salad (or some other kind of roughage) with it or risk being bottled up like the S.R. 56 exit off I-75 during rush hour.

 

Before we ever went anywhere else to sample another store-bought Keto pizza, Jannah started working on variations of her own. And, just for the record, I do a lot more cooking in our apartment than she does, so I was so surprised at how charged up she was to cook that I became her sous chef for this adventure.

After a few efforts, Jannah came up with the recipe and procedure and, after the first time it worked to perfection (I preferred it to 900º Woodfired’s and Amici’s), I told her I just might have to write about it in these pages.

So, here goes.

 

Although we don’t have a fancy new convection oven or any special cooking utensils, Jannah found that making her smaller version of crustless Keto pizza worked best in our toaster oven.

The pepperoni base for Jannah’s Keto pizza. Slices of mozzarella go on top of the pepperoni. Cover the mozzarella slices with sauce. Cover the sauce layer with shredded mozzarella and pop it into the toaster oven. Bake at 450º F, for 7-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

She starts with a layer of the Publix-brand large-size pepperonis and puts them in the broiler for around five minutes, or until the edges get brown and curl up slightly.

One of the keys to the success of this recipe is not to burn the ‘ronis. Then, while preheating the toaster oven (on bake at 450º), she covers the pepperoni “crust” with a layer of single slices of Publix-brand low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella.

She then completely covers the top of the sliced cheese layer with either the tomato basil or vodka sauce from the new Cost Plus World Market, which we have found to have the fewest net carbs per serving of any store-bought brand. Although you can use your own homemade sauce, if you prefer, all I can tell you is that you Keto diet folks out there probably can’t make a sauce with fewer net carbs than World Market’s sauces (although we may have cleaned the store out of both types, because there hasn’t been any of either kind the last two times we’ve visited there).

She then covers the sauce layer with a layer of Publix shredded mozzarella and sprinklings of parmesan, and bakes it in the toaster oven for 7-10 minutes, or until all the cheese gets that golden brown hue.

It still goes against everything I loved growing up to have pizza without a New York-style crust, but hey, we still (in my opinion) have plenty of great options for that in Wesley Chapel — including not only 900º Woodfired, but also La Prima Pizza, NY NY Pizza, Amici’s Pizza, Best NY Pizza and PizzaMania.

‘I Only Vote In The Important Elections’ — Too Many Locals

I have never been the most political (or politically correct) guy in the world, but I have watched and covered so many elections — local, state and national — over the nearly 25 years I have been the owner and editor of this publication that I can’t help but notice that more often than not, more people than not do not vote in local elections.

And, the #1 reason I hear from New Tampa and Wesley Chapel residents for not voting is always the same: “I only vote in the important elections, like for our President.”

Well, I’m here to tell you that if you’re a) not already registered to vote or b) don’t plan to vote in the upcoming Primary Election on Tuesday, August 28, or the General “Midterm” Election on Tuesday, November 6, you’re selling yourself — and your community — short.

In August, three of Pasco’s five School Board seats (in other words, 60 percent!) are up for grabs and, unless there is a Runoff Election in any of those three districts (all Pasco School Board and County Commission seats are elected countywide), this will be your only chance to have a say in who will be responsible for building and staffing schools and protecting your public school children.

That fact alone should at least get you thinking about getting out to the polls on Aug. 28, although it is past the deadline to do so if you’re not already registered to vote as you’re reading this. In addition, with so many parents concerned about the future plans (in 2020) to again re-zone the schools in Wesley Chapel, getting out to vote for the candidates you believe will be the most likely to help keep your children where you want them perhaps should be important enough to get you to cast a ballot this year.

Two of those candidates — three-term incumbent Allen Altman in District 1 and Heide Janshon, one of two candidates attempting to unseat two-time District 3 incumbent Cynthia Armstrong — have taken ads (both on page 5) in this issue, in order to try to help convince you to get out and cast a ballot for them.

There also are six local judges and several local Community Development District (CDD) Board candidates who will be elected on Aug. 28, and there will be primaries for U.S. Senate, Florida’s next Governor, Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture, as well as the State Senate.

If you decide not (or you’re not already registered) to vote on Aug. 28, you have until Tuesday, October 9, to get yourself registered for the General Election on Nov. 6.

At that time, in addition to voting for U.S. and State Senate, as well as Governor, Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Agriculture, you’ll also get to vote for two County Commission seats and our area’s Dist. 38 State Representative.

One of those November contests will have Pasco County Dist. 2 Commissioner Mike Moore squaring off against fellow Wesley Chapel resident Kelly Smith. I just wanted to make it clear that the fact that we have a story about Smith, a political newcomer, in our latest issues isn’t an endorsement for her or in any way an indictment of the job that Moore has done since being elected in 2014. We just felt it was newsworthy for our readers that Mike will face an opponent who also lives in Wesley Chapel.

As For Endorsements…

The first 10 or 15 years that I owned this publication, I felt it was my job to go to as many governmental meetings as possible in order to cover those meetings for our readers and to get to know as many of our local, state and some national (such as District 12 U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis) elected officials as I possibly could. One of the reasons I did so was so I could make intelligent endorsements, based on my knowledge of our area’s infrastructure and other needs.

I began phasing out making endorsements about 10 years ago, in part because I have had other people covering most governmental meetings. I never really had any problem with the often negative feedback I would receive when I would endorse one candidate over another, but I will say that I have gotten a lot less hate mail since then. At any rate, get out and vote, New Tampa and Wesley Chapel!

Nibbles & Bytes

Kate Spade Opens In TPO!

“We are now at 100-percent occupancy,” Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) general manager Stacey Nance told me at the July 20 ribbon cutting event for the new Kate Spade store (photo) in TPO. “How many malls can say that?”

In addition to Kate Spade (see below), Nance says the remaining three slots at the outlet mall also are all now taken — True Religion Designer Jeans & Clothing, Salt Life and the Man Cave Store, which has been a hit at other Simon malls with billiards tables, Harley Davidson gear, Mr. Beer and more.

But, there’s no doubt that a lot of people — dozens were on hand during or shortly after the store’s ribbon cutting to check out the deals — are excited about the high-end handbags, wallets, clothing and accessories at Kate Spade, the store chain that the late designer Kate Brosnahan and her husband Andy Spade (the brother of actor/comedian David Spade) created as Kate Spade New York in 1993, combining her first name and his surname. The couple had sold all of their interest in the brand to Nieman Marcus by 2006, which then sold it to Liz Claiborne that same year.

Of course, Kate was found dead in her apartment on June 5 of this year, by her own hand, leaving a note for her daughter Frances.

“We signed this lease in December,” Nance, an admitted fan of the brand, said. “And we’re really excited that Kate Spade is open.”

Get Ready For The Hyatt Place!
“We know there’s not enough hotel rooms in Wesley Chapel right now,” says Karen Martin, the director of sales for the new 132-room Hyatt Place hotel on the north side of S.R. 56, next to Bahama Breeze, which had its “soft” opening on July 31. “But, it’s about to get a lot more fun out here.”

Martin says that although the six-story hotel just opened, “My phone’s been ringing off the hook for weeks, especially with people booking rooms for tournaments at the hockey rink (Florida Hospital Center Ice, located just east of I-75 on S.R. 56, while the Hyatt Place is just west of the interstate).

Although Martin says the new Hyatt Place doesn’t have full Hyatt resort amenities, it does have a Gallery restaurant and bar, a separate breakfast area, an outdoor swimming pool, nice fitness and business centers and meeting spaces with built-in audio/visual features.

The adjacent Sierra Conference Center has a really nice ballroom that Martin says can seat about 350 people with tables in a banquet setup and can be subdivided into three smaller ballrooms, which can each seat at least 250 people each in a theatre-style seating set-up. Martin says she also loves the conference center’s adjacent break-out and outdoor seating areas.

“But, to really get a feel for whether or not we should be hosting your event,” she says, “you should come out and take a tour. We’re all really excited to be open.”

She adds that the hotel hopes to host an upcoming “Final Friday” networking event for the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce and is planning “a big Grand Opening event sometime in November.”

The Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel is located at 26000 Sierra Center Blvd. For more information, call (813) 803-5600 or visit HyattPlace.com.

We’ll have updates about the Hilton Garden Inn & Residence Inn hotels coming soon to S.R. 56 in our next issue.

Here & There, This & That…

• I can’t even tell you how excited my taste buds are now that Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel favorite Nothing Bundt Cakes has opened across from Noble Crust in the Shops at Wiregrass mall. Whether you love red velvet or dark chocolate cake with extra creamy white icing, or the decadent white chocolate raspberry bundt cake, Nothing Bundt Cakes will have you salivating for more.

Check out a free sample when you visit and please tell the staff that you read all about them in the New Tampa Neighborhood News!

• I also was sad to hear, despite owner Ramses Garcia’s best efforts to negotiate a new lease with his landlord, that Las Palmas Spanish Café, the Latin/Cuban favorite located behind Kobe Steakhouse in the Pebble Creek Collection on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (a mile south of County Line Rd.), had closed.
Garcia had been talking to me for several months about how hard it had been for the businesses in the plaza to stay afloat, with the Bruce B. Downs widening construction still ongoing in front of the plaza, but he was still hoping to work things out less than two weeks before he announced the closing on Facebook. Will Garcia reopen in another location? We’ll keep you posted!

• Meanwhile, congratulations go out to my friends Travis and Fiona Monday, the owners of Fit 4 Life Personal Training & Physical Therapy Studio (17419 Bridge Hill Ct. in Tampa Palms), who celebrated the studio’s 22nd year in business with another great Martini Party, catered by the nearby Stonewood Grill & Tavern, on July 20.

 

After 22 Years, Fit 4 Life Personal Training & Physical Therapy Is Still Thriving

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: I have not only known Travis Monday (a fellow University of Florida alum) for as long as he has been in business here in Tampa — which is 17 years (this month) of the 22 years he has owned and operated Fit 4 Life Personal Training & Physical Therapy — I’ve been working out at his New Tampa studio. In other words, if you think I’m out of shape, feel free to blame him.

Just kidding, Travis. Imagine instead what I would look like if I hadn’t been visiting Fit 4 Life at least two days a week most every week since 2001.

But, let’s start with a little history.

Travis, a former UPS driver who is certified as a personal trainer by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), as well as in SuperSlow training, first opened Fit 4 Life in Wausau, WI, in 1996, at the tender age of 22. After five successful years of operating his personal training studio in his home state, Travis sold that practice and opened Fit 4 Life in Tampa Palms in 2001, although that was at a different location than where he has been for at least the last dozen or so years, in the Tampa Palms Professional Center, just south of the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. exit (#270) off I-75. He started adding licensed Physical Therapists (PTs) shortly after opening that first, 2,500-sq.-ft. Tampa Palms studio.

He moved from that location to the former Model & Visitor Center in front of Hunter’s Green off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa before opening the current studio.

In fact, Travis met his wife Fiona when he first hired her as a PT for Fit 4 Life. Today, they have two young daughters, Molly and Madison, and continue to be the driving personal training and PT forces behind this dynamic, 4,500-sq.-ft. studio.

MedX Equipment

When Travis first opened in Wisconsin, he had only six pieces of circuit training equipment, all of which were MedX machines, which Travis says are the best out there for using the SuperSlow training method. Because Fit 4 Life is a personal training studio and not a “gym” or “health club,” every training client works one-on-one with one of Travis’ outstanding trainers every time he or she visits the studio. Instead of throwing up as much weight as you can using momentum to get through reps, your trainer will force you to move the weight in each rep of each exercise as slowly as possible, ten seconds in each direction of the exercise.

Today, Fit 4 Life not only has 18 pieces of MedX equipment (you usually only use 5 or 6 of the machines each visit), one of them is a computer-driven neck and one is a lower back (lumbar extension) PT machine; both allow Fiona and her fellow licensed PTs to track your progress. If you have neck or low back pain (or both) and haven’t gotten the relief you hoped for from your previous PTs, you owe it to yourself to give these machines a try at Fit 4 Life.

“There’s no doubt that since the economic downturn in our area in 2008, we’ve seen much faster growth of our physical therapy clients than we have personal training,” Travis says. “Even so, we have helped more than 6,000 training clients lose tens of thousands of pounds of fat. We’re up to 3,000 people we’ve helped with their low back and neck pain and have a 95-percent success rate, and an 88-percent success rate with surgical candidates.”

He adds, “We are the only clinic in the area that truly does one-on-one physical therapy. We don’t just get you out of pain, we are 100-percent committed to finding the underlying problem and solving it and we have expanded to help all PT needs, from shoulders, necks, hips, knees, etc. because of our high success rate. And, more than 350 doctors have sent us PT clients, but you don’t need a prescription to come here for therapy.”

For more information, to set a personal training or physical therapy appointment, or to RSVP for the Client Appreciation Martini Party, call (813) 907-7879. You also can stop in anytime the studio (located at 17419 Bridge Hill Ct.) is open and sign up for the party at the front desk. See the ad on pg. 29 of this issue for two complimentary personal training sessions, or visit Fit4LifeTampa.com to find out more.