Fushia Asian Bistro Adds An Authentic Chinese ‘Hot Pot’ Buffet

Did you love The Melting Pot the first time you ever ate there? For some people, dipping cubes of bread into boiling hot cheese or meats into equally hot oil is just a little too adventurous, while others love it so much they choose to enjoy it for Valentine’s Day or another big night out.

Invoking that same spirit of adventure is Fushia Asian Bistro, located in the Shoppes of Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms (next to Crunch Fitness), less than five miles south of the Pasco County line. Fushia owners Sharon and Chef Charlie Wang say that theirs is the first Asian restaurant in the Tampa Bay area to offer an authentic Chinese hot pot buffet and they have spared no expense to bring it to you, hoping to capture a new audience for my favorite Chinese restaurant in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel (see pgs. 38-41).

In the newer side of Fushia, where the restaurant also offers its private karaoke suites for 6-20 people, there are now multiple tables where each seat has its own stovetop burner. Each person at your table will have their own stainless steel pot which they will fill with one of about ten different kinds of broth — from Japanese-style miso to Thai curry to spicy red (oil) broth and literally any other “stock” you can imagine.

Then, you visit large refrigerated cabinets which offer a variety of flash-frozen meats — lamb, pork, beef, chicken, etc., as well as beef stomach and other choices less commonly known by the average American diner at the place.

For those who aren’t allergic to shellfish (like I am), there also is a huge selection of not only white meat fish, but also raw shrimp, clams, squid, crab claw meat and others, as well as a variety of dumplings, wontons, ramen noodles and a huge selection of veggies.

Each person at your table selects his or her own selection of these items to place into their own hot pot. Most of the items take only a few seconds to cook, while the dumplings and noodles take a few minutes.

While your hot pot is simmering, there is an ever-changing variety of appetizers for you to enjoy. On our most recent visit, for example, there was a spicy cucumber salad, spicy chicken chunks, Korean-style pickled kimchi vegetables (also spicy), and others. You also  can choose from a dozen different sauces, some spicy, some sweet and mild.

Once your ingredients have been simmered in your hot pot, you pull them out using a ladle that is provided to each person with a hot pot. The food comes out piping hot and most of the fat on the meats are rendered into the pot.

“It’s a really healthy, lower-calorie way to eat,” Sharon says. “Hot pot buffets are very big in major cities like New York and even Miami. We think people here will love it, too, if they give it a try.”

Although I really enjoyed the hot pot buffet, there is an element of chance involved — you have to figure out which broth to start with because different broths definitely bring out different tastes. I really liked the so-called “fatty lamb” and “fatty pork” the most, but I preferred them in the butter broth rather than any of the spicy broths. The fish filets also cooked up fluffy and white and were particularly good with a mix of peanut sauce and Thai chili sauce.

Young people, especially college students like my WCNT-tv production assistant Gavin Olsen, really seemed to enjoy the hot pot buffet the most. Staff writer Celeste McLaughlin and billing manager Stephanie Smith (bottom right photo) also really enjoyed the adventure of the hot pot, although Celeste said she probably wouldn’t bring her younger children to try it because of the heat, although I do see kids enjoying the hibachi tables at Japanese steakhouses, which also can burn them.

Your hot pot buffet also comes with unlimited desserts (including delicious ice cream) and soft drinks, all for $25.99 per person — and yes that price is the same, whether you enjoy the hot put for lunch or dinner. The good news is that with the coupon in the Fushia ad on page 42, up to eight people in your party can each receive $2 off that cost, although the coupon can not be used on Friday or Saturday. Even so, my employees all agreed that it was well worth the cost.

Old Favorites, Too!

Of course, there were no hot pot buffets when I learned to love New York-style Chinese food during my youth growing up in Long Island. For me, Chinese food is still about great egg rolls, fried rice and spicy beef and pork dishes with traditional Chinese vegetables.

My favorite traditional dishes at Fushia are the Yan Jian pork, which is made spicy by being sautéed with jalapeño peppers. It’s amazing with Fushia’s Yong Chow fried rice, which is a savory combination fried rice with pork, beef, chicken and shrimp (I order it without the shrimp), plus some onions, egg and veggies. Yum.

I also love Fushia’s beef with Chinese broccoli, which is like broccoli stalks with spinach leaves instead of florets, as well as the true New York-style egg rolls, spring rolls and pan-fried dumplings.

I also really enjoy Fushia’s Mongolian-style chicken, the crispy Beijing (Peking) duck and so many other dishes on the extensive menu. If you want the hot pot buffet but your significant other isn’t that adventurous, you can both get what you want and enjoy a great Chinese meal.

And yes, you can even get a private karaoke suite for your party (at no additional charge) and entertain each other after dinner while you enjoy a glass of plum wine, hot or cold sake or a delicious Tsingtao or Kirin (or domestic) beer.

Fushia Asian Bistro is located at 15315 Amberly Dr. and is open every day for lunch and dinner except Monday. For more information, call 903-6705 and tell Sharon we sent you!

Editorial: Stay Tuned Right Here For WCNT-tv & Taste Of New Tampa Updates!

Less than two months before the 2017 Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel — which will be held on Saturday, March 18, noon-4 p.m., at the new Florida Hospital Center Ice (which now has ice!) — I’m ecstatic to say that my restaurant committee is already surpassing my expectations.

As of our press date — January 19 — we already have 30 restaurants that have verbally committed to participate in the Taste! The truly amazing thing to me, however, is that when we recorded Episode 15 of WCNT-tv (Wesley Chapel & New Tampa television) just four days earlier, we only had 23 restaurant commitments and two maybes (see below).

In other words, virtually every restaurant we’ve spoken with has jumped at the opportunity to give away samples of their cuisine to what we expect will be at least 3,000-5,000 attendees. Everybody seems to want to have a chance to be inside the largest ice skating and hockey facility in the southern U.S. for what was the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area’s signature event for 20 years, even though it’s now been four years since the Taste was held.

George Stella

The Taste, which is being put on for the first time by the Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Fridays at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club), will also feature a live cooking demonstration by formerly 465-lb. celebrity chef and author George Stella, whose popular show on the Food Network is called “Low Carb & Lovin’ It.”

There also will be beer and wine available at the Taste, plus great musical entertainment and emcee/Rotarian Bob Thompson will make the rounds to every restaurant and sponsor booth at the event to help our food and beverage providers and sponsors give away some great prizes throughout the day.

And more great news is that the website TasteofNewTampa.org is now live and will provide regular updates about the event’s sponsors and all of the participating restaurants as they commit to participating. You’ll also be able to purchase Taste tickets on the site shortly and, since Taste proceeds will benefit the Rotary Club of New Tampa Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, your Taste ticket purchases may be tax deductible!

Here is the list of restaurants that had committed to participate in the Taste, whether verbally or in writing, at our press time:

•Stonewood Grill & Tavern
•Ciccio Cali
•Vuelo Mexican Grill
•The Private Chef of Tampa
•Paramount Lebanese Kitchen
•GrillSmith
•Dempsey’s Steak House (Saddlebrook)
•Little Italy’s
•Old Heights Bistro
•7 Layers Bakery
•Top Shelf Sports Lounge (FHCI)
•McDonald’s
•PDQ
•Union 72 BBQ
•Sonny’s BBQ
•Cantina Laredo
•Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt
•Charley’s Cheesesteaks
•Tijuana Flats
•Culver’s
*Pepe’s Cuban Cafe
•Buttermilk Provisions
•Arroy Thai
•The Cake Girl
•BJ’s Brewhouse
•OTB Delights Café
•Nothing Bundt Cakes
•Jimmy John’s
•Buffalo Wild Wings (probable)
*Cheddars Scratch Kitchen (probable)

Look for more updates in these pages, on WCNT-tv and at TasteofNewTampa.org!

And, Speaking of WCNT-tv…

The full-age ad in our latest issue touts the accomplishments and viewership to date of WCNT-tv. Episode 15 of WCNT-tv debuted on YouTube the same day we went to press with current issue, but we are pulling some fairly impressive numbers, at least in my opinion, through the first 14 full-length episodes and special reports that have aired to date.

Our Facebook reach is now at more than 334,000 people, up nearly 100,000 people since our last update in these pages.

We’ve also now had nearly 64,000 views on YouTube (which, we’ve been told, are usually much harder to come by than Facebook views) and nearly 83,000 views on Facebook itself for all of the segments combined.

Those may not be local TV station numbers…at least not yet…but with some episodes garnering as many as 10,000 views and with all of the big news coming up over the next several months, my partner Craig Miller (of Full Throttle Intermedia) and I are confident that we’ll soon pass a reach of half a million people and more than 100,000 views each on Facebook and YouTube.

Craig and I again thank our exclusive webcast partner, the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, and our Studio Sponsor, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, for believing in this project and trying a different way to bring attention to local businesses. Subscribe to the WCNT-tv YouTube channel today!

The FHCI Iceman Cometh

For those of us who have previously toured the new Florida Hospital Center Ice (FCHI) off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, there were only two things missing — people skating and the ice itself.

Well, as of Jan. 19, the largest ice skating and hockey facility south of New York state began the process of creating the ice, so that it can be painted, finished and open for skaters.

The facility and the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) hosted a ceremonial puck drop on Jan. 25. We’ll have extensive coverage in our next edition, which hits mailboxes Feb. 10.

Learn to Skate will hold its first lessons in Saturday morning.

And there are open skate sessions all weekend, starting today from noon-2 p.m. and tonight from 8-10 p.m., Saturday (noon-2 p.m., 4:30-6:30 p.m., 8-10 p.m.) and Sunday (1-3 p.m., 6-8 p.m.).

Nibbles And Bytes

Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen Getting Closer

Although yours truly isn’t a big fan, the Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen being built on S.R. 54, on previously vacant land located directly adjacent to O’Brien’s Irish Pub & Grill in the Wesley Chapel Village Market, does have a building rising out of the ground and should be completed by sometime in early 2017.

The 44-year-old, New Orleans, LA-based fried chicken chain now has more than 2,000 locations not only nationwide but around the world.

And, with its location right off the S.R. 54 exit of I-75, Popeye’s is likely to enjoy success here in Wesley Chapel, too. We’ll keep you posted as the opening gets closer.

Union 72 BBQ Is So Much More Than Just Another BBQ Place!

Ok, so I freely admit that while I love cooking on a grill, I’m not the biggest fan of barbecue food, especially at most places. One advantage (or disadvantage?) for me as I’ve aged is that my stomach just can’t handle most BBQ sauces.

But, the casual, new Union 72 BBQ in the Shops at Wiregrass mall is not your usual BBQ place. Yes, there’s a slew of smoked meats from which to choose — and there are some unique options among those that I am excited to tell you about — but it’s quite honestly mainly the non-BBQ-style offerings at Union 72 that really do it for me, even though, at one time, I consumed full racks of ribs in one sitting. I still love ribs, but these days, I usually just stick to enjoying one or two of someone else’s ribs (at the most) before I give up.

Well, Union 72 co-owners Jeff Martin and Bharat Chhabria and pitmaster Geoff Zukosky definitely have my attention. One bite of graphic designer Blake Beatty’s Union 72 St. Louis-style ribs and I was hooked. The ribs are prepared with Union 72’s own house-made dry rub, marinated overnight and slow-smoked to perfection. They’re served wet or dry, so I was glad that Blake ordered his dry (the marinade creates a glaze that gives these fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs a nice crispy edge), even though the photo above (provided by Union 72), are shown wet. I’m also partial to Union 72’s Texas-style beef brisket and I enjoyed tastes of the pulled pork and even the country-style sausage.

As I said before, however, I am even more impressed by Union 72’s non-smoked items, like the southern fried hot chicken tenders, which are buttermilk-battered and rubbed with Union 72’s chef-created “Fire” rub. If you like the Nashville hot chicken at that fast food chicken joint, I’m betting you’ll love these super-crispy-outside, tender-and-juicy-inside beauties even more.

I also absolutely loved the Conquistador sandwich, which is still smoked pulled pork, but Spanish-spiced (like at a great Cuban place), topped with a green chimichurri sauce, caramelized onions and topped with a perfect sunny-side-up egg that absolutely oozes into every bite, all on a tasty brioche bun.

Other chef-created Union 72 favorites at our office include the tacos — available with brisket, pork or your choice of smoked meat — the dry-rub (think spicy blackened) hot wings, the pulled chicken salad and the marinated, slow-smoked half chicken.

There are a couple of Asian-influenced sandwiches at Union 72 I’m planning to try on my next couple of visits — the Vietnamese-style Banh mi sandwich (photo, right), which puts slices of that slow-smoked brisket on a baguette, topped with pickled vegetables, cucumbers, bean sprouts and spicy aioli; and the Far East sandwich, which is slow-smoked, chopped pork topped with kimchi, drizzled with Union 72’s house-made Sticky Asian barbecue sauce, and finished with fresh cilantro, scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Some of these sandwiches are served with your choice of a side and so far, I’m pretty much loving all of ‘em. The corn on the cob, collared greens, fries, house-made slaw, smoked bacon mac & cheese and the smoked, loaded baked potato all get high marks from me. I’m not a big fried okra fan, but lots of Union 72 regulars seem to love it, too. I’ve only sampled three or four of the six  house-made sauces to date, but my favorites are the white BBQ and Sticky Asian.

Speaking of folks who already visit Union 72, which has been open about two months at our press time, 900º Woodfired Pizza (also located in the mall) owner Steve Falabella and Little Italy’s (on S.R. 54 in Lutz) owners Carl and Jessica Meyers rave about the place, as did everyone in my office who got to try it the day I wrote this article.

The Brass Tap Connection

Martin is probably familiar to a lot of you, as he opened the first Brass Tap (in the space adjacent to what is now Union 72) in the mall more than eight years ago. Today, Martin and a variety of partners and some franchisees now have 39 Brass Taps in more than a dozen states. The Wiregrass location which previously had only served dozens of beers from around the world and a variety of wines, recently added full liquor, which has only brought in more people to an already popular watering hole and night spot.

Chhabria met Martin when he bought a franchise and the two shared a love for great barbecue and wanted to be able to offer good prices for their “flavors of the world.” Martin even says that Union 72 is now adding a variety of small, shareable appetizer platters — like unique nachos and more — to better serve his thirsty (and often hungry) customers at the Brass Tap.

Speaking of beverages, I love the local Cigar City craft lager on draft (served in mason jars) and house merlot and chardonnay also are available.

And, by the time you read this, you’ll be able to check out Union 72’s expanding catering menu, which you should consider if you want everyone to rave about the food at your “Big Game” party. Union 72 will even provide employees to work your party, to make sure everything is perfect. And, based on my experience so far, it will be!

Union 72 BBQ (2000 Piazza Ave., Suite 150) is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every day & until 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. For info, call 575-9999, or visit Union72.com. Please tell Jeff & crew we sent you!