Of course, the new Wesley Chapel Steak N Shake sells those famous bacon & cheese double steakburgers with fries, (below left) hand-spun vanilla & strawberry shakes (with or without mix-ins) and (below right)Frisco Melts with classic onion rings. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Although New Tampa’s Steak N Shake was one of the first fast food restaurants to open in zip code 33647, the long-awaited Wesley Chapel Steak N Shake — located at 5542 Post Oak Blvd., off Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54) — is finally open following an official ribbon-cutting event on Oct. 7 (see photo below).
Owner Todd Webb and general manager Jason Good and their happy crew are now welcoming the community to Wesley Chapel’s first-ever Steak N Shake and to enjoy those famous “Steakburgers” and hand-spun milkshakes and more in the location’s all-new design, which is a much more modern look than what we have in New Tampa. The old soda fountain/diner-style bar stools are gone and in their place is a more convenient kiosk ordering and pick-up system. But yes, there is a still a drive-through window for customers who are on the go.
The Neighborhood News was on hand for the new Steak N Shake’s VIP “Friends & Family” event on Oct. 5, as well as at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but one thing is for certain — long-time fans of this 90-year-old chain with more than 450 locations in the U.S. and Europe will not be disappointed. Todd also promises the new Steak N Shake will host some great family events and will feature some cross-promotions with his The Palms Car Wash next door. He will likely keep you posted about these special events in ads in these pages.
For more information and a 20% bonus when you buy a Steak N Shake gift card at the new location, see the ad below.
North Tampa Bay Chamber President Hope Kennedy hosted a lively “Coffee & Conversation” event on Oct. 1 at the Fairfield Inn in Wesley Chapel with State Senator Danny Burgess. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Anyone who knows District 23 State Senator Danny Burgess is aware that he’s not your typical politician. That fact was obvious during Sen. Burgess’ appearance at the North Tampa Bay Chamber’s “Coffee & Conversation” event at the Fairfield Inn on Lajuana Blvd. on Oct. 1, which proved to be more than just the usual pre-election “Look at all I’ve accomplished” speech most incumbents and candidates engage in when they make public appearances.
In fact, during his conversation with Chamber president & CEO Hope Kennedy and about 40 Chamber members and guests, Sen. Burgess hardly talked about himself at all and was clearly serious when he said he fully supports Wesley Chapel incorporating and becoming its own city! (See below)
He also discussed the seriousness of Hurricane Helene (this was ten days before Hurricane Milton hit Florida) and what the state can do and is doing to help the Gulf Coast recover following the storm to ensure that those affected by Helene can still get insurance after such major storms. He also discussed why Pasco and other counties don’t seem to be spending their impact fees to mitigate the actual impacts of all of this development, and so much more.
Kennedy started the “Coffee & Conversation” event with a moment of silence for the victims of Helene and Sen. Burgess thanked her for doing that because, “One part of you feels bad for driving on as normal, a little bit, but the other part of you feels an obligation to help, too, because that could easily be us. I think anyone who lives in the State of Florida recognizes that, when you see someone else in the path of the storm, there’s a lot of humility that blows over you because the next one could be you.”
He added, “Be thankful that you don’t live on the coast because I can’t even tell you the number of people we personally know who just lost their homes. We have a lot to be thankful for, but we also have to think about, ‘How can we help them?’”
When asked what else the state can do to help the thousands of Floridians whose homes were either completely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by Helene, Burgess said, “Imagine the worst and it’s that bad. Many of those homes are probably going to have to be knocked down and rebuilt, on stilts hopefully, because the surge is coming again. How many of those people now, after the last three storms, are saying, ‘I loved the idea of being on the beach but this isn’t for me anymore?’ The problem is that they could be stuck, can’t get out because whether it’s interest rates or the cost of other homes, it’s cost-prohibitive, so they’re trapped.”
He then mentioned a number of resources available to help the people affected by Helene.
“We have activated the small business bridge loans through the Dept. of Commerce, which is a great resource offering zero-interest loans to businesses impacted by the storm,” he said.
“If you’re involved in the agriculture, like an actual farm or an agricultural business, we’re offering up to a $500,000 bridge loan, through Ag commissioner Wilton Simpson’s office.
“But, for individuals, we have Hope Florida. It’s an amazing connection point for all of the assets that our state provides that nobody knows about, because there’s a communication gap. The reason Hope Florida was created was to solve that problem, plus that gap, for the resident, the individual, the impacted constituent. Please stress this to your readers to call 1-833-GET-HOPE. It was a program established by our First Lady (Casey DeSantis) and supported by the Governor. It’s been an amazing resource. There are Hope Florida buses on the west coast of our state providing comfort care for people, the essentials. Is there an easy, quick fix to this situation? Absolutely not. But, can we do all we can to help our brothers and sisters in need? Yes. And, Hope Florida is that connection point for our state. It’s really still in its infancy, but I think Helene is testing its grit and its resilience and validating that it is needed.”
Kennedy also had Sen. Burgess, who is running for re-election to his State Senate Dist. 23 seat (against Democratic candidate Ben Braver and John Houman, who is running as an independent candidate; see pg. 10 for details), explain the location of his District.
“I was born and raised in Zephyrhills and I’m still there and Zephyrhills is still in the heart of my District, which is awesome, but I represent from the Pasco-Hernando line to the north, Dade City on the north side, Trinity and Odessa to the west and the Polk line at Plant City to the east, all the way down to Brandon to the south. My District includes Dover, Seffner, New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, Land O’Lakes and Lutz. This is home. It’s everywhere I’ve grown up. I love that the municipalities of Dade City, Zephyrhills and Plant City are part of my District. And, all of New Tampa north of I-75. Only Tampa Palms is not in my District.”
On Wesley Chapel Incorporation
As to why he is hoping Wesley Chapel becomes its own city, Burgess said, “I was driving home through Wesley Chapel with my dad from the Bucs game on a recent Sunday and out of his mouth, not mine, he said, ‘I just don’t understand why Wesley Chapel doesn’t incorporate. This area just has so much to offer. They need to take control of their destiny.”
And, from the man who at age 17 became the youngest mayor in the country when he was elected Mayor of Zephyrhills, “Being the mayor of your town is the best gig on earth.”
Kennedy interjected that the conversation about incorporation, “Has been percolating again. For those who don’t know, it was back in 2012 when the Chamber (then the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce) took a position to facilitate that conversation, but it just became such a heavy lift. We remembered that back in 2009, Will Weatherford (who was our area’s State Representative but had not yet become the Speaker of the Florida House), was able to pass some legislation that actually gave Wesley Chapel the opportunity to incorporate itself without having to go to the state for permission.”
“Is that still on the books?,” Burgess asked.
To which Kennedy responded, “I believe it is. I hope it is. We haven’t looked at it recently, but that’s what started the conversation.”
“If I could accomplish one thing before I’m done,” Burgess said, “I’d like to be able to say ‘Wesley Chapel is officially a city. with its own governing body.’”
And, although the idea received boisterous applause from the Chamber members in attendance at the meeting, most of the online commenters on the post I put up on our Facebook page a couple of days later were mostly against incorporation.
But, NTBC Board member Jamie Hess, who also was in attendance for the coffee event, said that, “We’ve had about five meetings about it and our Board is really going to push for it.”
“That makes me so happy,” Burgess said. “Look, there is a stigma attached to adding — as some of my friends in Tallahassee say — another layer of bureaucracy, but the reality is that it allows you to have a distinct identity, which this community does. But, more than that, there is a missing link when you don’t have that very localized, closest-to-the-people form of government. I just personally believe and yes, I’ve learned this first-hand, that living in a municipality doesn’t mean you’re not affiliated with the county. In Zephyrhills, we had fire services through the county, but the county understandably has a very large footprint and a lot of area to cover. But, as a city, you can control your destiny and most important, your culture — that Main Street feel, that’s what I love the most about it. Wesley Chapel has that feel, but we just need to take control of the ship, especially with everything I know is coming here.”
Kennedy added, “It’s so exciting to be in a community you’re literally building it out of the ground. That conversation that is happening, so stay tuned.”
There was a noticeable groan when I asked where the boundaries for the City of Wesley Chapel would be drawn.
“That’s where it died the last time,” Kennedy admitted. “The Chamber put up signs (on Wesley Chapel Blvd.) but the people in Lutz insisted on them coming down. The Census Designated Places (CDPs) through the U.S. Census Bureau uses natural boundaries to determine CDPs, so we looked at Cypress Creek as that natural boundary, but the Lutz folks wanted it drawn at I-75 which is not a natural boundary. We assume the planned boundary [of the City of Wesley Chapel] would be at the CDP boundary of Cypress Creek.”
Insurance Issues
After moving on from the incorporation discussion, Kennedy said that a survey she conducted through the Florida Chamber of Commerce showed that the #1 issue for most folks in Florida is insurance.
“Given the crisis with the recent storm, insurance is going to continue to be a big issue,” Kennedy said. “Can you give us a lay of the land from Tallahassee’s perspective?”
And, although Burgess sad he was no longer on the Insurance Committee in the Legislature, he said, “We had multiple sessions and special sessions to address that issue. From a legislative prospective, I’m sure there’s more that we can do. However, we did so much in the last couple of cycles that we ripped the Band-Aid off of many issues — from tort reform to how insurers operate to checks and balances in that realm.”
He added, “We are starting to see, and I says ‘starting,’ because I don’t want to be insensitive, because it’s not over, but we are starting to see the fruits of those investments. We are starting to see big insurers re-commit to the Florida marketplace — like State Farm, which is a huge one because they had pulled out, but they’re coming back in. It isn’t going to happen overnight. In government, we probably went a little too long without trying to adequately address the problem. It does take 18-24 months to start to see that pendulum swing back into a balance but I do believe that, after the series of three to four reforms we did over the last couple of years, that we are starting to see a re-stabilization of the market. And I’m speaking as someone who lost their home insurance recently and was put into Citizens (the insurer of last resort in Florida). We’ve only been with Citizens for maybe a month. But, we’re already getting notices from other insurance companies [offering to insure us]. So, it is happening.”
Of course, after the devastating storm surge of Helene (and now major damage even our area received from Hurricane Milton), Burgess said, “The question is what happens next? Are these individuals going to be able to get insurance after this storm? Because they’re not allowed to pull out right after the impact happens. That’s bad faith and we’re not going to let that happen. It shouldn’t happen and if it is happening, the [State] Insurance Commission needs to know.”
But, looking forward after the repairs, he said, “If a future storm [like Milton] happens and has a similar impact, how do we balance that? Because, at the end of the day, everyone in Florida is paying that price. So, we have a big issue on our hands as a state. So, we have to start having some really tough conversations as to how to move forward on that.”
He also mentioned that auto insurance is another major issue. “Florida is a no-fault state so you carry at least $10,000 in personal injury protection (PIP) and the other person does, too, so no matter whose fault it is, you just take care of yourself. But, $10,000 is a product of 1976. It’s gone the second you enter an ER door. So, that’s inadequate coverage and the biggest cost driver in our system right now. So, if we pass mandatory bodily injury coverage and have a threshold of at least $25,000, that’s how we get back to responsibility and also a balance in the force when it comes to auto insurance rates.”
Burgess also said that because living in Florida is so desirable, the cost of everything here is going up. “Inflation is real,” he said. “Interest rates are through the roof, our homes are valued at far more than we ever purchased them for — because, in large part, of the number of individuals wanting to move here. So, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for but also the ‘back end’ effects and I think those are some of the things we’re trying to rectify.”
Kennedy then opened it up to questions from those in attendance, “But with the caveat that the Chamber is a bi-partisan organization. We are here for pro-business legislation and for having conversations with our elected officials.”
Regarding The ‘Live Local’ Act
Kennedy then asked Burgess about people who make a decent living who still can’t afford to buy or rent homes/apartments in our area.
Burgess said, “The ‘Live Local Act’ was supposed to assist the ‘missing middle’ (class). Its intent was pure and it was a good bill but it did have some flaws. We’re still working through it and there are a couple of things we still need to address, a few gaps that need to be filled, but what it was supposed to do, from Pasco’s perspective, was help those who work in Pasco County be able to afford to live here — or any of many other counties throughout the state. We want the working class middle to be able to afford to live near where they work.”
He added, “It passed unanimously! It wasn’t until after it passed and the Governor signed it that anybody said, ‘Hold the phone.’ So, the biggest ‘kumbaya’ thing ever in Tallahassee became this huge explosion.”
Regarding Impact Fees
Burgess said that impact fees are one of his pet peeves. “If you’re a governmental entity in the I-4 corridor, whether county or city, and you’re hurting for money, I think we need to consider that there’s been a mismanagement of funds.”
Attendee Carlos Saenz (photo below), the owner of two Dairy Queens and Fazoli’s on S.R. 54, said that for two Dairy Queens in Pasco, “I stroked a $140,000 check just for the impact fees. It feels punitive for the privilege of creating jobs in the county.”
And where did that impact fee go?,” Burgess responded. “Did you ever get a notice? We had an impact fee bill this year and in my Senate version of the bill, I wanted to know if the impact fees a county is collecting are going to help the areas that the business or development is impacting.”
Kennedy said, “We actually made a pitch to Pasco County to reallocate some of those impact fees, but they’re so splattered that we couldn’t get a definitive answer [as to how they’re spent].”
Burgess said, “Have you ever looked at your personal finances and said, ‘Where did it all go?’ I think it’s the same principle for the county, or any government, because I’m not just picking on Pasco. If you [had to] put those impact fees in a separate pot and itemized it, maybe you could have insured that it went in a certain direction. We had a bill to do just that but it didn’t pass.”
And, Burgess said, “That’s not only a problem with commercial land. The impact fees alone on a piece of land we wanted to buy in Zephyrhills kept us from putting an offer down. I didn’t have an extra $20,000 to put down for that vacant property.”
When Kennedy asked what could be done about the impact fee situation, Burgess asked for help mobilizing other chambers and business organizations to get behind a possible impact fee bill in the next session. “I love the state organizations but they get wrapped up in politics sometimes,” Burgess said. “I think all of you would benefit tremendously from passing a piece of legislation like a transparency act for impact fees, with them allocated to the area where the impact is taking place — other than the schools. We don’t want to take impact fees from them and the bill that didn’t pass specifically did not take away from the impact fees schools would receive. I think our team has that bill included in our 2025 ‘bill tracker’ for the next session.”
Burgess agreed about having impact fee caps and thresholds on the state level, “But, I think for us to put artificial caps on everything without knowing what the true costs of the impacts to these areas are, we might still be needing to fix something on the back end, like with Live Local. I think the first step is transparency and that the impact fees are going to the areas being impacted. And then, from the transparency piece, we’re going to be able to identify ‘That’s extortion.’ A lot of my colleagues in Tallahassee just want to blow the whole system up, but that will create a lot more problems than you solve. So, I’m of the mind, as a military guy, to tactically find where the impacts are taking place before attempting to cap it or moderate it.”
Kennedy added, “Our Board also suggested that the county should have an ordinance to re-allocate those funds from ‘Capital’ to ‘Operational,’ so they could use what’s already there to get the ball moving, but we hit a brick wall with that as well. So, we want to work through the state instead.”
Burgess agreed that impact fees should be something that’s uniform across the state, “since there should be nothing to hide, in theory.”
Older Brother Davis Crume’s Eagle Project Also Benefited Heritage; Younger Brother Donovan Also Is Expected To Go For His Eagle
New Tampa Troop 148 Eagle Scout Dylan Crume, with his grandfather Rodney Hawkins and one of the four bird feeders Dylan installed at Heritage Elementary for his Eagle Project. (Photos provided by Dylan Crume)
Our heartfelt congratulations go out to Meadow Pointe resident and Wiregrass Ranch High junior Dylan Crume, age 17, who recently earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.
Dylan’s Eagle project was the installation of four bird feeders at New Tampa’s Heritage Elementary. According to Heritage Gifted K-5 teacher Jean Josephson, Dylan and many of his fellow Scouts in Troop 148, which meets at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, installed “bird feeders/boxes with flower boxes to attract more birds and pollinators to our campus. Dylan researched ideas for his project, put together a fund raiser to purchase all of the supplies, met with me several times in person and by email to discuss his ideas and beautifully executed the installation.”
“Mrs. Josephson needed some help, so I offered my services to help make their outdoor classroom look better,” Dylan says.
Dylan, whose older brother Davis also earned his Eagle Scout rank and also did an Eagle project that benefited Heritage (he created a micro-irrigation system at the school), says that the project took about three months to complete, from conception to conclusion, and that he appreciated the help of his Scoutmaster Jay Sheridan, his Eagle mentor David Thompson and all of the other Scouts in Troop 148 (see photo below) who helped him with the project.
The Troop 148 Scouts who helped Dylan with his Eagle project.
For those who don’t know, Eagle is the highest rank a Scout can achieve, and only 5 or 6% of all Boy Scouts earn the recognition. An estimated two million Scouts have earned the rank since the Boy Scouts of America were founded in 1912. Here are the requirements for earning the Eagle:
• Earning at least 21 merit badges, including 13 Eagle-required ones, covering subjects like personal fitness, environmental science, public speaking, citizenship and financial management.
• Learning valuable morals and life-lessons alongside friends, as they work together to overcome challenges.
• Serving as a leader within their troop by taking charge of a patrol.
• Learning to independently plan itineraries for campouts, backpacking trips and troop excursions.
• Competing as a unit against other troops in exhilarating, large-scale scout “camporees.”
• Involving themselves in service by volunteering with local organizations and making valuable connections with community leaders.
• Coordinating and leading a large-scale volunteer project for the betterment of their community (the Eagle Project).
Colleges, businesses, the military and community service leaders all respect an Eagle Scout. This performance-based achievement has high standards that not everyone will earn.
Dylan’s parents told me they are “super proud of Dylan and his Eagle Project,” and that their youngest son Donovan also plans to go for his Eagle. I don’t know what the numbers are, but I’m betting there are very few families with three Eagle Scouts.
Dylan says he plans to become a firefighter, so service to the community is obviously in his blood. He also says he plays varsity lacrosse and plays tenor sax in Marching Bulls marching band. He also is on the Youth Ministry Team at St. Mark’s.
So, congrats again, Dylan. The Neighborhood News salutes you!
After reading some of the not-so-nice online comments about the new Kohl’s (and Sephora) store located at 1854 Sun Vista Pl., behind the Tampa Premium Outlets, next to At Home, I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting too much.
Whereas some commenters in local online communities railed that Kohl’s was less of a “department” store than they remembered and more like a Ross or TJ Maxx, what I found was very much more like a Macy’s or Dillard’s but with lower prices. The men’s department is many times larger than any discount retailer, with large selections of brands from Nike and Under Armour to Columbia, Izod, Dockers and many more.
And, the prices (with Grand Opening specials throughout the store) were more reasonable than I expected, too — especially when you sign up for a Kohl’s membership or credit card (or both). I ended up buying an Apt. 9 sports jacket for myself for less than $100, a nice silk tie to go with the jacket for around $20 and a V-neck T-shirt for less than $10.
The women’s department was even larger (and the Sephora beauty supply area was bigger than I remember at the JC Penney at the Shops at Wiregrass) and the departments for kids and babies (I bought some Bluey and Spider-Man pajamas for the grandkids) were as large or larger than what I’ve seen at, say, Target. There also was a selection of Halloween-themed merchandise (and clothing) available in several departments. And, again unlike Ross or Marshall’s, everything is well organized and clearly marked.
Is Kohl’s the department store of my dreams? Maybe not. But, considering how close Jannah and I live to it and the prices I’ve already found, I think we’ll both be visiting regularly.
For more information, call (813) 501- 2601 or visit Kohls.com. And, please tell them I sent you! — GN
As much as most of our readers say they want them, it’s just never easy to be successful with unique concept restaurants in our distribution areas — there is always just too much competition from other chain restaurants — so you need all of the little factors to come together to “make it,” including location, quality, demand for the product, management and more.
That’s why it wasn’t much of a shock to me that the Mochinut “More Than Just A Donut” location on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. just north of I-75 (in the small plaza located north of Glory Days Grill) made the announcement shown lower left on Instagram a week or so before we went to press with this issue that the New Tampa location had closed, even though the Mochinut locations in Citrus Park, Temple Terrace and on the north S.R. 56 (near Mellow Mushroom) were staying open.
Whether or not Mochinut’s light-and-airy Korean-style donuts were a hard sell for folks raised on Krispy Kreme and/or Dunkin’ Donuts, the location of the New Tampa Mochinut (the second eatery to fail there; Mahana Fresh was the first) is extremely difficult to find and get to for a lot of people, even though it is visible from BBD.
Enter: Box Of Cubans!
I happened to stop by the already-closed Mochinut location to take the exterior photo to your left when I was able to see two people sitting inside the vacant eatery. They were Marcos and his wife Onelia (“Oni”) Silverio — the owners of the Box of Cubans restaurant in Riverview, who were waiting for contractors to come in to help them get the former Mochinut location ready to become their second fast-casual Cuban eatery.
“Our Riverview location was named the Best Restaurant to Eat At in Tampa Bay by Yelp for 2023,” Marcos told me. “We’re famous for our authentic Cuban sandwiches and empanadas.”
Marcos and Oni said that in addition to those popular Cubans and empanadas, Box of Cubans also receives high marks for its outstanding breakfast items — including Cuban-style French toast (also known as Torrejas) and egg, meat (choice of bacon, ham, sausage, turkey or chorizo) and cheese and “Pipo’s Breakfast” (tender, juicy roast pork, aka lechon, sautéed onions and Swiss cheese inside a pressed fluffy egg omelet) sandwiches and more.
For lunch, try the restaurant’s signature Mojito Pork Sandwich with lechon, Swiss, sautéed onions and pickled jalapenos, the Pan Con Bistec (grilled palomilla steak marinated in mojo with Swiss, sauteed onions, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, crispy potato sticks, house cilantro sauce and mayo) sandwich or the ham croquette sandwich.
The empanadas come with a variety of fillings, from traditional chicken or beef and cheese to bacon, ham or sausage, egg & cheese, Empanada Cuban and even cheeseburger and lasagna options and more.
The “anatomy” of a Box of Cubans Cuban sandwich. (Source: BoxofCubans.com)
There also are black or red bean & rice Cuban bowls with one of four house proteins (Lechon, Palomilla Steak, Chicken, or Picadillo), served with three pieces of Cuban bread garlic toast made and three sweet plantains.
Bakery items will range from savory ham croquettes to cream cheese churros, flan, tres leches and even cheesecake and key lime pie. “We’re also famous for our specialty Cuban coffee drinks,” Marcos says, including café con leche and cold brew ice coffee.
He says Box of Cubans also has a cool story to tell. Marcos, who is Cuban and a lifelong Tampa native, and Oni both left other jobs to open the original Box of Cubans together in a BP gas station in Brandon in 2017. They were able to stay open and continue serving their community during Covid because the gas station was considered to be an “essential” business. Their son “MJ” (Marcos, Jr.) joined the team as COO and GM in Jan. 2023 and were looking to open a second location when the Mochinut spot became available. “We hope to be open by the end of October or the first week of November,” Marcos says. “We know the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area will love our food!
