Have You Tried Oggi Italian?

I’m not the kind of guy to take it lightly when a delicious new restaurant opens anywhere near our area, but with limited “real” Italian food options in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel, I was really excited to find a great, new classic Italian restaurant located, of all places, at 214 E. Bearss Ave. at N. Florida Ave., not exactly a hub for sit-down restaurants.

But, the new, second location of Oggi Italian — the other is on Davis Islands — has everything from the most delicious tossed salad to a variety of savory roasted chicken dishes and, best of all for those of us who crave great pasta, the best al dentĂ© penne pasta you’ll find for miles around.

Owner Joe DeBartolo previously owned Fettuccine Street restaurant on Fletcher Ave., but has created a stir in South Tampa with the Davis Islands location of Oggi and I hope to do the same for his Bearss Ave. location, which is only a 10- or 15-minute drive from the southern tip of Tampa Palms.

The photo is the “Specialita della Casa” at Oggi, the pollo margherita, which is pounded-thin-and-breaded chicken breast, topped with house-made mozzarella, marinara, fresh basil and roasted pomodori tomatoes, served on a bed of  truly al dentĂ© mini-penne pasta that I could eat every day if I had to. It’s a delightfully different take on chicken parmigiana (which also is available) that should not be missed.

Oggi has a somewhat limited menu, but even the fresh Italian bread and that amazing house salad served with every entrĂ©e by themselves are worth a short drive to check it out — and don’t forget to tell Joe (a New Tampa resident) and his staff that you read about them in the Neighborhood News!.

And, Oggi also has craft beers on draft and a small selection of outstanding wines at very fair prices, with a daily Happy Hour from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. For more information, visit OggiTampa.com or call (813) 908-7778.

Ciccio Cali Does The Impossible (Burger)
And We Actually Liked It!

Ciccio Restaurant Group’s Jeff Gigante is on a mission — to prove to the world that a meatless, 100-percent plant-based burger, including a secret ingredient called “heme” that you’ve almost certainly never heard of, can not only help save the planet, but taste good as well.

And, that’s not just good for a “veggie” burger, which would be a low bar to clear.

But good good…like a “real” hamburger.

“We’re going after carnivores, not vegans and vegetarians,’’ Gigante said.

The night before the beef-free Impossible Burger made its debut in Florida at eight of Gigante’s restaurants, including the New Tampa Ciccio Cali, Gigante promised us we’d be blown away.

“It will change your life,’’ he said.

It has certainly changed his.

Since touring the Impossible Foods facility in California last year, Gigante has been obsessed with bringing the Impossible Burger to his restaurants. He beat out many others also eager to unveil the burger outside of food meccas like New York and Las Vegas. “It has taken me a year, and I did it,’’ Gigante said.

Impossible Foods, headquartered in Redwood City, CA, was founded by Stanford University biochemistry professor Patrick Brown in 2011. After spending an 18-month sabbatical working to eliminate industrial animal agriculture because of its negative effects on the environment, Brown decided the best way to work towards solving the problem was by creating products that did so, including a plant-based burger that looks, smells and tastes like ground beef. 

Heme, a molecule in blood that makes it red (and makes meat look pink), is the key ingredient (and derived from the roots of a soy plant) that helps make the Impossible Burger burger-ish. The rest of the burger is intricately comprised of various plant, wheat and potato proteins that most mimic the smells, taste and texture of ground beef.

The Impossible Burger launched last year in NY and Los Angeles. According to the company, the burger uses 95% less land, 74% less water and emits 87% less greenhouse gases than a burger made from cows – the livestock industry is known for requiring an abundance of food, water and land.

It also has more protein and less fat and calories and is free of cholesterol, antibiotics and synthetic hormones (although it does have more sodium and more saturated fats). A 3-ounce Impossible Burger patty has 220 calories, 13 grams of total fat (but no trans fat), 5 carbs and 20 grams of protein.

“It really is a noble mission,” Gigante says. “They say, and (Patrick Brown’s) numbers prove it, that the choice of one consumer choosing the Impossible Burger over a regular quarter pound of  beef saves greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving 19 miles, 290 gallons water and puts 75 square feet of land back on the earth.”

Which is great…but how does it taste?

To find out, I gathered my wife and a few friends and we headed over to Ciccio’s on the day the burger launched.

Let’s call it Mission: Impossible Burger.

We weren’t the first to order it. Manager Shannon Hulton said there were five Impossible Burgers ordered the minute Ciccio’s had opened, and by the end of lunch more than a dozen had been sold.

But, her staff had tried them, and everyone loved them. Ciccio Cali chef Dan Higgins and Gigante’s regional chef Tim Delaney cooked up the first batch.

“The timing is a little bit different than with beef,’’ Higgins said. “But, it even sizzles like ground beef when it hits the grill.”

While waiting for our burgers, I asked the group how close it would have to be to a regular burger to make it their burger of choice. The consensus was 80-90 percent, although Tampa Palms’ Clayton Smith was a hold out: “I need it to be 100 percent (the same),” he said.

The burgers were served with Swiss cheese, a delicious mustard-based aioli that’s supposed to harken to a Tampa cuban sandwich, pickles and tomatoes. “Well, it definitely looks legit,’’ said West Meadows resident Drew Fisher, who also noticed the heft of the Impossible Burger.

Once everyone had their burger (they take a little longer to cook — we got ours in about 15 minutes), we all took our first bite on the count of 3.

Everyone was surprised. It was far better than anyone at the table expected.

“Not bad,” said local Realtor and Wesley Chapel resident Nikki Spirakis. “It’s not a burger, but it’s good. And I like the texture.”

“It’s not ground beef,’’ said Phuong Cotey, “but it’s definitely tasty.”

“It doesn’t crumble,’’ Clayton said.

Bite No. 1 drew a thumbs-up and head nods from everyone. The group agreed it was way better than any veggie burger they had ever had, and that comparing it to any other veggie burger seemed unfair.

On a scale, the Impossible Burger was significantly closer to tasting like a ground beef patty than it was to a veggie burger. “I wouldn’t have known it was a “veggie” burger,” said Drew.

Each burger was cooked either medium or medium well. While billed as a fake meat that bleeds, ours didn’t, but they were moist.

We poked, prodded, bit, chewed and swallowed bite after bite. Clayton even smelled it, noting it had a smell that didn’t remind him of ground beef. An avid wine drinker, we trust his nose.

Drew likened the Impossible Burger to a crab cake – it was seared on the outside, which gave it a slightly crispy outside layer, and did not have the traditional grill marks of a burger — but when he was done said he felt much better than he normally does after having a burger and fries at other places, “where it sits with you all afternoon.”

Everyone commented on that same point. And it was true – afterwards, there wasn’t that bloated, unbutton-your-pants kind of feeling you can get from eating a large ground beef patty. It was refreshing.

The burger was quite tasty. There was a subtle sweet taste to the first bite.

It wasn’t juicy, but it was far from dry. Minus the bun and condiments, you wouldn’t confuse it with ground beef, however, but like everyone else, I will definitely order it again.

For those who are socially and environmentally conscious, choosing an Impossible Burger over a regular burger anywhere else is a no-brainer, even though on days I can suppress those feelings I may still sneak off to Oakley’s.

My wife took half of her burger home and ate it five hours later and thought it tasted better than it did at Ciccio’s. Clayton said if it was available in stores, he would buy some for his next cookout.

On a scale of 1-10, the appearance of the burger got two 9s and two 10s, with the Drew only giving it a 7.

As for the taste, Clayton gave it a 7, and everyone else rated it a 9. The Impossible Burger got three 10s and two 8s for texture.

I texted Gigante before I pulled out and told him he was right – the Impossible Burger was, actually, a little mind-blowing, and it did make me think about where our food comes from and the effects it has on our environment. I decided I would take my kids there for one, and see if they liked it, because something Gigante said to me the day before had stuck with me.

“I have kids, and someday I hope for them to grow up to be good people, and meet someone they love, and they have kids,” Gigante said. “Wouldn’t you like for your grandkids to enjoy life like you did? The way we are going, that won’t be possible. That’s why the Impossible Burger is so important.”

Hillsborough Puts Up $250,000 To Build Kinnan-Mansfield Connection

This photo taken by a drone shows the 60-foot gap between Kinnan St. (on the bottom) and Mansfield Blvd. Hillsborough and Pasco counties are stalemated on the issue but continue to discuss connecting the two roads.

There are many things keeping the 60-foot patch of dirt and grass separating Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. concrete-free, but Hillsborough County District 5 Commissioner Ken Hagan wants to make sure money is no longer one of them.

Comm. Hagan proposed adding $250,000 to the county budget on Sept. 14 to be used for a potential Kinnan-Mansfield connection, which the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners approved, potentially removing one of the roadblocks to resolving the long-standing dispute between Pasco, Hillsborough and the City of Tampa.

Hagan says he has been told there have been recent meetings between Hillsborough  and Pasco County’s MPO, and a traffic study Pasco commissioned to evaluate a number of connections between the two counties is expected to be finalized in November.

“At this point, we are waiting for their traffic analysis to come back,’’ Hagan said. “Then, we will reach out to Pasco County administrators and see if we can finally break this stalemate.”

Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. to the Hillsborough/Pasco county line, is located mostly in the county, although it does turn slightly west and into the City of Tampa boundaries as it nears Mansfield — where the barricades currently stand.

Both Tampa and Hillsborough County have worked on the issue over the years, but recently the city has declined all requests from Pasco involving putting up any money related to traffic studies or potential construction of the connection.

“I know the City of Tampa staff is unwilling to invest anything to make it work,” Hagan says. “I didn’t want the cost to hold us back, so we put the $250,000 in the budget to make the connection. I didn’t want money to be a deterrent or in any way delay making the connection.”

The money, Hagan said, it to be used for the actual construction of the connection.

The Kinnan-Mansfield link is seen as an important connection to help alleviate traffic on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. for drivers from both counties, particularly those driving between the residential communities in both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.

It would also serve as an economic stimulant, Hagan says, as well as assist in public safety efforts in an area where hundreds of new homes are approved to be built in K-Bar Ranch, which is entirely within the city limits.

“I know firsthand, from living in Cross Creek, the frustration of being essentially landlocked,” says the former resident of the Creekwood subdivision of Cross Creek, just two miles from the unconnected roads.

Hagan, the longest-serving current commissioner in Hillsborough County, now in his 15th year, is no stranger to the dispute between Pasco and Hillsborough over the two roads.

As the commissioner in District 2 (which includes Cross Creek, Pebble Creek, Live Oak and many of the communities located in the city in New Tampa) from 2002-10, Hagan has been involved in dozens of discussions about connecting the two roads.

“We were told that once Wiregrass was fully connected to the north, Pasco would authorize the connection,’’ Hagan says. He said he grew so frustrated during negotiations that, at one point, he threatened to put a toll booth on Bruce B. Downs at the county line.

“I got a lot of very, very favorable response from New Tampa, and a very very hateful response from Pasco County,” Hagan says.

Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa as part of the city’s District 7, has been a vocal cheerleader for the connection. Viera has called Hagan’s move a “game-changer.”

“I’m glad the county took this step,’’ Viera says. “Pasco has its position, we have had ours, but now, this could potentially change things with the involvement of the money. It’s a very positive step.”

Regardless, residents on the Mansfield side of the debate, as well as their local county commissioner, have remained cool to the idea because of fears that the two-lane road cannot handle additional traffic and that the location of elementary, middle and high schools, as well as Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, all along Mansfield is a safety hazard.

“The study will probably come back late fall or into winter,’’ Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore said. “There’s not much more I can add.”

Comm. Moore said the money appropriated for Kinnan-Mansfield wouldn’t have any effect on the decision by his county. He says many of his constituents in Meadow Pointe, particularly Meadow Pointe II & III, do not want Mansfield and Kinnan hooked up, even though it’s been in Pasco’s long-range transportation plan since Meadow Pointe was first developed in the early 1990s.

Based on feedback his office has received, Moore puts the percentage of those opposed at 70-80 percent.

At a public meeting hosted by Pasco County planners at PHSC in April, three potential connections were discussed —Kinnan-Mansfield, extending the existing Meadow Pointe Blvd. to the proposed K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and extending Wyndfields Blvd. to both K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and to Morris Bridge Rd.

While Dennis Smith, the chairman of the Meadow Pointe I CDD, said he wanted to see the connection made, others did not. The proposed extension of Meadow Point Blvd., two miles further east, had wider support, Moore said.

“Right now, in my mind, Meadow Pointe Blvd. would be an excellent location,’’ Moore said. “There is little to no objection to it.”

However, Hagan made it clear the $250,000 the county has allocated is only for the Kinnan-Mansfield connection, not any other connector roads Pasco County may request instead. Multiple connections could be an option.

“We always talk about regional connectivity,” Hagan says, “and we have (other) connections between the two counties. It’s just absurd this road hasn’t been connected all  these years.”

Buckhorn: New Tampa Should Be Happy With City’s 2018 Budget

City of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn spoke with the Neighborhood News recently about a number of issues related to New Tampa, especially the $970-plus million city budget for 2018 (see story on previous page). While some city residents have expressed concern over the proposed property tax increase from $5.73 per $1,000 of assessed property value to $6.21, many local leaders appear pleased with the budget overall.

NN: The wait for the expansion of the NTRC has been a frustrating one for many New Tampa residents. It seemed to make it into your budget proposals, but never survived the final cut. How important was it to make sure it survived this time?

BB: I absolutely understand it is a very popular center. The problem that we’ve had is trying to balance the budget in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, and we are not even back to 2007 property tax revenue numbers yet.

In the 10 years since the 2007 recession really hit us, we have lost over $280 million in revenues as a result of the plummeting property values, as a result of reduction in the communications service tax revenues and the fact that interest rates are so much lower now. That loss of $280 million is a body blow to us. We are 700 employees less than we were in 2007, yet we have still managed to do the same job that we have always done and do it better than we’ve ever done it, with far less revenue (coming in). That tells you why some of the projects that would sort of be considered add ons have fallen off. It’s not because we wanted to, it’s because we had no choice.

NN: The local frustration stems from the fact that proposed funding in the past ended up diverted to other projects, like last year with the Cuscaden Pool in Ybor City. Is the perception that you care more about taking care of South Tampa a fair one?

BB: I get it. I understand. I don’t know that we choose one part of the city over another deliberately. There were some needs in other parts of the city that were more critical, but we’re doing far more with far less than we ever have. Hopefully, with this year’s budget, we’ll be able to do some of the things that people care about that five years ago couldn’t be determined to be critical.

Tampa Fire Rescue Chief Thomas Forward speaks to the Tampa City Council on Sept. 28 on behalf of New Tampa’s Fire Station No. 23, which is now in the city’s Fiscal 2018 budget to be built on County Line Rd.

NN: There has been an emphasis on parks in recent years, to the extent I believe one of the City Council members said the budget put parks over people, or something to that effect. How important do you feel the park projects have been citywide?

BB: I think they are hugely important. I think one of the reasons Tampa is in the midst of a transformation is because we are building out the urban core and building an amazing city that is attracting some of the best and brightest talent in the world. If we’re going to compete for that talent, it won’t because we are building great suburbs. It will be because we built a great city and a great downtown.

There is an economic reason that much of the attention over the last 5-6-7 years focused on building the urban core, including things like the Riverwalk and Julian B. Lane Park, because if we’re going to compete for that bright young talent, those millennials out there that can live anywhere in the world, you’ve got to have an urban environment that makes sense. If you attract the talent, then you attract the companies and you attract the jobs…when you add parks and open spaces and are taking advantage of that waterfront, then building an 18-hour-a-day city that people can work, live and play in is critical to that.

NN: Is that hard to explain to people who think projects in their area are being overlooked?

BB: There is a method to the madness and it’s working. By every measure, this is a different city than it was six years ago, with the best chapters still to be written. Parks and green space are a big part of that. If you don’t have quality of life, all the brick and mortar projects don’t make a bit of difference.

NN: For those paying taxes in New Tampa, though, is it not reasonable to expect more bang for their tax buck?

BB: This is the (fourth) fire station that we’ve built in New Tampa. We’ve made a serious commitment to the health and safety of New Tampa for certainly the 6.5 years I’ve been the mayor.  Is there more that people would like? Absolutely. I get it. I understand the disconnect that some people feel from downtown Tampa in New Tampa. I’m perfectly cognizant of that. We work hard to try and eliminate that but I recognize that it’s there.

NN: So, this is a budget New Tampa should be happy with?

BB: I think (District 7) City Councilman Luis Viera has done a great job making sure the needs of New Tampa are reflected in this budget. There’s probably more in this year’s budget, if it passes at the higher millage rate, than there has been in the last 3-4 years…. A lot of things I think the folks in New Tampa will be very very happy with.

NN: The $90,000 to study and design a Sensory Park seemed to come out of nowhere. How did that come about?

BB: If you recall in my State of the City address, we launched an autism-friendly city project to make Tampa a city that is recognized for being autism friendly. (Note: In April, Buckhorn announced the “Autism Friendly Tampa” project, in which the city will work with the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities at the University of South Florida to provide more services to residents with autism.)

I don’t think people realize the number of people in our community that are touched by autism and have family members or friends that are somewhere on the spectrum.

The idea of a park that would be specifically geared towards those kids emerged out of those discussions. We had an obligation to finish building a park in the New Tampa area as a result of a developer agreement going back probably 15-20 years. We saw that location (behind the BJ’s Wholesale Club on Commerce Palms Dr. in Tampa Palms) as the perfect place to try and do it. It will be the first that we have done in the city. Hopefully, in next year’s budget, we can get the money for construction.

NN: After some debate, the City Council decided to lower your proposed millage rate increase. The new number won’t bring in as much property tax revenue, but can you still make do with that figure?

BB: We can because we made a decision to move $5 million of the remaining money from the BP settlement over to general revenue, which allowed us flexibility on the millage side. That is what allowed us to be supportive of the (.475 increase). There will still be pain in the budget, but we will be able to do the expansion of the New Tampa Rec Center, and some of the other projects that parts of our community care very deeply about. We also will be able to fund the new fire station (No. 23 on County Line Rd.). There will be a lot of benefit for New Tampa in this budget.

New Tampa Rec Center, Fire Station Survive Budget Battle

A large contingent of New Tampa residents showed up in red shirts at both budget workshops to speak to the council about the importance of the New Tampa Recreation Center.

Despite a Tampa City Council meeting that started on a Thursday evening and ended on a Friday morning — and, at one point, had nearly every Council member throwing up their arms and/or staring off into space in frustration over a property tax stalemate, the final vote at 12:06 a.m. on Sept. 29 preserved the Fiscal 2018 City Budget what most of the people in New Tampa who attended the public hearing were hoping it would:

1) Money for the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC) in Tampa Palms,

2) Funding for a new fire station on County Line Rd. near Grand Hampton and

3 Money to plan and design an autism Sensory Park in New Tampa.

“Last night was pretty good,’’ said District 7 (which includes all of New Tampa within the city limits) City Councilman Luis Viera.

The seven City Council members voted 4-3 to raise the city’s millage rate from $5.73 to $6.21 per $1,000 of assessed, taxable property value, the first time in 29 years that city property taxes have been raised.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn requested in his $972.4 million budget for Fiscal Year 2018 (which begins Oct. 1) an increase to $6.63 percent. The increase settled on by the Council means an increase of roughly $100 per year for a home in New Tampa, where the median price is about $260,000.

Buckhorn’s original request to raise the millage by 0.9 percent (and produce $15 million in revenue) was voted down to 0.6 percent at the first budget hearing (by a 4-3 vote) on Sept. 18. But, when the vote came up again at the second meeting on Sept. 28, the Council members voted against the 0.6 by a 4-3 vote, with Council Chair Yolie Capin (at-large District 3) changing her vote.

That set off hours of negotiations between the council members to find an acceptable millage increase. The arguments included angry volleys lobbed at Buckhorn about future deficits of more than $50 million that many of the council members said they were unaware of until recently. Almost every number between 0.3 and 0.6 was debated and defeated— including a motion by Dist. 1 (also at-large) Mike Suarez not to raise the millage rate at all, which would have resulted in massive budget cuts — until an increase of 0.475 passed with votes from Viera, Dist. 5’s Frank Reddick, Dist. 2 (at-large) Charlie Miranda and Dist, 4’s Harry Cohen.

“When Mike Suarez proposed scrapping everything and it lost by only one vote (4-3), I thought I better compromise fast,’’ Viera said, leading to the 0.475 percent increase that pulled Cohen, who had been denied three times after putting through a motion to make the increase .45 percent, to their side.

Because the millage rate increase is less than Buckhorn wanted, and therefore will bring in less revenue than expected, parks and recreation will still endure almost a $600,000 cut in operational costs. But, unlike past budgets that had money included for the NTRC only to see it pulled at the last minute, Viera said this budget was a winner locally, especially with potential lean times ahead due to a $50-million deficit the city is expected to be dealing with.

“We got 100 percent of what we wanted,’’ Viera said. “The cut to parks and rec is a small compromise we had to make. There’s no way we could get the rec center passed next year,; it probably would be a 5-6-year wait. This was the magic year.”

The now-$970 million budget includes $1.9 million for expanding the NTRC, which is one of only two facilities in the city that is home to the city’s highly touted dance, acrobatics and sports readiness program and has a waiting list of roughly 3,000, according to Tampa Palms resident Tracy Falkowitz.

Falkowitz also has said that the current building itself will not be expanded. Instead, a second building will be built on the property to accommodate more children.

An additional $1.4 million of 2018 Community Investment Taxes are budgeted to complete the construction of Fire Station No. 23, which will be located in the Grand Hampton/Grand Colony area off County Line Rd.

The station will house 39 firefighters, an engine company, a truck company and a rescue unit. No. 23 also will be home to a new District Fire Chief, who will coordinate responses between all four of New Tampa’s fire stations.

And, $90,000 is in the budget for study and design of a “sensory-friendly” park on the land behind BJs Wholesale Club, which will be developed in conjunction with the University of South Florida.

Falkowitz, the attorney who spearheaded the push to protect the money earmarked for New Tampa in the budget, sat through the entirety of both budget hearings. She said she wasn’t surprised the debate lasted into the early hours, based on her many discussions with multiple council members.

She said she was only worried twice that the panel might decide on a low enough millage rate that budget cuts would be required. In fact, she said that Miranda approached her during one break and told her “I don’t think you’ve got it”. And, when the .45 rate – which would have required cuts that could endanger the NTRC — came up for a vote.

“This never could have happened without all the community support,’’ Falkowitz said. “Without the New Tampa Council, the neighborhood associations, the rec center moms and dads and kids. That sea of red in front of the council and those that spoke up at those meetings was tremendous. Before this year, New Tampa was never heard and New Tampa was never really addressed. This time, we came together as a community and they heard us.”