By Gary Nager
As a native New Yorker who used to run on cold fall and even winter days in Central Park, the first-ever “Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot” 5K (3.1-mile) race and 1-mile fun run— held at the Shops at Wiregrass mall Thanksgiving morning — was an icy cold blast from the past for me. Click through for a slideshow from the chilly Trot!Continue reading
By Gary Nager
It’s hard to believe it’s already been six months since the Ker’s WingHouse opened on S.R. 54 (just west of the corner of Old Pasco Rd.). Of course, the Wesley Chapel location is just one of more than 20 WingHouse restaurants in Florida, and the company itself has a 20-year history in the Tampa Bay area. Founded by former Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos offensive lineman Crawford Ker, the first WingHouse opened in Largo in 1994 and there are plans to open locations throughout the Southeast.
All WingHouse restaurants are open for lunch and dinner and feature full-service bars with a wide selection of liquor cocktails and major domestic, imported, and specialty beers. Signature items include Ker’s famous “Naked” Chicken Wings — skinless drummettes that are marinated, baked, and tossed in one of Ker’s award-winning wing sauces — and the Dallas Burger: two juicy 8 oz BBQ burgers topped with bacon.
All WingHouse locations also feature state-of-the-art TV packages for all of the big games and Pay-Per-View boxing matches and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fights.
But, of course, the main attraction at every WingHouse are the world-famous “WingHouse Girls.”
The girls are the foundation of Ker’s concept. These “ultimate girls next door” wait tables, tend bar, work as hostesses, participate in brand promotions and are the company’s cheerleaders — and the primary reason the Wesley Chapel and other locations are all so popular. Wesley Chapel general manager Tony Santos promises that his WingHouse girls are always attractive, polite and provide great service, positive attitudes and pretty smiles — all to encourage guests to make frequent visits and become loyal customers.
Every month or so, each WingHouse has certain days called “Dress to Impress,” where the girls wear special outfitts or costumes. The two most recent were the always-fun Halloween and Military days in October and November, respectively. The next “Dress to Impress” will feature the girls as “Santa’s Little Helpers” on Friday, December 20, and Tony promises that although the outfits can be a little more risqué at other locations, “We usually have the girls tone it down a little for this location, because we get so many families here.”
And, with so many beautiful young women working at all of the WingHouse locations, the company puts out an awesome yearly calendar (buy yours at the Wesley Chapel location), which for 2014 features two of your Wesley Chapel WingHouse girls — Alex (photo left) and Skyla.
But of course, this is still mainly a dining review and I’m definitely a fan of not only WingHouse’s aforementioned “naked” wings (I prefer the medium Buffalo-style, blackened and Asian versions), but also of the huge “Grouper’s Teammate” and mahi-mahi sandwiches, which I prefer grilled or blackened with a side of WingHouse’s perfectly spicy red cocktail sauce.
I also have enjoyed some of the WingHouse’s great daily lunch (served 11 a.m.-4 p.m.) specials, including Monday’s meatball sub, the hot ham & cheese sandwich on Thursday and fried fish & chips on Friday.
I’m also partial to the regular WingHouse burger, although there are some options that I’ve heard people rave about, including the mushroom Swiss burger. I also have had no problem devouring any of the four wrap sandwiches on WingHouse’s menu, although my favorite is the big Philly cheesesteak wrap. I’ve never sampled WingHouse’s Texas chili or chicken and sausage gumbo, but I do enjoy the zesty chicken tortilla soup. And, WingHouse’s salads are fresh, huge and share-able. There’s even a great kids menu and desserts like New York-style cheesecake, Key lime pie and ice cream.
For more info about the Wesley Chapel Ker’s WingHouse (5510 Post Oak Blvd.), call 428-7157, see the ad on page 30 for great coupon specials (including a buy-one-16-oz.-draft-beer-&-get-the-second-one-free and a buy-six- lunches-get-the-seventh-lunch-free special) or visit WingHouse.com. And, please tell Tony and the girls we sent you.
By Gary Nager
Although the official “National Singing Day” for this school year isn’t until February 5, 2014, our congratulations go out to Freedom High student- athletes Rachel Carlson, Jimmy Jones, Jr., and Ashley Wilson, each of whom signed scholarships to continue playing their respective sports in college.
Carlson and Wilson, who both play outfield for coach Autum Hernandez’s Freedom softball team — which finished with a sparkling 22-4 record and lost 1-0 to Ft. Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas Prep in the State Class 7A Finals to end the 2012-13 season, signed to attend and play with the University of Maine (at Orono) Bears and the Elon (NC) University Phoenix, respectively.
Meanwhile, Jones, the son of former LPGA tour star Dawn Coe-Jones and golf company executive Jimmy Jones, will play his college golf for and attend Florida Southern College in Lakeland.
The young athletes and their families, high school and college coaches, as well as Freedom staffers, friends and media members (about 100 people total) packed the Freedom Media Center on November 13 for the signings.
Freedom golf coach Mike Passarelli said that Jones was the “anchor” of the Freedom squad that advanced to the Class 3A State Championship tournament for the first time ever this season. And, al- though Jones’ 14-over-par 158 (78-80) in the State Finals wasn’t his best scoring ever, he still finished 33rd of the 96 State-participating golfers.
Freedom softball coach Autum Hernandez said that Wilson and Carlson, the team’s left and center fielder, respectively, will again be among her top players this season. In 2012-13, Carlson led Freedom with a .406 batting average and tied for first on the team in runs scored (24) and RBIs (20) while going 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts. Wilson, who led the Pats with 4 home runs on the year, hit her final homer in the bottom of the 8th inning, after making a tough catch in LF and throwing out a runner at second base, to send Freedom to the State finals.
Congrats to all three & good luck!
By Gary Nager
Photos by Matt Wiley
So, with the local housing market finally showing signs of recovery, isn’t it time you made some much-needed upgrades to your home, whether to get it ready for sale or to make it a more beautiful place for you and your family to live?
Well, our friend Hui You and her staff at Cabinet & Stone International (located on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, between Busch Blvd. & Hillsborough Ave.), have always had great ideas for providing the best-looking kitchen and bathroom cabinets and granite and other stone countertops for your home, and as always, there are some new arrivals you should check out even if you’ve been through the Cabinet & Stone showroom before.
For about four months now, Cabinet & Stone — which has its own factory in China which produces the amazing cabinet lines designed by Hui and her staff here in Temple Terrace — has been featuring two exciting new all-wood cabinet designs, one being a sleek, Santorini white and the other in Manhattan espresso. The styles of the two new lines — which brings the total different cabinet and color choices available at Cabinet & Stone up to eight — are the same, only the handles are different, but they look totally different because of the handles, the cabinet configurations and the countertops you choose to go along with them.
Best of all, in addition to kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities available in the new Santorini white and Manhattan espresso colors, Cabinet & Stone also can create an entire closet system for your home in the same colors and styles.
With so many cabinet choices available now at the 30,000-sq.-ft. warehouse and showroom, Hui says Cabinet & Stone has had to split its existing showroom into two parts — one just to display bathroom cabinet and stone selections and the other is the new vanity and closet design center. She adds that she didn’t begin promoting the new design center right away (it’s been open for several months) because, “We wanted to make sure everything was perfect with the new designs first. Even without really promoting them, we have still sold a lot of them because when people see them in the showroom, they want to buy them and everybody really seems to love them.”
She says the new designs are skewed towards younger buyers because, “A lot of the people buying new houses are younger families who want a younger, more modern look,” she says, “and all of the colors and styles you see on our website (CabinetnStoneIntl.com) are Cabinet & Stone brands that we’ve designed.”
The deign center is also a great place to see all of the beautiful and popular new vessel sinks and vessel sink faucets that you find in modern, contemporary bathrooms you see in many new model homes. You also will find the also-popular under-mount sinks in the design center.
According to its website, Cabinet & Stone International has been serving the greater Tampa Bay area as a family-operated business for more than 10 years. The families involved in the business have been involved with woodworking for more than 25 years in Fujian, China, where they have their factories and granite quarries. The company directly imports cabinets and granite counter tops, thus eliminating the “middleman” cost and Cabinet & Stone’s prices are very competitive. With a total of more than 70,000 square feet of warehouse space, the company is one of the largest distributors of pre-made cabinets and granite countertops on the east coast of the U.S.
Whether the order is from Grand Cayman or Upstate New York, a single cabinet order or a container, Cabinet & Stone is capable of meeting your needs.
“We believe that no job is too small or too big,” says Hui. “If you need your kitchen or bathroom yesterday, we can do it because everything is stocked here at the warehouse, so unless we’re out of stock on an item, there’s no wait or turnaround times.”
But, with new container shipments arriving from China every month, Hui says that you won’t even be waiting long for items that are temporarily out of stock, either.
“No one is going to get you your countertops or cabinets faster than we are or beat us for quality,” she says. “And whenever we check other company’s prices we know that we are saving our customers money.”
And, Cabinet & Stone has many customer testimonials to share, including this one from a customer named Anne.
“I just wanted to let you know how good the job looks and how much we appreciate your professionalism throughout the entire process. We will recommend you to all of our friends. Thanks again, and keep up the good work.”
All of the cabinets at Cabinet & Stone are 100-percent real wood, including oak, maple and birch. There are seven unique door styles each with designer selected colors in stock. All of them are solid wood fronts and plywood boxes and shelves stained in the same color as the front and there are absolutely NO particle boards The hardware also is top-of-the-line: full- extension, heavy duty glides, soft close glides, and six-way adjustable hinges.
The company also specializes in granite in many colors you need in any edges you want, in addition to our in-stock unique selections. We have both 2cm and 3cm in thickness.
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For information about Cabinet & Stone International (6606 North 56th St., Tampa 33610, call 887-5658 or visit CabinetnStoneIntl.com. Bring in the Cabinet & Stone ad on page 48 and New Tampa customers will receive 25-percent-off their purchases. Ask at the store for details.
By Gary Nager,
It’s hard for me to fathom that the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, and even harder to believe the number of ribbon cutting events and Chamber mixers I’ve been to just in the last 30 days alone — too many, in fact, to post a pic of most of them in this space — and yet, I only attended about 2/3 of the 15 available Chamber events since our last issue went to press.
The other thing that amazes me is how many of the 15 ribbons the WCCC has cut since mid-October weren’t held at businesses located in what we call Wesley Chapel at all. In fact, more than 1/3 of them took place either in New Tampa or the Lutz/Land O’Lakes area.
In other words, Wesley Chapel’s Cham- ber is one of the busiest, most successful “small” (as in, not located in a major city) chambers of commerce I’ve ever heard of or seen. The “players” at the WCCC may have changed over the years, but if you own a business in our area — new or otherwise — and you haven’t had these folks over to your place to cut a ribbon, you’ve been missing out on a great chance to expose your business to dozens of local business leaders and owners. For more info, call 994-8534 or visit WesleyChapelChamber.com.