Zach Feinstein, the co-owner of The Feinstein Group, which has opened three successful restaurants in Dunedin (including the original Living Room on Main St.) since the group was established in 2014, says “The Living Room should be open in Wesley Chapel by the first week in August.”
Zach and his wife Christina (pictured above), who took over The Black Pearl on Main St. together when they were just dating (“My friends told me I was crazy,” says Christina. “But obviously, it’s all worked out.”), are not only the proud owners of The Living Room and The Black Pearl, but also the Sonder Social Club, located on Douglas Ave. (off Main St.), and all three restaurants are completely different from each other.
The Sonder Social Club is primarily a cocktail lounge featuring, according to Zach, “some of the best craft cocktails in the Tampa Bay area,” although it does have a few food items, including charcuterie boards and cauliflower-crusted artisan pizzas.
The Black Pearl, which Zach says he and Christina have “greatly upgraded” since taking it over, is the most upscale of the three, with starters like escargot en croute and white truffle lobster risotto and entrées like Hereford filet mignon, Chilean sea bass Lyonnaise and Maple Leaf Farms seared duck breast. The Black Pearl is ranked #1 of 133 restaurants in Dunedin on Tripadvisor.
But, the Feinsteins say, The Living Room is the most “mainstream” of their three eateries, which Tripadvisor ranks #10 of 133 restaurants in Dunedin. “We’re perfect for a ‘Big Night Out’ or date night,” Zach says, “but our menu pricing is very fair, so we’ll also be a great place to meet your friends for a craft cocktail and some appetizers anytime throughout the week.”
Zach and Christina, who got married in 2017, say they looked at South Tampa and other locations to open their fourth restaurant before they decided to bring The Living Room to Wesley Chapel. “With all of the growth out here near the mall,,” Zach says, “we felt that Wesley Chapel was our best option.”
Although Zach adds that the menu will be similar to the Dunedin location, which has starters like flash fried pork dumplings, beef tenderloin empanadas and tuna poké, shareables such as a smoked salmon flatbread and Korean BBQ lettuce wraps, and entrées like brown butter diver scallops (photo to the right), sautéed red grouper and a spicy pork chop, “our Executive Chef Joshua Rhynes will have a few new surprises on the menu, too.”
The Feinsteins have spared no expense when it comes to their newest restaurant. When you walk in, the first thing you’ll see is a 100-year-old bookcase and hand-carved hostess stand that both came from a historic home in Hyde Park. The bar area, although similar in size and orientation to what used to be in Ciao! at the mall, “is being completely redone,” says Zach, as are the spacious main dining area inside (with a huge wine selection), the expanded (soon to be covered) outdoor patio (with live music), and two interior private dining areas, one with seating for up to about 70 people and the other an almost-speakeasy-like room for up to 12 people that even has its own private entrance/exit door hidden inside a bookshelf.
“There’s definitely no place like The Living Room in Wesley Chapel,” says Zach. “No one can beat our food or our craft cocktails. And, Christina has outdone herself designing the place. Welcome Home!”
The Living Room is located at 2001 Piazza Ave., Unit 100, in The Shops at Wiregrass. For more info, visit TheLivingRoomonMain.com, and stay tuned to our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page for the latest updates.
Another restaurant possibly heading in this direction is Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian steakhouse with five Florida locations, including Orlando and Sarasota.
Representatives of Rodizio Grill were scheduled for a pre-app meeting with Pasco County planners on July 5. According to a concept site plan filed with the county, the restaurant would be located off S.R. 56 on Sun Vista Dr., in front of the At Home store (and just south and across the road from Costco).
According to its website, Rodizio Grill was the first authentic Brazilian Steakhouse or “Churrascaria” in the U.S. when it was established in 1995 by Ivan Utrera.
The menu features rotisserie grilled beef, poultry and pork meats, glazed pineapple, a gourmet salad bar and authentic Brazilian side dishes, including feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew), couve (sauteed collared greens and bacon) and more.
Chicken Salad Chick Opening Delayed
The new Chicken Salad Chick, located on the Wesley Chapel Blvd. extension south of S.R. 56 (in a new building next to Zaxby’s), is delaying its Grand Opening, which was originally scheduled for July 20.
A new daye has not been announced.
The same building also will be home to a new nail salon. — GN
NY-Style Pizzeria To Replace Windy City!
A new NY-style pizzeria will be replacing Windy City Pizza (formerly Full Circle Pizza) in the Pebble Creek Collection in New Tampa, with a new name we can’t announce yet, but with some familiar faces running it. Stay tuned to our social media for further updates! — GN
Hana Sushi Won’t Open
We had been telling you for a few months that the former location of Aroy Thai on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa was going to become the second location of Hana Sushi, which has an existing restaurant in Sarasota.
Daniel Earles of SRE Real Estate, the agent for the strip plaza that also is home to Tire Choice and MedExpress Urgent Care, just south of County Line Rd., says that because of a partnership issue, Hana Sushi has pulled out of the 2,067-sq.-ft. location and notes that “it’s pretty much built out for a restaurant, so it would be almost a turnkey location for another restaurant owner.” For leasing info, call (813) 424-2500. — GN
With rents sky-high & limited space available here, New Tampa entrepreneurs are finding success & happiness at the new container park in Wesley Chapel.
For entrepreneurs, finding a place to start a new business in New Tampa can be tricky. Space can be limited. Prices are high. New development is scarce.
At the new KRATE at The Grove container park in Wesley Chapel, however, the plan was to lure those entrepreneurs in with a flashy concept — a park filled with converted shipping containers with bright murals painted on the side — and a less expensive entry point, with some container rents beginning at roughly $1,500 a month.
After a wildly successful opening day, the container park continues to boom for many of its owners, including a group of current and former New Tampa residents.
Here are a few of them:
Nimesh & Felicia Desai, Blush Wine Room
The Blush Wine Room has been an idea the Desais have been planning for the last five years, but finding the perfect location had been a major chore.
The 14-year Live Oak Preserve residents scoured Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in the hopes of finding a launching pad for their hip and trendy concept.
It was a call from from Bernadette Blauvelt, the owner of B Creative Painting Studio at The Village at Grove in Wesley Chapel, that turned their attention to the container park.
“She said ‘You have to come take a look,’” Felicia says.
So they did. Although they had considered trying to get in a space at the The Village at Hunter’s Lake town center, the day after meeting with developer Mark Gold in late 2019, they signed a lease.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Covid-19 ended up wiping out her small business, two cafés in office buildings.
But now, nearly three years later, the Blush Wine Room is one of the KRATEs’ hottest spots. The weekends are non-stop packed, as the bar’s offering of wine, wine tastings, wine-based cocktails (many served in pouches for those walking around), and a menu that includes homemade meatballs, truffle fries, cheese boards and a variety of chips and dips are in high demand.
“It’s been crazy,” says Felicia, “But we love it. I have no complaints.”
Chris Ferraro & Brooke Wahlquist, Higher Flour
The tenant list at the KRATEs is filled with entrepreneurs who had been looking for a decent entry point into a physical location to sell their dreams.
Chris and Brooke, who are engaged and live in Richmond Place, came up with a concept that combined his passion for holistic medicine (Delta 8 THC, in this case) and her baking skills to make delicious gourmet edibles.
However, their efforts to find a landlord willing to rent out space for their Higher Flour store stalled, due to the stigma still associated with CBD, even though it’s legal in 30 states, including Florida.
“We were actually denied from 12 other locations,” Chris says. “I had pretty much given up all hope of opening this awesome idea that we had.”
The very last place on his list was KRATE at the Grove which, at the time, was only a concept. Chris says his initial inquiry was rejected, but he pleaded for a meeting with Gold, who liked the idea once Chris explained to him that it wasn’t going to be a smoke shop.
Since opening on June 4, Chris says Higher Flour has been “killing it.” The success has already inspired him to consider adding more locations.
The store sells five different flavors of cookies, from the traditional chocolate chip to Ube, which is a purple yam popular in Filipino deserts. Each cookie has 25 mg of Delta 8 THC, roughly the same as you’d get in a gummy, although everyone’s mileage varies, Chris says.
“Thank God for Mark Gold,” says Chris, whose previous business, LitFit, specialized in online sales of pashminas and was successful until Covid-19 hit. He added that Gold’s green light “changed the entire course of my family’s history.”
Luis & Olimar Ledezma, Mojo Grill Latin Infusion
Luis was the longtime general manager at the Wendy’s on BBD, and then managed the Inside The Box Café at Armature Works from 2018-20 until they raised the rent and forced him to look elsewhere.
Luis says at that moment, Olimar, a senior manager for a car insurance company, “challenged me” to start something. With his management skills, her talent as a chef (learned from culinary classes she took in Spain) and their experiences eating different cuisines while traveling around the world, it was time to take the plunge and “stop working for somebody else.”
So after reading about the container concept in the Neighborhood News in 2019, Luis wasted little time signing up for the chance to run his own business.
“It was a no-brainer deal,” he said. “The KRATE was a great concept.”
Olimar designed the menu at Mojo Grill. The result has been dishes like the Argentinian-inspired Chimichurri steak, the Uruguayan-inspired Choripan sandwich, Cuban-inspired nachos and a variety of other tasty Latin dishes. Drinks, too — Olimar makes a killer homemade sangria.
Like almost every restaurant container at KRATE, business has been hopping. The container is almost never empty and the weekends are a madhouse.
“When you work hard and put your concept out there and deliver good flavors, people will come back,” Luis said.
This is “definitely” something Luis says he could not have pulled off in New Tampa. While living in Live oak Preserve for 10 years, he saw enough small restaurants turn over to discourage him.
“It would be much harder to become known without spending much more money,” he says. “I wouldn’t take that risk in an expensive brick-and-mortar. This is perfect.”
Sheila & Osman Haque, Life Essentials Refillery
Sheila’s career in the zero-waste and better living business started on a boat, where she and her three daughters noticed trash floating in the water. That inspired her to start EmbraceLessWasteUSA.com, a website devoted to zero-waste, American-made products.
Haque, who lives in Cory Lake Isles, completed the Pasco Economic Development Council (EDC) business incubator program, and although she could use the EDC container on occasion to sell her products, she wanted her own store.
She put herself on the waiting list at the KRATEs while pursuing other opportunities. After passing on a few overpriced, high-rent options, Sheila says Life Essentials Refillery was ready to commit to a Trinity location.
Luckily, KRATE called and said there was an opening. “We were getting build-out pricing (in Trinity),” Sheila says. While she may be paying more per square foot at the smaller KRATE, she says, “the foot traffic is worth it.”
At Life Essentials Refillery, the Haques sell eco-friendly, healthy and locally-sourced items. In fact, Sheila says everything in the store is sourced from small American businesses.
Items like spices, herbs, teas and coffee are popular, as well as less toxic versions of things like detergent, soap and sunblock. But, because they also have a full kitchen, they are also able to sell food. You can bring in your own container and fill it with pasta, beans and candies, and there’s a gluten-free section to choose from as well.
And if you want to make your own nutbutter, Sheila can help you do that, too.
“The interest so far is better than I expected,” Sheila says. “We’ve met people that come from Sarasota and Gainesville because there’s nothing like this close by.”
All of these KRATE businesses have their own websites and social media presences, as well as their own open hours, but for a complete listing of and more information about all of the KRATE businesses, visit KrateatTheGrove.com.
For everyone (including yours truly) who has been waiting for more mom-&-pop-owned restaurants in our area, a few newcomers have debuted over the past 30 days and all are worth checking out.
Hungry Crab Juicy Seafood
Although I’m (sadly) allergic to more than half of the items on its menu, the second location of Hungry Crab Juicy Seafood Restaurant & Bar has opened in the former location of Kobe Japanese Steakhouse (and several other eateries) at 19601 BBD Blvd. at the front of the Pebble Creek Collection.
Bar areaSeafood boilSteamed oysters
Thankfully, I was able to try at least one of Hungry Crab’s make-your-own seafood boils — with 1/2-lb. of snow crab legs and 1/2-lb. of small clams (two types of shellfish that I don’t get allergic reactions to) in garlic butter. The seafood boils come with red potatoes and corn on the cob with your choice of flavor (I chose garlic butter only) and they all arrive at your table still tied up in a boil-in bag.
There also are fried starters like calamari and crab cakes and fried baskets, none of which I could try because all of the fried options are made in the same fryers. There’s also Hungry Crab festival options which are huge platters of everything from blue and dungeness crabs to lobster tail, green and black mussels and more.
For more info, call (813) 388-2862 or visit “Hungry-Crab-Juicy-Seafood-Bar-Tampa-FL” on Facebook.
Tessa’s Sweet Kafe
Although we told you it was supposed to be open as our May 31 issue hit mailboxes, it was another week or more before we could sample the delicious, homemade Korean food, desserts and boba teas at Tessa’s Sweet Kafe, now open in the former location of Gu Wei Noodle House (and Sukhothai before that) at 18101 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., Suite 100, across the street from the AMC 20 Movie Theater.
Tessa’s is owned and operated by Jennifer and Rory Kempink and features Jennifer’s takes on authentic Korean fare like kimbaps (Korean-style cooked sushi with beef bulgogi, pork katsu and other fillings), fried rice with your choice of beef, chicken, shrimp, egg or veggie, dumplings, coconut milk (which was awesome, by the way) and black tiger milk boba teas, strawberry and several other flavors of Korean bingsoo desserts and what may now be my favorite bone-in fried chicken in our area (middle photo, also by Charmaine George).
Although you also can get boneless or bone-in fried chicken with your choice of sauces already on the chicken, try the bone-in “Gary’s Way,” with the sauce on the side. The chicken is so crispy and crunchy outside, but moist and tender inside, that I will need a “fix” of it pretty much every week. I do love the sweet & spicy sauce (and the Korean radish salad that comes with it), but can easily eat this huge portion of chicken with no sauce at all.
For more information, call (813) 898-0277 or order online through UberEats or Postmates.
Oishi Express Sushi & Hibachi Grill
Another newcomer is the very tasty Oishi Express Sushi & Hibachi Grill, which opened last month in the space previous occupied by Luv Fresh (and Petra Mediterranean Express before that) at 17503 Preserve Walk Ln., Suite B, in the New Tampa Commons plaza.
Although they don’t put on the show by making your hibachi steak, chicken (photo), shrimp, salmon or veggies tableside, everything is freshly made to order and delicious, using quality ingredients.
Jannah and I also have enjoyed Oishi’s California roll, but be sure to try the thick-sliced red snapper sashimi — it’s excellent. Looking forward to trying more sushi, appetizers (I’ve only sampled the tasty gyoza dumplings so far) and even the chicken katsu. For info, call (813) 866-1300 or order online through UberEats or Postmates.— GN
So, how many of the restaurants at the KRATE Container Park at The Grove have you tried so far? I have tried all of them, although I definitely haven’t tried every dish at every KRATE eatery yet, so below is a list — in alphabetical order by the name of the KRATE — of my favorite dishes so far at the now-18 open restaurants and bars at the KRATEs. I plan to keep on sampling everything I can at these mom-and-pop eateries, and I will list my favorite KRATE desserts next issue, so stay tuned! — GN
Bacon Boss HQ — Although I have them put the BBQ mayo on the side, my favorite menu item at the Bacon Boss is the Bugsy Siegel Burger, which features a grilled-to-perfection burger topped with two slices of American cheese, crispy bacon, lettuce & tomato. So good.
Blush Wine Room — Despite its billing as a wine bar, this is definitely one of my favorite KRATE restaurants. I already love the bruschetta, beef & pork meatballs with spicy marinara and the chicken with vodka sauce flatbread (photo, left). The wines (including wine flights) also are great, but my favorite drink is the strawberry frosé — perfect on a hot day.
Cachapa
Chamo Bites Venezuelan Cuisine — I’ve always been a fan of arepas, and Chamo Bites tops them with a great variety of meats and cheeses, but I’m absolutely addicted to the Cachapa (a sweet corn pancake) filled with queso de mano, or “hand cheese,” which is like mozzarella only better.
El Prince Mediterranean — The meat shawarma sandwich, which is delicious, marinated sliced ribeye beef roasted with Middle eastern spices in a pressed pita-style wrap, topped with onions and tahini sauce (that I had them put on the side) is still my favorite at El Prince, although the diced El Prince salad is also a delicious option.
La Creacion Express — You don’t have to be a fan of Puerto Rican cuisine to enjoy La Creacion, although I haven’t yet tried the more hard-core items like octopus or alcapurria (green bananas & taro root) empanadas, I love the tripleta sandwich (with steak, ham and pork).
Mojo Grill Latin Fusion — The menu really is a mix of so many Latin favorites you really can’t go wrong, but my favorites so far are the steak chimichurri sandwich (thinly sliced skirt steak, caramelized onions, melted cheese and house-made chimichurri sauce on a toasted baguette) and the build-your-own bowl with grilled chicken, cilantro rice, black beans and Cuban slaw.
Palani’s Hawai’i Noodles House of Saimin — To date, the only dish I’ve tried is the saimin noodles in a savory clear broth garnished with barbecued char sui pork, kamaboko and crisp green onions, but it definitely makes my list of KRATE favorites. I suggest paying $4 for additional Chinese-style char sui pork. So good.
Shake-A-Salad — Since it was one of the first KRATE restaurants to open, I’ve tried more than one option of all three parts of the menu — the salads (my favorite is The Cobb), the wrap sandwiches (the Chicken Caesar is my fave) and the signature rice bowls (I absolutely love the Asian Marinated Chicken Rice Bowl).
Tacos El Patron — Already a family favorite, we love the savory pastor quesadilla filled with marinated pork, the huge carnitas burrito (filled with pork chunks, rice, beans and cheese) and the asada (steak) taco salad.
Tasty Ramen — Although I’m not as much into the variety of ramen bowls as I am the appetizers, I definitely love the pan-fried gyoza dumplings and crispy spring roll.
TJ’s Hot Dogs — Although TJ’s has a great variety of topping for its gourmet hot dogs, I only really have one favorite type — a kosher-style dog with brown mustard and sauerkraut (above) and TJ’s satisfies that craving for me. I plan to try some of the other options…eventually.
