A CELEBRATION OF FOOD!

Thanks to delicious steaks like this, Stonewood Grill & Tavern is New Tampa’s favorite restaurant again.

There isn’t anyone alive today who hasn’t been touched by Covid-19 in one way or another. Restaurants, however, were more than touched. They have practically been strangled.

This year has been arguably the hardest on the hospitality industry in American history, thanks to the pandemic that has been a living nightmare and is likely to have long-lasting effects.

Locally, as the novel coronavirus spread through the state, restaurants were closed in the spring for more than a month. Employees lost their jobs. Owners had to pivot to a takeout model for survival, and the community rallied around many of them. Facebook pages implored their communities to place orders and help local eatery owners stay afloat.

But, even as restaurants, and finally bars, reopened, tables inside remained empty. The fear is real. Covid-19 is still in full (or is it fuller?) swing, businesses in virtually every industry — but especially restaurants — still haven’t bounced all the way back, and the road to full recovery is a long one.

Cali – Tampa Palms is always among New Tampa’s top 5 favorites.

So this year, it’s our hope that our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest results will serve as a celebration of food and drink, and of all of our readers’ favorite places in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.

The number of you who took part in the survey this year was less than half of those who entered last year, although a lot of that probably can be attributed to the fact that we didn’t spend nearly as much time in restaurants and bars in 2020 as we have in previous years.

But nonetheless, more than 100 restaurants and bars in the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area received votes in one category or another.

In the favorite restaurant category, 99 restaurants in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa received votes. More than 25 Asian restaurants were selected as the favorite by readers, 26 restaurants offering sweets like cake, ice cream and drinks were chosen, and more 30 different pizza places — yes, 30! — received votes. That is a lot of choices, people. And clearly, you do have your favorites.

Let’s start with the top 20 Restaurants in New Tampa as chosen by our readers.

1 — STONE GRILL & TAVERN
Stonewood Grill & Tavern in Tampa Palms has been either the #1 or #2 favorite restaurant in New Tampa every year since it opened and this year was no exception under new managing partner Matt Passardi.

For anyone who has never tried Stonewood, it combines fresh fish and seafood, perhaps the best variety of hand-cut steaks of any restaurant in either of our distribution areas (Longhorn and Outback are the only ones even close), and the addition of lunch a couple of years ago definitely enhanced its standing as New Tampa’s favorite place for a great, more-upscale meal out, whether for lunch, dinner or even Sunday brunch.

Yes, Stonewood now offers “bottomless bubbles” (for just $12 per person), along with unique brunch items like a crab cake or prime rib “Benny,” creme brulée French toast and shrimp and grits on Sundays, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

And yes, Stonewood may also have New Tampa’s favorite upscale bar scene, even though it didn’t make the top-10 in this year’s Survey.  

2 — Cali-Tampa Palms (nee Ciccio Cali)
The name has changed, but Cali was the first to bring “bowl culture” to New Tampa and still has some of the best wrap sandwiches, stir-fry dishes and thin-crust pizzas in our area.

3 — Mr. Dunderbak’s
While it may have originally been located in the University Mall, Mr. Dunderbak’s has been New Tampa’s favorite German eatery since its move more than a decade ago to the Oak Ramble plaza south of Tampa Palms. 

4 — The Fat Rabbit
Although it has only been open for a few years in Tampa Palms, The Fat Rabbit has made its mark on not only our readers but our staff as well — especially since it added a fresh catch entrée to its more upscale sports bar fare (amazing wings & burgers, and don’t forget the side of tater tots!). 

5 — Liang’s Bistro
Liang’s Bistro has been among the top-10 in New Tampa with our readers every year since it opened and continues to be your favorite Asian restaurant in our area — for good reason. Our faves are the NY-style appetizers. 

Pebble Creek Golf Course Not Designated A ‘Brownfield’ Site

Pebble Creek Golf Club is on its final legs, according to owner Bill Place.

The plan to have the Pebble Creek Golf Club (PCGC) designated as a “brownfield” site has failed, saving the property value of many of the homes that surround the golf course.

Bill Place, whose Ace Golf Inc. owns the PCGC and has been trying to sell it for years now, said he will still go ahead with plans to decontaminate and sell the golf course to developers.

Place had been seeking the brownfield site designation for the golf course, which carries with it a state tax credit equal to roughly 75% of the cleanup costs.

A brownfield site is a property that is contaminated, thus hindering efforts to expand or redevelop it. In 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created a tax-credit program to help clean such properties up, so it could be reinvested in, helping the local economy as well as the local environment. The EPA estimates there are more than 450,000 brownfield sites in the U.S.

However, the word “brownfield” carries with it a negative connotation, especially in regards to a “green” golf course, causing Pebble Creek residents to rally together to fight against the course receiving the designation. There were petitions signed, a meeting on Nov. 30, and there were public hearings on Dec. 9 Dec. 16, prior to the vote. 

The message from the residents was clear — the brownfield site designation wasn’t deserved, carried with it a stigma and that they wanted the golf course to remain a golf course.

While at least one Pebble Creek resident registered support to doing what was necessary to get the course cleaned up — “the cat is out of the bag,” said Pamela Jo Hatley — the overwhelming majority were opposed to using the brownfield site designation to do so.

Michael Jacobson, the president of the Pebble Creek Homeowners Association, said that the contamination was mostly concentrated around the tee boxes and greens, and that the brownfield designation would suggest that the entire 150 acres was contaminated, having as much as a $62-million impact on property values in Pebble Creek.

Jacobson was one of 14 speakers registered on Dec. 16 to voice their disapproval of the designation. 

Following 30 minutes of public comments, the county commissioners voted unanimously against the 150-acre property being declared a brownfield.

“I’ve represented North Hillsborough for a long time and, candidly, I do not believe I’ve ever seen a neighborhood more engaged and unified in opposition to an issue,” said County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who District 2 includes Pebble Creek. “This is evidenced by the over 300 emails, 150 letters and 450 residents who signed an online petition and — with the exception of (one) — 100 percent being in opposition to the brownfield designation request for the Pebble Creek Golf Course. I want to deny that request today.”

While admitting that the future of the PCGC was “uncertain,” Hagan cited a number of concerns. First, the loss of 30 jobs that would result if the designation was granted and not meeting the economic productivity threshold that is required. 

Also, the county has never before designated an active golf course as a brownfield site, and that all recent brownfield approvals have been zoned for their intended uses in advance of the brownfield request, which did not happen in this case. “Not only is this request putting the cart in front of the horse,” Hagan said, “but it would potentially be precedent setting.” 

Place was disappointed in the decision, but said that he understood. He had even offered to pull his request for the designation, but it was too late.

“I didn’t expect the pushback when I started this,” Place said afterwards. “I realized as we got into it that it is a poorly named program. It conjures up images of the superfund industrial sites (which are designated as polluted locations that require a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations). The reality is, brownfield is used across the country in a number of locations, including golf courses. But, I get it. I understand. If I lived there, and someone told me it was gonna be a brownfield, I’d be concerned, too.”

So what now? Place says he will pay for the testing, which will take place over the next few months.

DR Horton, one of the original interested buyers of the PCGC, had done preliminary testing two years ago and discovered contaminants on the golf course before withdrawing its interest. South Florida developer 13th Floor, however, remains interested.

Place said that after DR Horton did its “very preliminary” testing of the golf course, he paid $50,000 to a company that did more extensive testing. High levels of arsenic and dieldrin were discovered, from insecticide applications before he owned the property, Place says. He added that those chemicals were banned prior to 2000, and he bought the course in 2005.

“The company told me this is not unlike what they have seen on golf courses this age,” Place says. “It’s not as excessive as some they have seen, but yes, it’s contaminated beyond state levels and we’ll have to clean it up before anything else can be done with the property.”

Place estimates the potential cleanup could cost $1 million, though 13th Floor has told him it could cost as much as $2 million. Without the tax credit from the brownfield designation, which would have covered three-fourths of that cost, Place will have to foot the bill.

Place said while the remediation of the contamination begins, 13th Floor will concurrently start a rezoning effort. While it is likely to meet some resistance, 13th Floor has already held a number of meetings with the HOA as well as residents.

While the property could accommodate as many as 600 homes on it, 13th Floor has already agreed to build fewer than 300. Place says that number is now projected to be between 220-250.

Place also said 13th Floor has agreed to other concessions requested by residents as well.“I certainly expect there will be people opposed to this being anything but a golf course,” Place says. “But there’s also people that realize that if it’s a certainty that the golf course is going away, why don’t we try and get as much as we possibly can from the developers to make this as good a situation as we possibly can?”

There are only 20 golf club members among the residents in the 1,400 or so homes in Pebble Creek. Place says he spends $500,000 every year on labor and fertilizers. The 53-year-old course, which opened in 1967, still has its original irrigation system.

“We’ve just been band-aiding it and band-aiding it,” Place,says. “It would cost a half-a-million dollars to put a new one in. The golf course is not viable going forward. It’s just not paying the bills. We don’t see another away. You can only operate a losing operation for so long before you’re like, ‘Okay, why am I doing this?’”

Movie Theater, KRATE making progress!

Developer Mark Gold’s vision of a one-of-a-kind hip, trendy and photogenic new outdoor shopping experience off Wesley Chapel Blvd. at I-75 has begun taking shape.

There will there be a sneak preview of the newly-revamped but not yet open movie theater on Dec. 31 at The Grove’s New Year’s Eve Countdown Extravaganza. The event will feature a 4-course meal with complimentary wine pairings for each course, as well as a private open bar cocktail reception with musical entertainment by Cal Morris Music.

Tickets are limited, and for more information click here.

The movie theater party comes on the heels of the first soon-to-be converted shipping container being officially placed on November 20 at KRATE, the outdoor “container park.”

More than a dozen more containers also are now in place, as Gold hopes to open many of the new businesses in the first quarter of 2021.

Seventeen modified containers, which will be home to nine businesses, make up the initial phase of what will one day be one of the largest container parks in the world. 

Though Gold’s vision began with a sun-beaten, unsightly faded yellow steel container being lowered onto a sandy patch of land, the shipping containers will be unrecognizable from their original forms after being transformed with air-conditioning, glass windows and doors, countertops, cabinets and wood and tile flooring and a few coats of brightly colored paint designed to create a festive look.

The first set of containers will be occupied by restaurants offering diverse dishes and items like Asian noodles, Puerto Rican cuisine, desserts and charcuterie boards.

Empty shipping containers like these, amongst the first to be put in place at KRATE, are being transformed into a trendy new food and retail “container park” experience at The Grove, which is expected to begin opening in early 2021. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

KRATE is expected to be the biggest of all the container parks. Once complete, it will feature 94 containers and 55 units comprised of 70% restaurants and 30% retail stores. Other restaurants will feature cuisine from around the world like Colombia, Peru and Germany. 

Some of the most recently announced tenants include The Cake Girl, Yummy Tablas and ATO, a burrito bowl concept by the owners of Zukku-San Sushi (which we featured last issue). The planned retail shops include a music store and a Lego® brand product superstore.

KRATE also will feature a stage with daily live entertainment, a dog park, a playground and plenty of outdoor seating.

“There is nothing like this in the world,” says Gold, a partner in Mishorim Gold Properties, which purchased the Grove for $62.7 million in September 2019. “KRATE is receiving attention across the globe for its unique concept and offerings. We will become the ultimate shopping and entertainment destination, not just for Wesley Chapel, but for the region and around the world.”

When it is complete, KRATE (rendering above) will feature 94 shipping containers making up 55 units, including more than 30 new restaurants.

While the container park concept is still relatively new, it has proven to be popular. Downtown Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf has re-purposed shipping containers housing roughly a dozen takeout restaurants, and places like Kansas City and Philadelphia have opened container parks of varying sizes the past two years.

 Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a popular container park — actually named Container Park — has 34 outlets with an emphasis on hip and quirky local businesses, as well as a stage and a playground.

Since purchasing The Grove, Gold has signed on 75 new tenants, including some businesses that are already open in what Gold calls The Village area — like F45 Fitness, the dueling piano bar restaurant Treble Makers (see pg. 21)and the Double Branch Artisanal Ales brewery (see pages 32-33). 

Gold says he has invested more than $110 million into the renovation of The Grove property which, in addition to KRATE, will include a reimagined movie theater and restaurant, a miniature golf course expected to break ground in January and, potentially, a water park. 

With pandemic safety at the forefront, Gold says all of the businesses in The Village and in the KRATE complex will include “medical grade” sanitation technology, like fogging machines, automated thermal temperature scan swing gates at the entrance and UV lights.

Those safety steps are expected to encourage people to feel comfortable both inside and outside while shopping and dining, including inside The Grove Movie Theater, which is expected to fully open sometime in January, not too long after the planned VIP sneak preview event on New Year’s Eve. 

Oronzo Honest Italian — Honestly Fast, Casual & Delicious!

If you’ve been craving freshly made Italian food and haven’t yet tried Oronzo Honest Italian, located in the outparcel building to The Walk at Highwoods Preserve plaza on Bruce B. Downs Blvd., I suggest you go now because it’s a one-of-a-kind fast-casual dining experience that’s sort of an Italian take on nearby Chipotle.

Owner Dan Bavaro, who started his career in the food service business at the age of 16 in New Jersey, when he worked for a food truck/caterer who provided food for movie sets. Two years later, he started a high-end limousine company and made enough money when he sold the business to open his own restaurant.

“I knew I didn’t want a ‘slice joint’ or a fine dining Italian place,” Dan says, so after moving to Tampa in 2007, “I ended up becoming one of the first three places in the country to serve wood-fired true Neapolitan-style pizza (that has since become all the rage) when I opened the original Bavaro’s Pizza Napoletana on Franklin St. downtown in 2009.”

Dan Bavaro (far left) with his family.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Dan says that when he first opened Bavaro’s, his whole menu was maybe ten items — including two pizzas, two appetizers, two salads.

By his third year in business, however, Bavaro’s had added pastas and sauces, all made in house and started selling the sauces in the restaurant.

“When we started, I got up to making 250 pizzas a day. Once we added other items, only 60% of the business was still pizza.” By 2015, Bavaro started franchising his place, with new locations popping up at Tampa International Airport and in downtown St. Pete and downtown Sarasota.

In 2016, he began talking with Bob Johnson, the owner of the uber-successful The Melting Pot franchises in our area and the two decided to start working on a fast, casual Italian concept together that four years later became Oronzo, which was named for Dan’s grandfather when it opened earlier this year. Oronzo and Angela Bavaro emigrated from Italy to Brooklyn, NY, where he owned and operated a trucking company, delivering fresh ingredients to local markets and restaurants. 

What About The Food?

Dan is proud that even though Oronzo is a fast, casual concept, the restaurant is a true scratch kitchen, where the pastas, sauces, bread for the piadina sandwiches (aka Italian burritos) and crispy, Roman-style flatbreads (Dan warns that they are not pizzas, although they’re yummy, whatever you call them) are all made in-house. Even the salad dressings and amazing tomato basil zuppa (soup; Jannah’s favorite, which is served with crisp, toasted rosemary focaccia bread) are all house-made.

Start with an Italian-inspired salad (the Italian chopped, classic Caesar and “Iconic Caprese” are all delicious (we added grilled chicken to the Italian chopped salad on this page). Our favorite dressing is the Caesar, but the roasted pepper vinaigrette gets Dan’s vote.

Jannah and I love the spaghetti with meatballs (and I love adding the fresh Italian sausage to it) and the fresh-cut zucchini noodles with antico pomodoro (fresh tomato sauce). You can choose from Oronzo’s pomodoro, spicy arrabbiata, crema, pesto, butter or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) sauces.

I’m also a big fan of the chicken pesto pasta. The only pasta on the menu I haven’t tried is the primavera, which you can get with spaghetti or zucchini noodles.

Also outstanding is the Caprese forza bowl, made with farro, an ancient grain from Sicily that has become popular here, too. The Caprese bowl features farro, crispy baked chicken, heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, pesto and a balsamic drizzle. So savory!

Senior video producer/photographer Charmaine George, who took most of these pics, also raved about the Caprese piadina (above) and Dan says his favorite is the chicken parm piadina.

My favorite flatbread so far is the Carne (with San Marzano tomato sauce, spicy Italian sausage, prosciutto cotto and spicy soppressata, fresh mozzarella and EVOO).

For dessert, Oronzo has three unique options. The only one I’ve had so far are the cannoli crisps, which are house-made cannoli cream, served with almost cookie-like cannoli crisps for dipping (above). There’s also a warm Nutella piatto flatbread and Italian wedding cookies. There’s even a great kids menu (labeled “Bambino”). 

Oronzo also features an easy-to-use ordering kiosk which quickly walks you through all of the available menu items and Dan says his online ordering system is state-of-the-art, too.“You can go on there and order for a week from now at a certain time and the system will remind us to make your food fresh a few minutes before you’re set to pick it up,” he says. “Technology is a key part of what we do and it’s been made better by listening to our customers.”

And now, Oronzo also offers beer and wine. The new additions include a Montepulciano D’Abruzzo red, a Pinot Grigio white and a sparkling prosecco, plus Peroni beer on draft and an Oronziata non-alcoholic beverage made from scratch with blood oranges, plus delicious espresso and Americano coffees.

Oronzo Honest Italian is located at 18027 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. And is open every day, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. For more information, call (813) 730-0100 or visit Oronzo.com.

Check Out Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market!

Whenever a new place opens in our area, most of us check it out and decide if there’s something there worth coming back for again and again.

Well, I honestly think that anyone who checks out the new Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market, which opened the day before we went to press with this issue in the brand new plaza on Post Oak Blvd. (off Wesley Chapel Blvd./S.R. 54 and Old Pasco Rd.) should be able to find a dozen or more items that will fast become some of their all-time favorites.

Owners Bill Moschella and Anthony Spadafora and their families (above photo) invite you to check out what can best be described as gourmet shop on steroids, with so many different departments that it’s hard to leave the place without buying at least something — and for folks like me, many things.

But First, The Story…

Bill and Anthony are long-time friends from the Italian north end of Boston. Anthony and his wife Gina still live in Boston, but Bill and his wife Devanie and their family moved to just outside of Wesley Chapel. Bill was in the concession business for around 35 years.

Anthonys family owned catering restaurants and Bill’s family owned a pizza and pastry shop in Boston. Since moving here, Bill and Devanie kept wondering why they had to drive to St. Pete in order to visit a real Italian market. They drew up the plans for Moschella’s on their kitchen counter.

“Even though Devanie and I are running the place,” Bill says, “Anthony and his family have contributed just as much to getting it open and for helping make sure it has everything we need.” 

And Now, The Food!

Super-thick tomahawk veal chop grilled to perfection.

Although I found the Italian and other imported and gourmet domestic cheeses (there’s also a separate grab & go cheese display), the fully stocked butcher shop (check out the photo above of my super-thick tomahawk veal chop I grilled to perfection; it was the best veal chop I’ve had since I moved to Florida in 1993), the incredible deli sandwich selection (with both a complete Boar’s Head case and a second case with just imported Italian meats and cheeses for slicing) and huge variety of fresh pastas you can make at home, it is Moschella’s displays of fresh, prepared hot and cold foods that really caught my eye.

Bill credits Chef Megan, who has worked in both catering and local restaurants, with refining every menu item idea the families had for these displays.

The hot foods display includes chicken, veal and even shrimp parmesan, plus beef, veggie and sausage lasagne, as well as prepared (but not sauced) chicken, veal and eggplant cutlets, as well as delicious braised lamb shanks and so much more than I have room to describe here.

There also are plenty of unique cold prepared salads, from house-made bruschetta, amazing broccoli rabe with sundried tomatoes, three bean salad, marinated roasted peppers, artichoke stems and tuna salad with shells, to name a few.

And, although Moschella’s hasn’t yet started selling its gourmet pizzas or arancini (rice balls), Devanie says to give it another week or two and they’ll be available. 

There also are huge display cases of “Grab & Go” prepared food items, including both refrigerated and frozen sections.

In other words, if you need a whole tray of lasagne to bring to Christmas dinner, you can buy it today (while supplies last) and bake it to perfection yourself. I didn’t show pics of the Grab & Go displays here because I didn’t have room and they’re as photogenic as the other photos.

Dessert, Too?    

Do you really need to ask? Moschella’s has an amazing display case of everything from rainbow, chocolate sandwich (see photo on next page) and lace cookies to sfogliatella (think of a super-crisp croissant loaded with a thick, cannoli-like cream) and yes, cannolis hand-piped, also with that homemade cannoli cream. And, best of all, all of these luscious, decadent desserts are made in-house.

And of course, Moschella’s has all of the pre-packaged imported items Italian families and great cooks crave — from cookies and cakes to virtually every brand of imported tomato sauces (top right photo on next page), pastas, olive oils and balsamic vinegars (including oils and vinegars bearing a Moschella’s label) and so much more.

Like my new friend Liz from Staten Island said as she walked through Moschella’s — “I feel like I’m home!”

And Yes, Fine Wines, Too!

Mario, the guy usually behind the cheese counter, is from Sardinia, where learned all he could about Italian wine, cheese and cuisine, and speaks fluent Italian. He also helped pick Moschella’s amazing assortment of truly fine wines, the largest percentage of which are from Italy.  If you love Italian reds like I do, you have to check out Moschella’s selection of Brunellos (photo, right), Barolos, Amarones, Barberas, Chiantis and Sangioveses — it’s the best variety I’ve seen since I left New York City almost 30 years ago. 

Yes, these are a little pricy, but oh so worth it. There also are other more popularly priced Italian and domestic red, white and sparkling wines, and many more. 

So, do yourself a favor and get to Moschella’s and start shopping now. This issue will hit mailboxes on Dec 21 or Dec 22, but Devanie says they are taking orders until they close at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, when they open early (at 7 a.m.).

Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market is open every day, 9 a.m.-6. p.m. (other than their holiday hours) at 5648 Post Oak Blvd. For more information, call (813) 973-7500 or visit Moschellas.com.

Mangia!