The Japanese restaurant and sushi bar formerly known as Fongâs Sushi and Sushi Raw, in the Shoppes at Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms (next to Crunch Fitness) is under new ownership and my first visit to the new Sake House will have be going back for seconds.
I didnât get to speak to the new owner but I did enjoy some tasty fried pork shumai dumplings (photo above), a unique chicken fried rice and some super-fresh snapper sashimi. Hopefully, Iâll be telling you more about the Sake House in a future issue. In order to help make that happen, please call or stop in and tell them you heard about the Sake House from Gary at Neighborhood News!
The Sake House is located at 15311 Amberly Dr., Tampa. For hours and more information, call (813) 977-3838 or visit SakeHouseAmberly.com.
Congrats also go out to Jeff and Crista Dean, the owners of Bubbaâs 33, which is now going vertical between Ashley Furniture and Texas Roadhouse on S.R. 56, west of I-75, in Wesley Chapel. This will be the first location in Florida for Texas Roadhouseâs sports bar concept, which held a North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce-hosted groundbreaking (photo above) on Sept. 9.Â
For additional information, visit Bubbas33.com.
Congrats, Dr. Dave!
Congratulations to well-known local optometrist Dr. David Scamard and his office manager Eileen Popescu of Excellence in Eyecare on their August 14 ribbon cutting hosted by the Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce.
You can visit Dr. Daveâs two-year-old independent optometry office inside the Costco on S.R. 56 â even if youâre not a member of the wholesale club â and he provides a full-range of eye care services, including comprehensive exams, visual field analyses, retinal imaging and more, with walk-ins welcome.
Dr. Scamard opened his first optometry office in our area more than 17 years ago and I can personally attest to the fact that heâs a great optometrist and a really good guy.
If you need more details, or itâs been a while since you had your eyes checked, call (813) 279-7038, visit ExcellenceinEyecare.net or see the ad on pg. 12 of this issue.
Dirson had started his successful, healthy-eating-oriented restaurant concept in the same plaza as The Hungry Greek and Dickeyâs BBQ a little further south on BBD (across from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel) when he decided to find anther location in 2018.
What he didnât know was that he would be closed for several months (basically, from August until December) that year, as he agreed to leave his old space in order for the new tenant â Umu Japanese & Thai â to get started on their build-out while he began building the new OTB.
Bottom line? Dirson and his wife Ana weathered the storm of several months with no OTB income and have been thriving in their new location ever since.
âOur breakfast business has definitely picked up since weâve been here,â Dirson says. âAnd our lunch crowd has been about the same.â
The new location is definitely a nicer layout and even though OTB is the only restaurant in Nye Commons, which doesnât have a particularly easy entrance to get into either, people have been finding it (itâs located less than four miles north of the Pasco County line) â and loving many of the changes to the menu.
But, What About The Food?
At its old location, when OTB only served healthier turkey bacon for breakfast, Iâll admit I didnât go out of my way to enjoy my most important meal of the day there.
But now, with the new OTB even closer to my office, Dirson has added not only real bacon, but a variety of delicious new breakfast menu items.
My favorite is still the âbreakfast plateâ, with your choice of three regular or chocolate chip pancakes, two eggs any style (over easy for me, of course) and three strips of that (extra crispy) bacon â a bargain for only $9.99. And, even though it comes with pancakes, I still add OTBâs tasty marble rye to soak up my egg yolks.
Just as delicious, but understandably more expensive ($12.99) is the steak and eggs breakfast, with a nice portion of thinly sliced steak and three eggs your way. Newer breakfast items include âOmeletteâing You Go,â a three-egg omelet served with your choice of side (try the fresh fruit) and toast. You can choose any three ingredients from the following list: any cheese, grilled onions, grilled peppers, tomatoes, baby spinach, arugula, red onion, diced ham, diced turkey, sprouts, pepperoncini, black olives and mushrooms â and all for only $8.99.
You avocado lovers will flip for the Good Morning Ciabatta, with two eggs your way, tomato, avocado and provolone on a tasty seeded, multi-grain ciabatta hoagie roll.
Thereâs also a breakfast burrito, chicken-quinoa eggs-travaganza and a tasty hash-and-eggs breakfast made with real corned beef and sweet potato home fries; an asparagus-bacon eggs Benedict; the Yolko Ono, with eggs, Black Forest ham, tomatoes and Havarti cheese on a multi-grain ciabatta; as well as an Acai bowl (with granola, bananas, strawberies, coconut flakes and organic Acai.
And, since Dirson is from Brazil, you know heâs serving great coffee, too.
Donât They Serve Lunch, Too?
Although most people donât think of a hamburger as a âhealthyâ option, Dirsonâs grass-fed artisan burger is seasoned, hand-pattied, grilled to order and delicious. Thereâs also tasty veggie and turkey burgers.
OTBâs lunch selections also feature a variety of salads, including the Asian orange ahi tuna salad, with a generous portion of seared rare tuna, Mandarin oranges, toasted almonds and sprouts; a blackened portabella Caesar as well as a chicken Caesar; a seared steak delight salad and âsalmon gone wildâ salad. OTB doesnât have the biggest selection of salad dressings, but all of them are pretty tasty. I especially enjoy the sesame ginger and spicy Santa Fe dressings.
Many of the salads also are available as âRice Rice Babyâ bowls. My favorites are the Shanghai chicken (with jasmine rice, sesame seeds, toasted almonds and the sesame ginger dressing), and the steak delight rice bowl (top right on this page), with black beans, jasmine rice, tomatoes, caramelized onions and blue cheese crumbles, with balsamic.
OTB Has Meal Delivery, Too?
Busy working adults, especially those with younger kids, are turning more and more these days to meal delivery services like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, but Dirson decided to get into the meal delivery business locally because he can promise the same dependable delivery of fresh meals with advantages over those other services.
âWe donât mass produce anything,â Dirson says proudly. Your meals arenât taken out of a fridge and put into a box, theyâre made to your order. You tell us what you want, we make it fresh and deliver it when you want it (guaranteed to arrive between 4 p.m.-9 p.m. on your chosen date to ensure freshness).â
The best way to get started is to call (813) 906-2229 or order online at OnlyTheBestDelivery.com.
Youâll find a huge selection of options online and even though there are actual menu items, Dirson promises that âeverything is customizable. If the menu calls for an item to be served with broccoli, you can substitute asparagus, add sprouts, whatever you want.â
And, OTBâs portion-controlled meal delivery service has complete one-week meal plans, keto meals (like keto pesto parmesan chicken and veggies), plant-based meals (like mushroom taco lettuce wraps), special items for kids (kidsâ sliced steak and sweet potato mash), desserts (like vegan, gluten-free cookies) and even raw, cold juices (try the cold press juice sampler, with green, yellow, red and bunny juice) available for delivery. Thereâs even a full catering menu that is fully customizable to your specifications, for events large or small.
Best of all, the food is delicious and guaranteed to arrive fresh, whether you like pulled chicken or ahi tuna with broccoli, quinoa or rice (two left photos on this page) or anything else on OTBâs extensive menu, Dirsonâs delivery manager Jen will make sure your order is right â or sheâll make it right.
After six years, Iâve come to expect nothing less from Dirson and OTB!
Good news for those bemoaning the lack of things to do with the kids in New Tampa, as well as the number of empty “big box” stores in New Tampa — an Urban Air Adventure Park is on the way to the Market Square at Tampa Palms, the shopping center anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club on Commerce Palms Dr..
And it’s not alone.
While Urban Air Adventure Park will fill the former home of HH Gregg, Taza Market, an Indian supermarket and eatery, is expected to take over the old Staples location.
Urban Air Adventure is a Texas-based entertainment center franchise with locations all over the U.S.. The New Tampa location will be the company’s 10th in Florida, which includes centers in nearby Lakeland and Port Richey.
It has already announced on its website that it is coming to New Tampa, and according to plans filed with the City of Tampa, the facility will be 28,000 sq. ft. and include areas for a warrior course, spin/flip zone, slam dunk zone, family zone, wipe out area, adventure hub and private rooms for parties to go with a full service cafe.
The award-winning indoor activity center, which calls itself the “ultimate indoor playground for your entire family” and says it is more than just a trampoline park, typically offers high-flying activities, such as a Sky Rider Coaster, climbing walls and elevated ropes course, to name a few.
Taza Market, according to plans filed with the city, will be a 16,382-sq.-ft. Indian super market with fresh food made daily and a cafe-like area of roughly 1,700 sq. ft. with seating for 80.
Jannah & Gary Nager at a wedding on Cape Cod Aug. 17.
Pretty much every year since I took over the Neighborhood News in 1994, we have held our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest. At one time, it was just our most popular contest for our readers but today, it is the only one we still run year after year.
And honestly, itâs also a tremendous amount of work to put together (and tabulate the results of) the contest each year, as so many restaurants continue to come and go in our distribution areas, especially recently in New Tampa, where fewer newcomers have been replacing those that exit than in Wesley Chapel, where there are so many newbies, even though most of them are regional or national chains.
This year, after participation in this annual contest dwindled somewhat the past two years, I tried to find a way to ask you to name fewer favorites yourselves but hopefully, still find a way to give every restaurant currently operating in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel and those located directly adjacent to both markets a better chance to be among our readersâ favorites.
I also was trying to find a way to prevent âballot stuffingâ by local residents who only entered the contest to vote for one place. As always, entries that are not completely and/or incorrectly filled out will not have their votes included, but it seems that the format this year is already reducing disqualifications.
Also new this year is the fact that if you live in New Tampa, you only got to vote last issue (and this issue) for restaurants located in New Tampa (or on Bearss Ave. near BBD in Lutz). Likewise, those living in Wesley Chapel were only asked to vote for restaurants in Wesley Chapel (and on S.R. 56 and S.R. 54 in Lutz). In our October issues, New Tampa residents will get to vote for their favorites in Wesley Chapel and Wesley Chapel residents for their favorites in New Tampa, although both surveys are available online now, and you can submit one entry in each market at NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net or by U.S. Mail.
Originally, I correctly listed all of the candidates for âFavorite Restaurant in New Tampaâ by where they were located, rather than in alphabetical order, but I ended up excluding two of my favorite pizza places in New Tampa â Taste of New York in Highwoods Preserve and Woodfired Pizza on Bearss Ave. â from the âFavorite Pizza in New Tampaâ list, completely by accident. Youâll note that both of them have been added to the second run of the New Tampa survey, and youâll also find that I have reorganized the full list of New Tampa favorites alphabetically this time around.
I did even worse in Wesley Chapel, where, among a couple of others, The Brass Tap was inadvertently left off the âFavorite Bar or Tavern in Wesley Chapelâ list, and my 2018 favorite restaurant in Wesley Chapel â Dempseyâs Steakhouse in Saddlebrook Resort â was left off the âFavorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapelâ list, as was TDâs Sports Bar at Saddlebrook. Yeesh.
But, thatâs one reason why we run the contest multiple times, so we can get the listings right. The other is that we want as many local residents in both of our markets as possible to participate because, quite honestly, it helps both us and the restaurants themselves get a better handle on which places our readers truly like best in and near their neighborhoods. And, despite the amount of work that it takes to create and score the contests, it also is a lot of fun for me, as one of our areaâs better-known âfoodies,â to oversee.
Congratulations, Mrs. Nager!
Loyal Neighborhood News readers know that Jannah has been working for the Pasco Education Foundation (the nonprofit organization that raises money to support the Pasco School District) for the past four+ years, but she has an exciting new job that definitely will make her even more well-known and popular right here in Wesley Chapel than she has become from all of the publicity sheâs had in these pages.
As of Sept. 1, Jannah is now the director of marketing for the (mainly) indoor Wesley Chapel Sports Complex at Wiregrass Ranch (that is the working title) being developed by RADD Sports just off S.R. 56! It truly is a huge, exciting opportunity for her and Jannah already is looking to establish partnerships for the complex with local companies and sports organizations.
Stay tuned for more announcements and congrats, babe!
(left to right) Sam Guyer, Ryan Clarke, Cody Guyer and Shashank Mishra hope to open Wesley Chapel’s first craft brewery, Double Branch Artisanal Ales, in December.
Friends and Wesley Chapel residents Ryan Clarke and Shashank Mishra, M.D., had both dabbled in making their own home brews, so it was only natural that when the two would hang out, craft beer was often not only the drink of choice, but also the topic of conversation.
One night, the conversation turned to the obvious â why not start our own brewery?
âWe talked about it several times,â said Clarke, âWe had the same thoughts and philosophy. Eventually the talks began getting more progressive.â
Those talks progressed to the point where, on June 6, 2018, the two founded Double Branch Artisanal Ales (DBAA), and in December Clarke and Mishraâs first craft brewery is expected to open at The Grove at Wesley Chapel.
The craft brewery will be Wesley Chapelâs first, and will operate in the âmain streetâ area of The Grove. The 8,400-sq-ft. space will boast a 2,100-sq.-ft. production brewery, a 1,900-sq-ft. tap room, a 550-sq.-ft. outdoor patio and 1,850 sq. ft. of private event space.
It will offer a full spectrum of beers, from lagers to stouts to sours, but itâs first flagship beer will be called Chappieâs Lager.
âThis will not only be a craft brewery, but something that offers the local culture of Tampa without having to drive 30 minutes,â says Clarke. âWe have a large amount of nationally-syndicated restaurant concepts out here in Wesley Chapel, but not too many locally owned places. Wesley Chapel needs these type of things.â
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., the company behind Florida Avenue Brewing Co. and Brew Bus Brewing, purchased the old Sports + Field site on S.R. 56 in May, with plans to transform the former sports training facility into a brewery and restaurant before opening in 2020.
Clarke and Mishra also think they could be part of something big, as The Grove at Wesley Chapel — hardly a bustling hotspot in recent years with all the expansion on S.R. 56 — was sold for $62.7 million to developers that they expect will reinvigorate the area by building additional homes and retail/restaurant.
Clarke and Mishra, who met at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel where Clarke is a nurse practitioner and Mishra is a Doctor of Internal Medicine, already had launched their plans. They actually announced DBAA on the breweryâs Facebook page months ago, but had to quickly take it down because The Grove wasnât ready for the announcement.
Clarke takes pride in DBAA being Wesley Chapelâs first locally owned and operated craft brewery. He looked into the idea back in 2008, but couldnât find the right situation. After finding the right financial backing, location and availability, he and Mishra were ready.
Because Clarke wanted a place that would become part of the communityâs fabric, he chose Double Branch because it ârelated to the heritage of the area.â
The Wesley Chapel area was often referred to as âDouble Branchâ for the twin creeks that flowed through the property owned by the Boyettes, one of the areaâs founding families. The Double Branch Church (now the First Baptist Church of Wesley Chapel) was the center of the community.
The area also became an area known for its share of moonshine stills and homebrews in the 1920s, which Clarke says the Double Branch brewery pays homage to.
DBAA, which is still waiting on a permit or two but hopes to begin construction on Monday, could be a major player in the transformation of The Grove, which is rumored to be readying for a number of significant changes.
DBAA will offer beer and wine on tap, a food truck-style kitchen (6-8 items), games and potentially, an outdoor beer garden.
Clarke and Mishra have hired head brewer Cody Guyer and his wife Sam, who will be the tap room manager. The couple just moved here from Iowa last week, and both also will be part owners of the endeavor.
Cody Guyer started his brewing career with a home kit he received from his sister for his 26th birthday, and since has worked as an assistant brewer in Iowa for Millstream Brewing Co. (located in Amana) and Barn Town Brewing in West Des Moines.
Cody says while DBAA will offer a few flagship styles, he is the experimental type and plans of brewing an assortment of revolving âfun-typeâ beers. âWhatever I feel like brewing at the time,â he says.
Cody will also pursue collaborations with other breweries, where ideas are exchanged via emails and implemented in a team process. While in Iowa, he worked on âcollabsâ with Mikerphone Brewing in Chicago, Wren House Brewing in Phoenix, Watermark Brewing in Stevensville, MI, and Pulpit Rock Brewing in Decorah, IA.
âItâs a great way to learn what other breweries around the country are doing,â he says.
As for what DBAA will be doing, Cody says just wait.
âItâs going to exciting,â he says. âI canât wait to get started.â
