Nibbles & Bytes

Kate Spade Opens In TPO!

“We are now at 100-percent occupancy,” Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) general manager Stacey Nance told me at the July 20 ribbon cutting event for the new Kate Spade store (photo) in TPO. “How many malls can say that?”

In addition to Kate Spade (see below), Nance says the remaining three slots at the outlet mall also are all now taken — True Religion Designer Jeans & Clothing, Salt Life and the Man Cave Store, which has been a hit at other Simon malls with billiards tables, Harley Davidson gear, Mr. Beer and more.

But, there’s no doubt that a lot of people — dozens were on hand during or shortly after the store’s ribbon cutting to check out the deals — are excited about the high-end handbags, wallets, clothing and accessories at Kate Spade, the store chain that the late designer Kate Brosnahan and her husband Andy Spade (the brother of actor/comedian David Spade) created as Kate Spade New York in 1993, combining her first name and his surname. The couple had sold all of their interest in the brand to Nieman Marcus by 2006, which then sold it to Liz Claiborne that same year.

Of course, Kate was found dead in her apartment on June 5 of this year, by her own hand, leaving a note for her daughter Frances.

“We signed this lease in December,” Nance, an admitted fan of the brand, said. “And we’re really excited that Kate Spade is open.”

Get Ready For The Hyatt Place!
“We know there’s not enough hotel rooms in Wesley Chapel right now,” says Karen Martin, the director of sales for the new 132-room Hyatt Place hotel on the north side of S.R. 56, next to Bahama Breeze, which had its “soft” opening on July 31. “But, it’s about to get a lot more fun out here.”

Martin says that although the six-story hotel just opened, “My phone’s been ringing off the hook for weeks, especially with people booking rooms for tournaments at the hockey rink (Florida Hospital Center Ice, located just east of I-75 on S.R. 56, while the Hyatt Place is just west of the interstate).

Although Martin says the new Hyatt Place doesn’t have full Hyatt resort amenities, it does have a Gallery restaurant and bar, a separate breakfast area, an outdoor swimming pool, nice fitness and business centers and meeting spaces with built-in audio/visual features.

The adjacent Sierra Conference Center has a really nice ballroom that Martin says can seat about 350 people with tables in a banquet setup and can be subdivided into three smaller ballrooms, which can each seat at least 250 people each in a theatre-style seating set-up. Martin says she also loves the conference center’s adjacent break-out and outdoor seating areas.

“But, to really get a feel for whether or not we should be hosting your event,” she says, “you should come out and take a tour. We’re all really excited to be open.”

She adds that the hotel hopes to host an upcoming “Final Friday” networking event for the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce and is planning “a big Grand Opening event sometime in November.”

The Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel is located at 26000 Sierra Center Blvd. For more information, call (813) 803-5600 or visit HyattPlace.com.

We’ll have updates about the Hilton Garden Inn & Residence Inn hotels coming soon to S.R. 56 in our next issue.

Here & There, This & That…

• I can’t even tell you how excited my taste buds are now that Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel favorite Nothing Bundt Cakes has opened across from Noble Crust in the Shops at Wiregrass mall. Whether you love red velvet or dark chocolate cake with extra creamy white icing, or the decadent white chocolate raspberry bundt cake, Nothing Bundt Cakes will have you salivating for more.

Check out a free sample when you visit and please tell the staff that you read all about them in the New Tampa Neighborhood News!

• I also was sad to hear, despite owner Ramses Garcia’s best efforts to negotiate a new lease with his landlord, that Las Palmas Spanish Café, the Latin/Cuban favorite located behind Kobe Steakhouse in the Pebble Creek Collection on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (a mile south of County Line Rd.), had closed.
Garcia had been talking to me for several months about how hard it had been for the businesses in the plaza to stay afloat, with the Bruce B. Downs widening construction still ongoing in front of the plaza, but he was still hoping to work things out less than two weeks before he announced the closing on Facebook. Will Garcia reopen in another location? We’ll keep you posted!

• Meanwhile, congratulations go out to my friends Travis and Fiona Monday, the owners of Fit 4 Life Personal Training & Physical Therapy Studio (17419 Bridge Hill Ct. in Tampa Palms), who celebrated the studio’s 22nd year in business with another great Martini Party, catered by the nearby Stonewood Grill & Tavern, on July 20.

 

MOD and Blaze Pizza Bringing Different Styles

MOD Pizza is opening soon on S.R. 56.

Wesley Chapel Already Has Plenty Of Great Pizza Places. So, Why Are So Many New Ones Still Popping Up?

Pizza may not be the world’s most-perfect food — although some who feel otherwise might fight you over that statement — but it probably is the most popular.

So, as Wesley Chapel grows, and more and more families move in, so do more businesses that sell pizza.
There’s locally-owned traditional pizzerias like 900 Degrees Woodfired, La Prima, Best New York, New York, Bosco’s and Amici Pizza, that sell more traditional NY-style pizzas, to name a few. Mellow Mushroom and Noble Crust (which have both opened in the last year) sell more eclectic pizzas. And, the mega-chains like Domino’s, Little Caesars, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut deal in mostly speedy, high-volume delivery.

“I would say there’s a lot more pizza available in Wesley Chapel than normal on average in other cities (of its size),” says Steve Falabella, the owner of the popular 900 Degrees Woodfired Pizza, which has been at the Shops at Wiregrass mall since 2011. “I think the growth in Wesley Chapel was so fast, the rise of families happened so fast, that there was a rush to capture that. And, one of the most common type of restaurants that go up in new neighborhoods sell pizza.”

Soon, you will be able to add a quickly expanding niche in pizza making to the list of local options: “Fast-Casual.”

On each side of S.R. 56, near the Tampa Premium Outlets, the two fastest-growing fast-casual restaurants in the country will be planting their flags in Wesley Chapel, as MOD Pizza and Blaze Pizza are both entering the market.

The Allure Of New…

On a typical muggy Wednesday afternoon, sitting at an aluminum table shaded by an umbrella, Mike Lightsey is finishing off a slice of pepperoni pizza from 900 Degrees Woodfired. He is passing through on business, and says he eats a lot of pizza. He thinks Falabella makes the best around.

Lightsey says he has tried Blaze, once in Atlanta, and enjoyed that as well. He has never heard of MOD, but is familiar with the trendy fast-casual model, having also eaten at Pieology in Seminole.
“It’s a good change of pace, and definitely something that seems to be taking off,” he says. “I’m surprised Wesley Chapel or even Tampa doesn’t have one yet.”

MOD Pizza, which will be located just west of the Starbucks on the south side of S.R. 56 in front of Costco, is scheduled to open in early-to-mid-September. Blaze Pizza will be located on the other (north) side of 56, but has just started construction. Both specialize in smaller, personal pizzas, where customers choose the toppings and don’t have to wait long for them to cook.

At MOD Pizza, there are more than 30 non-GMO toppings to choose from when constructing your own 11-inch pizza. MOD has its own dough recipe, and the tomato sauce is made in-house daily. No matter how many you choose, the price doesn’t change. The pizzas take only three minutes to cook and can be ordered online for pick-up or enjoyed inside the store.

“We were and are the first super fast-casual chain in the United States,” says Brick Kerge, VP of Operations for Food for Thought Restaurant Group, which owns the local MOD franchise.

Employees are part of the “MOD Squad,” and an emphasis is placed on training a friendly staff that makes the all-around experience and environment something patrons will want to try again.

“This is not just another pizza place,” says Kerge.

Founded in Seattle in 2008, MOD is likely not a familiar name to locals. But nationally, it is the country’s No. 1 fastest-growing chain, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ list of the Top 10 Fastest-Growing Chains, thanks to 80-percent sales growth in 2016.

When it opens here in September, it will be MOD Pizza’s first entry into the Tampa Bay market, although there currently are four other locations in Florida, with five more — including the Wesley Chapel location — scheduled to open soon.

While MOD is the fastest-growing chain, Blaze Pizza is the second-fastest-growing and has been massively successful since being launched in 2011 by the founders of Wetzel’s Pretzels.

It has quickly grown to include more than 250 locations in 40 states and should be open sometime early next year in Cypress Creek Town Center North.

Driving a lot of the buzz around Blaze Pizza, which also features three-minute pizzas boasting freshly made dough and artisanal toppings, is NBA superstar Lebron James’ involvement as an investor.

Like MOD, Blaze also offers a fast-casual experience where customers select their crust style and then move down the line while adding toppings, at the end of which the pizza is quickly cooked.

These newest entries to the Wesley Chapel “piescape” are hip, trendy and fill a desire for custom-built pizzas with a wide variety of toppings that are not always available at traditional pizza spots. They will be stiff competition for each other, but family-owned pizzerias, and even smaller chains like Westshore and pizza places that deliver, still offer a distinctly different flavor and will likely continue to be popular here.

But Wait, There’s More!
MOD and Blaze aren’t the only local newcomers. In the last few months alone, Amici’s has reopened to rave reviews after moving locations on Wesley Chapel Blvd. in Lutz, and Jake’s Pizza has opened its second location, on County Line Rd. in Meadow Pointe, featuring our area’s first thin-crust St. Louis-style pizza. And, Pomodoro Pizza could be open on S.R. 56, in the same plaza as Wolf’s Den, by the time this issue reaches your mailbox, and will offer New Jersey-style pizza. And, never one to rest on his laurels, Falabella has created a local sensation, especially on Facebook, with his recent addition of no-crust “keto diet” pizzas.

“Which pizza is the best is all subjective,” Falabella says. “I can find 10 people to tell you they like Domino’s the best. I can find 10 who would tell you Pizza Mania is the best. And I can find 10 to tell you that we are the best. There’s no such thing as the best pizza.
“(In Wesley Chapel), Everyone can find something they like.”

Business Notes: Build-A-Bear’s UnBearable Promotion, BMW’s Plans

At 2 p.m. on July 12, more than four hours after it was cancelled, lines to take advantage of Build-A-Bear Workshop’s “Pay Your Age” promotion still stretched around the building. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

The longest lines in the history of the Shops at Wiregrass ended with sadness for many on July 12, as customers had to be turned away when the popular toy company was forced to abandon its “Pay Your Age” promotion in mid-stream.

The promotion sounded great on paper. For one day only, customers could purchase a stuffed animal for the price of their age. For a toy that can run from $15 and (much) higher, it sounded too good to be true.
And for many, it was.

All across the country, and at the Wiregrass location, the promotion had to be cut short, due to overwhelming demand. At Wiregrass, a line of more than 1,000 people stretched around the back of Build-A-Bear, around JCPenney and down past Moe’s SW Grill when the promotion was canceled at 10:30 a.m.

Those who were already there were allowed to stay, but no one else was allowed to get in line.
Even by 2 p.m., the line still went all the way behind Build-A-Bear. It was a sunny and blistering hot day, so the mall was nice enough to bring out a container of green-and-white umbrellas to help customers shield themselves from the elements.

Build-A-Bear has announced that those who join its free “Count Your Candles” program can still pay their age for a “Birthday Treat Bear,” which is usually $14, during their birthday month only.

VROOOM: BMW is hoping to open a showroom at S.R. 56 and Mansfield Blvd., after filing plans with Pasco County and having a pre-application meeting in July.

The BMW showroom would be 32,758 square feet, and bring another luxury auto dealership to Wesley Chapel.

In the last year alone, Wesley Chapel has seen Lexus and Audi luxury brands added to a three-year-old Mercedes-Benz dealership.

The plans filed with the county do not identify the dealership’s owner.

 

 

 

 

Bahama Breeze Island Grille Opens With Caribbean Fare & Flair

OK, you long-time readers know I don’t get too excited about too many of our seemingly neverending supply of new chain restaurants opening here in Wesley Chapel.

But, this one’s different. I genuinely love the new Bahama Breeze Island Grille, which opened on July 16 on the north side of S.R. 56, between the soon-to-open Hyatt Place hotel and Chuy’s Tex-Mex.

And, it’s not just because general manager Jeannie LaFever is so awesome. It’s always great to meet nice, energetic people who obviously love what they do, but we’re talking about a restaurant here. No matter how nice the management, wait staff and bartenders may be, if the food isn’t great, at least one local publisher would not be a frequent customer.

Known for its Caribbean fare and flair, Bahama Breeze is a chain eatery that delivers on its promise of great island-inspired food and drinks in a tropical setting with live music every night (and all day Saturday and Sunday). And, even though I’ve heard a few locals complain about the early crowds and that the restaurant isn’t located on a body of water and faces a busy roadway (blah blah blah), I’m just glad the food is up to snuff.

“And, even though we’ve been slammed, everything’s been running pretty smoothly so far,” Jeannie says. “People are just really excited we’re here!”

Jeannie’s favorite dishes include the most popular jerk chicken pasta, the true fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs. the beef empanadas, the jerk chicken wings, the coconut shrimp and the braised short rib & oxtail.

To date, I can vouch for two different sauces on your “Market Catch” fresh fish, which has been redfish on both visits for me. On mine and Jannah’s first visit, we thoroughly enjoyed the almond-crusted redfish topped with lemon butter sauce (great mashed potatoes and green beans as the sides), as well as the mango glazed redfish with grilled pineapple salsa shown above right.

On our most recent visit, Jannah went a little less adventurous, with her tasty Cobb salad, but I really loved the chimichurri sauce on the skirt steak churrasco. Skirt steak isn’t as tender as, say, a filet, and Bahama Breeze’s only other steak is an 8-oz. top sirloin (which I may just try on my next visit), but wow, with that sauce and the outstanding yellow rice and black beans served as sides, this is my current favorite dish at “the Breeze.”

Jeannie also wants to make sure that locals dive headlong into Bahama Breeze’s exotic tropic drink menu.

“Our Bahamarita is the bomb,” Jeannie says. “But you can’t go wrong with a mango jalapeño mojito, a Goombay Smash or a pineapple-coconut martini, either.”

Bahama Breeze Island Grille (25830 Sierra Center Blvd.) is open every day for lunch & dinner. For more information, call (813) 949-0779 or visit BahamaBreeze.com. And please, make sure Jeannie and her outstanding staff know you read about them in the Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News!

Business Notes: Blaze and Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar

Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar is coming to S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, part of an aggressive expansion by the sports bar franchise owned in part by New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees.

Permitting has been filed with Pasco County planning for a 15,664-sq.-ft. shell building that is expected to be a commercial strip center right off S.R. 56, in front of the soon-to-open Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center.

The strip center is expected to be home to a number of coming projects that have been previously reported, like Golf Galaxy, Total Wine & More and others.

But two highly-anticipated eateries, Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar and Blaze Pizza, have already begun the permitting process, and won’t be headed to the new center as once-rumored.

Instead, both are beginning construction soon a little bit to the west, near the corner of S.R. 56 and Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54). They will be located in the same center with Chipotle Mexican Grill, and a 3,000-sq.ft. Sleep Number store will also be on that parcel.

Pizza is the cover story in our upcoming Wesley Chapel issue hitting mailboxes on Friday, so you can read more about the emergence of the popular fast-casual chain.

Walk-On’s, a franchise with more than a dozen locations across Louisiana and Texas with an aggressive plan to expand into 11 other states this year, will be one of the few “pure” sports bars in the area.

Its founders, Brandon Landry and Jack Warner, met in 1997 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where both were walk-ons (hence the name) for the Tiger basketball team.

While they didn’t play much, they did get to travel the country with the Tigers and, along the way, visited enough sports bars that they formulated an idea for starting their own back in Baton Rouge.

According to the Walk-On’s website, in 2000, Landry and Warner sketched out their vision for a floor plan on a napkin from 35,000 feet above the earth, as they flew home from a road game at the University of Tennessee.

They opened their first location in 2003 and, in 2012, Walk On’s was named the No. 1 Sports Bar in America. Two years later, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees joined the business as a co-owner.

Walk-On’s menu is a little different than many sports bars, highlighted by some unique Cajun dishes, like po’boy sandwiches, gumbo, crawfish, fried Lousiana Alligator and Cajundillas (a tortilla stuffed with chicken, andouille, boudin sausage, caramelized onions and cheese).

All of it served by waitresses dressed as cheerleaders and televisions blaring the calls from your favorite sporting events.

While there are other sports-related options in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, Walk-On is likely to be a welcome addition for area sports fans.