Noble Crust Coming To Wesley Chapel

Artist rendition of Noble Crust in St. Petersburg.

Noble Crust, a hip north St. Petersburg restaurant featuring Italian-Southern fusion, is coming to the Shops at Wiregrass mall.

Wiregrass general manager Greg Lenners confirmed that the restaurant, created by the same folks who brought the Bonefish Grill to Wesley Chapel, has signed a lease and begun construction on its 3,200-sq.-ft. location, which will be right next to Pinchers Crab Shack.

The Noble Crust team includes TJ Theilbar and Tim Curci, who helped develop Bonefish Grill and Hops Grill and Bar, executive chef Rob Reinsmith and financial consultant Jeff Strouse.

Noble Crust will be built next to Pinchers Crab Shack.

Theilbar told us in June he was in negotiations, and that “We have some very specific requests as far as the look trying to work through the logistics.” Those issues have all been resolved and plans to open the restaurant by the end of the year are underway.

The Noble Crust website says it is hoping for a Spring, 2017 opening.

The eatery has received mostly rave reviews since opening its St. Petersburg location in Feb., 2015.

Although the name of the restaurant suggests a pizza place, and Noble Crust does serve different versions of the Italian pie, it is much more than that under the direction of Reinsmith.

“Everything we do is in house and from scratch,’’ Theilbar said.

Noble Crust’s brunch has been voted one of Tampa Bay’s best by various publications, and it features items such as deviled eggs, ricotta gnocchi, Lemon Ricotta pancakes, Bronzed Salmon Benny and fried chicken and waffles.

Some of the restaurant’s dinner favorites include its popular beef-and-veal meatballs, southern fried chicken, shrimp and grits, sweet potato ravioli and rigatoni and short rib ragu.

And of course, there are pizzas, like the Noble Pig, which features sweet fennel sausage, spicy soppressata and pickled cherry peppers, and the Roasted Mushroom, with shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Gluten-free crust is also available.

The menu changes often, says Theilbar, who adds that the restaurant employs an off-site production kitchen where all of its fresh pasta, sauces and cured meets are produced. A larger, 7,000-sq.ft.facility is being built off Racetrack Rd. in Tampa.

To learn more about Noble Crust, visit noble-crust.com.

Dade City Chamber Celebrating 20 Years Of Kumquats January 28!

Dade City’s annual Kumquat Festival will be held on Saturday, January 28, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. This year is the milestone 20th anniversary of the event, which celebrates the kumquat, “a unique and funky little fruit,” as described by John Moors, executive director of the event’s host, the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce.

Kumquats are small citrus fruits grown near Dade City, and the annual festival also is an opportunity to show off the city’s historic downtown district’s eclectic restaurants and new places to shop, such as Flint Creek Outfitters, a new, high-end sporting goods and camping gear store.

This year’s festival will include 440 vendors and 40 sponsors, with a car and truck show, farmers market, arts & crafts, children’s activities and all kinds of kumquat pies and other products.

“It’s an authentic, old-Florida style festival,” says Moors, “including down-home, local entertainment on the historic courthouse steps all day.”

He estimates about 35,000 people attend each year, but exact numbers are unknown because the event is not ticketed and there’s no gate.

“It’s certainly a milestone that this is our 20th year,” says Moors. “It’s marvelous that, for 20 years, the community has pulled together to put on this completely volunteer-run event. Again this year, our 200 volunteers are working extremely hard to make it a really enjoyable day.”

Admission and parking are free, and free transportation also is provided from multiple satellite parking lots.

For more info, visit KumquatFestival.org.

Nibbles And Bytes

Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen Getting Closer

Although yours truly isn’t a big fan, the Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen being built on S.R. 54, on previously vacant land located directly adjacent to O’Brien’s Irish Pub & Grill in the Wesley Chapel Village Market, does have a building rising out of the ground and should be completed by sometime in early 2017.

The 44-year-old, New Orleans, LA-based fried chicken chain now has more than 2,000 locations not only nationwide but around the world.

And, with its location right off the S.R. 54 exit of I-75, Popeye’s is likely to enjoy success here in Wesley Chapel, too. We’ll keep you posted as the opening gets closer.

Union 72 BBQ Is So Much More Than Just Another BBQ Place!

Ok, so I freely admit that while I love cooking on a grill, I’m not the biggest fan of barbecue food, especially at most places. One advantage (or disadvantage?) for me as I’ve aged is that my stomach just can’t handle most BBQ sauces.

But, the casual, new Union 72 BBQ in the Shops at Wiregrass mall is not your usual BBQ place. Yes, there’s a slew of smoked meats from which to choose — and there are some unique options among those that I am excited to tell you about — but it’s quite honestly mainly the non-BBQ-style offerings at Union 72 that really do it for me, even though, at one time, I consumed full racks of ribs in one sitting. I still love ribs, but these days, I usually just stick to enjoying one or two of someone else’s ribs (at the most) before I give up.

Well, Union 72 co-owners Jeff Martin and Bharat Chhabria and pitmaster Geoff Zukosky definitely have my attention. One bite of graphic designer Blake Beatty’s Union 72 St. Louis-style ribs and I was hooked. The ribs are prepared with Union 72’s own house-made dry rub, marinated overnight and slow-smoked to perfection. They’re served wet or dry, so I was glad that Blake ordered his dry (the marinade creates a glaze that gives these fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs a nice crispy edge), even though the photo above (provided by Union 72), are shown wet. I’m also partial to Union 72’s Texas-style beef brisket and I enjoyed tastes of the pulled pork and even the country-style sausage.

As I said before, however, I am even more impressed by Union 72’s non-smoked items, like the southern fried hot chicken tenders, which are buttermilk-battered and rubbed with Union 72’s chef-created “Fire” rub. If you like the Nashville hot chicken at that fast food chicken joint, I’m betting you’ll love these super-crispy-outside, tender-and-juicy-inside beauties even more.

I also absolutely loved the Conquistador sandwich, which is still smoked pulled pork, but Spanish-spiced (like at a great Cuban place), topped with a green chimichurri sauce, caramelized onions and topped with a perfect sunny-side-up egg that absolutely oozes into every bite, all on a tasty brioche bun.

Other chef-created Union 72 favorites at our office include the tacos — available with brisket, pork or your choice of smoked meat — the dry-rub (think spicy blackened) hot wings, the pulled chicken salad and the marinated, slow-smoked half chicken.

There are a couple of Asian-influenced sandwiches at Union 72 I’m planning to try on my next couple of visits — the Vietnamese-style Banh mi sandwich (photo, right), which puts slices of that slow-smoked brisket on a baguette, topped with pickled vegetables, cucumbers, bean sprouts and spicy aioli; and the Far East sandwich, which is slow-smoked, chopped pork topped with kimchi, drizzled with Union 72’s house-made Sticky Asian barbecue sauce, and finished with fresh cilantro, scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Some of these sandwiches are served with your choice of a side and so far, I’m pretty much loving all of ‘em. The corn on the cob, collared greens, fries, house-made slaw, smoked bacon mac & cheese and the smoked, loaded baked potato all get high marks from me. I’m not a big fried okra fan, but lots of Union 72 regulars seem to love it, too. I’ve only sampled three or four of the six  house-made sauces to date, but my favorites are the white BBQ and Sticky Asian.

Speaking of folks who already visit Union 72, which has been open about two months at our press time, 900Âș Woodfired Pizza (also located in the mall) owner Steve Falabella and Little Italy’s (on S.R. 54 in Lutz) owners Carl and Jessica Meyers rave about the place, as did everyone in my office who got to try it the day I wrote this article.

The Brass Tap Connection

Martin is probably familiar to a lot of you, as he opened the first Brass Tap (in the space adjacent to what is now Union 72) in the mall more than eight years ago. Today, Martin and a variety of partners and some franchisees now have 39 Brass Taps in more than a dozen states. The Wiregrass location which previously had only served dozens of beers from around the world and a variety of wines, recently added full liquor, which has only brought in more people to an already popular watering hole and night spot.

Chhabria met Martin when he bought a franchise and the two shared a love for great barbecue and wanted to be able to offer good prices for their “flavors of the world.” Martin even says that Union 72 is now adding a variety of small, shareable appetizer platters — like unique nachos and more — to better serve his thirsty (and often hungry) customers at the Brass Tap.

Speaking of beverages, I love the local Cigar City craft lager on draft (served in mason jars) and house merlot and chardonnay also are available.

And, by the time you read this, you’ll be able to check out Union 72’s expanding catering menu, which you should consider if you want everyone to rave about the food at your “Big Game” party. Union 72 will even provide employees to work your party, to make sure everything is perfect. And, based on my experience so far, it will be!

Union 72 BBQ (2000 Piazza Ave., Suite 150) is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every day & until 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. For info, call 575-9999, or visit Union72.com. Please tell Jeff & crew we sent you!

The Frost Family Opens Its 5th Local McDonald’s!

If you’re a fan of McDonald’s, you’re probably a fan of the Frost family. Patriarch Jack Frost (third from left in photo) got tired of the frost nipping at his nose in his home state of Wisconsin (where he opened his first McDonald’s), and relocated his family to our area more than 30 years ago, opening the first of five local Mickey D’s in 1985 on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel.

Today, Frost and his sons John (left in photo) and Chris (far right) and daughter Jen own eight McDonald’s restaurants, including all five of the locations in our distribution areas (two in New Tampa and now three in the Wesley Chapel area). The most recent opening happened just before we went to press with our latest issue, as the 6,300-sq.-ft. (about as large as the location on 54, which is the second largest in Florida) McDonald’s on S.R. 56, between the new Longhorn Steakhouse and BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse (in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets) has opened.

Equipped with a large “play place” for the kids and with more sit-down space than most McD’s, Chris Frost says that the new location focuses on customer service, and after watching the pre-opening training of the location’s employees, I can assure you that you will be greeted by lots of smiles and  “let me get that for you right away” attitudes.

And, if you check out the ad on page 44 of our current Wesley Chapel issue, you’ll see a Grand Opening special of 20 McNuggets for only $5 (through Feb. 19). For more info, stop in 24-7 (or for the official Grand Opening on Sat., Jan. 28, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.) at McDonald’s (2609 Creek Grass Way, Lutz) or visit McDonalds.com.