Ciao! Italian Bistro — New Co-Owner, New Chef & Homemade Pasta!

Ciao! Italian Bistro's new pork chop entree is just one of many additions to the restaurant's revamped menu.
Ciao! Italian Bistro’s new pork chop entree is just one of many additions to the restaurant’s revamped menu.

By Gary Nager | September 14

Although we currently have some outstanding pizza places in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, we’ve never really had a great Italian restaurant. And, although some folks in the area seemed to enjoy Pagelli’s Italian Restaurant when it opened in the Shops at Wiregrass mall a couple of years ago, the owners decided a year or so ago to revamp the concept and change the name to Ciao! Italian Bistro.

Well, according to Justin Fleming, the new chef and co-owner of Ciao!, neither Pagelli’s (and Justin worked for two years at the original Pagelli’s in Estero, FL) nor Ciao! was good enough, so he decided to move to the Tampa Bay area to start over and re-create Ciao! as a real, sit-down Italian restaurant that utilizes fresh ingredients and has dishes for men, and women, with family-friendly dishes and pricing.

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Jen & Travis Open The Flaming Taco In Ybor

By Gary Nager | September 14

Each of these $3 tacos (clockwise from lower left: the Pork Street, Chicken Flaming & El Cubano Brisket tacos) at the Flaming Taco on E. 7th Ave. in Ybor City are made with fresh, amazing ingredients.
Each of these $3 tacos (clockwise from lower left: the Pork Street, Chicken Flaming & El Cubano Brisket tacos) at the Flaming Taco on E. 7th Ave. in Ybor City are made with fresh, amazing ingredients.

Although tacos aren’t normally what I order when I go to a Mexican restaurant, my friends Jennifer & Travis Davidson and their friends Mary Ann & Keith Cucuzza have opened a new taco stand at 1815 E. 7th Ave. in Ybor City called the Flaming Taco, which caters to not only the club crowd’s “fiery passion for spicy food,” but yours and mine, too.

It may not be easy to find the Flaming Taco (which is located inside the Yo Boys yogurt shop, a little more than a block from the Columbia Restaurant), but if you want delicious tacos featuring words like “all natural,” “grain fed,” “free range,” “no antibiotics” & “black angus USDA Choice beef,” the Flaming Taco has you covered — for just $3 per taco!

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Best NY Pizza — A Delicious ‘Ristorante’ That Also Has Great Pizza!

By Gary Nager

Best NY Pizza
Delicious Pizza Made Fresh For You at Best NY Pizza

Anyone who thinks we don’t have outstanding pizza in Wesley Chapel either isn’t from New ‘Yawk’ or has never tried any of our now-plentiful variety of real NY pizza places (see this issue’s Dining Survey & Contest on pages 31-32 for the complete list). So, as a former Yankee from “Lawn Guyland,” it’s hard for me to say there could ever be too much good pizza in our distribution areas.

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Wazoo Gets Wild While Peabody’s Hosts Seasonal Brew Battles

A Wazoo attendee samples one of Sierra Nevada Brewing's offerings at the 2013 Wazoo Beer Fest at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.
A Wazoo attendee samples one of Sierra Nevada Brewing’s offerings at the 18th annual Wazoo Beer Fest at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa on August 3.

By Matt Wiley

Living among the animals for a night may sound like reality TV fare, but on August 3, it truly was reality for the animals on the other side of the glass at the Lowry Park Zoo during the zoo’s 18th annual Wazoo Beer Fest.

Named one of the top 10 beer festivals in the nation by USA Today, Wazoo has become one of the biggest annual fund raisers for Lowry Park Zoo, located on W. Sligh Ave in Central Tampa (call 935-8552 or visit LowryParkZoo.com) — and this year’s event raised more than $150,000 to help the zoo fund and maintain its amazing programs and exhibits. Fund-raising events, along with private donations, are what have kept Tampa’s zoo not only up and running, but also thriving, the past 25 years. Click through to view the bonus gallery…

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Casa Ramos — A 40-Year Mexican Tradition That Started With ‘Uncle Pepe’

By Gary Nager

Photos by Jayne Baker & Matt Wiley

OK, so there’s no doubt that a lot of us — including yours truly — were sad to see Sushi Tsu Japanese Steakhouse close its doors in the same Shoppes of Amberly plazain Tampa Palms as our office earlier this year. But, I was definitely intrigued by the idea of an upscale Mexican restaurant coming in to replace it.

And, in the less than two months that it’s been open, I have to say that I am definitely enjoying getting to know Casa Ramos and owner Mateo Ramos, who is the chief operatring officer of a company that operates more than 40 Azteca and Casa Ramos restaurants, primarily on the west coast of the U.S.Continue reading