Gary’s 2023 Favorite Ice Cream Places In New Tampa & Wesley Chapel 

You’ll note that there are no frozen yogurt shops on this list, as rich, creamy ice cream will always be favored by yours truly over anything else. Quality toppings — like real hot fudge or chocolate dip tops — will help elevate some over others (like Leonidas; see pg. 40), but the Ice Dreammm Shop is still my go-to. 

1. Ice Dreammm Shop 

2. Bruster’s Real Ice Cream 

3. Ice Ssscreamin’ (temp. closed) 

4. Astro Craft Ice Cream 

5. Leonidas Chocolates CafĂ© 

6. Twistee Treat 

7. Cold Stone Creamery 

8. Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream 

9. Culver’s 

10. 35 Below 

Gary’s 2023 Favorite Breakfast Places In New Tampa & Wesley Chapel 

Jannah loves brunch more than I do, but I am and always have been a breakfast guy. It’s hard for me to not pick bagel places as my top choices for breakfast, but give me the fried eggs, toast, crispy bacon and perfect grits at EggTown (photo) over the other places on this list, all of which are worth visiting. 

1. EggTown 

2. Brunchie’s 

3. Zio’s NY Bagel & Deli 

4. Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. 

5. Happy Hangar CafĂ© 

Gary’s 2023 Favorite Asian Restaurants In New Tampa & Wesley Chapel 

Although I also love a lot of places for their sushi, my favorite Asian restaurants have to have other favorite dishes, like the hibachi filet at Kobé, the NY-style BBQ spare ribs at Liang’s, the pork chop rice dish at Ha Long Bay, the crispy duck at Arroy Thai and the gyoza (photo) and other appetizers at Zukku-San. 

1. Zukku-San 

2. KobĂ© Japanese Steakhouse 

3. Liang’s Bistro 

4. Ha Long Bay 

5. Arroy Thai 

6. Yamato 

7. Sushi CafĂ© 

8. Gorkhali Kitchen 

9. Thai Lanna 

10. Crazy Sushi 

Gary’s Favorite (Food) KRATEs At The Grove 

This is one of the categories I neglected to include for our Reader Survey this year. Even though not all of the places on my list qualify as restaurants (e.g., Bakery X and Urban Sweets), these are all great KRATEs for food.

1. Pisco Express (photo) 

2. Blush Wine Room 

3. Urban Sweets 

4. Bakery X 

5. The Bacon Boss HQ 

6. CafĂ© Zorba 

7. Chamo Bites 

8. Ato 

9. Mojo Grill 

10. Tacos El Patron 

Gary’s Favorite NY-Style Pizza in NT & WC 

Pepperoni & sausage pizza at NY NY Pizza 

1. New York New York Pizza 

As a native New Yawka, although I have nothing against other kinds of pizza — and there are lots of good options for those other types in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel — pizza to me has a thin crust, a certain kind of mozzarella (only) cheese and a certain tomato sauce taste. Some places have it but most simply don’t. 

However, all of the places on the list below come pretty close to the pizza I loved most in my home state, with NY NY coming closest of all.

2. Amici Pizza 

3. 900Âş Woodfired & NY Pizza 

4. Fratelli’s 

5 (tie). PizzaMania 

5. (tie) Taste of NY Pizza