The Bean Bar Co. — New Tampa’s Place For Coffee & Delicious Treats!

Owner Danielle Henry (left) and her manager Peyton. 

Danielle Henry is a busy young woman — she’s married with two young kids, she just completed her MBA degree online (from King University in her native Knoxville, TN), she owns and operates a food truck and oh yeah, she recently opened The Bean Bar Co., her first-ever storefront business, located in The Shoppes at The Pointe plaza in Tampa Palms (next to Koizi restaurant), just south of the Bruce B. Downs Blvd. Exit (270) off I-75.

Danielle says she started working for her friend Gina Malone-Evans’ mom Georgina Malone’s business — which sold coffee out of a tent at the Florida State Fair, Strawberry Festival and other large-scale events — when she was just 14 years old. 

In December of 2017, she purchased the equipment from Georgina and continued to operate out of a tent for two years before building and opening the first Bean Bar food truck in September of 2020. Danielle’s brother Kyle Trina opened the family’s second Bean Bar food truck in March of 2021.

Only a month or so later, I met Danielle when she brought the original Bean Bar truck to Palms Pharmacy’s fifth anniversary celebration (so Palms Pharmacy’s Shahida Choudhry, Pharm.D., could provide free coffee beverages for everyone who attended the event, in April of 2021), Shahida told me at that time that Danielle was going to bring The Bean Bar to the plaza and I knew (after so enjoying my free caramel macchiato) I was going to become a regular customer.

“I would never have found New Tampa and this plaza if not for Shahida,” says Danielle, who lives with her husband Mark and their 4-year-old son Peyton (named for Peyton Manning) and 18-month-old daughter Layne in Wesley Chapel. “But, after I was told that the KRATE container park in The Grove at Wesley Chapel already had a deal with a coffee place (Provisions Coffee & Kitchen; see pg. 38), I was looking for another location.”

Sipping Something Delicious

So, only six months or so after I met her, Danielle opened The Bean Bar Co.’s first-ever storefront, serving her delicious coffee beverages made (no pun intended) with Made Coffee, which is headquartered in Clearwater. I’ve yet to have a bad cup of coffee at The Bean Bar, and I’ve sampled everything from the freshly brewed hot regular coffee, the hot latte, cappuccino and cafe con leche to the homemade hot chocolate and what may be the most delicious caramel macchiato I’ve ever tasted. 

I’ve yet to sample the hot Irish nutcase (which comes only in a large size and includes six shots of espresso), any of the flavored specialty lattes (including cookie butter and s’mores) or any iced beverages, but Jannah definitely loves both the hot and iced chai tea.

Speaking of tea, Danielle says that the storefront has allowed her to stock a variety  of delicious teas for the first time, and they also are served hot or iced, and The Bean Bar also offers fruit smoothies and refreshers.

And of course, you can add a variety of flavored syrups (many also available sugar free), from basics like vanilla, caramel and hazelnut, to more exotic options, like lavender, pumpkin spice, rose and white chocolate. You also can substitute almond, coconut, soy or oat milk for the regular or non-fat milk (or cream). But, unless you have an allergy or lactose intolerance, why would you? 

Delicious Munchies, Too!   

Because man (or, at least, this man)  can not live on delicious beverages alone, The Bean Bar also has some tasty food options, starting with the perfect waffle chicken sandwich shown above right). It includes crispy fried chicken, egg and cheese served between two fluffy waffles. Order it “Gary’s Way” (no, my way is not on the menu) with crispy real bacon (there’s also turkey bacon and turkey sausage available). The waffles  are so tasty it doesn’t even need the syrup served on the side.

We also are partial to the bacon, egg and cheese “sami,” which is available served on an English muffin, but I definitely prefer it on a fresh croissant. The croissants are delivered fresh from Douce France Bakery in Winter Garden.

But, definitely save room for dessert, too. The Bean Bar stocks delicious cookies from St. Petersburg-based Kathie’s Fine Cookies. And, Danielle also is supplied with fresh-baked muffins, brownies, pastries and other delicious and different-each-day treats from Petite Bouchees, which is owned by an Epperson resident. 

I’ll be honest that I haven’t sampled all of these treats (I’d weight 1,000 lbs. if I did), but the chocolate chunk cookies are chewy and decadent and both the peppermint and regular fudge brownies are super-tasty, too…and fudgy!

“Considering that both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees were in health care administration and management,” Danielle says, “I definitely changed course by opening this store. But, I’m glad I did. I love what I do and I have a great staff, which I know is hard to find these days.”

So, whether you see Danielle when you visit The Bean Bar, her manager Peyton (no relation to Danielle’s son) or any of her other friendly employees, go and enjoy a sip and a nosh in a relaxing atmosphere.   

The Bean Bar Co. (17018 Palm Pointe Dr.) is open Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-5 p.m., and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. 

For more information, call (813) 442-7699, visit BeanBarCo.com or visit them on Instagram (beanbar_co) or Facebook (The Bean Bar Co.).

Five Things To Look Forward To In 2022!

Wesley Chapel and New Tampa have been on a great run of fun and interesting projects, and 2022 should be no different. Here are the five we’re most looking forward to this year.

1. KRATE Container Park

The long-awaited KRATE container park at The Grove at Wesley Chapel is expected to be fully open by summer 2022 — which is great news for local residents in the quickly expanding S.R 54 corridor looking for more shopping and dining options.

Photos by Charmaine George

There are so many cool things coming to Wesley Chapel this year, but KRATE ranks as No. 1, thanks to the unique nature of the project and the anticipation that has built up because it has taken much longer than many expected, due in no small part to a variety of Covid-related issues.

KRATE was the jewel of developer Mark Gold’s plans when his company, Mishorim Gold Properties, bought The Grove — then a moribund 250-acre parcel anchored by a shopping center — for $64 million in September 2019. Gold has invested an additional $20 million in the KRATE, which he claims will be the largest container park in the U.S. and something that will draw visitors from around the state to Wesley Chapel.

The seven-acre KRATE project will feature 55 businesses in converted shipping containers, each with their own product-centric mural painted on the side by artist Whitney Holbourn of Colorado.

At our press time, only two stores — Provisions Coffee & Kitchen and Shake-A-Salad — were already open. Once the others are ready, the KRATE is expected to cash in on what is likely to be a welcome experience in these Covid-ridden times — walking an open-air market featuring restaurants, retail shops and even a stage that will host concerts and other performances.

Its proximity to The Grove’s big box stores, and its popular restaurants like Treble Makers and the Falabella Family Bistro (see pg. 36), the Double Branch Artisanal Ales craft brewery, The Grove movie theater (and home of Side Splitters comedy club) and a new mini-golf course (see below) will make The Grove arguably the top entertainment destination hub in Pasco County, if not all of Tampa Bay.

2. New Tampa PAC 

If we didn’t like shopping and desserts so much, this would be our No. 1.

Regardless, the New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC; photo, left) will provide a cultural boost to the area with its promise of music, dance and theatrical performances. The area already has an acting troupe, the New Tampa Players (NTP), that will call the PAC home and be one of what we hope are hundreds of groups to bring productions to the 350-seat theater. 

When was the last time you had to get dressed up to attend anything in New Tampa proper?

Our only gripe — it would have been nice to see the NTPAC fronting Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in all its glory, lit up at night as drivers-by gawked, as opposed to being tucked out of view between an apartment complex and a grocery store. 

But, after a nearly 20-year battle to get the place built, who’s complaining?

3. Lotte Market

This, very quietly, might be the coolest thing to open anywhere in 2022, because if you know, you know.

While we haven’t had any updates in a while on the plans for the new market, and no official announcement at all, we’re guessing Lotte Market will fill the 55,000-sq.ft. former Sweetbay Market with hard-to-find Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese food items, as well what is likely to be the largest selection of fresh — and, dare we say, unique — seafood, fruits and vegetables in the area.

The only other Lotte Market in Florida is located in Orlando, and that store, like most of its others located in Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia, have a handful of Asian restaurants or a food court. Lotte has already been approved by the city to put restaurants in the market, and we can’t wait to see which ones they will be.

4. Mini-Golf

The groundbreaking of PopStroke Entertainment was held on Feb. 2

Remember a few years ago, when the major complaint about the area was that there was nothing to do? Well, since 2016, we’ve added an Urban Air Adventure Park in Tampa Palms, and in Wesley Chapel we now have the Advent Health Center Ice facility, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, an indoor recreation center and outdoor roller hockey rink at the Wesley Chapel District Park and the Main Event bowling alley and game center on S.R. 56.

As if that’s not enough, in 2022, Tiger Woods PopStroke Entertainment, a mini-golf and restaurant concept the golf superstar owns with entrepreneur Greg Bartoli, is coming to Wesley Chapel’s Cypress Creek Town Center on the north side of S.R. 56.

The project officially broke ground on Feb. 2 and should be ready by the beginning of summer, if  not sooner.

Builders describe the place as an “experiential golf and casual dining concept merging a dynamic, technologically advanced competitive golf environment with food and beverages.”

Sign us up!

And while we’re at it, please also reserve us a  spot at the new Grove Mini-Golf, which is expected to open in March. While PopStroke skips all the bells and whistles associated with a traditional mini-golf course, Grove Mini-Golf is leaning into them with plenty of holes requiring tricky shots — one hole you shoot over a river, another into a river (you’ll see), and there’s even a figure-8 hole and lots of hills and rocks to accentuate a rich, tropical oasis experience. 

And, nighttime neon lighting and fire will give it a fun, festive feel. All of the holes will be illuminated with neon lights and glow-in-the-dark flags and balls. Very cool!

5. Diverging Diamond Interchange

If navigating castles, rocks and water on a mini-golf course doesn’t get you excited, how about navigating the soon-to-be-completed (no, we’re not kidding) Diverging Diamond Interchange at the S.R. 56 and I-75 intersection?

We’re not sure if it will be easier figuring out the DDI or, say, shooting par, but the folks building it promise the new intersection is less confusing than it looks.

That would be great for those who want to venture out to that area but don’t because, well, ugh…that traffic. But, the DDI is supposed to eliminate all those conflict points and make for a safer interchange, using free flowing lanes — sometimes taking you to the other side of the road (relax, it’ll be fun!). 

Just to be safe, though, we’d suggest hitting up YouTube to watch a few videos.

And…While these are our top 5, they aren’t the only cool things happening in our area in 2022, like the completion of the S.R. 54 widening project, Wesley Chapel’s second lagoon at Mirada —which, at 15 acres, is twice as large as the one in Epperson — new restaurants like The Living Room, and we might even see a few surprises. (We’re looking at you, empty Best Buy building on BBD).

Fundraiser Concert At St. James Feb. 15!

Muriel Anderson and her harp guitar.

Gary Brosch, a West Meadows retiree who runs the No Fret Guitar Camp, was at a music conference in Nashville when he first met guitarist and harp guitarist Muriel Anderson.

They became friends. He asked her for a plug on her Facebook page and has followed her career ever since.

He was still surprised, however, when Anderson called recently to tell him she was going on tour and would be in Florida. And, she was offering something even better than a social media plug — “She wanted to do a fund raiser for us,” Brosch says. “It was a very pleasant surprise.”

Brosch’s last, and only, fund raiser for his guitar camps was in 2019, before Covid got in the way. “I hadn’t really even thought of this year’s fund raiser yet,” he says, but now, just a month after her phone call, it is scheduled.

Gary Brosch

On Tuesday, February 15, at 7 p.m., Anderson will headline a free concert at St. James United Methodist Church to benefit the No Fret Guitar Camp, Brosch’s nonprofit that gives underserved teens free guitars and free lessons.

The concert also will feature Skip Frye, Sr., who played at the first No Fret fund raiser in 2019 and was a big hit. The Hall of Fame blues artist also has been an instructor at two of the No Fret camps.

While Frye played his own songs as well as hits by other artists that were familiar to the audience at the first fund raiser, Anderson’s performance is likely to offer a unique sound, touching on genres like folk, bluegrass, classical and pop, played on a unique instrument — a harp guitar (photo), which combines your typical guitar strings with open, harp-like strings that allow for plucking.

Her show is a multimedia spectacle, with a backdrop of visuals projected onto a screen behind her.

Anderson is the first woman to win the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship, and her 2013 CD, Nightlight Daylight, was chosen as one of the top-10 CDs of the decade by Guitar Player magazine.

The fund raiser also will feature a silent auction and the event’s proceeds will benefit the No Fret Guitar camp, which has provided more than $320,000 of free guitars and lessons in five years for 800 students. Any church or organization can contact Brosch about hosting one of the  camps, which are limited to six students each. No Fret students each receive a guitar and two-hour lessons for five days, with the focus on teaching basic chords and playing songs, rather than reading music.

While Covid may have forced some changes and wiped out his fund raisers the past two years, it also helped Brosch realize the impact the camps have had on many former students. He says he has heard from a number of parents that while their children were confined inside at various times during the pandemic, they were able to turn to their guitars instead of their computers, which also helped with anxiety and depression.

“That’s really been exciting for us,” Brosch says. “We really have a life-changing impact, and music can do that.”

St. James United Methodist Church is located at 16202 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Tampa Palms. To reserve a free VIP table, call or text Gary Brosch at (813) 597-1925.

Gary’s Top 25 New Tampa Restaurants!

Every year, in the issue after we report the results of our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest, I always feel compelled to give you my dining favorites, including all of the restaurants that opened in (or very near) Wesley Chapel and New Tampa the previous year.

As someone who remembers when Good Fellas, The Boston Cooker, The Ultimate Bagel and Joy-O-Wok in Tampa Palms were the only restaurant options in New Tampa —  and who has sampled every new place to eat since then — I do feel uniquely qualified to provide you with my annual list of favorites in both of our distribution areas. 

And, even though quite a few new eateries opened in our distribution areas in 2021 after the reader voting ended, my top-25 “survey” lists aren’t quite as different from the readers’ lists this year as they have been in previous years, especially in Wesley Chapel.

 And, I’m excited to say that this year, both Stonewood Grill & Tavern and Treble Makers Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant have both repeated as my Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, respectively, which is a pretty big accomplishment, considering all of the new competition that opened in 2021 in both of our distribution areas.

On pages 28-32 of the latest New Tampa issue, you’ll find short write-ups about my 25 favorite restaurants (new and existing) in New Tampa for 2021.

Enjoy! And, try to remember that, as it says above, these opinions about local restaurants are mine alone, so I don’t expect you to agree with me about everything (or anything). Feel free to let me know when you agree or disagree!

1 — STONEWOOD GRILL & TAVERN
17050 Palm Pointe Dr., Tampa Palms
(813) 978-0388

Despite the fact that a number of new restaurants have opened in New Tampa the last two years, it was still too hard for me to disagree with our readers as to which restaurant in New Tampa is my #1 favorite for 2021 — Stonewood Grill & Tavern!

     There is no doubt that despite the fact that all seven of my top New Tampa favorites on this page are good enough, in my opinion, to one day challenge for New Tampa’s #1 restaurant, Stonewood still has the best (and best variety of) steak, the best ahi tuna appetizer and some of the best fresh fish options, and those have always been the  most important choices for yours truly.

    Stonewood also has delicious bruschetta, an outstanding sweet tea brined pork chop, an excellent blackened chicken pasta, super-tasty Tuscan chicken and great new crafted bowls with ahi tuna, southwest chicken or salmon, plus  an incredible “two hand” chicken club sandwich with bacon and Swiss. 

    When you throw in the fact that Stonewood also is mine and Jannah’s favorite bar in New Tampa, with superlative service and fair drink prices, and you can understand why it has repeated as my favorite restaurant in New Tampa this year (as it has been with our readers every year but one since 2015) and has long been in my top 5. 

2 — VIA ITALIA
8644 Hunter’s Village Rd.
The Village at Hunter’s Lake
(813) 475-4857

Although I still prefer it for pasta moreso than for its amazing variety of pizzas, the reason Via Italia ranks as my #2 favorite restaurant in New Tampa is because those pasta dishes are all so authentic and delicious it’s hard for me to go very long without them.

A lot of places in our area have good pasta with pesto sauce, but Via Italia’s pesto Genovese is the best and also is the only place that serves authentic pasta pesto Siciliana (photo). And, add in delicious bruschetta, meatballs, oven-baked chicken wings, lasagne, cavatelli with broccolini and sweet Italian sausage and the “intensely flavored” linguine alle vongole (clams) and you have one of New Tampa’s best.

If owner/chef Roberto Maganuco ever adds fresh fish and/or grilled steaks and chops, it could easily be my #1.

3 — ACROPOLIS
14947 Bruce B Downs Blvd.
Oak Ramble Plaza
(813) 971-1787

Even though Acropolis Greek Taverna isn’t new, it was taken over by new owners Eddie Nasr and Stacy Esposito in 2021 and has definitely returned to its former top-5 glory with both yours truly and our readers. My favorite dishes are the saganaki (fried cheese) appetizer, the lamb lollipop chops and the amazing Athenian fish pictured above, although there are many other Greek specialties I enjoy, too — including the mini-gyro trio (lamb, pork and chicken), the pastitsio (Greek-style lasagne), the chicken Rhodes (in garlic parmesan wine sauce) and the pasta Santorini  (in a creamy lemon wine sauce), to name a few — to keep me coming back for more. And, while the “Acropolis dressing” on the Greek salad isn’t a traditional Greek vinaigrette, it’s pretty yummy.  

4 — FRAMMI
17631 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
(813) 523-5075

Before 2021, this restaurant was still called “Oakley’s Grille” and featured some of New Tampa’s best hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and a few Italian specialties from new owner Luca Ammirati, who took over a couple of years earlier. But, when Luca decided to add an entire additional menu of his native Italian specialties and rename his restaurant Frammi early last year, it catapulted all the way up my list of favorites, with an outstanding black angus beef ragu, pasta pesto Genovese, a semi-spicy sausage ragu, a spicier arrabiata red sauce and the savory pasta vongole (clams) pictured above. Yes, Frammi still has those great burgers, fajitas, chicken and pressed sandwiches on his expanded American menu, but it is his new and extensive (without being expensive) Italian menu that keeps me coming back for more. 

5 — THE GRILL AT MORRIS BRIDGE
10920 Cross Creek Blvd.
(813) 388-5353

When I first heard that a new, upscale restaurant was coming to the space previously occupied by Beef O’Brady’s and a couple of failed Italian restaurants in the Cross Creek Plaza, I was excited about the possibilities. Once I got to sample the new Grill at Morris Bridge opened in Dec. by brothers Frank and James Gouveia and Executive Chef Daniel Friley, I was even happier. No, The Grill isn’t cheap, but it has excellent steaks, delicious fresh fish, the best Caesar salad in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel, great crab cakes, authentic New England clam chowder, a tasty dry aged pork chop and a wonderful rigatoni with chicken and baby broccolini, plus New Tampa’s best wine list and amazing bar food and drink specials.   

6 — FAT RABBIT PUB
16029 Tampa Palms Blvd.
City Plaza at Tampa Palms
(813) 252-3004

Even though the Fat Rabbit Pub could have dropped a little more in my personal rankings when it stopped offering a fresh fish special every week, the fact is that this is still one of New Tampa’s best restaurants with one of its most creative, better-than-sports-bar-food menus in our area. The Fat Rabbit serves the best blackened wings, plus delicious burgers, an amazing blackened chicken roll appetizer, delicious street tacos (with pork, shrimp or short ribs) and new rice bowls like chicken tortilla and the tasty and tender short rib bowl shown above, plus blackened chicken, Tampa Palms cheese steak, Key West grilled chicken and other unique sandwiches, and the area’s best tater tots, all coupled with an ultra-premium liquor bar and craft beers.  

7 — LIMA PERUVIAN
19056 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
New Tampa Center
(813) 304-0205

You may not have known that Peruvian food has long been considered the best of the Latin cuisines, but if you try owner Oscar Escudero’s Lima Rotisserie Chicken & Peruvian Cuisine, you’ll understand why it’s true. Yes, the rotisserie chicken is outstanding, but I love Lima for its fresh fish ceviche (available with one or a trio of unique sauces), lomo saltado Lima (beef tenderloin tips or diced chicken breast wok-sautéed with soy sauce, onions and tomatoes) and tallarin saltado with flamed tenderloin tips, a variety of shellfish or diced chicken (photo) with lo mein-style noodles, pescado a la chorrilana (fried fresh fish filet), Peruvian-style fried rice and some of the best black beans and rice in our area. And, you can top it off with a Cusqueña Peruvian beer.      

8 — CALI
17004 Palm Pointe Dr.
Shoppes at The Pointe
(813) 975-1222

It seems that virtually every restaurant in our area now serves some sort of bowls, but Cali (formerly Ciccio Cali) was undoubtedly the first local restaurant to focus on the now-popular bowl culture. Cali also serves great wrap sandwiches (like the California club wrap with bacon and char chicken), unique baked pizzas and of course, those epic bowls.

The bowls at Cali are all available with seared ahi tuna, char or blackened chicken, grilled steak and  a variety of  veggies proteins (like lentil bites) and bases, but my favorites are the Hot & Crunchy bowl with seared ahi tuna, the Lean & Clean bowl with char chicken, roasted broccoli and cauliflower and the grilled steak fajita bowl.

9 — BAYSCAPE BISTRO
10630 Plantation Bay Dr.
@ Heritage Isles Golf Club
(813) 994-3445

F or good, old fashioned American cuisine with a variety of other options, owner/chef Eddie Bujarski’s Bayscape Bistro offers breakfast all day (try the brioche French toast, meat lover’s hash or the Breakfast in Hand), smaller plates like delicious battered and fried grouper baskets, wings and chicken strips, a fresh grilled mahi and other sandwiches, hot dogs and burgers, and wonderful signature dishes like mojo pork loin, a 12-oz. ribeye steak, a pasta garden with roasted veggies, roast half chicken and a really delicious country fried chicken (photo). Yes, even though it’s located at a golf course, Bayscape is open to the public and also features karaoke on Friday nights and $25 family of four takeout meals.

10 — FRESH KITCHEN
8648 Hunter’s Village Rd.
The Village at Hunter’s Lake
(813) 336-3800

My third favorite new restaurant to open in New Tampa in 2021, Fresh Kitchen is a Florida-based mini-chain with 15 locations either already open or opening soon, and it has some of the best options for your freshly made bowl of any restaurant.

My favorite proteins are the grilled steak, the almond-baked chicken planks (both shown in the bowl above), grilled citrus or BBQ chicken and even Caprese tofu. My favorite bases are the baby kale Caesar and kale slaw, but Jannah loves the sweet potato noodles and spinach salad bases. We both enjoy the parmesan broccoli and sesame green beans, as well as the creamy white ginger and herb balsamic vinaigrette sauces. 

The best of the rest:

11. LAS PALMAS
12. LIANG’S BISTRO
13. ORONZO HONEST ITALIAN
14. KOBE JAPANESE STEAK HOUSE
15. CANTINA REAL MEXICAN
16. SUSHI CAFE
17. WOOD FIRED PIZZA
18. MICHI RAMEN
19. LITTLE GREEK
20. GLORY DAYS
21. THAI RUBY
22. POKE ISLAND PLUS
23. MAHANA FRESH
24. BURGER 21
25. PEABODY’S

Gary’s Picks: Top 10 Favorites By Category

In case none of your favorites showed up in Gary’s Top 25 favorite restaurants for 2021, here’s a breakdown by category of his favorites places to enjoy dinner, dessert and drinks in Wesley Chapel.

GARY’S FAVORITE RESTAURANTS TO OPEN IN/NEAR WESLEY CHAPEL IN 2021
Considering how the pandemic continued to affect business in our area, a lot of new restaurants still managed to open in (or adjacent to) Wesley Chapel in 2021 and the following were my most welcome newcomers. 
1. Falabella Family Bistro
2. Bluefin Sushi
3. Chick’n Fun
4. 900º NY Pizza (The Grove)
5. Shake-A-Salad
6. Omnivorous
7. Señor Tequila
8. Keke’s Breakfast Café
9. Green Market Café
10. Zaxby’s

GARY’S 10 FAVORITE PIZZA PLACES in WESLEY CHAPEL
Although not all of the places listed below serve the true New York-style pizza I love the most, they are all delicious places to pick up a delicious pie an, in many cases, a slice. For me, NY NY is #1 because its Grandma’s pizza sauce and its sausage and pepperoni slices and pies are a tiny cut above Amici, the two 900º locations and Fratelli’s. The next five are all excellent, too, as I am happy to argue with anyone that Wesley Chapel is a great location for pizza.
1. NY NY
2. Amici
3. 900º Woodfired (Wiregrass)
4. 900º NY (The Grove)
5. Fratelli’s
6. Noble Crust
7. PizzaMania
8. Pasta di Guy
9. Caprese Pizza House
10. Moschella’s

GARY’S 10 FAVORITE ASIAN/MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANTS in WESLEY CHAPEL
Although both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel still have limited numbers of Mediterranean places, I still think I will go back to not including Mediterranean/Greek/Middle Eastern places in the same category as the much more populous Chinese, Japanese, Korean & Thai options. Not quite making this list, but also very good, are Hot Wok 88, Gonna China, Ho Wok, Medilish Mediterranean Grill, Tokyo Grill & Sushi and others. Zukku-San gets the edge over BlueFin and Umu because of its appetizers, moreso than its sushi.
1. Zukku-San
2. BlueFin
3. The Hungry Greek
4. Umu
5. Arroy Thai
6. Bonsai Sushi
7. Yamato
8. Garden Mediterranean Grill
9. Hibachi Express
10. FJ Express

GARY’S 10 FAVORITE LATIN RESTAURANTS in WESLEY CHAPEL
Most of the places listed below serve either Mexican, Tex-Mex or Southwestern-U.S.-style cuisine, with the exceptions being Rice-n-Beans (Puerto Rican), Arepa Mia (Venezuelan) and Latin Twist (Cuban). I like Vallarta’s best for its sizzling fajitas, although Chuy’s isn’t that far behind, Rice-n-Beans for its chicharrones, Capital Tacos for its bowls and Arepa Mia for its arepas and empanadas. Cantina Laredo would finish higher with me if it was a better value.
1. Vallarta’s
2. Rice-N-Beans
3. Capital Tacos
4. Chuy’s Tex-Mex 
5. Arepa Mia
6. Cantina Laredo
7. Latin Twist Café
8. Señor Tequila
9. Taco Bus
10. Taco Son

GARY’S 10 FAVORITE DESSERT PLACES in WESLEY CHAPEL
This is a tough category for me because 1) I love dessert so much, 2) can’t enjoy it as often as I would like because I’m fat and 3) not all of the places listed below are dessert-only places. Even so, there’s no doubt that Joe Schembri’s Ice Dreammm Shop, with its homemade ice cream and decadent brownies and cookies, is #1. I included and put Falabella second because it does sell its baked goods out of a display case and Culver’s #5 for its frozen custard.
1. Ice Dreammm Shop
2. Falabella Family Bistro
3. Nothing Bundt Cakes
4. Crumbl Cookie
5. Culver’s
6. Twistee Treat
7. Brooklyn Water Bagel
8. Moschella’s
9. Cafe 365
10. Barnes & Noble Café (Wiregrass)

GARY’S 10 FAVORITE BARS in WESLEY CHAPEL
Another super-tough category because each full-liquor bar listed below has different strengths and drawbacks. Treble Makers has piano music and a great crowd. Chuck Lager is our favorite place just to sit at the bar. Joe Whiskey’s has karaoke and the best drink prices. Florida Ave. has the most comfy bar stools. The Brass Tap’s karaoke starts a little late, but it has the best prices at the mall. Glory Days beats Bubba’s because of its superior wi-fi (important for fantasy football). Top Shelf rarely has seats at the bar. O’Brien’s has karaoke and live music, but skews a little country. Rock & Brews dropped when it stopped its live music. Please note that there are no beer-&-wine only bars here because Jannah and I aren’t beer drinkers.
1. Treble Makers
2. Chuck Lager
3. Joe Whiskey’s
4. Florida Ave. Brewing Co.
5. The Brass Tap
6. Glory Days
7. Bubba’s 33
8. Top Shelf Sports Lounge
9. O’Brien’s
10. Rock & Brews