Although New Tampa already is home to several โbuild-your-own bowl,โ fast-casual restaurants, the opening of the new Fresh Kitchen at the north end of the Sprouts Farmers Market-anchored Village at Hunterโs Lake plaza is still well worth celebrating.
Fresh Kitchen, which has eleven locations in Florida, from Gainesville to Davie, is now open. It will hold its official ribbon cutting Tuesday, March 30 at 10:30 a.m.
Fresh Kitchen has one of the best (and tastiest) varieties ofย bowl bases, veggies and proteins of any bowl restaurant in our area.
I already love the โpowerโ and coconut ginger rice, cauliflower potato mash, kale slaw and baby kale caesar as bases, parmesan broccoli and herb roasted cauliflower veggies, fresh-grilled steak and unique almond-baked chicken fingers, the creamy white ginger and herb balsamic vinaigrette sauces and pico de gallo and kale pesto tomatoes โadd-ons.โย
Fresh Kitchen president Steven Lanza, who attended the โfriends & familyโ event where these pics were taken, says everything at Fresh Kitchen is fresh, homemade and gluten-free.
โWe call it healthy food thatโs flavorful,โ Lanza says. โWe believe our quality is as good as you would find in a steakhouse or fine-dining restaurant in a fast-casual environment.โ
For more info about Fresh Kitchen (8648 Hunterโs Village Rd.), call (813) 336-3800 or visit eatfreshkitchen.com.ย
First Watch To Open Apr. 5
Directly adjacent to Fresh Kitchen, New Tampa is getting its own First Watch restaurant, even though thereโs already a location only 3 miles to the north on BBD in Wesley Chapel.
Even so, operations manager (and New Tampa resident) Carrie Hagerman says the Wesley Chapel location isnโt going anywhere.
โThat area is growing so fast,โ Hagerman says. โThereโs plenty of room for both stores.โ
As a native New Yorker raised on bagels and lox (aka smoked salmon) and bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches, but who has been living on the west coast of Florida since 1993, one of the hardest things for me to find in our area has been true, New York-style kettle-boiled-then-baked bagels that tasted anything like those I had been enjoying since I was a child.
Yes, there is a place in North Tampa, another in Clearwater and one in Brandon, but until recently, no such โlegitโ bagel place has existed in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel.
Daniel Kurland is a New Jersey native who first moved to the east coast of Florida and was living in Vero Beach when he first tried a Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. bagel.
โI grew up on bagels,โ Daniel says. โEvery town in New Jersey had a couple of bagel places. But, when I moved to Florida, it was hard to find good bagels.โ
Daniel says he was a steady customer of the Vero Beach Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. before he moved to near Wesley Chapel three years ago and says, โI was shocked by the lack of not only good bagel places, but of breakfast places in general. Not even a Dennyโs or an IHOP.โ
So, Daniel, who has had many previous careers, including a โdot comโ business that he sold. He owned and operated a bar in Ft. Lauderdale before moving to Vero.
โOwning a bar, I liked being part of the community and I was looking for that feel again,โ he says, when he found what he believed to be a perfect location for a Brooklyn Water Bagel Co., on S.R. 54, just west of I-75, in an existing strip center at the front of developer Mark Goldโs fast-developing Grove property.
OK, Letโs Talk Food!
Daniel says that the thing he first liked about Brooklyn water Bagel Co. was the fact that just about everything is made in-house, using water that is โBrooklynizedโ right in the store.
โWe use the water to not only make the bagels, but also our coffee (more on that below) and our desserts (ditto),โ he says. โI really think it makes a difference,โ and the locationโs growing roster of regular customers seems to agree with him.
โOur most popular โregular flavorsโ of bagels are probably the everything and plain,โ he says. โIf we ever run out of those, we might as well close our doors.โ
And, while my personal favorite Brooklyn Water Bagels are the Black Russian (pumpernickel) with (sesame) seeds and the white sesame and poppy seed varieties, Daniel says that there are a few other flavors he can rotate in and out.
For example, although he always has cinnamon raisin bagels in his bagel bins, he recently has been selling cinnamon crunch bagels that are proving to be pretty popular, and others like blueberry and egg that can be rotated into the selection. โWeโll even do an olive cream cheese in the spring.โ
My favorites at Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. are the โWilliamsburg,โ with authentic Nova Scotia-style smoked salmon, cream cheese and tomato (I hold the onion it comes with) or a bacon, egg & cheese on a double-toasted bagel. But, Daniel says the โnot-spicyโ chorizo sausage sandwich shown below is among his favorites, as are the made-to-your specifications fluffy omelettes next to the chorizo sandwich above. Photographer Charmaine George added spinach, mushrooms and bacon to that omelette, which was served with two crispy hash brown โcakes.โย
Chorizo sausage sandwich
Also available are the โBrooklyn,โ with bacon, sausage and ham, eggs and cheese, and the โJersey Boy,โ with Taylor ham, eggs and cheese. Thereโs also a โGreenpointโ with scrambled egg whites, spinach, mushroom and Swiss on a scooped, toasted whole wheat bagel. You can even get fresh avocado on a bagel.
Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagel
Lunch, Coffee & Dessert!
The lunch menu is limited to tasty NY-style basics โ a corned beef Reuben (with sauerkraut, Swiss and 1000 Island or spicy mustard on rye), a turkey or pastrami Reuben (with the same toppings) called โRachel,โ and tuna and chicken salad melts. I have tried all but the chicken salad and so far, so delicious.
Iโve also made my own sandwich from the Brooklyn Sandwich Board with corned beef and pastrami, although thereโs also house-roasted chicken and even whitefish salad. Charmaine also enjoyed the roasted chicken, bacon & avocado wrap above.
Donโt miss the beverages, either. Iโm kind of addicted to the Brooklyn Infusion coffee, flavored with vanilla, caramel and Kahlua, although there also are dark and medium roasts, as well as decaf and pumpkin spice varieties. The same flavors are available cold, too, as iced coffee โCubstas,โ and thereโs also CinnaBuzz coffee with extra caffeine. Thereโs even actual coffee-flavored ice cubes at the coffee bar and fans of authentic egg creams will find New Yorkโs beloved Foxโs U-Bet chocolate syrup and soda fountain seltzer.
The decadent dessert options include legit black-&-white and chewy chocolate chunk cookies, plus house-baked muffins, in flavors like cookies & cream and a mixed-nut โstud muffin.โ Daniel says the only dessert items not baked in-house are the variety of different rugelach, a rolled Jewish-origin pastry available in chocolate, cinnamon, apricot and other flavors.ย
Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. is located at 27835 Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54), Suite 101 (next to the new King of the Coop chicken). It is open every day, 6 a.m.-3 p.m. To place an order or for more information, call (813) 775-2275 or visit BrooklynWaterBagel.com.
(Above, l.-r.) Travis Younger, Rachell Reed, Ciara Weiss and Erika, Francesco & Luca Ammirati invite you to check out Frammi, New Tampaโs only restaurant serving both great American and Italian cuisine.(Photos by Charmaine George & Gary Nager) ย
If your family canโt always agree about what type of food to eat โ you want delicious lasagne but your kids are asking for great cheeseburgers โ you can both find plenty of favorites at the all-new Frammi American Grille and Italian Food, located in the space previously occupied by the popular Oakleyโs Grille on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in North Palms Village.
The restaurant has been owned by Luca and Erika Ammirati since August of 2018, but they kept the name as Oakleyโs Grille until about a month ago, and they kept the menu virtually the same, with Luca adding some of his authentic Italian specialties a little at a time.
But, considering that Luca is from Napoli (Naples) in southern Italy and Erika is from a small town outside of Milano (Milan) in northern Italy, the two have a vast wealth of Italian dishes that they love sharing with hungry diners in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and beyond.
When they were formulating the menu for Frammi, Luca says he and Erika wanted to keep as much of the all-American Oakleyโs menu while incorporating an equally extensive selection of truly authentic Italian favorites. To that end, the Frammi menu is American on one side, but flip it over, and youโll find Italian specialties on the other side.
โThere are plenty of places in the New Tampa area serving American food and some serving Italian,โ Luca says with his charming accent, โbut we wanted to be the only restaurant in the area specializing in both.โ
Great Grilled Specialties
Yes, Frammi still has those delicious Oakleyโs hamburgers (with a dozen different options, including the popular ghost pepper burger and the bacon, egg & cheeseburger below), โKars Katchโ fried tilapia tenders, Philly cheesesteak and chicken Philly sandwiches, beef, chicken and fish fajitas and some of the best fries in the area.
But, Luca and Erika also have added sandwiches with Boarโs Head meats and cheeses, like the pastrami & swiss sandwich on marble rye bread, as well as a great corned beef Reuben.ย
And, although itโs not shown on these pages, the fried chicken sandwich also is excellent and is one of a half-dozen chicken sandwich choices, including my favorite, the unique Cajun chicken Cordon Bleu, topped with hot capicola and melted Swiss.
The Ammiratisโ Italian influence also is evident in the variety of hot pressed sandwiches, including the spicy Italian and Uncle Muzzieโs mufaletta.
Now, Thatโs Italian!
But, to be honest, I was much more interested in Frammiโs all-new Italian side of the menu, especially the incredible variety of pasta dishes.
Prosciutto and Mozzarella
Meatballs
Lasagna
Clam pasta
There are favorites like pomodoro (fresh tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese and basil), two different ragus (not to be confused with the jarred sauce) โ one with black angus beef (aka Bolognese) and an incredible ragu di salsiccia, with fresh Italian sausage. Luca says his favorite is the spicy pasta arrabiata and thereโs also a puttanesca (with black and green olives, garlic, anchovies, tomato sauce and capers).
But, my favorites are the truly authentic meat lasagne (above), made with creamy bechamel sauce, instead of the more Americanized ricotta), the perfect pesto (which sticks to the pasta better than at most places) and especially, the vongole (tiny, fresh clams in their shells, made with diced tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, white wine, garlic and red chili pepper flakes.ย
Luca originally introduced me to his authentic fried meatballs more than a year ago, as he says in southern Italy, they donโt serve the meatballs in sauce, theyโre served with a side of fresh tomato dipping sauce and garlic bread.
Other Italian specialties include a chunky bruschetta appetizer, a an antipasto Italiano with prosciutto, mortadella (also ham), salami, Parmesan cheese and house-baked bread), a โsecondo plattoโ (second dish) of prosciutto e mozzarella (also with house-baked bread), a fried chicken โcotolettaโ (served with fries), an eggplant (melanzana) parmigiana so popular it sells out all the time, fried calamari and several others.ย
Thereโs also a variety of freshly made salads and a reasonably priced kidsโ menu, with everything from fish sticks to cheeseburger and more โ all from $3.49-$6.99.
โPlease be patient,โ Luca says. โWe are not serving fast food here. Everything is made to order โ including Erikaโs homemade tiramisu (above).โ
And, everything Iโve sampled to date has been outstanding. I canโt wait to try more โ and neither should you!
Frammi (17631 BBD Blvd.) is open every day, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., and offers delivery with Doordash, Mobile Meals & Uber Eats.ย For more info, call (813) 523-5075.
If you somehow havenโt seen it as you crawl to or from I-75 on S.R. 56, or you havenโt seen the ads (or my previous shorter writeups) in these pages, a favorite from Tampaโs Armature Works has opened in our area.
Zukku-San Sushi Bar & Grill opened towards the end of 2020, next to Crumbl Cookie, and has brought that great Tampa vibe along with it.
But, while the Zukku Sushi location in the Tampa Heights Market at Armature Works is set up (like most restaurants in that space) as a faster-food mix of โcuratedโ sushi, pokรฉ bowls and sushi burritos, co-owner Ferdian Jap and his possible future brother-in-law and co-owner/Executive Chef Gia Tran (Ferdianโs girlfriend is Giaโs wifeโs sister) have brought the same โworks of artโ feel to the coolly elegant Zukku-San, which is much more of a sit-down, fine dining restaurant, featuring a super-premium, full liquor bar.
Zukku co-owner Gia Tran
Gia, who spent several years at Sushi Alive in the Westshore Business District, followed by five years at Ocean Prime outside of the International Plaza, says that Zukku-San allows him to get even more into his unique combination of knowledge and love of the freshest sushi and the ability to create more upscale works of art that he learned at Ocean Prime.
In fact, โZukkuโ is a canvas commonly used by artists to create their masterpieces and โSanโ is a title of respect added to a name in Japanese. Amazing food is the art form and the chefs are the artists who use the finest ingredients to create these culinary masterpieces. In fact, there even are large and small sushi and sashimi palettes served on a custom artistโs palette. These folks are not playing around when it comes to food.
If you spend a few minutes with Ferdian and Chef Gia, you can tell just how excited they are about their latest venture together (they also have a Zukku Sushi location in Charlotte, NC) โ and theyโre not the only ones.
Although fans of Zukku-San pack the place (but please note that there are few eateries better set up for social distancing) for dinner virtually every night, Gia and Ferdian only recently unveiled a new lunch menu, so the lunch crowd is just now building.
But, while you can get the full dinner menu if you go at lunch time, there also are lunch-only items, like excellent tuna and other pokรฉ bowls and tender short rib and other bento boxes, all of which include salad, rice, two fried gyoza, or pork dumplings, and Zukku-Sanโs amazingly fresh and delicious sautรฉed veggies. The bottom line is that whether you go for lunch, dinner or drinks and appetizers, you really canโt beat the quality โ or the artistry โ of Chef Giaโs food at Zukku-San.
For Starters…
Jannah and I havenโt always gotten a full meal when we visit Zukku-San because the starters are just so delicious.
But, every dine-in visitor to Zukku-San also receives a towel that puffs up when your server pours hot water on it. But, neither photographer Charmaine George nor I got a picture that really does this magical process justice, so youโll just have to check it out for yourself, OK?
And, even though Jannah and I arenโt as big on sushi as some Zukku-San diners, the fish is always fresh and excellent, as is the seared ahi tuna tataki. Also outstanding are the fried vegetable spring rolls (served with a unique orange chili sauce), the skewers of beef tenderloin and chicken yakitori (shrimp and scallop yakitori also are on the menu; all are skewered with fresh sautรฉed onions, peppers zucchini and even broccoli) and the fried pork gyoza.
But, our favorite starters are probably the wide variety of Tempura a la Carte options. Jannahโs favorite is the zucchini and mine are the broccoli, carrot and amazing whole soft shell crab tempura (right). Also on the tempura menu are shrimp, sweet potato, tofu, whole giant squid, avocado, scallops, hamachi (yellowtail) collar, asparagus, onion rings, red and jalapeรฑo pepper and even whole lobster tail tempura.
โMost Japanese restaurants give you an order of tempura that may have some vegetables you donโt like,โ Ferdian says. โBut, we give you four pieces of zucchini or broccoli or whatever vegetables you like, for only $2.95 per order. At Zukku-San, you pick only the tempura items you want.โ
Thereโs even โChefโs Featuresโ available, like a tender bluefin tuna appetizer, topped with caviar. Ferdian says that the bluefin appetizer is likely to become a regular menu item in the future, but Gia says other โChefโs Featuresโ also are coming soon.
There also are soups and salads available as starters, but other than the ginger salad that comes with the entrรฉes, Jannah and I havenโt sampled any of them…yet.
From The Wok & Grill
Just in case youโre still hungry for more than just appetizers, Zukku-San offers mine and Jannahโs favorite chicken teriyaki (above), which is served with those aforementioned sautรฉed veggies. Also available are dinner portions of those tender, delicious grilled short ribs, plus items we havenโt tried yet, like soy butter glazed baked salmon, miso garlic scallops or tofu, and wok-fired hibachi and udon noodle dishes, all with your choice of protein, or just with veggies.
But, itโs really hard for us to ever pass up the Japanese-style fried rice, which is jasmine rice with egg, peas, carrots and onions and available with chicken, beef, shrimp or fried tofu protein options, but our favorite is the veggie fried rice, which adds red peppers, broccoli, zucchini and amazing baby bok choy. The rice has a nutty flavor that is hard to match.
Zukku-San also has a kids menu, but while the items arenโt cheap, the portions seem adult-sized to us. Thereโs also a variety of desserts, from triple chocolate cake to matcha green tea cheesecake, fried ice cream and more, but weโve honestly never had room left over for dessert. Thereโs also a variety of hot and iced teas, as well as boba milk tea, but Jannah usually gets a wine or hot saki and I usually have either an Asahi Dry or Sapporo beer, or a whiskey.
Zukku-San Sushi Bar & Grill (25916 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz) opens every day at 11 and is open until 9:30 on weekdays, 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. & 9 p.m. on Sun. For more information, visit ZukkuSushi.com, call (813) 419-1351.
A full bar in available at the Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment for a pre-movie drink.
The Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment will have a spin room, childrenโs room, acting studio, a comedy club and more, but on Feb. 19, it finally opened to do what it was built to do:
Show movies.
After more than a year of renovations and redesign, the theater debuted its new reclining leather seats and bistro with a showing of movies like โJudas and the Black Messiahโ, โLandโ and โThe Little Things.โ
The former Cobb Theater was operating at limited capacity, with only 50 percent seating in checkerboard style, and no one sitting in front of, behind or next to other customers. Only some of the 12 screens were in use, and some of the showings were sold out.
The selection of movies also is limited, as Hollywood has held back on production and releases due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Bistro dining area, which The Grove Theater management refers to as โupscale,โ was busy on the weekend nights, with a wide menu of dishes, featuring items like steak, shrimp macaroni and cheese, fish tacos and bruschetta, with crรจme brulee highlighting its desert options. The chicken parmesan was the most popular menu item, and all could be ordered at Bistro tables, as well as for in-movie dining.
Laron, Angel and English Hearst (eating the burger) of New Tampa enjoying a meal at the Grove Bistro.
A full bar serving drinks, as well as a sushi bar, are also part of the Bistro, and the main lobby has 45 video arcade games for pre-movie entertainment.
โPeople are ready to go back to the movies and we are proud to be able to provide them with a safe environment to enjoy a night out with their friends and family,โ said Matheus Gold, vice president of operations. โWe are operating at 50% capacity with checkerboard seating and sold out several showings our opening weekend. Our Bistro offers new dishes and the feedback we received is that we are back better than ever.โ
The theater is taking lots of Covid-19 safety precautions, with temperature checks at the door and facial coverings required inside. However, with the limited seating, social distancing was easily manageable.
The two-floor, 85,000-sq.-ft. movie theater is being dubbed by developer Mark Gold as the future of how entertainment will be offered to attract families. His plans are for families to come for dinner, leave the kids in a converted-theater Kids Play Place room, and see a movie or comedy show at Side Splitters Comedy Club (which is expected to open this spring).
Then, families can then spend time together cruising the 200-acre complex, which will have a mini-golf course, the much anticipated KRATE by Gold Box container park and a โdowntown villageโ area, all featuring other bars, restaurants and retailers.
The theater renovations are another part of a massive project at The Grove, which Goldโs Mishorin Gold Properties purchased in September 2019 for $62.7 million.
The Grove Theater, Bistro and Entertainment will be open Saturday and Sunday from 4-9:30 p.m., and Sundays noon-7 p.m. Tickets can be reserved at grovetheater.com.
