The official numbers hadn’t been tallied at our press time, but according to event co-chair Chris Stennett, there is no mistaking that, once again, the Rotary Club of New Tampa Noon’s second annual New Tampa Brew Fest was a hit.
Hundreds of revelers strolled from table to table in the Venetian Center at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd., sampling nearly 100 offerings from more than 30 breweries, both big and small, sometimes to wash down the food being served by three outstanding food trucks outside.
The breweries represented included everything from large companies like Cigar City, Florida Avenue, Coppertail and Goose Island to smaller craftsmen who brew out of their garages, like Krazy Eddie’s Garage (KEG) Brewing, Ignorant Ales and Wiregrass Brewing Co.
“We were really, really happy with the event,” said Stennett afterward. “I feel good about what we did, and we are thankful for the community for coming out to support us.”
The event is the primary fundraiser for the New Tampa Noon Rotary (which meets Wednesdays at noon at Bayscape Bistro inside Heritage Isles Golf Club) and helped the club contribute thousands of dollars to causes like the Fisher House at the James Haley VA Hospital last year.
Few came further for this year’s event than Wisconsin’s Dennis Zweber (above, left), who took his brother Greg (right), who lives in Lutz, up on an offer to fly down for the Brew Fest and enjoy some better weather.
Dennis, who lives in Soldier’s Grove, WI, just east of Madison, found a plane ticket for $67 out of Minneapolis — about four hours away — and said that going to beer festivals was one of his family’s favorite pastimes.
“I figured, ‘What the heck,’” said Dennis. “We always have a great time when we go to these things.”
Dennis said he was impressed by the New Tampa Brew Fest, considering it was only the second year the event has been held.
“I was really impressed with the quality of the beers,” he said. “They had a lot of breweries, a lot of variety. I drank a lot of really good beer.”
Dennis, who tends to enjoy darker beers, said his favorite was the organic Peppermint Porter served by Randy Gailit, who brews his Wiregrass Brewing Co. (page 40) out of his garage in the Meadow Pointe community. “That was a really beautiful beer,” Dennis said.
Wiregrass Brewing Co. wasn’t the only local to draw rave reviews. Double Branch Artisanal Ales (DBAA), which is opening a place in The Grove in Wesley Chapel in January, drew a lot of attention for its offerings, particularly the Orange Suede, a passion fruit, orange peel, pineapple and marshmallow sour.
For DBAA co-owner Ryan Clarke, his first New Tampa Brew Fest was a success. He said the Orange Suede was so popular he had to crack open a second keg of it.“I thought it was a great event, and a great chance to introduce ourselves to the beer-loving community,” Clarke said.
Jamie Hess was as excited as he could be when he jumped headfirst into a pool built — and filled with hope and dreams — by developer Mark Gold.
Within days of Gold’s $62.7-million purchase of The Grove shopping complex, Hess (and his brother Joe) was one of the first local business people to sign a lease which will allow his idea of bringing a non-chain restaurant and dueling piano bar to Wesley Chapel to come to fruition.
Hess wasn’t alone in his excitement, apparently. When it came to naming his place, Hess turned to four area Facebook pages, including the popular Wesley Chapel Community and Wesley Chapel Network pages, and turned it into a contest.
The result: 1,830 entries, more than a thousand more than he says he expected.
So, welcome to Wesley Chapel, Treble Makers.
“The response has been unbelievably overwhelming,” says Hess, who has owned Gadget Repair in the New Tampa Commons plaza near the Shops at Wiregrass since January. “It has definitely exceeded expectations.”
The credit for coining the name Treble Makers goes to Wesley Chapel’s Rodney Beuno, who was the first of three Facebook posters to suggest it.
He will be rewarded with VIP entry at the Treble Makers grand opening, with free food and free drinks, and will also receive a $500 bar and restaurant tab.
Sara Brinkley and Mara Mroz, both of Wesley Chapel, also chose the same name, and will each receive a free VIP experience for their efforts.
With the name out of the way, Jamie is now focusing on bring the piano bar to life. He will apply for his permit on Nov. 26, he says, and has been ordering kitchen equipment while the designs are being finalized.
“Once that permit comes, we’re running,” he says.
Treble Makers will be located in “The Village,” as Gold now calls it, which is the long-dormant retail/office plaza located across the parking lot from the big box stores in The Grove, closer to I-75.
Jamie and Joe will be located right across a parking lot from the new Double Branch Artisanal Ale brewpub, which is hoping to open by the end of the year.
“That whole area was a ghost town, but they (Gold and his Mishorim Gold Properties) are shaking it up,” Jamie says.
Jamie also says that Treble Makers will be a full menu restaurant serving American cuisine from salads to steaks and everything in between.
On most weeknights during dinner hours in the 6,000-sq.-ft. restaurant, a single pianist will be featured. And, on the weekends, dueling pianists — adults only, Jamie says — will take over. There also will be other forms of live entertainment, with karaoke and trivia nights sprinkled in.
Treble Makers will be surrounded by a number of ethnic-themed restaurants, and a short walk from a container park that already is drawing massive interest. Being a part of The Grove was a big deal for Jamie when he signed his lease three weeks ago.
“I’m a big believer in the Wesley Chapel community,” Jamie says. “This is really an exciting time, and I think Wesley Chapel needs something like The Grove. Downtown Tampa is great and nice, but we need a place like that at home.”
The Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot continues to grow, from roughly 1,400 runners in its inaugural year of 2013 to a total of 2,263 last year.
Will that number be topped again in 2019?
This year’s 5K (3.1 mile) race is scheduled for Thanksgiving morning — Thursday, November 28, 7:30 a.m., with a 1-mile family walk starting at 8:40 a.m.
Since the Wobble began, more than 14,000 people have come out to take on the 5K course that winds around the mall and down Paseo Dr. to kick off Thanksgiving morning.
In that time, more an $170,000 has been raised and distributed to area charities by sponsors The Rotary Club of New Tampa, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Foundation and FitNiche charities.
AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Foundation put its Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot 2018 proceeds to work by providing the needed medical/hygiene supplies for Pioneer Medical Group Foundation’s second annual Health Fair. The fair will be at Perry Harvey Park in downtown Tampa and will serve the homeless and underserved.
There is still time to register for the race at WiregrassWobbleTurkeyTrot.com, which also offers registration for team competitions for families, corporation and schools.
The registration fee is $35 in advance, or $40 on race day.
All runners will receive a tech shirt, with awards for the top three finishers in each 5K age group.
There will be finisher medals for the 1-Mile Fun Run, and post-race festivities and awards from 8:15 a.m.-10 a.m.
When you consider the number of restaurants that have come and gone in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel the past 15 years, it’s pretty impressive that Fushia Asian Bistro, located in the Shoppes at Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms, is celebrating its 15th anniversary in that same location.
Owners Sharon and Charlie Wang actually have been in the plaza for 20 years, as they previously also owned Joy-O-Wok, which was much more of a takeout Chinese place, rather than the affordable fine dining restaurant that Fushia is today.
The restaurant is so named not so much because of the color fuchsia, but because it offers a fusion of different Asian cuisines, especially some unique Korean fare.
Sharon always has kept up with the latest trends in her business, and in recent years has added all-you-can-eat, cook-it-yourself options like Korean-style barbecue and a hot pot buffet (more on these below). She also recently expanded Fushia’s dim sum (appetizer and dessert) options. She even offers multiple private karaoke suites with thousands of song titles available, another popular Asian trend.
But, despite all of these other options, I still say that Fushia has the best (and most authentic) Chinese cuisine in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel — and one of the best things I can say about it is that even though I have my always reliable (and yummy) favorites, I keep finding new ones. But, I would really like to give you just a little taste (pun intended) of why I love this place so much.
Dim Sum
The dim sum appetizers craze in New York started shortly before I moved to Florida in 1993. Even so, I’m still more of a traditional egg roll, barbecued spare ribs and pan-fried dumplings guy for starters because it’s the Chinese main dishes that I crave most.
Therefore, it’s not too disappointing to me that many of the items on Fushia’s extensive dim sum menu have shrimp in them, which (as you loyal readers hear ad nauseum) I’m too allergic to for me to risk trying any of them. However, if you love crispy shrimp balls or steamed shrimp dumplings, the folks around me on my most recent visit who ordered the shrimp balls said they’re the best in town.
Although Fushia’s pan-fried pork dumplings are as good as they get, I did recently sample and enjoy the pork soup dumplings, which a lot of people were eating when Jannah and I visited an excellent Chinese restaurant in New York. The soup dumplings have a different texture than the pork wontons in most wonton soup, and they’re excellent. I also love the flavor of Fushia’s spare ribs dim sum, which are cut-up sections of pork ribs cooked in your choice of two different sauces — I love ‘em both, but probably prefer the garlic and black pepper sauce to the black bean sauce.
And, although dim sum is only served 11 a.m.-3 p.m. every day for lunch, many of the items are desserts — like the egg tart dim sum (think sweet mini-quiches) and the sesame dessert balls (lower center photo on next page), which are filled with sweet red bean paste — to name just two.
“We make everything fresh, cooked-to-order here with the best ingredients,” Sharon says proudly. “Many of our regular customers tell me they can’t eat Chinese food anywhere else.”
Hot Pot Buffet
I’ve written about Fushia’s hot pot buffet before and even though it’s a great, different way to enjoy the restaurant, I’d still rather order dishes off the menu and have them served to me, rather than have to pick my own ingredients (including raw meats, veggies, broth to cook them in and sauce) and have to cook it myself in a boiling hot pot, but I will say that the few times I’ve had the hot pot buffet at Fushia, I’ve loved it. Several of the sauces are outstanding. It just will never be my first choice.
Even so, the all-you-can-eat hot pot buffet, which also includes soft drinks and a huge variety of desserts, is still a pretty good deal at the regular price of $25.99 per person. However, in celebration of Fushia’s 15th anniversary, you can try the hot pot buffet for only $19.99 per person (with the ad in the current issue), which truly is a bargain for everything you get. And, even though there’s raw shellfish available for the hot pot buffet, I’ve never gotten a reaction from it at Fushia.
Korean BBQ Buffet
One option I’ve yet to try — but that lead videographer Charmaine George says is amazing — is Fushia’s Korean BBQ buffet.
Charmaine loved grilling her steak, pork, shrimp and veggies on the Korean BBQ grill right at her table (top left photo on next page). “Everything was fresh and delicious,” she said afterwards. “I will definitely try that again!” Again, you choose your own ingredients, so those with allergies don’t have to worry about cross-contamination.
And, with the ad on pg. 42, the Korean BBQ Buffet (with soft drinks and desserts) is just $21.99 per person — a $5 savings!
The Main Event!
But, despite all of these other options, I still prefer Fushia’s authentic Szechuan (or Sichuan) cuisine. One of my favorite dishes is the Young Chow (mixed ingredient) fried rice.
Fushia always holds the shrimp for me and gives me extra chicken and pork. My new favorite Sichuan dish is the spicy chicken dry pot (top right), which comes with a variety of fresh veggies and features a stinging spicy sauce which is given a kick from jalapeño peppers. The chicken is the opposite of dry, but the sauce is definitely less runny than at most Chinese places. And, although I might order it next time without the thick potato slices it comes with, there’s also plenty of snow peas, carrots, broccoli and celery — and they will sub out any veggies you don’t want. Too good!
My other favorite dishes (all of which I order spicy) are the beef with Chinese broccoli, the already-spicy Yan Jian pork and the boneless Sichuan duck with mixed vegetables.
But, Fushia’s menu is so extensive, I know there are dozens of other dishes I’ve yet to try that could one day make my list of favorites. Sharon says, “There’s no other Chinese place with a bigger menu than Fushia. I know we have what you want, whether you’re American, Asian, an adult or a kid. We have something for everyone!”
And, the local community agrees — as many of Fushia’s reviews on Yelp tout the food as “the best” and “most authentic” in all of Tampa. High praise, indeed!
And of course, with all that spicy food, there’s nothing better than an ice cold Tsingtao (from China) or Sapporo (from Japan), although Fushia also offers a nice variety of reasonably priced wines.
So, please check it out and tell Sharon and her amazing staff that I sent you!
Fushia Asian Bistro (15317 Amberly Dr.) is open every day except Monday, 11 a.m.-midnight. For more info, call (813) 903-6705 or visit FushiaChinese.com.
Wesley Chapel’s Randy Gailit goes through a cooling process as he prepares another batch of his craft beers for fermentation in his Meadow Pointe garage. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Randy Gailit liked to spend his Saturday mornings doing crafts.
Craft beers, to be exact.
In the garage of his Meadow Pointe home, he meticulously measures, mixes and mashes, making sure the right ingredients are producing the perfect results for what he hopes will be a tasty craft beverage.
“It’s like a science class,” he says.
He won’t know for weeks, in most cases, as the process is just beginning. Sometimes, he needs three weeks for his concoctions to ferment. Other times, depending on the style of beer, the fermenting process can take eight weeks or more.
Patience is a virtue, and in Gailit’s cased, his patience is rewarded with a cold, tasty beer.
Gailit and his one-man Wiregrass Brewing Company will be one of the many returning brewers at this weekend’s New Tampa Brew Fest, which is again being held at the Venetian at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church in New Tampa today at 6 p.m..
Randy Gailit
While the process for a small home brewer can take a while, don’t worry — the beers Gailit will be bringing for those at the Brew Fest have long been fused in his garage, and will be ready to sample at the event, which raises money for causes supported by the New Tampa Noon Rotary Club.
Like last year, he is bringing his Ginger Island Ale, which he says is his most popular beer, and a tasty Rotary Red Ale, named for Gailit’s affiliation with the Land O’Lakes Rotary Club, a spinoff from the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon.
In a nod to the upcoming holiday season, Gailit also has brewed a Peppermint Porter for the event, and will have a fourth drink to sample — a Strawberry Margarita Cider, the most popular cider he has brewed.
“I’m pretty happy with how they turned out,” Gailit says.
Gailit’s brewery is highly efficient, making amazing use of a third of his three-car garage’s space.
There are multiple refrigerators, an actual bar — with 4-5 beers usually on tap — and shelves filled with equipment, malts and yeasts, as well as a small room he built for the fermentation process.
Wiregrass Brewing doesn’t sell any of its beer, so the primary beneficiaries of Gailit’s weekend hobby are charities.
Gailit will provide beer at 5-6 charity events a year, like the New Tampa Brew Fest. He has provided the beverage for charities that work with a hospice in Land O’Lakes, for a cancer walk in Dunedin and a Wounded Warrior event in St. Petersburg.
And, in between the charity events, he shares his latest brews with the 100 or so people he works with at Mediagistic, a marketing and advertising agency in Tampa, and his neighbors who, at a recent party, went through four 5-gallon Cornelius kegs (the kind primarily used for soft drink fountain machines, as opposed to the larger barrel-style kegs).
“The garage door is always open,” he jokes.
Gailit has always enjoyed drinking beer, but when one of his friends was selling one-gallon home-brew kits, he decided to buy one. It ended up being the first item at the Wiregrass Brewing Company — but it sat on a shelf in his garage for two years.
It wasn’t until he signed up for a brewing class at the Land O’Lakes World of Beer that he says he finally cracked it open.
“I was in there one day and they were doing the class, and I thought, ‘Hey, I can do this,’’’ he said. “So I did it, and it was a lot of fun. I’ve been brewing ever since.”
A former restaurant owner in Pennsylvania, Gailit has been mulling for a while now about moving his home brewing company into a bigger building, but he says the right space at the right price hasn’t presented itself yet.
And that’s fine, he adds. His Saturday mornings are quiet and relaxing, and the results of his efforts makes those around him happy. Being able to help worthwhile charities is simply an added bonus.
“No matter where I do it, it’s something I really enjoy,” he says. “I’m glad everyone seems to like it.”
For additional information about Gailit’s home brewery, search “Wiregrass Brewing Company” on Facebook.
