Without any warning or prior notice, the three corporate-owned Capital Tacos locations, including the one on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, abruptly closed at the end of February.
The only Capital Tacos franchise location we know of that is open is at 10700 S.R. 54, in the Trinity area of New Port Richey. For more info, call (727) 645-6521.
In other news, the new Starbucks Coffee on S.R. 54 (next to Brooklyn Water Bagel) in The Grove has opened. For my money, BWB has much better coffee!
Congratulations to franchise owners Mike and Liz Montante (below left photo) of the new Qdoba Mexican Eats, located in the same plaza in Highwoods Preserve as Namaste (at 17509 Preserve Walk Ln.). The Montantes celebrated the opening of their second Qdoba (the other is in Brandon), the fast-casual Mexican eatery, in the former location Moe’s Southwest Grill on March 6.
“It’s been a long struggle, but we’re finally here,” Liz said at the fun Grand Opening event, which featured a North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC) ribbon cutting, a prize wheel attendees got to spin if they scanned the Qdoba QR code at the restaurant and signed up for email or text alerts. Among the prizes was a year of free Qdoba eats.
At least 50 people attended the opening event and most of those attendees purchased a freshly made, custom-designed bowl, burrito or taco and everyone seemed to enjoy the food.
“We’re excited to be open and for the local community to check out not only the quality of our food but also our friendly atmosphere,” Liz said.
For more information about the New Tampa location of Qdoba Mexican Eats, call (813) 761-0005 or visit Qdoba.com to check out the menu online.
Like many of you, when Rock & Brews opened to big crowds of people on S.R. 56 in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets in Oct. 2020 — as things began re-opening after the Covid-19 pandemic hit — I was excited to have not only a new restaurant that wasn’t part of a giant chain but also a new live music venue.
Well, more than three years later, the 23-unit (seven of which are owned by local franchisee Scott Paul) mini-chain that started in California in 2012 — inspired, co-founded and owned in part by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of the ‘70s rock group KISS — continues to add new menu items, especially for lunch, and has brought back live music on Friday nights.
General manager Kareem Nelson says that the new “VIP Early Access” lunch menu (which is available from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. every day), which was just rolled out a few days before this issue went to press, has already been well-received by his customers — and for good reason.
Among those new lunch items are the “Islands in the Sun” shrimp tacos (which of course, I can’t eat, but Jannah and photographer Charmaine George agreed that they were only slightly spicy and delicious), with a sriracha-based sauce and mango salsa; personal-sized margherita and pepperoni pizzas; a BBQ trio special (1/3 rack of signature baby back ribs with a unique mustard BBQ sauce, grilled BBQ wings & smoked pulled pork); and my favorite — the birria beef dip sandwich, which is slow-cooked birria beef served on an artisan ciabatta roll with mayo, Chihuahua cheese, thin-sliced yellow onions and flash-fried jalapeños, with a side of birria consommé dipping sauce. The birria is spot-on tender and the consommé has a flavor all its own.
Other new $12 lunch menu items include a huge, shareable tray of BBQ pork nachos with mixed cheeses, pico de gallo, primo queso, lime crema, fresh jalapeños and chopped cilantro, “Buffalo Springfield” chicken tacos, roasted cream chicken and mojo pulled pork bowls, “Sweet Heat” fried chicken and cedar plank salmon served with a sweet & smoky BBQ sauce, rockin’ rice and fresh broccoli.
Kareem says the best-selling lunch menu items, however, are the blackened shrimp Strawberry Fields salad, with baby greens, strawberries, avocadoes, cucumbers, red onions, candied walnuts, feta cheese and lemon pepper vinaigrette — and the new smash burger. “But, everything we make is from scratch,” he says. “Our customers really seem to appreciate that.”
For dessert, there’s a new S’mores Dip, which is enough for at least 3-4 people. Kareem says they melt milk chocolate chips and toast a large amount of marshmallows and top it with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar, with a generous supply of softer-than-usual graham crackers to dip. It’s so decadent that it’s hard to stop at just one or two graham crackers each (we didn’t), but it was hard to walk out of there after we all wolfed it all down.
For those who have the ability to day drink, there also are some new drink specials on the VIP Early Access menu, including a very tasty Bourbon Street amaretto sour, with Benchmark single barrel bourbon, Amaretto DiSaronno, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and aquafaba. There’s also a smoked Rock ‘N Roll Old Fashioned made with Buffalo Trace bourbon, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, Amarena Toschi Italian black cherries and orange peel.
And, speaking of bourbon, Kareem says that with all of the customer requests for more bourbon at the Wesley Chapel/Lutz location, he has added a huge variety of both popular and rare brands, from Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek to American Legend Hell House by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bespoken…and many more.
You gin lovers have two new options — the Pink 75 made with Beefeater gin, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, grapefruit juice, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and prosecco (Jannah got it made with Tito’s vodka instead and loved it), and the Bee’s G’s Knees, which is made with Beefeater, blackberries, blueberries, basil, wild berry purée, honey simple syrup, lemon juice and aquafaba. The Bee’s G’s Knees is served topped with a cool-looking heated bubble that releases smoke when it pops. There also are two new mules, a new mojito and much more.
Although Jannah and I have also always enjoyed the rock videos at Rock & Brews, we weren’t the only ones excited for the return of live bands on Friday nights to the restaurant.
“Our bands know that this isn’t a concert hall,” Kareem says. “They’re mainly background noise. We want you to still be able to have a conversation at your table when they’re playing.”
Check the Rock & Brews Facebook page to see what bands are playing on upcoming Friday nights.
In addition to the live music schedule, Kareem, who recently joined the BNI Alliance networking group, says his assistant GM Devin Johnson comes up with creative ways to attract more customers, including “concert” events where all the videos playing will be of a certain artist’s music, “and we’ll have special drink and food menus to go with the music. We had very successful Tom Petty and KISS ‘concerts’ here. Our next one is a Queen ‘concert’ on Saturday, April 6. For special events like these, we make the entire restaurant feel like a concert hall, so people who never got to see Freddie Mercury can almost feel like they’re experiencing him live.”
Rock & Brews (26000 S.R. 56 W., Lutz) is open Mon.-Thur., 11 a.m.-11 p.m., 11 a.m.-midnight on Fri. & Sat. & 10 a.m.- 10:30 p.m. on Sun. For info, call (813) 800- 7625, visit RockandBrews.com.
When I notified the winners of our annual “Big Game Squares” Contest to find out what restaurants they wanted gift cards to, it turned out that one of the winners was John Sousa, the On the Job Training (OJT) Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher at Cypress Creek High that we had featured in a previous issue.
You may recall that one of John’s ESE kids needed a tray for her wheelchair and he enlisted the help of two of the school’s young engineering students to create one for their schoolmate’s chair.
I therefore should not have been surprised when John asked me if, instead of just meeting him somewhere to give him his $75 Bonefish gift card, if I would instead give it to him in person in front of his class. He also asked if I would be willing to talk to his class (photo) of 14 young adults between the ages of 18-22, who participate in his class, which is funded by Florida’s “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA, which was signed into law in 2015) to prepare these young people to join the workforce.
“Basically, at age 22,” Sousa told me, “they’re no longer eligible for this program and there are very limited opportunities for them to be employed when they finish here.”
He thought I could give his students — who are on the autism spectrum and/or have other physical, mental, emotional and speech disabilities — some pointers about writing resumes, about the advertising and publishing business and the workforce in general. But for me, it became more about the kids themselves and what their interests were.
One young lady named Artia said she really wants to be a baker and would love to work at Publix, which offers work opportunities for a lot of differently-abled young adults.
A shy young man named Tyler, whom Sousa said loves to look inside machines and is fascinated by trains, rail yards, airplanes and rockets, gave me his full attention when I described how the presses that print the Neighborhood News work.
But, the young man who most intrigued me was Craig Moore, who said he really wants to be a songwriter but also has written a large number of poems. Craig said that what he does is listen to songs on the radio and then write his own lyrics to those songs. I explained that although I have no direct contact with the music business, that I would be happy to publish one of Craig’s excellent poems on this page, to see if anyone would be interested enough in his poetry to publish a book of his unique perspectives on a variety of topics.
While I hoped that I was able to reach his students, the best part for me was that John sent me a text afterwards and said that not only did the kids really appreciate my hour with them, but that Craig told both his counselor at school and his parents how excited he was to have his poem published in the Neighborhood News.
John, who has been teaching ESE kids for 38 years — the first 20 in his native Illinois and the last 18 in the Pasco School District — said that he is looking for more local professionals who would be willing to talk to his class (photo).
Cypress Creek principal Karen Hetzler-Nettles says, “Mr. Sousa is a special person who works hard to keep his students from falling through the cracks.”
John, who also thanks his instructional assistant Keith Reiley for all the help he provides, also told me that one reason he cares so much for his students is because, “I was basically a special needs kid myself. I came to the U.S. from Portugal when I was eight and neither of my parents spoke English. I had to learn English quickly to help them buy their home and do their taxes and I did that by watching cartoons. I wish they had an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) back then. It would have really helped me.”
If you would like to speak with his class, please email jsousa@pasco.k12.fl.us.
If you were a customer of the Your CBD Store on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel who was saddened by that store’s closing last year, the same outstanding SunMed products are available at Your CBD Store of New Tampa, located less than a mile south of the Pasco County line in the Pebble Creek Collection on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.
The husband-and-wife team of David Calcador and Debra Curler make you feel immediately at home in their store, which has calming blue-grey walls, greenery throughout, comfortable seating and an expansive, open layout. With informational displays and posters and Debra and David’s exceptional customer support and product knowledge, Your CBD Store of New Tampa’s franchise location opened in November 2019 and has thrived through the pandemic, thanks to the dedication of these two local residents.
“When customers come in, we ask them what they know about CBD,” Debra says. “Some are well-educated and we walk the others through the store and introduce and educate them about our product line. We find out what their problems are health-wise. Are they in pain? Are they having problems sleeping? Do they need more energy? We need to know what is happening in their bodies to help direct them to the proper products.”
Neither a vape nor a head shop, Your CBD Store New Tampa is a holistic boutique providing USDA organic and carcinogen-free award-winning oral and topical SunMed CBD products for customers and their pets.
At Debra and David’s store, CBD comes in both flavored and flavorless tinctures, oils, pills, gummies, weight-loss products, as well as a skincare line, bath bombs, lotions, massage oils, pain creams and products for dogs and cats.
Unlike marijuana, Your CBD Store offers broad-spectrum CBD products that have zero THC, as well as full-spectrum products with the 0.3 legal limit of THC that contain all cannabinoids (CBD and THC), terpenes, or flavonoids.
With anti-inflammatory and other health effects, flavonoids are plant compounds that give plants their colors and flavors. Flavonoids work with cannabinoids and terpenes, which are naturally occurring compounds in cannabis that shape aroma, taste, colors and therapeutic benefits, to produce the “entourage effect,” enhancing their impact.
“CBD needs to have both terpenes and flavonoids,” David says. “They bond to receptors in your body. Without those, you won’t have the full benefit of CBD.”
Debra and David say that they love educating their customers and clear up misinformation about CBD. Their CBD products won’t get you high, aren’t illegal, won’t make you impaired and you don’t need a Medical Cannabis card to purchase them.
Instead, their products help with anxiety, sleep issues, chronic pain and more.
“Our products are all-natural, organic, and non-addictive, Debra says. “You can buy CBD anywhere — a smoke shop or gas station, even on Amazon — but you don’t want to do that because anything you are putting on your body or in your body, you want to make sure it is good quality. You risk getting a synthetic, damaging product that can harm your health.”
David adds, “We’re third-party tested. We have QR codes on everything we sell, and you can bring up each product’s lab report. We guarantee what’s in our products. We have referring doctors who send patients to us because they know the quality is there.”
By scanning the QR code on Your CBD Store of New Tampa’s products, customers can track each from growth to sale.
“In other words,” David says. “We follow our products from soil to oil.”
Debra and David are enthusiastic about their store’s newest products, some of which have been enhanced with more CBD — like their SunMed topical cream, which is now available in 4,000-milligram strength — while others are brand new.
“Our topical cream is amazing for isolated pain,” Debra says. “I had a knee replacement years ago, and I had not been able to walk long distances. The product came out in December, and my husband and I were going Christmas shopping, and I could walk the entire mall. It’s been selling off the shelves left and right. We’ve always had 1,000- and 2,000-milligram strengths since we opened, but the 4,000 milligrams is amazing.”
Debra also recommends Neuro, a water-soluble CBD, for pain management. While the store’s original daily oil tincture takes time to work, based on your metabolism and weight, the as-needed, water-soluble CBD effects of Neuro are felt more quickly.
“You take the dropper of Neuro and put it in a Dixie cup size of water and drink it,” she says. “It goes into your body within 10 minutes, comes in 900- and 1,800-milligram strengths, and is also in a gummy form. People love it. I have a lady who comes in weekly and buys two jars. It helps with aches and pains throughout the body.”
Your CBD Store of New Tampa also sells both “Above” (with Delta 8 THC) and “Beyond” (with Delta 9 THC) by SunMed.
Recently, Delta products have come under fire from the state legislature, with both houses of the Florida legislature trying to possibly ban them or at least severely reduce the THC in these products statewide. But, while the ban on Delta 8, Delta 9 and Delta 10 products did not pass both houses, Debra says that a reduction in the legal limit in Florida of THC in these products (from the current legal limit of 0.3%) is still a possibility in the future. Feel free to stop into Your CBD Store of New Tampa to keep up with the latest news, as David and Debra continue to monitor the situation.
“The problem is that the products the legislature really wants to ban are the synthetic Delta products,” Debra says. “They also want to reduce the legal amount of THC from 0.3% to a lower amount in all CBD products. Additional concerns are the labeling/packaging of these products, but SunMed has met all of the FDA’s package requirements.”
She adds, “Our products with THC are all natural and are strictly regulated by our suppliers. There is nothing synthetic in our products. Banning all Delta products wouldn’t just hurt us in the CBD business. It would devastate the growers throughout Florida and damage the state’s economy. Our customers receive relief from our products, which have changed the quality of many lives.”
As some prescriptions do conflict with CBD, Debra suggests that if you are taking medications, you should speak with your physician before starting a CBD regimen.
“We can print out the lab report to give to your doctor,” David says.
For pet parents, beyond their regular CBD pet treats, chews and tinctures for health and anxiety, Debra recommends another new product — Broad Spectrum Allergy Aid CBD Pet Chews, which have only been in the store for about a month, to help with “hot spots” and seasonal skin allergies.
Debra and David are proud of their store’s Google reviews, which average a 4.9 stars out of 5, based on 170+ reviews.
“If you look at our reviews,” Debra says, “you’ll see people love the products and that they’re changing lives.”
The results of using these CBD products can be transformative, as R. Langelier attests in a 5-star Google review:
“My wife was never a strong believer in CBD helping. But, because her anxiety had gotten worse, and her prescription was no longer doing the trick, on a whim, we came in…. The product itself works so well and so quickly that I can’t help but urge anyone who is on the fence about it to please, for your own sake, come in and try it. I feel bad I can only give 5 stars when they deserve so much more.”
Your CBD Store of New Tampa is located at 19651 BBD Blvd., Suite B-1. It is open Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and 1 p.m.– 5 p.m. on Sun. If you’re age 55 or older, find out how to save 20% off. your purchase. The store also offers a bonus points system that customers can accrue for discounts and free products. Free local delivery or free shipping are available for orders over $100. For more information, call (813) 994-0599, visit GetSunMed.com.