Florida Ave. Brewing Co. Opens Wesley Chapel Brewery!

With its restaurant open for a year already, Florida Ave. finally opens what may be the state’s largest craft brewery!

I honestly don’t know if Florida Ave. Brewing Co., located in the former location of Sports + Field on S.R. 56, is now the largest craft brewery in the state, but it’s not for lack of trying to find out on my part.

The long-awaited Grand Opening and North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting of Florida Ave.’s brewery at its  34,000-sq.-ft. S.R. 56 location was held on Oct. 8, where CEO Anthony Derby and his family (and partners, including company president Joe Redner) unveiled their huge (for a microbrewery) brewing warehouse, complete with gigantic, stainless steel beer kettles — big enough, Derby says, to produce up to 50,000 barrels per year of Florida Ave.’s huge variety of beers.

Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore called it the largest family-owned brewery on the west coast of Florida. But, when I tried to do some research of my own into the largest craft breweries in the entire state of Florida, the largest I could find was the unrelated Florida Beer Co., which is based in Cape Canaveral and reportedly produced nearly 33,000 barrels of its variety of beers in 2018. I couldn’t find similar numbers for 2019 or 2020, but while Florida Ave. likely won’t get close to producing its 50,000-barrel capacity this year or next, it certainly could challenge Florida Beer Co. for the largest craft brewery in the state sooner than later.

Either way, it’s been a long and difficult, more-than-two-year journey for Anthony, his mom (and company CFO) Toni and the rest of the Derby family just to get the brewery open, even though the adjacent restaurant and its huge outdoor patio and indoor private event spaces have been open and successful for more than a year.  

Anthony says the Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of the delays for the brewery, as many of the important pieces of equipment, especially in the canning line (top left photo on next page), as the machines and parts had to come from Italy, where everything ground to a halt in 2019. Once the equipment finally made its way over here nearly two years later, Florida Ave. had to get it all put together, up and running and inspected by multiple agencies before the brewing process could begin — which wasn’t until May of this year. Derby says it takes at least two weeks to actually make beer, but the equipment all had to be tested again and again in order to re-create the beers that Florida Ave.’s Seminole Heights factory — which produces about 7,000 barrels per year — has been brewing for years and has been providing for the restaurant since it opened last year.

Anthony admitted that there have been a lot of challenges but he is confident it will all end up being worth it — and he thanked both North Tampa Bay Chamber president Hope Allen and Moore for their help in getting the project to this point. 

Moore said that when he first heard about the project in 2019, he said, “Do you have a time machine? If not, can you get it open by tomorrow?,” and called Florida Ave. a “beautiful asset to the county.”

Florida Ave. Brewing Co. currently employs more than 120 people at the S.R. 56 location alone, with about 20 other employees out in the field. And yes, now that it is officially open, you will soon be able to tour the state-of-the-art Florida Ave. brewery. 

What About The Food & Beer?

Even though I haven’t been able to give you the full story about the brewery, I’m just about officially out of space to tell you about all the great beers, hard seltzers and full liquor bar, the comfy bar stools and the delicious chef-created food at Florida Ave., but some of my favorite dishes appear on this page, including the Korean bibimbap beef bowl, the Chinese-style sticky ribs, the specialty burgers, the crab cakes and sesame-seared ahi tuna appetizers and the perfect Florida Ave. wings. 

  • Florida Ave. wings
  • sesame-seared ahi tuna
  • Zucchini
  • Korean bibimbap beef bowl
  • steak Argentine flatbread

Other menu items we’ve enjoyed include the house-made cheesesteak egg rolls, the steak Argentine flatbread (although photographer Charmaine George says the mushroom truffle flatbread also is excellent), the BBQ chicken sandwich and the 12-oz. NY strip steak. We even loved the sautéed veggies and the crispy Brussels sprouts, the hand-cut fries and the loaded fingerling potato side dishes. There’s also a great kids menu with everything from burger sliders to mac & cheese to cheese quesadillas and more.

But of course, for most of you, the stars of the show at Florida Ave. Brewing Co. will be the beers. My favorites are the most basic — the lager, Dead Parrot light lager, and the brown ale, but I also enjoy the “You’re My Boy, Blue” fruit beer, the Rollin’ Dirty Irish red ale and Jannah likes the Key lime hard cider, the tangerine splash and other fruit-flavored beers and hard seltzers at Florida Ave.

Based on both the crowds we see there whenever we go for dinner or to watch a Lightning game there, as well as all of the votes it already has received in this year’s Reader Dining Survey for Favorite Restaurant and for Favorite Bar in Wesley Chapel — a lot of you already enjoy the place, too.

So please, do me a favor — please visit Florida Ave. Brewing Co. and tell anyone who works there that you read about them in the New Tampa Neighborhood News! 

Florida Ave. Brewing Co. is located at 2029 Arrowgrass Dr. and is open every day at 11 a.m. for lunch and dinner. Happy Hour is Mon.-Fri., 3 p.m.-5:30 p.m.For more information call (813) 452-6333 or visit FloridaAveBrewing.com. Reservations are accepted for parties of eight or more only.

Trick Or …Truck? Lots Of Halloween Weekend Options!

The World’s Largest Food Truck Rally 12 may not break the all-time record for largest food truck parade Halloween weekend at the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO), but it will have enough food on hand that we can heartily suggest wearing stretchy pants.

The rally, according to organizer Jeremy Gomez, is expecting roughly 80 trucks for the Oct. 30-31 event, which will be held 11 a.m.-6 p.m. each day. That truck number was as of our press time, and is expected to grow.

The World’s Largest Food Truck Rally, a traveling caravan of cuisine, set the Guinness World Record for the largest food truck parade in 2014, with 125 food trucks at the Florida State Fairgrounds. It will headline the 17th annual Wesley Chapel Fall Festival, essentially taking the place of the usual carnival rides and turning the festival into a fall foodie-palooza.

Drew Cecere of Florida Penguin Productions, which is organizing the Wesley Chapel Fall Festival along with the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, says the change was made to mix things up this year, as well as to alleviate the event’s competition with other area fall festivals that rely on rides.

“We went in a totally different direction this year,” Cecere says. “This will help us reach a totally different demographic.”

The Wesley Chapel Fall Festival will still offer live music, kids activities like bounce houses and a host of local vendors. There will be a pumpkin patch, pet costume contest, face painting and a Miss and Mr. Pumpkin Patch pageant. On Sunday, the popular Trunk or Treat event will begin at 4 p.m., before regular trick-or-treating begins.  

Tickets to the event are $10, and can be purchased at eventbrite.com by searching “Wesley Chapel Fall Festival.” For more information, visit Facebook.com/WesleychapelFallFestival. 

As for the food vendors, there will be a variety of local trucks along with those that travel with the rally. Here’s some to check out, according to World’s Largest Food Truck Rally organizer Jeremy Gomez:

TACOS Y SNACKS EL INDIO: One of the most authentic Mexican trucks around, and the owners are the hardest working I know.
HORHAY’S MAC & CHEEZ: Absolutely amazing mac dishes. Comfort foods with a modern twist like their Ghost Pepper Mac N Cheez. RENEGADE BURGER COMPANY: Best burgers around.
RED ZEPPELIN ROCKING LOBSTER :Lobster Rolls from heaven. 
TRES SUSPIROS HANDMADE BRAZILIAN CHOCOLATE: The absolute best chocolate around. Works of art. Brigadeiro Chocolate is a skill that not everyone can master… and Chef Amy has done that. These are works of art and taste even better. 
HOTT MESS: Tater Tots like no other! Everyone does tots now… Hott Mess has been doing them always, they wrote the book. They also have some amazing giant breaded pork sandwiches that are really hard to find this far south.
SHEFU: Super authentic Chicago Style Dogs and more. And, they also are just amazing people. We know its “just” a small Chicago-style hotdog trailer, but the owners go out of their way to import everything from Chicago, making it truly authentic, and hard to find down here.
SMOKIN MOMMA LORA’S BBQ: Some serious serious BBQ glammed out to the hilt. Her BBQ is on another level.
TREE DOG ROOTS: Absolutely amazing mash, veggie dishes, and everything else. The owner is so sweet and has been at this for a long time…really knows her flavors. Her specialty is mashes and root vegetables,  which by itself is rare..  but what she does with them is amazing.
CHAZITO’S LATIN CUISINE: They make amazing food. They follow us all over the country, four generations work the truck…and they are all awesome. Their mix of Spanish/ Cuban/Puerto Rican style is super refined, and is hard to find at other places.
PHILLY T’S CHEESESTEAK AND PO’BOYS: His sandwiches (pictured) are just amazing.. and they also follow us all over the country
DAVIS ISLAND VIBES: Amazing tropical fruit beverages served inside a pineapple. They have been a major hit every year..and its because the drinks are fantastic. 
PAMZ PIZZA CONEZ: They take pizza and make them into these cones that you can hold… so they are like cups of amazing pizza goodness… that you can then eat…really clever.

Other Halloween Events In/Near Our Area:

The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Center (6585 Simons Rd. in Zephyrhills) is hosting its first annual Halloween Dog Show (see ad, right) on Saturday, October 30, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. It costs $20 to enter your dog, and there will be prizes for the top 3 dogs, as well as raffles, gift doggie bags, a bounce castle and more. Plus, 25% of all proceeds will be donated to Allie Cares, a nonprofit organization which offers free medical care treatment options for animals and families in need. For more information, call (813) 361-6660.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County is hosting its second annual “Halloween Hullabaloo” on Saturday, October 30, noon-4 p.m. The event will feature a 3v3 basketball tournament, a 5v5 indoor soccer tournament and a volleyball tournament. The cost is $100 to register each team. There also will be activities for kids in the lobby from 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m. The cost is $10 for spectators. For more information, or to register, visit Wiregrass-Sports.com.

Fall Fest at The Grove is billing itself as Wesley Chapel’s biggest Halloween celebration, and it runs through Sunday, featuring amusement rides, a pumpkin patch, carnival food, Halloween activities and more. Plus, there is a Costume Contests at 4 p.m. on Halloween. You can buy ride tickets HERE.

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Grand Hampton Residents Turn Community Into A Movie Set

The scene that started it all for “Grand Hampton: The Movie Series,” with Antony Capers and his son Merric.

A strange alien-like creature is chained to the wall. Four kids lay motionless on the floor, marked with blood. A menacing woman in a white lab coat steps over them to talk to a baby girl dangling from the ceiling. A light fog flows through the scene.

This is just a regular Wednesday or Thursday night in the Grand Hampton garage of 45-year-old Antony Capers, where, on this night, he is filming another episode of his quirky, campy, creepy — and even funny — web video series that has much of his community buzzing.

Capers, a freelance designer who owns his own production company, Reelistic Tales, is an accomplished painter, graphic designer and has even written and illustrated children’s books. He also is the creator of “Grand Hampton: The Movie Series.”

He says the series, which so far has posted 17 episodes and can be viewed on YouTube by searching for “Grand Hampton Movie,” has changed his life. The series has 151 subscribers, and roughly 6,000 total views. A party was held in the Grand Hampton clubhouse for the Season 2 premiere.

He doesn’t get paid to do the show — a new episode is posted each Monday — but he says it has brought him the kind of joy that is priceless.

“It’s really a labor of love for me,” Capers says. “I’ve met so many of my neighbors, and it’s become a close-knit production of new friends.” 

What began as a short 45-second clip morphed into a series of short episodes filmed exclusively in Grand Hampton, starring only the community’s residents.

“It’s like my Hollywood playground back here,” says Capers, a Queens, NY native.

Which is not how it all began. His initial 45-second clip of his son Merric staring out across a lake in a trance, pointing at something only he could see, was done for Capers’ portfolio.

But, he decided to post the clip on Grand Hampton’s community Facebook page for fun, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Everybody who commented  asked what Merric was looking at, and not to leave them hanging,” Capers said.

So, he didn’t. He shot two more episodes with his son, basing the story on an idea that has been bouncing around his head for years — where a community that is comprised entirely of people in the witness protection program is used to harvest the lungs of those who won’t be missed.

Antony recruits another neighbor to join the cast.

With requests for more episodes, Capers started asking for community volunteers to play roles in the production.

Richard Villarino was first, playing a neighbor in Episode 3 concerned that children were disappearing.

Another neighbor, Annette Simmons-Brown, sent in a head shot and, perhaps because her bald head (at the time) gave her a more minacious look, was pegged to be the evil Dr. Annette, the harvester of kids’ lungs, a few episodes later.

“I don’t know why he picked me…but I’m glad he did,” Simmons-Brown says. “It’s been so much fun. If I had to rate the whole experience on a scale of 1-to-10, I’d give it a 15.”

Taabish Ajaney, a 15-year-old North Tampa Christian Academy student, messaged Antony on Facebook looking for a role. He landed a part, but also has extensive editing experience and has taken on the role of intern, helping shoot many of the scenes.

Julia Rees, a 26-year-old medical school student, donned a red hood, black makeup streaked across her face and a 10-inch knife while emerging in the Season 1 finale as a mysterious hero…or perhaps a villain.

“He just said I’d be a bad ass,” says Rees. “I’m not sure where the character is going, but I’m along for the ride.”

Roughly 50 neighbors, many who gathered to watch the filming of the latest episode, have played roles. Kelly and Lura Mulroy and Latasha Scurry play television anchors, Henry Scurry is convincing — and arguably the best actor in the series — as the head bad guy, and Ishban Howard has played multiple roles, including one as the chained up alien. 

Nicole Reber is another bad guy who made her debut recently in Season 2, Episode 3, and her three children — Ashton, Dylan and Skyla — were all snatched by the aliens in the same episode. Others have helped build sets and set up other scenes, while Capers’ next door neighbor Chace Scurry not only played a part, but her infant daughter Jahnai was the one dangling from the ceiling while mom nervously looked on. “Can you believe she let me do that?,” Capers says, chuckling. 

Jordan Caviggia read about the show on Facebook, and brought his son Jaxon, 9, to the most recent shoot, where he played one of the children in the garage. 

“It sounded like it’s a fun time, and I thought Jaxon would enjoy it,” Jordan said.

Capers thanked him for showing up, and asked the elder Caviggia if he was interested in having a part, too. Five days later, Caviggia filmed a scene playing the head of a newsroom.

“This has really ended up being about bringing people together,” he says. “It’s not about the show. I mean, there’s a story there, but it’s about community. It’s weird, and it’s a weird thing that’s happening, and I love it.”

Would Capers love for his show to catch the eye of a Hollywood executive? Of course. 

“If not, I’ll just keep filming with my friends,” he says.

Lotte Plaza Market Starts Permitting

The Lotte Plaza Market coming to New Tampa could look a lot like the one above, which is located Rockville, MD.

We told you back in February that the long dormant Sweetbay Supermarket property, after eight years of being empty, was finally sold to the folks who run the popular Lotte Plaza Market Asian grocery stores, and the new owners have officially begun the permitting process.

According to City of Tampa permitting records, Emerald Coast Permitting in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, applied for a zoning review in order to receive approval for a grocery store with a limited food court, which city planners deemed to be acceptable.

Next up will be a construction permit prior to work beginning to overhaul the old Sweetbay into New Tampa’s largest ethnic grocery store.

The Lotte Market will be approximately 55,000 square feet. Taaza Mart, which opened last year, is 17,000 feet. 

Founded in 1976, Lotte Plaza Market is one of the premier Asian groceries in Maryland and Virginia, where it has 12 locations. It opened its first Florida location in Orlando on W. Colonial Dr. in February 2019. New Tampa will be its second Florida location.

All Lotte Plaza Markets offer a wide choice of Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese food items and ingredients, an impressive selection of meats and fresh fish and a huge variety of fruits and vegetables typically not found at your regular American grocery stores.

Although there aren’t yet any detailed plans available, the Orlando store, as an example, also has a hair salon, bakery and a food court that are all draws themselves, featuring restaurants like Seoul Soon Tofu, Joen Korean, Izziban Katsu, Pho 54 and Taglish, a Filipino-American concept.

Area Youths Learning How To Play Cricket

While many New Tampa parents can sign their kids up for leagues in sports like baseball, basketball, football and soccer that they themselves played as kids, the same opportunity hasn’t existed for the area’s large Indian population.

But now, that has changed.

Nagesh Nayak and Prahlad Madabhushi, the president and managing director, respectively, of the Tampa Premier League (TPL) — which is based at Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. — have begun holding youth cricket camps at New Tampa’s Community Park on Thursday nights. The hope is to take younger kids and spark interest, and provide the tools and knowledge, in a game that is near and dear to the hearts of their parents and their Indian culture.

“The reason we started it was there was a great deal of interested parents, asking if there was any cricket coaching for their kids,” said Madabhushi. “There is a large Indian population in New Tampa, so there was a lot of demand.”

Nayak and Madabhushi reached out to City of Tampa Council member Luis Viera for a place to hold their camps, and Viera helped secure the New Tampa location.

While you can find kids learning how to play in the streets and playgrounds in India (like American children learn baseball, basketball and soccer), that is not the case for cricket in the U.S. Nor are there any leagues for younger players, like Little League baseball or Pop Warner football.

Nayak says he would like to provide something close to that for interested players in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. The goal is to develop new players who could then advance to playing actual matches in local adult leagues.

Roughly 40 eager players showed up on Sept. 23 for the first New Tampa camp, which has 4-6 coaches available to teach each week. The kids, who range in age from 5 to 16, are shown how to throw and hit the ball, while also learning the rules of the game.

“I think everyone liked what they were experiencing,” says Nayak, an accomplished cricket player himself. “Hitting the ball, throwing the ball, catching the ball….especially hitting the ball…they enjoyed it.”

Madabhushi has been pleased with the early reception to the camps.

“It’s been amazing,” he says. “The kids are so into it, some of them don’t want to go home. And, the parents appreciate it as well.” 

While the first camp hosted all children of Indian parents, Nayak says the camps are open to everyone. In fact, he says, because of the similarity to baseball — both sports involve a pitcher (called a bowler in cricket) throwing to a batter whose goal is to hit the ball — he’d be interested to see current and former baseball players take a shot at cricket. 

“I think that would be a good transfer of talent,” he says.

Nayak and other adult players in the area typically play on Saturdays and Sundays on a makeshift pitch on some extra, unused land at the Wesley Chapel District Park, roughly five miles north of New Tampa. Their hope is to eventually secure a regulation field, level and well-maintained, at the same park, for future matches and tournaments.

As the new players at the New Tampa camp develop and learn the game, they could graduate to games in Wesley Chapel with the better players.

“Out of the kids we had out there, 25 are between the ages of 5-12,” said Madabhushi. “But, there’s also about 8 or 10 of them who are ages 13-16, who we can take it to the next level. The first step is to move up to the adult league, and when they get familiar with that level, to take them to tournaments.” 

Weather permitting, the camps are held every Thursday from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. and cost $70 for eight weeks of training.

 For more information, email tampapremierleague@gmail.com, or visit Facebook @TampaCricket.