Movie Theater, KRATE making progress!

Developer Mark Gold’s vision of a one-of-a-kind hip, trendy and photogenic new outdoor shopping experience off Wesley Chapel Blvd. at I-75 has begun taking shape.

There will there be a sneak preview of the newly-revamped but not yet open movie theater on Dec. 31 at The Grove’s New Year’s Eve Countdown Extravaganza. The event will feature a 4-course meal with complimentary wine pairings for each course, as well as a private open bar cocktail reception with musical entertainment by Cal Morris Music.

Tickets are limited, and for more information click here.

The movie theater party comes on the heels of the first soon-to-be converted shipping container being officially placed on November 20 at KRATE, the outdoor “container park.”

More than a dozen more containers also are now in place, as Gold hopes to open many of the new businesses in the first quarter of 2021.

Seventeen modified containers, which will be home to nine businesses, make up the initial phase of what will one day be one of the largest container parks in the world. 

Though Gold’s vision began with a sun-beaten, unsightly faded yellow steel container being lowered onto a sandy patch of land, the shipping containers will be unrecognizable from their original forms after being transformed with air-conditioning, glass windows and doors, countertops, cabinets and wood and tile flooring and a few coats of brightly colored paint designed to create a festive look.

The first set of containers will be occupied by restaurants offering diverse dishes and items like Asian noodles, Puerto Rican cuisine, desserts and charcuterie boards.

Empty shipping containers like these, amongst the first to be put in place at KRATE, are being transformed into a trendy new food and retail “container park” experience at The Grove, which is expected to begin opening in early 2021. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

KRATE is expected to be the biggest of all the container parks. Once complete, it will feature 94 containers and 55 units comprised of 70% restaurants and 30% retail stores. Other restaurants will feature cuisine from around the world like Colombia, Peru and Germany. 

Some of the most recently announced tenants include The Cake Girl, Yummy Tablas and ATO, a burrito bowl concept by the owners of Zukku-San Sushi (which we featured last issue). The planned retail shops include a music store and a Lego® brand product superstore.

KRATE also will feature a stage with daily live entertainment, a dog park, a playground and plenty of outdoor seating.

“There is nothing like this in the world,” says Gold, a partner in Mishorim Gold Properties, which purchased the Grove for $62.7 million in September 2019. “KRATE is receiving attention across the globe for its unique concept and offerings. We will become the ultimate shopping and entertainment destination, not just for Wesley Chapel, but for the region and around the world.”

When it is complete, KRATE (rendering above) will feature 94 shipping containers making up 55 units, including more than 30 new restaurants.

While the container park concept is still relatively new, it has proven to be popular. Downtown Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf has re-purposed shipping containers housing roughly a dozen takeout restaurants, and places like Kansas City and Philadelphia have opened container parks of varying sizes the past two years.

 Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a popular container park — actually named Container Park — has 34 outlets with an emphasis on hip and quirky local businesses, as well as a stage and a playground.

Since purchasing The Grove, Gold has signed on 75 new tenants, including some businesses that are already open in what Gold calls The Village area — like F45 Fitness, the dueling piano bar restaurant Treble Makers (see pg. 21)and the Double Branch Artisanal Ales brewery (see pages 32-33). 

Gold says he has invested more than $110 million into the renovation of The Grove property which, in addition to KRATE, will include a reimagined movie theater and restaurant, a miniature golf course expected to break ground in January and, potentially, a water park. 

With pandemic safety at the forefront, Gold says all of the businesses in The Village and in the KRATE complex will include “medical grade” sanitation technology, like fogging machines, automated thermal temperature scan swing gates at the entrance and UV lights.

Those safety steps are expected to encourage people to feel comfortable both inside and outside while shopping and dining, including inside The Grove Movie Theater, which is expected to fully open sometime in January, not too long after the planned VIP sneak preview event on New Year’s Eve. 

Wesley Chapel To Add A YMCA!

YMCA vice president of operations & executive director of Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA Robyn Ostrem and membership and wellness experience director Ryan Pratt revealed that a Wesley Chapel Family YMCA will be breaking ground in 2021. (Photo: Charmaine George)

The Bonefish Grill officially completed its move from Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel to the Cypress Creek Town Center along S.R. 56 at a grand opening Dec. 14, but it turns out there were even bigger fish fried during the event.

Wesley Chapel is getting a YMCA!

That announcement was all the buzz as folks nibbled on some of the best appetizers the beautiful, new Bonefish Grill has to offer.

“We’re about to be your new neighbor,” Robyn Ostrem, the VP of operations and executive director of the New Tampa Family YMCA, told the gathering right before Bonefish Grill officially opened. “We’re going to build a Wesley Chapel Family YMCA that will break ground in early 2021, and will built by June of 2023.”

Ostrem, who has been with the New Tampa YMCA since 2019, did not announce an exact location for the Wesley Chapel location, only that it would be located on Bruce B. Downs Blvd, although that really only leaves two possibilities — the land in front of the new BayCare Hospital being built in the northesatern portion of Seven Oaks, and the land in front of Meadow Pointe across the street from the Super Target on County Line Rd.

Ostrem said the new facility will cost $15 million to build and will be 30,000 square feet. The New Tampa Family YMCA, which is the closest current option for many Wesley Chapel residents, is 35,000 sq. ft.

“We’re in New Tampa now, but we’re going to be closer to you now in Wesley Chapel,” Ostrem said.

Generally, YMCAs have indoor courts for basketball and volleyball, workout areas and rooms for exercise classes and daycare, as well as meeting rooms. Many, like the New Tampa Y, also have pools and can host events like high school and youth swim meets.

The Wesley Chapel Y will be only the third YMCA in Pasco County, joining the East Pasco Family YMCA in Zephyrhills and the James P. Gillis Family YMCA in New Port Richey.

After years of rapid growth in the housing and restaurant markets, the “sports & activity” market in Wesley Chapel has picked up the pace this year.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County opened in August, with the ability to host sports leagues and tournaments for basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports, while the indoor Recreation Center at the Wesley Chapel District Park is currently under construction and will be completed sometime next year. An outdoor hockey rink right next to the rec center was completed last week as well. 

Oronzo Honest Italian — Honestly Fast, Casual & Delicious!

If you’ve been craving freshly made Italian food and haven’t yet tried Oronzo Honest Italian, located in the outparcel building to The Walk at Highwoods Preserve plaza on Bruce B. Downs Blvd., I suggest you go now because it’s a one-of-a-kind fast-casual dining experience that’s sort of an Italian take on nearby Chipotle.

Owner Dan Bavaro, who started his career in the food service business at the age of 16 in New Jersey, when he worked for a food truck/caterer who provided food for movie sets. Two years later, he started a high-end limousine company and made enough money when he sold the business to open his own restaurant.

“I knew I didn’t want a ‘slice joint’ or a fine dining Italian place,” Dan says, so after moving to Tampa in 2007, “I ended up becoming one of the first three places in the country to serve wood-fired true Neapolitan-style pizza (that has since become all the rage) when I opened the original Bavaro’s Pizza Napoletana on Franklin St. downtown in 2009.”

Dan Bavaro (far left) with his family.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Dan says that when he first opened Bavaro’s, his whole menu was maybe ten items — including two pizzas, two appetizers, two salads.

By his third year in business, however, Bavaro’s had added pastas and sauces, all made in house and started selling the sauces in the restaurant.

“When we started, I got up to making 250 pizzas a day. Once we added other items, only 60% of the business was still pizza.” By 2015, Bavaro started franchising his place, with new locations popping up at Tampa International Airport and in downtown St. Pete and downtown Sarasota.

In 2016, he began talking with Bob Johnson, the owner of the uber-successful The Melting Pot franchises in our area and the two decided to start working on a fast, casual Italian concept together that four years later became Oronzo, which was named for Dan’s grandfather when it opened earlier this year. Oronzo and Angela Bavaro emigrated from Italy to Brooklyn, NY, where he owned and operated a trucking company, delivering fresh ingredients to local markets and restaurants. 

What About The Food?

Dan is proud that even though Oronzo is a fast, casual concept, the restaurant is a true scratch kitchen, where the pastas, sauces, bread for the piadina sandwiches (aka Italian burritos) and crispy, Roman-style flatbreads (Dan warns that they are not pizzas, although they’re yummy, whatever you call them) are all made in-house. Even the salad dressings and amazing tomato basil zuppa (soup; Jannah’s favorite, which is served with crisp, toasted rosemary focaccia bread) are all house-made.

Start with an Italian-inspired salad (the Italian chopped, classic Caesar and “Iconic Caprese” are all delicious (we added grilled chicken to the Italian chopped salad on this page). Our favorite dressing is the Caesar, but the roasted pepper vinaigrette gets Dan’s vote.

Jannah and I love the spaghetti with meatballs (and I love adding the fresh Italian sausage to it) and the fresh-cut zucchini noodles with antico pomodoro (fresh tomato sauce). You can choose from Oronzo’s pomodoro, spicy arrabbiata, crema, pesto, butter or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) sauces.

I’m also a big fan of the chicken pesto pasta. The only pasta on the menu I haven’t tried is the primavera, which you can get with spaghetti or zucchini noodles.

Also outstanding is the Caprese forza bowl, made with farro, an ancient grain from Sicily that has become popular here, too. The Caprese bowl features farro, crispy baked chicken, heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, pesto and a balsamic drizzle. So savory!

Senior video producer/photographer Charmaine George, who took most of these pics, also raved about the Caprese piadina (above) and Dan says his favorite is the chicken parm piadina.

My favorite flatbread so far is the Carne (with San Marzano tomato sauce, spicy Italian sausage, prosciutto cotto and spicy soppressata, fresh mozzarella and EVOO).

For dessert, Oronzo has three unique options. The only one I’ve had so far are the cannoli crisps, which are house-made cannoli cream, served with almost cookie-like cannoli crisps for dipping (above). There’s also a warm Nutella piatto flatbread and Italian wedding cookies. There’s even a great kids menu (labeled “Bambino”). 

Oronzo also features an easy-to-use ordering kiosk which quickly walks you through all of the available menu items and Dan says his online ordering system is state-of-the-art, too.“You can go on there and order for a week from now at a certain time and the system will remind us to make your food fresh a few minutes before you’re set to pick it up,” he says. “Technology is a key part of what we do and it’s been made better by listening to our customers.”

And now, Oronzo also offers beer and wine. The new additions include a Montepulciano D’Abruzzo red, a Pinot Grigio white and a sparkling prosecco, plus Peroni beer on draft and an Oronziata non-alcoholic beverage made from scratch with blood oranges, plus delicious espresso and Americano coffees.

Oronzo Honest Italian is located at 18027 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. And is open every day, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. For more information, call (813) 730-0100 or visit Oronzo.com.

Check Out Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market!

Whenever a new place opens in our area, most of us check it out and decide if there’s something there worth coming back for again and again.

Well, I honestly think that anyone who checks out the new Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market, which opened the day before we went to press with this issue in the brand new plaza on Post Oak Blvd. (off Wesley Chapel Blvd./S.R. 54 and Old Pasco Rd.) should be able to find a dozen or more items that will fast become some of their all-time favorites.

Owners Bill Moschella and Anthony Spadafora and their families (above photo) invite you to check out what can best be described as gourmet shop on steroids, with so many different departments that it’s hard to leave the place without buying at least something — and for folks like me, many things.

But First, The Story…

Bill and Anthony are long-time friends from the Italian north end of Boston. Anthony and his wife Gina still live in Boston, but Bill and his wife Devanie and their family moved to just outside of Wesley Chapel. Bill was in the concession business for around 35 years.

Anthonys family owned catering restaurants and Bill’s family owned a pizza and pastry shop in Boston. Since moving here, Bill and Devanie kept wondering why they had to drive to St. Pete in order to visit a real Italian market. They drew up the plans for Moschella’s on their kitchen counter.

“Even though Devanie and I are running the place,” Bill says, “Anthony and his family have contributed just as much to getting it open and for helping make sure it has everything we need.” 

And Now, The Food!

Super-thick tomahawk veal chop grilled to perfection.

Although I found the Italian and other imported and gourmet domestic cheeses (there’s also a separate grab & go cheese display), the fully stocked butcher shop (check out the photo above of my super-thick tomahawk veal chop I grilled to perfection; it was the best veal chop I’ve had since I moved to Florida in 1993), the incredible deli sandwich selection (with both a complete Boar’s Head case and a second case with just imported Italian meats and cheeses for slicing) and huge variety of fresh pastas you can make at home, it is Moschella’s displays of fresh, prepared hot and cold foods that really caught my eye.

Bill credits Chef Megan, who has worked in both catering and local restaurants, with refining every menu item idea the families had for these displays.

The hot foods display includes chicken, veal and even shrimp parmesan, plus beef, veggie and sausage lasagne, as well as prepared (but not sauced) chicken, veal and eggplant cutlets, as well as delicious braised lamb shanks and so much more than I have room to describe here.

There also are plenty of unique cold prepared salads, from house-made bruschetta, amazing broccoli rabe with sundried tomatoes, three bean salad, marinated roasted peppers, artichoke stems and tuna salad with shells, to name a few.

And, although Moschella’s hasn’t yet started selling its gourmet pizzas or arancini (rice balls), Devanie says to give it another week or two and they’ll be available. 

There also are huge display cases of “Grab & Go” prepared food items, including both refrigerated and frozen sections.

In other words, if you need a whole tray of lasagne to bring to Christmas dinner, you can buy it today (while supplies last) and bake it to perfection yourself. I didn’t show pics of the Grab & Go displays here because I didn’t have room and they’re as photogenic as the other photos.

Dessert, Too?    

Do you really need to ask? Moschella’s has an amazing display case of everything from rainbow, chocolate sandwich (see photo on next page) and lace cookies to sfogliatella (think of a super-crisp croissant loaded with a thick, cannoli-like cream) and yes, cannolis hand-piped, also with that homemade cannoli cream. And, best of all, all of these luscious, decadent desserts are made in-house.

And of course, Moschella’s has all of the pre-packaged imported items Italian families and great cooks crave — from cookies and cakes to virtually every brand of imported tomato sauces (top right photo on next page), pastas, olive oils and balsamic vinegars (including oils and vinegars bearing a Moschella’s label) and so much more.

Like my new friend Liz from Staten Island said as she walked through Moschella’s — “I feel like I’m home!”

And Yes, Fine Wines, Too!

Mario, the guy usually behind the cheese counter, is from Sardinia, where learned all he could about Italian wine, cheese and cuisine, and speaks fluent Italian. He also helped pick Moschella’s amazing assortment of truly fine wines, the largest percentage of which are from Italy.  If you love Italian reds like I do, you have to check out Moschella’s selection of Brunellos (photo, right), Barolos, Amarones, Barberas, Chiantis and Sangioveses — it’s the best variety I’ve seen since I left New York City almost 30 years ago. 

Yes, these are a little pricy, but oh so worth it. There also are other more popularly priced Italian and domestic red, white and sparkling wines, and many more. 

So, do yourself a favor and get to Moschella’s and start shopping now. This issue will hit mailboxes on Dec 21 or Dec 22, but Devanie says they are taking orders until they close at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, when they open early (at 7 a.m.).

Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market is open every day, 9 a.m.-6. p.m. (other than their holiday hours) at 5648 Post Oak Blvd. For more information, call (813) 973-7500 or visit Moschellas.com.

Mangia!

Tampa Palms Family Praying For Kidney Donor

Raj Guntuku is suffering from kidney failure, and his family is desperately seeking a donor so he can return to his normal life of chasing his dog Benji around. (Photos provide by the Guntuku family)

Raj Guntuku is like many 13-year-old boys — always smiling, always moving, whether he’s dancing, shooting hoops, playing video games or chasing Benji, his 70-pound Golden Doodle, around the house.

He is a second-degree blackbelt in karate, which he has been practicing since he was only 5. He loves watching videos to learn tricks like juggling and dice stacking to show his family. And, he can solve a Rubik’s Cube in mere seconds (16, to be exact).

However, unlike many 13-year-old boys, Raj’s kidneys are failing him. In October, he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is characterized by the gradual loss of kidney function. Doctors say Raj is in Stage 5, and his kidneys are now operating at less than 10-percent of normal function and will not recover.

His family has turned to social media, as well as their Buckingham neighborhood in Tampa Palms, to help find a transplant donor — going door-to-door and handing out flyers asking for help. If there is an available live kidney donor out there for Raj, his dad Nehru, mom Radha and sister Bhavika are intent on finding them.

“It’s four people, but one of us has to be with him, so we spread out as much as we can, house to house, ringing door bells,” Radha says. 

More than 90,000 people nationwide are on a waiting list for a kidney donor. Raj is on the waiting list at Tampa General Hospital, where he receives dialysis on Mondays and Fridays, and sometimes on Wednesdays if his body requires it.

In a short span, Raj — or Bunny to his family and close friends — went from a kid with boundless energy to one visibly struggling with an undetected illness.

In early September, he vomited upon waking up, which his parents attributed to returning to a school schedule after a summer of sleeping in.

But then, it happened again a few weeks later, and then another time after that. For a moment, Radha says she feared Raj had contracted Covid.

It was discovered that Raj had lost 8 pounds since his last visit in March to the pediatrician, but everyone in the family had lost weight during Covid because they hadn’t been eating out. His doctor thought it might be a stomach flu, and Raj was put on a stricter diet heavy on liquids.

It didn’t help. His doctor ran some blood tests, and did not like the results, Radha says. 

“They were way off,” she says.

However, another test confirmed the numbers and, after a visit to Tampa General Hospital for more testing, it was determined on Oct. 7 that his kidneys were not working and that he needed dialysis immediately.

Two days after his first dialysis treatment, Raj had a seizure. While watching television, he had suddenly frozen, biting his lip so hard it began bleeding. The doctor said the seizure was caused by his low sodium levels, so an additional dialysis on Wednesdays was added to his Monday and Friday routine.

He also developed a serious rash around the catheter in his chest, another cause for concern for his family, due to fear of infection. Raj wears socks on his hands and sleeps in between his parents, who each hold one of his hands so he doesn’t scratch the area. 

“I can’t imagine all this has happened in less than (a few) months,” Radha said. “It’s crazy. Even if he coughs, or if he yawns, everyone looks around like, is he okay? It’s like living in fear. Nothing is normal.”

Raj’s parents, who are both software engineers, cannot donate their kidneys due to other health issues. Bhavika, who is 17 and a senior at King High, isn’t old enough to donate one of hers (you need to be 21).

So, Raj and his family pray that a living match can be found. While a kidney from a deceased donor is still an option, those tend to be less reliable compared to those from living donors, which are healthier and usually function immediately, as opposed to taking days or even weeks to begin functioning on their own.

The longer the lifespan and healthier the kidney, the better for Raj, who will almost certainly need another transplant in 15-20 years.

“He will have to undergo the process again, so if a transplant can last for at least 20 years, he can get back to his normal life,” Radha says.

A normal life that includes sports, dancing and chasing Benji around the house, like a regular 13-year-old. While not a day goes by that she doesn’t worry, Radha says her boy has another trait shared by many 13-year-old boys.

He is fearless.

“I did not expect it out of him, to be honest,” she says. “I am really really surprised how he is able to take all this. When I go to the hospital I am more scared and more tense, and he is doing much better than me or my husband. But, everyone is praying for him. And I think the prayers are what are making him be strong.”

The kidney donor for Raj must have O+ or O- blood, be between the age of 21-49 and not be diabetic or have any known kidney issues. Visit tgh.org/services/transplant/kidney-transplant/living-kidney-donor-program for more information. 

If you know someone or would like to help, call (813) 748-7235 or (813) 995-4815.