If you haven’t yet stopped by the new Florida Avenue Brewing Co. (Florida Ave.), located at 2029 Arrowgrass Dr., in the former Sports + Field location on S.R. 56, you’ve been missing a treat — and, from the crowds seen there to date, you may be one of the few locals who hasn’t already given it a try.
This nearly 30,000-sq.-ft., two-story building — which was purchased by the Derby family last year, after being vacated back in 2015 — has been completely renovated and re-opened as an outstanding sports bar-style restaurant with somewhat more upscale food. And, although co-owner Anthony Derby says the S.R. 56 location will one day be home to the largest craft brewery in Florida, the beers, ales, hard ciders and seltzers being sold at Wesley Chapel’s Florida Ave. are currently being brewed at the Derbys’ smaller Seminole Heights location and shipped here.
And, even though yours truly isn’t much of a beer drinker and isn’t interested in playing corn hole, here are our five favorite things so far about Florida Ave.
5) Seminole Heights’ Cool Makes Its Way To “The Chap” — For everyone who’s tired of eating at chain restaurants along S.R. 56, there truly is nothing quite like Florida Ave. There certainly is nothing else here that has this newcomer’s “vibe.”
4) The Covered Outdoor Seating Area — Although there are lots of local eateries that have outdoor seating, very few have any covered areas at all, but Florida Ave.’s is covered, has a few TVs outside and access to an open courtyard area with corn hole games.
3) Private, Indoor Areas For Parties & Events — Florida Ave.’s 20,000-sq.-ft. first floor not only has a sizable indoor bar and dining area, it also has arcade games (above) and some separate indoor “tasting rooms” where you can host your own private parties.
2) The Variety Of Brews, Plus Premium Liquor — The top left photo left is a “flight” of six of Florida Ave.’s variety of brews and although anyone who knows me knows that I’m a whiskey drinker, I actually loved two of the brews shown here (yes, they were only the simple Florida Ave. Lager & Brown Ale, shown 2nd & 3rd from the right, but still) and I also enjoyed a hard cider and seltzer, but don’t tell anyone. Jannah even liked the Raspberry Berliner Weisse.
1) THE FOOD! — I haven’t yet sampled the entire menu, but I’ve already loved the spicy, Korean-style bibimbap bowl topped with a fried egg (above), the cheeseburger, the Burrata flatbread, the crab cake appetizer, the crispy cheesesteak egg rolls (nice pieces of steak with onions, and cheese) and the classic Caesar with grilled chicken.
My favorite so far, however, was the Chinese sticky ribs appetizer.
The dish offers four fall-off-the-bone black bean and miso pork ribs with a hoisin BBQ glaze over kimchi slaw with sesame seeds and scallions. I also can’t wait to try the hanger steak and several other appetizers, flatbreads, handhelds and entrées.
For more info, call (813) 452-6333 or visit FloridaAveBrewing.com & please tell the Derbys I sent you! — GN
Wesley Chapel has been without a library for more than a year since the only previous location, the New River Branch Library on S.R. 54, began a major facelift.
That facelift, which will feature areas for teens and children, remodeled bathrooms, new furniture, an improved community garden and covered learning space, should be completed by January, but that hasn’t stopped District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore from looking ahead to another library for the area.
“I think the time is right,” Moore says, pointing to the massive growth the area has witnessed in recent years, as well as the tens of thousands of homes still planned for the future.
Moore pitched the idea to his fellow county commissioners last week.
As usual, it will all come down to finding the money to build what Moore expects would be roughly a $10-million endeavor.
It may be a few years away, but plans to add a second library in Wesley Chapel are proceeding. The rendering above shows the outdoor lounge.
The land already is owned by Pasco County, Moore says. It is right in front of Seven Oaks Elementary, off of Mystic Oaks Blvd. In 2004, that parcel was set aside as part of the development agreement for the Seven Oaks DRI with the intention that the county would use it for a future library.
In September, Moore was able to secure funding for a concept design for the 20,000-sq.-ft. facility. Renderings of the possible library show plenty of meeting spaces inside and outside, as well as large glass windows that overlook the wetlands that would be behind the library (above).
Now, he is proposing a larger expenditure, probably close to $1-million, to fund the actual design of the library.
After that, “We’ll look at all possible resources to get it built,” Moore says.
Bob Harrison, the Pasco County Libraries marketing and communications program manager, says it could take 3-4 years to bring the project to fruition. He agrees that Wesley Chapel’s rapid growth warrants a second library.
“We definitely look at the growth areas and Wesley Chapel is probably the fastest growing area in Pasco County and has been for some time,” he says. “It definitely could use another library based on its population growth.”
Many of the county’s libraries have been refurbished and received updated maker spaces. For example, the Regency Park Library in New Port Richey has a test kitchen, the Hudson library has a recording studio, and both were decided on by local residents.
Harrison says the Wesley Chapel community will decide what special features to put in a new library via focus groups and meetings.
“As far as I know, (Moore and his fellow commissioners) are certainly committed to making it happen,” Harrison says. “Of course, funding is always a question, but I know at this point they are moving forward with it.”
Although the New River Library is still closed, it’s still available as an early voting site for this year’s General Election. For info, visit PascoVotes.com.
Shaun Dunn says sales of Trump merchandise are a good indicator of how well the President will do in Florida. The polls say otherwise. (Photo by John C. Cotey)
If local merchandise sales are any indication, Donald Trump is headed to a landslide re-election on Nov. 3.
That’s how Shaun Dunn sees it, anyway. The businessman runs a Trump tent right next to his Joe Biden tent at the entrance to The Grove in Wesley Chapel, and says the Republican president is outselling the Democratic former VP 10-to-1. He is admittedly not a political scientist or pollster, but he is a numbers guy, and he thinks they are saying something.
“If there really is 50 percent support of Biden, that tent should really have way more people,” he says. “As far as I’m concerned it just really shows you that the silent majority is more than you think.”
Based on his sales and the interest people stopping by have shown, he thinks Wesley Chapel is Trump Country. Memorabilia like Trump-branded magnets, yard signs, hats, coins, mugs and yes, even masks to protect you from the spread of coronavirus, are flying off his tables.
Flags and the iconic red Make America Great Again hats are his best sellers, and Dunn says he has sold 250 life-size cutouts of Trump – at $75 a pop – since opening his stand on Sept. 1.
Before he could open his Trump tent at The Grove, however, he had to agree to open a Biden tent as well.
Mark Gold, who is developing The Grove, insisted Dunn do a tent for each candidate, as he didn’t want to get caught in any political quandary.
“I told him if he wants to do one, he does both,” Gold says. “To be fair.”
Dunn says he was fine with the idea. In fact, he kind of liked it.
“I got to thinking about it, and you know, that’s probably the right thing to do,” he says. “That way, everybody gets a chance.”
In fact, Dunn has opened Biden tents next to his Trump tents at his Holiday Mall location, also owned by Gold, and in Lakeland.
The Biden tent at The Grove was his first, and he says he has never seen any others in his travels.
Suli Torres works the Biden tent. She jokes that she got the short end of the stick, but since she will be voting for Biden, she is fine with it.
“Everyone is pretty excited to see me, I’ve even had people offer me food and drinks,” she says, then adding, with a chuckle, “maybe they feel sorry for me.”
Torres was engaged in a conversation with a customer about climate change when we visited on a Monday morning, although that conversation was interrupted by a young woman wanting to purchase a Biden hat. At the Trump tent, though, Dunn was busy ringing up a pink “Women For Trump” t-shirt and a matching pink hat for one customer, and a mask and a coffee mug for another
Does the popularity of the Trump tent concern Torres when it comes to the Nov. 3 election?
Not really. “Florida is a Republican (controlled) state, so I’m okay with it,” she says. “I will cast my vote and hope for the best.”
Dunn eschews political talk at either tent. He says his employees are trained not to get political with customers. He is unwilling to debate Trump vs. Biden, and says he is only there to make money.
“They all want to talk politics,” he says. “I don’t say nothing. Basically, I tell them ‘I hear ya,’ because I don’t want to be getting involved. I like somebody, but I prefer not to say. I’ll vote for who I like. But, this is just a business for me.”
The one thing the Trump and Biden tents, which are spaced about 10 feet apart, do have in common? The amount of vitriol those working them have had to endure.
Due to the toxicity of the country’s political climate, Dunn and Torres each say they have been sworn at and threatened by people driving by or leaving after purchasing something from the other tent.
Financially, the Biden tent only makes enough money to cover what Dunn pays his employees and the rent. The Trump tent has been far more lucrative.
Dunn says four of his former employees left him to start their own Trump tents, and are all doing well. He wishes he had started selling it sooner. “I’d be able to retire by now,” he says.
However, do sales equal votes? Even in 2016, the Trump merchandising operation was a juggernaut, and he lost the popular vote by roughly 3-million nationwide to former First Lady Hillary Clinton, while claiming a narrow 70,000-vote edge in crucial battleground states Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to give him a victory in the electoral college. (Trump won Florida by 112,000 votes; he won Pasco County by 52,000).
This election, the polls are favoring Biden — by larger margins than they favored Clinton — but Trump gear is just as prevalent, if not moreso, than four years ago. How those numbers will add up on election day remains to be seen.
The only math that really matters, however, is the nationwide final tally of votes. Record turnout is expected all across the country.
Dunn is likely correct about Wesley Chapel, and more broadly Pasco County, being Trump Country. Republicans have unanimously controlled the five-person County Commission for many years, and there are currently 159,127 registered Republicans, or 26,100 more than in 2016.
Meanwhile, there are only 118,127 registered Democrats in Pasco, an increase of only 10,800.
There also are 109,682 registered voters who did not list a party affiliation, an increase of 27,000 from the 2016 election.
One thing that is certain: Pasco County will vote. Presidential election voter turnout has averaged well over 70 percent since 1984, according to the PascoVotes.gov website. In 2016, the voter turnout was 73 percent.
In fact, residents were voting long before early voting even started on Oct. 19, as more than 70,000 mail-in votes already had been received, accounting for 18 percent of all registered voters in Pasco.
And, with this election expected to break turnout records across the country, Tami Bentley, the director of voter administration for Pasco County, says they are ready not just for more voters, but more socially-distant voters, due to Covid-19 concerns.
“We have worked closely with Pasco County to secure some larger early voting facilities,” Bentley says, like the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County.
In addition, mail drop boxes will be posted at every early voting site for the first time, hopefully assuaging fears about mail-in ballot voter fraud being perpetuated on social media and by President Trump himself.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco and Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley also put out a joint statement promising a safe environment at all early voting locations, all of which will be manned by Poll Deputies.
Interesting Local Pasco Races
While Trump-Biden tops the ballot and is driving the expected record voter turnout, other races that have local implications include:
Superintendent of Schools: Kurt Browning, the Republican who easily won his primary, is running for his third term against Bayonet Point Middle School teacher Cynthia Thompson, who says the District needs an educator to fix it.
State Senator District 20: Republican Danny Burgess resigned as executive director of the Florida Department of Veteran’s Affairs in June to run against Democrat Kathy Lewis in this special election to replace Tom Lee, who retired.
State Representative District 38: Republican Randy Maggard won the 2018 election to replace Burgess, and is defending his seat against Democrat Brian Staver.
Pasco County Commission, District 3: Incumbent Republican Kathryn Starkey, first elected in 2012, has raised more than $200,000 in her bid to keep her seat against Democrat Jessica Stempien, who has raised $30,000.
Pasco County Commission, District 5: Incumbent Republican Jack Mariano is seeking his fifth term (he was first elected in 2004) against Democrat Brandi Geoit and independent Victor Rodriguez.
Florida 12th U.S. Congressional District: Republican incumbent Gus Bilirakis, who replaced his father Mike (who served for 25 years) when he was first elected to the District 9 seat in 2007, is trying for another term in District 12 (which he has represented since 2013)against Democrat Kimberly Walker.
Early voting continues through Oct. 31, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Vote By Mail drop boxes are available at each early voting site, including the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus (3021 Sports Coast Way), AdventHealth Center Ice (3173 Cypress Ridge Blvd.) and the New River Library (34043 S.R. 54).
The general election is Tuesday, November 3, when polls will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m.. Wesley Chapel has 13 polling places, which can be found by visiting PascoVotes.gov or by checking your voter registration information.
The rumors that have been circulating the past 18 month of popular electronics retailer Best Buy closing its New Tampa location have turned out to be true.
The store, located in The Walk at Highwoods Preserve off of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. between the HomeGoods and Michaels store, has that announced it is shutting down on Oct. 31. The announcement points customers to the nearest locations in Brandon and Wesley Chapel (in The Grove).
The store has already begun the moving process. Many of the aisles in the New Tampa Best Buy have empty shelves and are blocked off, while some aisles are selling open box items at a 15-20 percent discount.
It is unclear if the effects of Covid-19 had a hand in the closing, although it had been rumored before the pandemic that the big box electronics giant’s New Tampa location had been struggling.
According to a recent report by CNN, Best Buy is at a disadvantage fighting companies like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco, because those others also sell food and other household essentials. Beat Buy is also facing higher costs when it comes with the rise in online orders. The CNN report says that “Best Buy’s gross profit rate fell 1.2 percentage points to 22.8% during the three months ending August 1, compared with the same period last year.”
The loss of Best Buy will leave a number of vacancies in the cross-section of BBD and around Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., such as the old Sweetbay grocery store (which has been vacant since 2013) and the former Romano’s Macaroni Grill restaurant (which has been closed since 2017, after two failed attempts after being revived as a Mexican restaurant) on the west side of BBD and the Pier 1 Importa (currently closing) on the east side.
The AMC Theater, which had to postpone a major renovation project and has been hit hard by Covid-19, and former Ruby Tuesday restaurant, which will be replaced by Aldi, are also on the east side on BBD.
Tyriq Outen honed his hockey skills while living in New Tampa, and is riding high after an MVP performance in a major invitational tournament this summer has him a little closer to his dream of playing goalie in the NHL. (Photo courtesy of the Outen family).
The first time Tyriq Outen skated on ice at the Brandon’s Ice Sports Forum, he was 4 years old and decided immediately he wanted to be a goalie.
A few weeks later, during his first lesson, his promising ice hockey career began…with his pads on backwards.
“Then, he fell behind the net and got his helmet caught in the net,” recalls his father, Ronnie. “It was a comedy of errors.”
That imperfect start, however, soon gave way to success at nearly every level at which “Ty,” as his family calls him, has played since. He went from being entangled in the nets to starring in them, and from being a junior standout to a legitimate NHL draft prospect with a bright future ahead of him.
“I feel like this is where I belong,” he says. “I fell in love with it right away.”
Tyriq grew up in New Tampa, and attended Turner Bartels Middle School. While his friends played Little League baseball and basketball and soccer at the New Tampa YMCA, Tyriq was part of a small but budding hockey community.
He played for one of the best youth hockey teams in Florida, comprised of players from all over the state, but that meant lots of travel. He traveled by plane 2-3 times a month for big tournaments in the northeast and Canada, but mostly spent lots of time in the car with Ronnie driving all over the southeast.
Ronnie, the basketball director at the new Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, understood the lifestyle and demands for a high-caliber youth athlete. A former college basketball player who played professionally overseas, Ronnie understood it was all about exposure and training. When it was time to choose a high school, Ronnie and Tyriq moved to hockey-hotbed Boston and lived in an apartment.
“When we were in Boston, he was literally on the ice 5-6 days a week,” he says. “No knock on Florida, but there was a rink in every neighborhood. Imagine if Hunter’s Green had one, and Arbor Greene and Live Oak had one, if you had 5-6 rinks in this area, think of the pool of talent you’d have to draw from. That’s how it is up there. That is why the competition was so good.”
First Stop – Foxboro
Tyriq hooked up with the South Shore Kings in Foxboro, MA, and began to take off as a player. He had a 3.08 goals-against average (GAA) and a 90% save percentage in his two seasons.
At the age of 17, Tyriq made it onto the coveted NHL Central Scouting list as No. 19 among all North American goalie prospects. His athleticism, Ronnie says, is off the charts — he can roll out of bed and dunk a basketball — and his skating and stick skills are exceptional. Tyriq’s vision and game management continue to improve.
Toronto Maple Leafs development camp, June 30, 2018. Mark Blinch/Toronto Maple Leafs
Once a growth spurt got him to 6-feet, 3-inches, it completed the package, making him an enticing prospect at a position where taller, athletic goaltenders — like the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andre Vasilevskiy, who also is 6’-3” —seem to be the future.
In Boston, NHL scouts were watching every game. “It definitely got the heart pumping,” Tyriq says.
Although Ronnie had spent most of his life playing and coaching basketball, he had married Heather, a native Canadian, who came from a family of goalies.
Tyriq was born in Miramichi, New Brunswick, where his grandfather Hugh Moar — Tyriq called him Grampy — was in the town’s Hall of Fame and his uncles were accomplished junior goaltenders.
Ronnie jokes that basketball never had a chance. Which, he adds, was fine by him.
“It wasn’t a disappointment at all,” he says. “I didn’t want him growing up with anyone comparing him to me or anything like that. I was just happy that every time he came off the ice, whether after practice or a game, he had a smile, and five minutes into the drive home, he wanted to talk about the game.”
Dealing With Adversity
After graduating high school in Boston, Tyriq had to choose between pursuing a Division I college career, or signing with a major junior hockey team, which would end his amateur status.
Tyriq with “Grampy”, Hugh Moar.
With a chance to sign with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the former team of NHL stars like Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Roberto Luongo, and just an hour north from his birthplace, where his goalkeeping family had built a following, how could he resist?
It turned out to be the first speed bump in Tyriq’s career.
The QMJHL is one of three major junior ice hockey leagues that make up the Canadian Hockey League, along with the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL). Acadie-Bathurst had loaded up the previous season to win the QMJHL President’s Cup, and they captured the Memorial Cup against the winners from the OHL and WHL.
Tyriq says many of the players acquired to win the title in 2017-18 departed after that season. His new team won just eight games in 2018-19, and he finished with an 0-20 record, a 5.89 goals against average and faced nearly 1,000 shots in only 1,364 minutes. After a coaching change, Tyriq was released.
“The fact that it was (so close to Miramichi) made it even worse,” Ronnie says. “The whole town was hurrah hurrah, the hometown boy is coming, everybody was happy for that to happen. So, it made it double the monkey on his back.”
Ronnie worried about how Tyriq would handle his first-ever adversity. “I would be lying and he wouldn’t be human if I said it didn’t get him down.”
Ronnie says he reached out to Tampa Bay Lightning goalkeeping coach Frantz Jean for some guidance, concerned his son might retire his pads. Jean, however, reassured Ronnie that Tyriq was still highly regarded, and that NHL scouts will be watching to see how he reacted to his adversity.
“The ones that are successful come out the other side stronger,” Ronnie remembers being told.
Getting Back In The Pads
Tyriq got back to work. Determined to come back even stronger, rather than give up, he doubled down on his efforts. When he was tired, he thought about Bathurst. When he didn’t want to work out, he thought about Bathurst.
“I’m already up,” Tyriq would say as his dad walked into his room to wake him up early in the morning.
“That showed me just how tough he really is,” Ronnie says.
The Outen family — (l.-r) Tyriq, Kiana, Heather and Ronnie — has lived in Live Oak Preserve in New Tampa since 2006.
Tyriq’s bounceback started in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, in the Maritime Hockey League, a league below major junior. If playing near his hometown made the Bathurst experience more painful, then his first appearance at the Miramichi Civic Centre, against the hometown Timberwolves, offered some redemption — he stopped 34 of 35 shots in a 6-1 win.
He went on to beat the Timberwolves two more times at the Civic Centre, and stopped 145 of 156 shots the hometown team fired at him over five games.
Covid-19 ended the 2019-20 season early, so Tyriq returned to New Tampa. He worked out with the Lightning before the team entered the bubble en route to the Stanley Cup. Tyriq continued to grind, ready for his next challenge, which came when he was chosen to play at the prestigious invite-only Beantown Summer Classic in August in Exeter, NH, where NHL scouts handle the coaching duties.
“He was so proud of having some of the Lightning players’ phone numbers in his phone,” Ronnie says. “That was pretty cool for him.”
The NextGen MVP!
Tyriq was the only goalie invited to play for an all-minority team — NextGen AAA Foundation, a nonprofit that offers mentoring to hockey programs in underserved communities.
NextGen, which is coached by NHL players Bryce Salvador and Mike Grier, steamrolled the competition at the annual Beantown Classic in Boston, and went undefeated to win the title. Tyriq was 4-0, and even added five assists — a shockingly high number for a goalie but a tribute to his stick skills — and was named the tournament’s MVP.
“That was a big deal for me,” Tyriq says. “I feel like I’m ready to do bigger things. It was a great experience.”
Tyriq can’t return to Canada right now due to Covid, but was approached by a Calgary Flames scout at the Beantown Classic, who hooked him up the Maine Nordiques of the North American Hockey League. He left New Tampa last month to begin training, and the season began earlier this month.
In three games so far with Maine, Tyriq is 2-1 with a 2.94 goals-against-average and a .924 percent save percentage.
“He was in a bad situation before, but he’s recalibrated now,” Ronnie says. “This is a good situation for him. It’s going to be a good year. He is totally happy — you can hear it in his voice. And, that’s the best thing.”
