Union 72 BBQ Is So Much More Than Just Another BBQ Place!

Ok, so I freely admit that while I love cooking on a grill, I’m not the biggest fan of barbecue food, especially at most places. One advantage (or disadvantage?) for me as I’ve aged is that my stomach just can’t handle most BBQ sauces.

But, the casual, new Union 72 BBQ in the Shops at Wiregrass mall is not your usual BBQ place. Yes, there’s a slew of smoked meats from which to choose — and there are some unique options among those that I am excited to tell you about — but it’s quite honestly mainly the non-BBQ-style offerings at Union 72 that really do it for me, even though, at one time, I consumed full racks of ribs in one sitting. I still love ribs, but these days, I usually just stick to enjoying one or two of someone else’s ribs (at the most) before I give up.

Well, Union 72 co-owners Jeff Martin and Bharat Chhabria and pitmaster Geoff Zukosky definitely have my attention. One bite of graphic designer Blake Beatty’s Union 72 St. Louis-style ribs and I was hooked. The ribs are prepared with Union 72’s own house-made dry rub, marinated overnight and slow-smoked to perfection. They’re served wet or dry, so I was glad that Blake ordered his dry (the marinade creates a glaze that gives these fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs a nice crispy edge), even though the photo above (provided by Union 72), are shown wet. I’m also partial to Union 72’s Texas-style beef brisket and I enjoyed tastes of the pulled pork and even the country-style sausage.

As I said before, however, I am even more impressed by Union 72’s non-smoked items, like the southern fried hot chicken tenders, which are buttermilk-battered and rubbed with Union 72’s chef-created “Fire” rub. If you like the Nashville hot chicken at that fast food chicken joint, I’m betting you’ll love these super-crispy-outside, tender-and-juicy-inside beauties even more.

I also absolutely loved the Conquistador sandwich, which is still smoked pulled pork, but Spanish-spiced (like at a great Cuban place), topped with a green chimichurri sauce, caramelized onions and topped with a perfect sunny-side-up egg that absolutely oozes into every bite, all on a tasty brioche bun.

Other chef-created Union 72 favorites at our office include the tacos — available with brisket, pork or your choice of smoked meat — the dry-rub (think spicy blackened) hot wings, the pulled chicken salad and the marinated, slow-smoked half chicken.

There are a couple of Asian-influenced sandwiches at Union 72 I’m planning to try on my next couple of visits — the Vietnamese-style Banh mi sandwich (photo, right), which puts slices of that slow-smoked brisket on a baguette, topped with pickled vegetables, cucumbers, bean sprouts and spicy aioli; and the Far East sandwich, which is slow-smoked, chopped pork topped with kimchi, drizzled with Union 72’s house-made Sticky Asian barbecue sauce, and finished with fresh cilantro, scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Some of these sandwiches are served with your choice of a side and so far, I’m pretty much loving all of ‘em. The corn on the cob, collared greens, fries, house-made slaw, smoked bacon mac & cheese and the smoked, loaded baked potato all get high marks from me. I’m not a big fried okra fan, but lots of Union 72 regulars seem to love it, too. I’ve only sampled three or four of the six  house-made sauces to date, but my favorites are the white BBQ and Sticky Asian.

Speaking of folks who already visit Union 72, which has been open about two months at our press time, 900Âș Woodfired Pizza (also located in the mall) owner Steve Falabella and Little Italy’s (on S.R. 54 in Lutz) owners Carl and Jessica Meyers rave about the place, as did everyone in my office who got to try it the day I wrote this article.

The Brass Tap Connection

Martin is probably familiar to a lot of you, as he opened the first Brass Tap (in the space adjacent to what is now Union 72) in the mall more than eight years ago. Today, Martin and a variety of partners and some franchisees now have 39 Brass Taps in more than a dozen states. The Wiregrass location which previously had only served dozens of beers from around the world and a variety of wines, recently added full liquor, which has only brought in more people to an already popular watering hole and night spot.

Chhabria met Martin when he bought a franchise and the two shared a love for great barbecue and wanted to be able to offer good prices for their “flavors of the world.” Martin even says that Union 72 is now adding a variety of small, shareable appetizer platters — like unique nachos and more — to better serve his thirsty (and often hungry) customers at the Brass Tap.

Speaking of beverages, I love the local Cigar City craft lager on draft (served in mason jars) and house merlot and chardonnay also are available.

And, by the time you read this, you’ll be able to check out Union 72’s expanding catering menu, which you should consider if you want everyone to rave about the food at your “Big Game” party. Union 72 will even provide employees to work your party, to make sure everything is perfect. And, based on my experience so far, it will be!

Union 72 BBQ (2000 Piazza Ave., Suite 150) is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every day & until 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. For info, call 575-9999, or visit Union72.com. Please tell Jeff & crew we sent you!

Shazzam! A Pic Of Zammy The Sheepadoodle Goes Viral!

This pic of Zammy went viral after it was posted on reddit, and Todd Pitner says it has been viewed more than a million times.

On the social media site reddit, there’s a “subreddit” called “aww” – as in, “things that make you go AWW! –  like puppies, bunnies, babies, and so on
” And on that subreddit, you’ll find a picture of one local pup, named Zammy, hanging out at the Shops at Wiregrass mall. His photo, titled “Girls loving this huge fluffy sheepadoodle,” has gotten more than a million views and 11,000 “up-votes” on the site.

A “sheepadoodle” is a fairly new breed that is a mix between an Old English sheepdog and an extra large standard poodle. Zammy is just a year old and already weighs 100 pounds.

His owner is Todd Pitner, a resident of K-Bar Ranch off of Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, where he lives with his wife, Yana, and youngest daughter Vlada, who is 13. His other three daughters are adults who live on their own.

Todd says that Zammy is so “visually unique” that he tends to attract a lot of attention. He says he often takes Zammy for walks around the Shops at Wiregrass.

“Everyone goes nuts over him, wanting to pet him,” says Todd. “It takes me a couple of hours to do a loop around Wiregrass.”

During a walk over the Thanksgiving weekend, he snapped the photo that would soon go viral. Two girls at one of the outdoor dining areas asked to pet Zammy. Todd snapped the photo, posted it to his Instagram account, and it took off. “

The photo is just pure joy,” Todd says.

While Zammy had about 600 followers before his photo hit reddit, he now has more than 12,500. “It went from 600 to 1,000 overnight, then 2,000 in a week, then 9,000.”

Todd says he set up the Instagram account @ZammyPup because all of his daughters use Instagram, so he thought it would be a fun and interactive way to share pictures.

In fact, it was because of one of his daughters that Todd has Zammy today. He first came across a sheepadoodle while walking through Manhattan on a trip with his daughter, Alix. He saw someone walking a sheepadoodle and was fascinated. “I asked for breeder information and contacted her,” says Todd. “Turns out Zammy is that dog’s brother, from the same parents.”

Todd says Zammy was born on Dec. 17, 2015, and delivered from that breeder in California on Valentine’s Day. “It seemed like every day he grew a pound.”

Todd wanted a new dog in his family because, at the time, his beloved German shepherd, Rio, was aging and in fact, has recently passed away. So, Zammy’s family now includes a new German shepherd puppy, Zeus, and a 12-year-old schnauzer, Jocko.

Zammy is actually short for “Kazaam,” a nod to Todd’s college years, when he performed as a magician, and eventually nicknamed his older girls “Abby Cadabra” and “Alix Kazaam.” Since it was on the trip with Alix that he was introduced to the sheepadoodle breed, it was her nickname that ended up inspiring the dog’s memorable name.

When asked if he considers himself something of an ambassador for sheepadoodles, he denies he’s trying to make any kind of statement.  “I love the breed,” he says. “Zammy’s just a really special dog, with a special personality, and he brings joy to people.”

WCH Soccer Girls’ Ferocious Forwards Also Are Pernicous Passers

After fighting through injuries her first season, Victoria Mitchell has emerged as one of Pasco County’s top strikers, leading Wesley Chapel with 32 goals heading into the District 3A-7 playoffs. (Photo courtesy of TheCSSN.com)

As the sun sets on the 2016-17 winter girls soccer regular season, the Wesley Chapel High (WCH) Wildcats are looking like a team poised to make a deep playoff run and possibly take home the first girls soccer district title in school history.

It’s thanks in large part to the team’s two high-scoring forwards, senior Bailey Hern and junior Tori Mitchell.

“It’s great to watch,” WCH head coach Michelle Clark says. “They know where the other one is going to be and even when I move them to different positions, they still play off of each other.”

Coming out of Christmas break as the team heads into the Class 3A, District 7 tournament this week as the No. 2 seed, Mitchell now has a team-best 32 goals in 14 games played, and Hern is right behind her with 30 (in 17 games) for the Wildcats, who are 13-3-2, including 10-1-2 in Class 3A, District 7 play.

Mitchell has notched seven hat tricks this season, including four in an 11-day span last month. Hern has four.

Their season totals rank both of them in the top 13 of all goal scorers in Florida’s Class 3A.

While 2016-17 has been the first full year that they’ve played together in high school, their connection dates back to their one season on the same team at Weightman Middle School, when Hern was an eighth-grader and Mitchell was in seventh. They only overlapped one season at Weightman, as Hern attended Stewart MS for her sixth and seventh-grade seasons, but the chemistry was in the air even then.

“It made the game easier for me, having someone like that playing forward with me,” Hern says. “That’s definitely where the chemistry started.”

Yet, it would take a few years before the pairing really started to come to fruition.

Hern played on a struggling 4-13-1 team her freshman year at WCH while Mitchell was still at Weightman.

Senior forward Bailey Hern has 30 goals, and has scored 82 in three years on varsity, with 45 assists. (Photo courtesy of TheCSSN.com)

The duo was reunited for Hern’s sophomore season, but an injury sidelined Mitchell and the two didn’t share the field much. Hern, however, burst onto the prep scene with 30 goals and 18 assists during the 2014-15 season.

“It was hard at first with Tori’s injury,” Clark says. “But, we knew what the future held with these two, one day.”

The knee injury that sidelined Mitchell for much of her freshman season also cut into her sophomore campaign last season as well. She managed to play in 11 of the team’s 14 games in 2015-16, and the pair combined for 41 goals, with Hern scoring 22 and Mitchell tallying 19.

WCH finished as the District 3A-7 runners up, dropping a 2-1 overtime loss to Pasco in the title game.

This season, the tenacious tandem is back together full time and devouring opposing defenses.

What’s more, they are both tallying up assists at a fairly impressive rate, too. Currently, Hern leads the team with 14, and Mitchell has eight.

“We know where the other one likes the ball, and we know where they’re going to run to get the ball,” Hern says.

Even when Hern has to drop back to the midfield, she still knows where Mitchell will be and where she is going.

“Bailey is so versatile, she can drop back and play midfield to help out if we have an injury,” Mitchell said. “I know she’s always looking for me and she really knows how to get me the ball.”

Both readily admit that most of their assists are to each other, but teammates like freshmen Sophia Mitchell (11 goals, six assists) and Sydney Martin (five goals, six assists) and seniors Kelly Vester (nine goals, 11 assists) and Lauren Campoe (three goals, nine assists) have helped make the offense one of the best in the Tampa Bay area.

Last season, the Wildcats scored 83 goals in 21 matches and made the 3A Regional semifinals. This season, they have found the back of the net 103 times in 18 matches, or more than 5.7 goals per game.

“Even if we make mistakes, we are able to come back from them,” Clark says. “Any time (we’ve fallen behind) 1-0 this season, it’s like we’ve come back even stronger.”

With the Mitchell-Hern combo up top, it can be tough for opponents to stay in the game. The Wildcats have won 11 of their 13 wins by at least five goals.

“This year, we have depth that we haven’t had in years past,” Clark says. “The girls that come off the bench this year, play at a higher level than the subs we’ve had in years past.”

Clark and her team hope that this pushes them over the top, namely against District 3A-7 rival Pasco. The Wildcats tied the Pirates earlier in the season and fell 5-3 two weeks later with an injury-plagued squad.

The Pirates, who went 12-0-1 in the district, will be the top seed in the 3A-7 tournament, which begins next week at Weeki Wachee High in Hernando County.

Bulls Prepping For Tough District Tourney

The Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) girls soccer team is 11-7-5 heading into the Class 5A, District 7 tournament this week at Steinbrenner High in Tampa.

The Bulls will play the Warriors (9-2-1) in the first round of the tournament.

They went into the Christmas break on a three-game winning streak, outscoring opponents Fivay, Hudson and Ridgewood by a combined 13-0.  Freshman keeper Hanna Taugner post all three shutouts in net. The Bulls enter the 5A-7 tournament winners of seven of their past eight matches.

Junior Rylind Robinson leads the team with 13 goals and five assists, senior Sydney Chase has nine goals, and Kat Llanos has eight goals and nine assists.

FHWC Ready To Unveil New Rooms, New Technology & A New Experience

Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) is virtually ready for another grand opening. Oops. Make that ready for a virtual grand opening.

After drawing an estimated crowd of 8,000 people to its initial Grand Opening in 2012, FHWC is set to unveil its new $78-million, 118,000-sq.-ft. expansion to the general public via social media. FHWC marketing director Tracy Clouser says that because the hospital now has patients being treated everywhere, it isn’t possible to allow thousands to stroll through the corridors, checking out the new rooms and advances in technology.

However, everyone can still attend the Grand Opening of the expansion virtually, via both YouTube and Facebook, on Monday, February 6, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Clouser says the public will even be given the opportunity to ask questions of FHWC CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb.

“We’ll be showcasing some of the areas people wouldn’t ordinarily get to see,’’ Clouser said during an interview with Neighborhood News editor Gary Nager for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce Featured Business Segment on WCNT-tv, which hit YouTube on Jan. 6. She added that those who RSVP will get the first look at some of the expansion that is expected to even further enhance the hospital’s standing in the local (see pg 3) and medical community.

FHWC, constructed in the shape of a “W” with North, Center and South wings, is doubling the size of the Center wing, which now has six floors instead of the original three. A three-story connector wing, called the “Southeast Connector,” between the Center and South wings, also is nearly complete.

The extra floors will allow the hospital to expand from 83 private patient rooms to 143.

Emergency room space also is nearly doubling, from 18 rooms to 35. That may be the best news for area residents, as even the influx of urgent care centers in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa hasn’t stopped the FHWC emergency rooms from overflowing some days.

Clouser said there was no true original timetable to expand, but the top brass with FHWC’s parent company, the Adventist Health System originally estimated there would be a need for expansion within 5-7 years when FHWC first opened. But, the unrelenting brisk business at the hospital hastened the need for expansion to within only three years.

“We have been very, very busy,’’ Clouser says. “Obviously, there has been a need in this area for quality healthcare close to home for (local) people.”

Even More Technology

The new patient rooms at FHWC are Cerner Smart Rooms, which offer better workflows for hospital personnel, with instant bedside access to real-time data for doctors, while providing better communication between patients, their providers and visitors.

Visitors will be able to see if the patient is with their doctor, resting or does not want to be disturbed before entering the room, while FHWC staff will know, for example, which of their patients have allergies or are fall risks.

“It’s all right at their fingertips outside the room,’’ Clouser says, adding that the older rooms at FHWC will be retrofitted with the Cerner technology as well.

The new rooms also have the Get Well Network, another technology that bridges the gap between patients and doctors and empowers patients and their caregivers to participate in their healthcare. It also helps track the care patients are receiving — like dosages of medicine or blood tests — while they may be sleeping, right down to knowing when hospital personnel are washing and sanitizing their hands.

Clouser also said that some of the expansion already has been completed. A second heart catheterization lab opened in March, and a new wing with 20 additional beds in the Southeast wing opened in October. That third-floor wing will be an all-women’s wing when all of the other new rooms have opened, all expected by the end of this month or early in February.

The majority of the new rooms and technologies will be on the new fifth and sixth floors. Clouser also said that, for now, the fourth floor will remain as shell space, until future growth dictates adding 24 more patient rooms. Until then, the fourth floor will feature conference and classrooms that will host many of the free community health and wellness programs FHWC currently hosts at the hospital’s adjacent Wellness Center.

Clouser also noted that the expansion, which will be completed by the end of the month or early in February, will attract new physicians offering new procedures, since FHWC will now have more space in the new operating rooms. “That means new treatments, new services and new programs,’’ Clouser says.

Doctors also will soon have access to the MAKO platform, which is a robotic-arm-assisted system that can perform orthopaedic surgeries like partial knee or hip replacements. FHWC also has the daVinci System, another robotic-assisted device that specializes in minimally invasive surgery, such as removing a gall bladder or performing a hysterectomy through a patient’s belly button.

“We are the only site in Pasco County able to do that,’’ Clouser said “Surgeons like it because it’s minimally invasive, there’s less scarring, less pain, shorter recovery times and less blood.”

FHWC also will feature a tech room that allows doctors to enter via keyboard the patient’s name and type of surgery being performed, prompting a shelf to open up that provides all of the tools needed to perform that particular operation.

To RSVP for the virtual FHWC expansion Grand Opening, please visit FHInspiredByYou.com. The event will be on YouTube and Facebook, on Mon., Feb. 6, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Check out the drone footage and much more inside FHWC from Brad Hall Studios on Episode 14 of WCNT-tv on YouTube now!

GrillSmith Is Reader’s Choice In Wesley Chapel

Stonewood & GrillSmith Take Top Honors In Our 2016 Dining Survey

900° Woodfired Pizza, Hungry Greek & Burger 21 Also Grab Crowns; Three Wesley Chapel Residents Take Home This Year’s Free Dining Prizes!

There’s no doubt that New Tampa and Wesley Chapel both have a lot of restaurants, even though both areas continue to be dominated by national, regional and even local chains.

In our 2016 Reader Dining Survey & Contest, the top three restaurants — according to more than 500 readers who submitted surveys — in both of our distribution areas were all part of small local or regional chains and in New Tampa, seven of the top ten also are links in (albeit small) chains. The interesting thing to me was that the larger national and regional chains, which could only receive Write-In votes on our Dining Survey again this year, got fewer votes and points than ever before.

In fact, this is the first time ever that Bonefish Grill, Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse all failed to make the top 25 in Wesley Chapel, even though they’ve all always been among the most crowded restaurants in town. And likewise, neither Olive Garden nor Red Lobster got nearly as many write-in votes as they had in our previous contests.

It should be noted that Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse all opened too late in the process (our voting was from September til November) to receive many votes at all.

Stonewood Grill & Tavern made it back to the top spot as our readers “Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa.” Last year’s winner, Burger 21, dropped to #3 with our readers and last year’s #5 — Ciccio Cali — moved up three spots to #2. In fact, for the third straight year, the same ten restaurants in New Tampa received the most points from our readers as last year, although once again, the orders of those ten restaurants has changed.

Meanwhile, in Wesley Chapel, GrillSmith and The Hungry Greek took home the top two spots for the second year in a row, while Pizza Mania (#4), La Prima Pizza (#5), Dempsey’s Steak House (#9) and Wolf’s Den (#10) all moved into (or back into) our readers’ top-10. I will tell you more about many of these restaurants next issue, when I show you my 2016 Dining Favorites.

Congratulations go out to this year’s Dining Survey contest winners — all of whom happen to live in Wesley Chapel. The winners were selected by a random number generator from among the more than 500 properly-filled out entries. The 2016 winners are Roberto Davila of  Lexington Oaks , who will receive a $200 gift card to the restaurant of his choice in the Tampa Bay area; Angela Haraf of Quail Woods, who wins a  $100 gift card to the restaurant of her choice; and Melissa Spear of Meadow Pointe, who snags a $50 gift card to any restaurant she chooses.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out an entry form. Look for my restaurant favorites in our next issue and for some of these listings to appear on future episodes of WCNT-tv.

Your Favorite Restaurants In Wesley Chapel (WC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. GrillSmith

2. The Hungry Greek

3. Vallarta’s WC

4. PizzaMania

5. La Prima Pizza

6. PrimeBar

7. Burger Monger

8. Bonsai Sushi

9. Dempsey’s Steak House

10. Wolf’s Den

11. Pinchers Crab Shack

12. Yamato Japanese Steakhouse

13. PDQ

14. 900 Woodfired Pizza

15. CineBistro

16. Asian Buffet

17. Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & catering

18. Amici Pizza

19. Buttermilk Provisions

20. Best NY Pizza

21. Capital Tacos

22. Hibachi Express

23. NY NY Pizza

24. Latin Twist Café

25. (tie) Don Pan International Bakery

365 Caffe Italiano

John C. Cotey
Assistant Editor
The New Tampa & Wesley Chapel
Neighborhood News
P.813.910.2575
F. 813.910.2483

www.ntneighborhoodnews.com