New Restaurants To Open In Former Men’s Wearhouse!
New Tampa’s loss when the Men’s Wearhouse off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. closed right around the time the chain’s new location opened in Wesley Chapel, could end up being, well, New Tampa’s gain.
Paperwork has been filed with the City of Tampa to split the old Men’s Wearhouse location into space for two tenants, with both likely to be restaurants.
One restaurant is already proceeding with plans to open at the location. And, although the name of the restaurant is unclear, what it will serve isn’t — ramen noodles.
Love Ramen, LLC, has already applied for a temporary vinyl sign — “Coming Soon: Japanese Ramen Noodles” — while the former 5,005-sq.-ft. Men’s Wearhouse location is split into two “vanilla” boxes. One location will be 3,120 sq. ft., while the other will be 1,885 sq. ft.
Ramen restaurants have grown in popularity the past decade, mostly in metro areas. But fast-casual locations outside of your hip cities have surged as well, much like the poké bowl (New Tampa is getting one of those as well) craze.
While ramen is mostly familiar to Americans as an inexpensive brick of noodles with a packet of seasoning mixed in hot water that fed us all during college, Japanese ramen served in restaurants can be meticulously prepared and served in tasty broths and topped with various meats and vegetables.
Dosa Hut Coming To CC Blvd.
A Dosa Hut Indian Restaurant is planned for the former site of Hungry Howie’s Pizza (and Westshore Pizza before that) in the Cross Creek Commons Center anchored by Publix on Morris Bridge Rd.
The 1,420-sq.-ft. space is being renovated and will offer limited seating with four tables and will likely serve primarily as a take-out restaurant. — JCC
Hundreds Attend Metro City Bank’s Grand Opening!
If you think it’s hard to get excited about a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a bank, think again. The Grand Opening celebration (photo) and North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting on June 27 for the months-old Metro City Bank, located in the former Regions Bank building next to CVS Pharmacy at BBD and Commerce Palms Dr. in Tampa Palms was attended by literally hundreds of people, many of whom were of Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese descent, although there were plenty of Chamber members on hand for the festivities, too.
The event featured a formal, white-glove ceremony and amazing food provided by a Korean catering company.
I got to sit down for a few minutes with Metro City Bank founder Nack Y. Paek, who says Metro City Bank was founded in Atlanta with $15 million in assets and now has 19 branches in seven states, with assets of more than $1 billion.
The Tampa Palms location is the first in Florida and features two tellers who speak Korean and two who speak Chinese, although all of the tellers and branch manager Yoon Kang speak English and the bank’s outstanding services are available to anyone.
For more info, stop in at 6202 Commerce Palms Dr., call (813) 848-0153 or visit MetroCityBank.bank.
Rain & Shine Cleaning For Move-In Or Move-Out!
I’ve told you about Rain & Shine cleaning in this space before, but now that Jannah and I have moved out of our old apartment to the brand new Tapestry at Cypress Creek apartments, I just had to say again that whether you’re looking to have your home or business cleaned, or you need a move-in or move-out thorough clean, my friend Irene Joyner of Rain & Shine is the best in the business.
Jannah and I didn’t realize how much dirt we accumulated in three+ years in the same location, but Irene got our old place so spotless that we were both speechless! Call Irene at (813) 451-3042 or visit RainandShineClean.com.— GN
Although I always loved gyro sandwiches, which are known more as Greek food anyway, and the occasional falafel when I lived in New York, I never really sampled any authentic Lebanese, Syrian or Jordanian food until I lived in the Tampa Bay area.
Here in New Tampa, a couple of Mediterranean options have hung around, while others have come and gone, but one that might just have some staying power is Al-Sham Palace, located in the Pebble Creek Collection on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.
Samer Aljajeh, the owner-chef, and his general manager, Hadil Simreen (one of his wife’s friends), are both from Syria, but Hadil says that most Middle Eastern food is similar, because it all traces its roots to Turkey, which at one time occupied Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.
Wherever Al-Sham Palace’s culinary roots are from, I will tell you that I already have several favorite dishes.
First of all, the falafel is green inside, which I’d never seen before, because chick peas aren’t generally green, but Hadil says the green is parsley. The falafels are served with a savory tahini sauce made from crushed sesame seeds, garlic and lemon juice. Yum.
“Almost everything we serve is made here,” Hadil says. “A lot of people follow the Mediterranean diet these days. We have everything you need for that diet here.”
I also loved the shawarma chicken salad, especially with Samer’s lightly spiced vinaigrette dressing.
As for entrées, my two favorites so far have been the lemon chicken and the mixed grill of beef shish kababs, shish kefta (ground beef with onions and spices) and shish tawook (chicken) pictured above. The hummus served on the side was slightly addictive and the veggies were nicely seasoned and the grilled onions served with the mixed grill are almost sweet.
Al-Sham Palace has all of your other authentic Mediterranean favorites, including fried kebbie (lamb or beef with onions and spices), gyro sandwiches, grape leaves, mtable (eggplant with tahini sauce), baba ghanouj, tabouleh, fattoush salad, as well as onion rings, fried or grilled fish (tilapia), cheeseburgers, Philly steak or chicken sandwiches and more.
There’s even Mediterranean breakfast items available, including Foul mudammas (fava beans, garlic, parsley, tomato, olive oil & spices) Qalaya (meat with tomato sauce) and Fateh (pureed chick peas, with pita, tahini sauce and lemon juice, as well as friend eggs and unique egg omelets with ground beef and spices.
Delectable Desserts, Too!
For those who love baklava, Al-Sham Palace’s is homemade and delicious, but my favorite dessert so far has been the warbaat with walnuts and milk cream — and I don’t really like walnuts. The milk cream is like halfway between liquid and cream cheese and the triangular pastry shell is crisp, flaky and delicious. It’s like the best cheese croissant in town. Top either of those desserts (or haraseh or kunafa) with a cup of super-dark Turkish coffee (they also have American coffee and tea) and you’ll understand why I so enjoy Al-Sham Palace, even though I’m not Middle Eastern.
“About half of our customers are Americans,” Hadil says. “We are welcoming to everyone and hope everyone will come in and enjoy our authentic Mediterranean food.”
Al-Sham Palace is located at 19651 BBD Blvd., and is open every day for lunch and dinner. For more information, call (813) 907-8233, search for “Al-Sham Palace” on Facebook or see the ad in one of our latest issues. The ad has a coupon for $5 off any purchase of $30 or more (limit one per table). Go and check out our area’s most authentic Mediterranean cuisine and please tell Hadil and Samer I sent you!
In my Nibbles & Bytes column last issue, I told you about a new Jamaican restaurant with authentic cuisine. This time around, I’m going to let you in on one of New Tampa’s best-kept secrets if you love truly authentic Middle Eastern food.
It’s called Al-Sham Palace, located at 19651 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., in the Pebble Creek Collection, the plaza behind Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. Al-Sham Palace, which has been open for around a year or more, is owned and operated by Hadil Simreen, who says that her restaurant’s cuisine features authentic Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian-style versions of classic Middle Eastern dishes that are usually “Americanized” (my word, not hers) at most other places.
So, whether you like authentically spicy beef or chicken shawarma sandwiches (photo, left) with tahine or tzatziki sauce, or delicious steak kababs with nicely grilled onions, falafel, fried kebbie, hummus or tabouleh, Al-Sham Palace is your place!
And, with the coupon in the ad in our latest New Tampa issue, you can get $5 off any purchase of $30 or more (restrictions do apply)!
For more info, search “Al-ShamPalace” on Facebook, stop in or call (813) 907-8233 and please tell Hadil that I sent you!
Las Palmas Goes Back-To-Back!
Even though I personally still prefer their amazing merluza a la Russe (crispy fish with “Russian” sauce) and lechon asado (roasted pork), if you’re looking for the Best Cuban Sandwich in Tampa, it’s hard to argue against the still-new Las Palmas Latin Grill, located next to Five Guys at 6431 E. County Line Rd. (across from LA Fitness and Winn-Dixie).
Co-owner/chef Ramses Garcia and his wife Ana (photo above) were thrilled to have been awarded the title of “World’s Best Historic Cuban Sandwich” — for the second year in a row — at the 8th annual International Cuban Sandwich Festival, again held in historic Ybor City.
In other words, no matter what Cuban fare you prefer, you can’t go wrong at the new Las Palmas Latin Grill!
For more info, stop in or call (813) 803-3903 and please tell Ana and Ramses that I sent you!
Smallcakes Is Open!
Are you looking for a new and delicious dessert place? Smallcakes has opened in the Shoppes at The Pointe in Tampa Palms. Located at 17010 Palm Pointe Dr., between Ciccio Cali and our friends at the Palms Pharmacy, Smallcakes features 12 signature flavors (photo above) of full-sized cupcakes, special flavors daily, plus homemade ice cream, and the brother-and-sister co-owners Justin and Marissa Dewdney are Freedom High grads. And, although they both live about an hour away, they say they chose the Tampa Palms location because they had sampled Smallcakes in a couple of other places and felt that our area would love it.
Established in Kansas City, MO, in 2008, Smallcakes now has more than 200 stores (many in Texas and Georgia), including the closest ones to us, in Oldsmar and Lakeland.
Marissa and Justin also say that anyone who thinks that “print is dead” doesn’t realize the power of the Neighborhood News, as they have had “dozens of people” telling them that they heard about Smallcakes from my recent small writeups in this column. And, considering that Smallcakes is located in the same area as Ciccio Cali, Koizi, Palm Thai, Stonewood, Olive Garden and Red Lobster, I told the Dewdneys that they should offer a special cupcake deal to anyone who brings in a receipt from any of the aforementioned eateries!
For more info, call (813) 442-4938 or visit SmallcakesCupcakery.com and please bring them those receipts!
Here & There, This & That…
• I mentioned last issue that it wasn’t very long ago when there were as many as three frozen yogurt shops in New Tampa alone, but today there is just one, La Berry Yogurt Café, which we incorrectly reported as closed in our Mar 22 New Tampa issue, although it is has been under new ownership for a little over a month. Please go and try La Berry and tell them that I sent you!
• Although I personally enjoyed the German specialties (schnitzel!) at the former Prost Kitchen & Bar in the Palms Connection Plaza at 2802 E. Bearss Ave. (between BBD and Livingston Ave.), the owners of the pub decided to take it in a different direction.
Only open under its new name — Bearss Tavern & Tap (although the outside sign says “Bearss Kitchen & Bar”) — for a week or so at our press time, the redesigned restaurant has retained some of the old menu (including an artisan grilled cheese sandwich, served with tomato bisque), but has added many new items I am excited to try. The one sandwich I did sample when I stopped in — a pesto grilled chicken sandwich (photo above) on crispy sourdough bread — was excellent. I also look forward to trying the chargrilled chicken penne pasta, the artisan pizzas and the flatiron steak frites. Stop in, call (813) 466-5249 or visit BearssTavern.com and tell them I sent you!
• Sadly, while I thought that the new Rice n’ Beans was set to open in the former Cody’s Roadhouse space on WC Blvd. shortly after our last issue came out, it still wasn’t open as I went to press with this issue. The Lutz Rice n’ Beans closed two months ago. — GN
You could still hear the sound of skates skimming across the ice and children making their way around the rinks, but if you listened very closely on March 24, you might have also heard the sound of delighted taste buds.
“Mmmmm.”
Local food and beverage vendors invaded AdventHealth Center Ice (AHCI) for the third consecutive year, offering samples of some of their most popular dishes and drinks at the 2019 Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel.
“I love Taste of New Tampa,” said New Tampa’s Debra Gilreath. “I love the venue, love the neighborhood, love the fact that it’s indoors. The variety of restaurants and vendors that are here is great and it’s easy to buy tickets online and it’s reasonable. Most tastes are two tickets or three tickets.”
Although the event has been held in the comfortable confines of AHCI for three years, the Taste has been around since 1995, serving tasty morsels while also serving as a fund raiser for local charities supported by the Rotary Club of New Tampa and college scholarships given out to graduating high school seniors by the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC).
Held at various locations over its more-than-two-decade run, but since a four-year hiatus beginning in 2013 (following the merger between the New Tampa Chamber of Commerce and the Wesley Chapel Chamber), the event has found a convenient, weather-proof home at AHCI.
Roughly 2,000 people attended this year’s event, which co-chair Karen Frashier said was stronger than ever and has become the Rotary Club of New Tampa’s biggest fund-raising event, although the club also puts on a successful Turkey Trot road race Thanksgiving morning every year.
“Every year in June, the money raised from Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel and the Turkey Trot is given away to the charities we support,” said Frashier, a former president of the Rotary Club of New Tampa. “In 2018, we raised $46,000 (between the events) and donated it to our international foundation, End Polio Now, as well as 36 other local, nonprofit or school-related charities.”
Frashier also said that Rotary Feeds America, Feeding Tampa Bay, Meals on Wheels and the Fisher House residence at the James A. Haley VA Hospital are some of the other charities that will benefit from this year’s event. A 20-person committee of the 72-member club organized this year’s event that featured 38 restaurants and beverage purveyors and 34 non-restaurant sponsors.
The winner of the 2019 Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel People’s Choice Award, which was determined by the weight of the Taste sample tickets collected by each restaurant, was first-time participant Bahama Breeze, followed by Noble Crust (up from third a year ago and a top-three finisher all three years at AHCI) and first-time participant the Ice Dreammm Shop.
According to Frashier, the top 10 restaurants, in alphabetical order, were:
Bahama Breeze
Chuy’s Fine Tex Mex
Ciccio Cali
Cinebistro at the Grove
Fat Rabbit Pub
Ice Dreammm Shop
Noble Crust
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Pomodoro Pizza
Vom Fass Wiregrass
The four finalists for the beverage division were Blue Chair Bay Rum, The Brass Tap, Time for Wine and Zephyrhills Brewing Co., which repeated its win as the favorite adult beverage provider this year..
Gilreath and her daughter Asha were enjoying some of the samples outside the rink, and had already decided on one of their favorites.
“Noble Crust’s chicken & waffles is my favorite thing so far,” said Asha. “Noble Crust is great because they make everything from scratch.”
Noble Crust events coordinator Brad Elia said his crew was hoping to improve on last year’s third-place finish in the restaurant category. The Italian eatery is now the only restaurant to place in the top three all three years since the Taste returned in 2017, and hungry and eager patrons gobbled up their samples as quickly as Noble Crust’s employees could get them on the table.
“The chicken & waffles is one of our signature dishes,” Elia said. “When we opened our St. Petersburg branch, it was one of the dishes we opened with.”
Noble Crust, located the Shops at Wiregrass mall, topped the dish with some micro greens from their sister company Fat Beet Farm.
Last year’s winner, Tampa Palms’ Ciccio Cali, was set up in the center aisle, not out of sight of Noble Crust. Ciccio’s brought the same three items that earned it top honors last year — a hot & crunchy tuna, a spicy Brazilian (blackened chicken) and a Thai chicken bowl, but did not crack this year’s top three.
There were certainly some other unique culinary merchants at the event. The Main Ingredient, located off Collier Pkwy. in Lutz, isn’t really a restaurant, but more of a cook-to-order specialty grocer that offered samples of their oils and hot sauces over noodles.
“We sell most everything by the ounce,” owner Christina Sweet said. “People can come in with a recipe and get the exact amount they need instead of getting something and it’s sitting in their cabinet for who knows how long. Everything we sell is organic, non-GMO and gluten-free. We also have a line of specialty spices and tea leaves.”
Helping out at the Main Ingredient table was 11-year-old Sophia Contino, who knows a little about convincing people to try samples, as she has garnered a lot of media attention (including in these pages) for raising money for the Pasco Sheriff’s K-9 Unit.
Contino said she really liked The Main Ingredient’s noodles and hot sauce.
Cinebistro at the Grove doled out samples of soft tacos, meatballs and ceviche-style seafood dishes. The Hilton Garden Inn’s chef Frank Skalitza gave out ahi tuna poke spoons and herb-cheese-and-dates Endive Bites.
Other food/restaurant vendors included Vom Fass in the Shops at Wiregrass, offering samples of not only their vinegars, oils and sangria, but also some of the chain’s new gourmet prepared foods. Vom Fass did not have a sign telling you what they were serving, but there were four different unique appetizers, one with prosciutto, bruschetta with strawberries and more. The foods were provided by Vom Fass in conjunction with Kaixo, a local caterer with a food truck, and Walkabout Bakery Café in Lutz, which served a unique-looking Australian pastry.
Taste attendees Ashvin and Kitty Maharaj got a brief respite from their duties— Ashvin as a Rotary volunteer and Kitty with the All County Alliance Property Management table — and used it to sample some of the fare.
“This is a huge benefit for small businesses and it’s a great community event,” Ashvin said.
All County Alliance Property Management sponsored the cruise that was given away as one of the 50-50 raffle prizes.
Kitty said one of the best things about the event was that it introduced local residents to some places they may have previously not heard of, like Ava’s Low Country Cuisine, which provides private chef service, catering and classes and doled out samples of macaroni and cheese, cupcakes and rice bowls. “Ava’s doesn’t even have a store front, and I hadn’t even heard of Walkabout,” she said.
The Schoolfield family of Tampa Palms enjoyed offerings from all of the aforementioned providers.
Jake Schoolfield works at the CenterState bank in downtown Tampa, which was one of the event’s sponsors. His favorite offering was Ciccio’s crunchy tuna.
“An event like this brings awareness to local owner/operators,” Jake said. “You drive past all these places how many times in a week? I hope that it translates into more business for them. It’s also fun to see your neighbors out here.”
Dessert items were high on the list of favorites, too. Nothing Bundt Cakes, which was third in 2017 before it even had its current Wesley Chapel location in the Shops at Wiregrass, handed out samples of strawberry, lemon, chocolate and white chocolate raspberry bundt cakes. The strawberry cakes, however, were the most popular of the day, according to manager Crystal Cadet. Also serving amazing strawberry cake was Canterbury Hall, the new catering/banquet hall at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa Palms.
Adult beverage purveyors were also once again on hand at this year’s Taste, including 2018 beverage winner Zephyrhills Brewing Co., which took first place beverage honors again this year, second-place finisher The Brass Tap, and Time for Wine and Blue Chair Rum, which finished in a tie for third this year.
Other than playing music, some of Freedom’s marching band members worked on navigating a gigantic ‘Operation’ game brought in by AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, the event’s primary sponsor, which also offered chair massages. And, sponsor Pinot’s Palette, which combines the love of wine and painting, gave the kids some fun art activities to participate in (but no wine!).
Ashley McKibbin of Tampa brought her friend, Amber Cherry, all the way from Jacksonville to enjoy the event.
“I love it, it’s a great event, fun, family-friendly,” said McKibbin.
FHWC Opens Wound Care Center
Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), which will be changing its name to AdventHealth Wesley Chapel in January 2019 (see Business Notes on page 13), continues to be at the forefront of health care in our area. The hospital recently opened its Wound Care Center inside the FHWC Wellness Plaza, the building due north of the hospital itself.
FHWC CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb and dozens of Adventist Health dignitaries, local elected
officials/political candidates and North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce members were on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 27, and everyone in attendance (including yours truly) came away truly impressed with this latest addition to FHWC’s plethora of medical services for the community.
Although the Wound Care Center has plenty of state-of-the-art technology for caring for all kinds of wounds, lesions and lacerations, the coolest things we saw as we toured the facility were two hyperbaric chambers (photo far right), which traditionally have been used for people with the “bends” from scuba diving, but which (we were told) also can help with healing for those who have chronic sores and wounds that don’t heal, from diabetes or after radiation therapy for cancer.
Congrats also go out to the local catering company called C•B•K Catering & Events, which served amazing edible cones filled with a zesty chicken salad, plus delicious cheese tortellinis and perfect bruschetta at the event.
For more info about FHWC and the new Wound Care Center, visit FloridaHospital.com. For more info about C•B•K Catering, visit CBKTampa.com or call (813) 699-3060 and please tell Chase Mayer the New Tampa Neighborhood News sent you!
VIPs Check Out The Hyatt Place
In our last issue, I mentioned that the new Hyatt Place Hotel & Sierra Conference Center were getting ready to open, which actually happened on July 30.
On Aug. 9, representatives of the new hotel hosted a VIP event we attended, where members of the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) of Commerce Board of Directors and other local VIPs took tours of the 132-room hotel and got to sample some of the tasty food that will be served in the Hyatt Place’s Gallery restaurant.
The Hyatt Place Hotel is located at 26000 Sierra Center Blvd. For more info, stop in or call (813) 803-5600 or visit Hyatt.com, and please tell the hotel’s staff that you read about them (again) in the New Tampa Neighborhood News!
Umu To Replace OTB Café
Although OTB (Only The Best) Delights Café closed its original location at 2653 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel several weeks ago, have no fear.
Not only is OTB set to reopen sometime in September in its new location a couple of miles further north at the new Nye Commons (4873 BBD), but there already is a new restaurant getting ready to open in its old location.
The Thai owners of Umu Japanese & Thai have been transforming the old OTB space into an elegant-looking future home of great sushi, Bento boxes and other Japanese and Thai favorites and hope to be open sometime in September.
