Category: Nibbles & Bytes

Quail Hollow CC To Host Big New Year’s Eve Bash!

If you still have never visited the newly revamped Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club (QHGCC, located off Old Pasco Rd., less than a mile from S.R. 54) here’s a great chance to check out the club’s beautifully remodeled restaurant for one of the biggest events of this or any year.

Owner Andre Carrollo and Chef Demetrius invite you to ring in the New Year at QHGCC on Saturday, December 31, beginning at 7 p.m., for dancing (until 1 a.m.) and a spectacular fixed-price dinner, which includes your choice of fresh Florida stone crabs or Mediterranean beef carpaccio, a classic Caesar or field mixed green salad, as well as your choice of three outstanding entrées — a filet mignon and Maine lobster tail combo, a garlic and rosemary-crusted prime rib or grouper St. Jacques topped with shrimp, scallops, wild mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. For only $160 per couple, which includes a champagne toast at midnight, taxes and gratuity, you’ll also get to enjoy a “death by chocolate” cake with fresh raspberry chocolate purée-dipped strawberries.

We’re betting you won’t be able to beat the food, the venue, the live music or the price for this awesome evening.

QHGCC is located at 6225 Old Pasco Rd. For New year’s reservations and more info, call 333-0033 or visit QuailHollowNow.com.

Café Olé Back Under

Original Ownership

For those who still have never tried Café Olé in the Cross Creek Center plaza on Cross Creek Blvd. at Kinnan St., I encourage you to visit New Tampa’s only restaurant providing a “True Taste of Spain.”

Café Olé, already one of my favorite restaurants in our area, is once again owned by Frank Aliaga, who is originally from Spain and still spends a lot of time in his native country. Aliaga, who also was one of the original owners/developers of the Cross Creek Center, has major plans under way to not only re-focus Café Olé’s menu, but also to add a separate formal dining room for private parties (perfect for any holiday bash) and busy nights and bring in a unique beer, wine and liquor store that also will carry Spanish-style packaged foods and more. The new dining room and liquor store are expected to open by Friday, December 16.

In addition, Café Olé is offering great new Happy Hour and Ladies Night (on Thursday evenings) specials, in addition to $5 Tapas Tuesdays and a new “Karate Wednesday” special, and will feature music and dancing every Friday and Saturday night. Also, coming soon is an announcement of the restaurant’s next Flamenco show night. Café Olé also is planning a great New Year’s Eve celebration. Call or stop in for details.

Café Olé is located at 10020 Cross Creek Blvd. and is open every day at 11 a.m. For more information, call 907-5242.

County Line Rd. — A Burger Battleground?

When Five Guys Burgers & Fries first opened a couple of years ago in the Sweetbay/L.A. Fitness-anchored plaza at the corner of County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and was followed in 2010 by a Red Robin in front of the Shops at Wiregrass mall at the intersection of S.R. 56 and BBD, we had no idea that the pair would be part of a massing of burger-oriented chains north and south of the county line in that area.

In addition to Five Guys, Red Robin and Sonic, which already are located within New Tampa and Wesley Chapel’s burger borders, several new burger joints also are joining the fray.

Among the newcomers is a just-opened Burger King located between Five Guys and Wharton High on BBD. On the same side of BBD just a little further south, the third link in the Tampa-based Burger 21 chain is expected to open over the next month or two in a new retail plaza a little closer to Wharton than Burger King. And, around the same time frame, just the second location of Burger Monger — which, like Burger 21, also has a Carrollwood store — will open in the space previously occupied by Panchero’s in the same section of the Shops of New Tampa at Wesley Chapel between the county line and 56 as Bonefish Grill.

Is all this burger mongering a function of the economy, a sign that people somehow couldn’t get enough of just fast food burgers or both? We will keep you posted on each of the newcomers as they open.

Quail Hollow CC To Host Big New Year’s Eve Bash!

If you still have never visited the newly revamped Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club (QHGCC, located off Old Pasco Rd., less than a mile from S.R. 54) here’s a great chance to check out the club’s beautifully remodeled restaurant for one of the biggest events of this or any year.

Owner Andre Carrollo and Chef Demetrius invite you to ring in the New Year at QHGCC on Saturday, December 31, beginning at 7 p.m., for dancing (until 1 a.m.) and a spectacular fixed-price dinner, which includes your choice of fresh Florida stone crabs or Mediterranean beef carpaccio, a classic Caesar or field mixed green salad, as well as your choice of three outstanding entrées — a filet mignon and Maine lobster tail combo, a garlic and rosemary-crusted prime rib or grouper St. Jacques topped with shrimp, scallops, wild mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. For only $160 per couple, which includes a champagne toast at midnight, taxes and gratuity, you’ll also get to enjoy a “death by chocolate” cake with fresh raspberry chocolate purée-dipped strawberries.

We’re betting you won’t be able to beat the food, the venue, the live music or the price for this awesome evening.

QHGCC is located at 6225 Old Pasco Rd. For New year’s reservations and more info, call 333-0033 or visit QuailHollowNow.com.

Café Olé Back Under

Original Ownership

For those who still have never tried Café Olé in the Cross Creek Center plaza on Cross Creek Blvd. at Kinnan St., I encourage you to visit New Tampa’s only restaurant providing a “True Taste of Spain.”

Café Olé, already one of my favorite restaurants in our area, is once again owned by Frank Aliaga, who is originally from Spain and still spends a lot of time in his native country. Aliaga, who also was one of the original owners/developers of the Cross Creek Center, has major plans under way to not only re-focus Café Olé’s menu, but also to add a separate formal dining room for private parties (perfect for any holiday bash) and busy nights and bring in a unique beer, wine and liquor store that also will carry Spanish-style packaged foods and more. The new dining room and liquor store are expected to open by Friday, December 16.

In addition, Café Olé is offering great new Happy Hour and Ladies Night (on Thursday evenings) specials, in addition to $5 Tapas Tuesdays and a new “Karate Wednesday” special, and will feature music and dancing every Friday and Saturday night. Also, coming soon is an announcement of the restaurant’s next Flamenco show night. Café Olé also is planning a great New Year’s Eve celebration. Call or stop in for details.

Café Olé is located at 10020 Cross Creek Blvd. and is open every day at 11 a.m. For more information, call 907-5242.

County Line Rd. — A Burger Battleground?

When Five Guys Burgers & Fries first opened a couple of years ago in the Sweetbay/L.A. Fitness-anchored plaza at the corner of County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and was followed in 2010 by a Red Robin in front of the Shops at Wiregrass mall at the intersection of S.R. 56 and BBD, we had no idea that the pair would be part of a massing of burger-oriented chains north and south of the county line in that area.

In addition to Five Guys, Red Robin and Sonic, which already are located within New Tampa and Wesley Chapel’s burger borders, several new burger joints also are joining the fray.

Among the newcomers is a just-opened Burger King located between Five Guys and Wharton High on BBD. On the same side of BBD just a little further south, the third link in the Tampa-based Burger 21 chain is expected to open over the next month or two in a new retail plaza a little closer to Wharton than Burger King. And, around the same time frame, just the second location of Burger Monger — which, like Burger 21, also has a Carrollwood store — will open in the space previously occupied by Panchero’s in the same section of the Shops of New Tampa at Wesley Chapel between the county line and 56 as Bonefish Grill.

Is all this burger mongering a function of the economy, a sign that people somehow couldn’t get enough of just fast food burgers or both? We will keep you posted on each of the newcomers as they open.