Considering that long-established eateries like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays have shuttered many of their stores, it wasn’t a big shock that Bloomin’ Brands — which also is the parent company of Outback, Carrabba’s and Bonefish — made the decision to shutter most of its U.S. locations of Aussie Grill.
Among the stores that already are permanently closed is the Lutz/Wesley Chapel location on the north side of S.R. 56, across from the Tampa Premium Outlets, which closed its doors earlier this month. We had no news at our press time as to what might replace Aussie Grill, but we’ll keep you posted.
Portillo’s Is Coming…But Where?
Meanwhile, Portillo’s — the Chicago-based hot dog and Italian beef chain — originally announced on Dec. 5 that it was opening “later this year” and even gave the address of the new Portillo’s as 26000 S.R. 56 and said that it would be a 6,250-sq.-ft. restaurant. That announcement was later changed to what is shown below, but the spark had been lit, as many midwesterners rejoiced, many locals who had tried but weren’t overjoyed shrugged their shoulders and everyone else tried to figure out how Portillo’s could open a huge sit-down restaurant in just a few weeks time, in a location that already has a huge (actually closer to 8,000 sq. ft.) sit-down restaurant — as that address is where the Rock & Brews on the south side of S.R. 56, in front of the outlet mall, currently sits and is still open (and is still advertising in our pages).
As soon as I saw the original announcement, I headed to the nearest Portillo’s location — on E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa — to ask what the management of that location knew about the new store, but I was referred to corporate, which has not yet responded to my very detailed email, even though the revised press release at Portillos.com shown left deleted the planned address and timeframe in the original (Note-26000 S.R. 56 is still listed as the Lutz address when you click on the “Locations” button on the site).
Of course, I also took the time to sample my first Portillo’s Italian beef sandwich, with added mozzarella cheese and extra Italian gravy/au jus on the side, and I’ll admit it was pretty tasty. Good crinkle cut fries, too.
Our contact at Rock & Brews didn’t get back to us with an answer as to whether or not that location was closing, but we’ll keep you posted. — GN
(Below left) Owner Kruth (Kurt) Sombutmai thanks everyone for attending the Grand Opening & ribbon-cutting ceremony (above) for the 2&2 Restaurant he owns with his wife, Suzie (also holding scissors) on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Unlike most of his already-large contingent of regular customers — many of whom attended the Grand Opening and Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting event on Dec. 12 — I first met owner Kruth (Kurt) Sombutmai and his beloved wife of 48 years, Sa-Ang (Suzie) a few weeks ago, as they were getting ready to open their 2&2 Restaurant on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel, less than a mile west of Morris Bridge Rd./Eiland Blvd.
Even so, it’s hard not to love this couple, who have been serving down-home food to the Zephyrhills community for 35 years and are now hoping to attract a lot of new customers in Wesley Chapel.
The ribbon-cutting event wasn’t your usual show-up-stay-for-a-bit-&-go-home affair. Most of the people in attendance, many of whom were, like Kurt, military veterans, stayed for at least a couple of hours to be regaled by stories of how Kurt moved from California, purchased the Hills Grocery on the Zephyrhills side of the corner of Morris Bridge Rd. and S.R. 54 and became one of that community’s best-known restaurateurs. Sure, they also hung around for the delicious free food buffet that followed the ceremony, but there wasn’t a single long-time customer of Kurt and Suzie’s who didn’t have a story they wanted to share about them. The event was indeed a beautiful tribute.
In addition to the Chamber folks, Zephyrhills Mayor Charlie Procter and former Pasco Clerk of the Court & Comptroller Paula O’Neil were in attendance for the ceremony and Paula said that Kurt and Suzie are among her best friends.
“Paula first announced she was running for the Clerk’s office at my restaurant,” Kurt recalled. “She visited me in the hospital when I got sick a few years ago, too.”
Kurt, Paula O’Neil & Suzie at the Grand Opening.
If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering where the name “2 & 2” came from. It’s basically a tribute to Kurt’s original restaurant, which often had lines wrapped around it for Kurt’s $1.99 “Eye Opener” breakfast and “all you can eat” fried fish special on Fridays. Whenever anyone asked Kurt how long the wait would be, he’d always hold up two fingers and say, “Two minutes!” The saying became so popular that when Kurt sold his Hills Grocery coffee shop to CVS and opened his location on U.S. Hwy. 301 in Zephyrhills, he called the new restaurant “2 Minutes,” and he decided to call the new place “2 & 2,” meaning that he now has two restaurants with two-minute waits.
The 2 Minutes restaurant, as well as Kurt and Suzie’s Best Thai & Sushi on S.R. 54 in Zephyrhills, are both still open, too.
Whether you visit 2 & 2 Restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner, not only are you likely to be greeted by Kurt, you’re also guaranteed to see Kurt’s tribute to his idol, the late, great “Duke” himself, John Wayne. You’ll also find homestyle cooking and always fair prices.
So, What About The Food?
The Grand Opening included a delicious buffet of free food, although our editor prefers 2&2’s bacon, ham & cheese omelet with crispy hash browns (below right) & garlic pork chops (below left).
In the few short weeks since 2 & 2 opened, I’ve been able to sample quite a bit of the menu, especially for breakfast because, unlike some other diners, where the full menu is served all day, you can only get breakfast at breakfast time and lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
My favorite breakfast item so far is the cheese omelet, which I got with large chunks of grilled ham and thick slices of crispy bacon inside. And, if you order the hash browns (there’s also home fries and grits and sausage links or patties available as sides) extra crispy, like I do, they really do come out super-crispy. So good.
I also sampled Charmaine’s pancakes when she ordered the Kurtski Breakfast, which you basically could call the “Kitchen Sink,” because it comes with 2 eggs, 2 pancakes or two French toast slices, 3 pieces of bacon and 3 sausage, hash browns or home fries or grits, plus toast AND refillable coffee, all for just $12.99! The pancakes were light and fluffy and even though they’re not on the menu with blueberries, the kitchen added fresh blueberries at Charmaine’s request and all I can say is that it should become part of the menu!
There also are veggie and western skillets (the western has ham, green peppers & onions with cheese, hash browns or home fries and egg on top).
For lunch and dinner, appetizers include everything from bacon-wrapped shrimp smothered in honey BBQ sauce and battered gator bites to soft pretzel bites and Philly egg rolls served with beer cheese. Sandwich options include battered or grilled “2 Mins Fish,” a double decker turkey, ham and roast beef club and “Suzie Spicy” chicken sandwich with melted cheddar, tortilla strips, avocado and sriracha mayo. There’s also a fresh salad bar.
I can vouch for the 1/4-lb. Kurtski burger and you can sub a short rib, brisket and chuck patty for only $1 more. Tasty fries, too. My favorite lunch/ dinner entrée so far is the grilled garlic pork chops, served with mashed potatoes (you also can choose baked potato or fries), plus your choice of soup or salad, ice cream and a soft drink, all for just $14.99. I plan to try the slow-cooked pot roast, breaded veal cutlet and fried chicken dinners on future visits. There’s also seafood dinners (catfish or haddock, coconut shrimp, fried clams or grilled salmon) for just $15.99. And yes, the All You Can Eat fish fry is available on Fridays only, for just $13.99!
For info about 2 & 2 Restaurant (33835 S.R. 54), call (813) 355-4829, visit 2and2Restaurant.com or see the ad below. — GN
Do you already have plans for New Year’s Eve? If not, may I suggest visiting spending the turn of the year at the Hyatt Place Tampa-Wesley Chapel?
Hear me out on this one: The Hyatt Place hosted three sittings for Thanksgiving Day and Jannah and I were among those who helped sell out the place, each of which offered a beautiful, sumptuous buffet dinner, including a fried turkey and slow-roasted prime rib carving station (photo), plus ham and citrus-glazed salmon, side dishes like sautéed green beans, garlic mashed potatoes and sweet & savory glazed carrots, plus desserts like traditional apple pie and sweet potato pie. There also was live music, unlimited mimosas and a full premium liquor bar.
Jannah and I so thoroughly enjoyed (and, OK, overstuffed) ourselves, we decided to sign up for the Hyatt Place’s New Year’s Eve celebration — on Tuesday, December 31 (obviously), 8 p.m.-1 a.m.
Here’s what we (and possibly, you) have to look forward to: More chef-prepared food stations, a live DJ, dancing, 4-hour open bar, a champagne toast at midnight and more. We signed up for the “premium” experience and at our press time, there were still both reservations for the New Year’s Eve event and room reservations available for that night.
Please call (813) 803-5600 to book your reservation. We’ll see you there! — GN
Jamie and “Santa Paul” Bartell. After 30 years of playing Santa Claus, Paul has written a book — Santa: An Angel Dad — where he tells the story of his years portraying St. Nick, Sean’s passing at the age of 16 and the creation of the Sean Bartell Memorial Foundation, which has provided cash scholarship grants to graduating seniors from high schools in Wesley Chapel & Zephyrhills the last nine years. (All of the photos in this story are from Paul Bartell’s Facebook page)
I first met long-time Wesley Chapel resident Paul Bartell about a dozen years ago, when he was the volunteer event chair for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. My wife Jannah, who I had only met the previous year at the same event, was the Cancer Society’s staff community representative running the show at that Relay.
It was a hot day and Paul had been there the entire day, his face beet red from working in the sun. And, even though I didn’t know he also had been dressing up as Santa Claus for kids and events throughout the Tampa Bay area for many years, I remember that I definitely thought he looked a little like Ol’ St. Nick himself.
I also didn’t know back then that Paul and his wife Jamie had two sons — James and Sean — or that Sean would pass away (at age 16) only a couple of years after I met Paul, from a rare skin and blood disorder known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (or SJS).
Sean Bartell
With his ruddy complexion and pleasant demeanor, Paul was seemingly born to portray Santa. In fact, he has been playing the jolly man for 30 years, the last 22 in and around the Wesley Chapel area. He clearly delights in the role and has continued to make dozens of appearances as St. Nick each year, even in the difficult years since Sean passed away.
In fact, Paul says, it was Christmas Day in 2014 when Sean, who was then covered in the blisters and lesions associated with SJS (which starts with flu-like symptoms and is usually caused by a severe adverse reaction to certain medications and needs to be treated immediately at an emergency room when the symptoms first manifest) was no longer the promising young man who was fifth in his graduating class at Wesley Chapel High (WCH). “He was in so much pain and there was nothing Jamie and I could do to help him,” Paul recalls. “It was such a terrible, helpless feeling.”
And, although SJS is only fatal in about 7.5% of cases, Sean lost his battle on New Year’s Eve that same year. But, his devastated parents could only think of how much Sean loved school and how much they wanted to something positive to come out of their family’s tragedy.
Enter: The Foundation
“There’s no doubt that education was always Sean’s focus,” Paul says. “He was planning to study biology at Vanderbilt University.” According to the website for the Sean Bartell Memorial Foundation (SeanBartell.org), which the Bartells started in 2015, the family’s church, Atonement Lutheran on S.R. 54, came to them wanting to start a scholarship in Sean’s name, which is how the idea got started.
That first year (2015), the Foundation gave its first $1,000 scholarship/grant to then-WCH senior Meghan Sanchez. Today, the Foundation has awarded $74,000 to students and more than $10,000 more to teachers at Wesley Chapel, Wiregrass Ranch, Cypress Creek and Zephyrhills high schools (and this year, Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation will be added to that list), to assist them with furthering their respective educations.
Each year, based on the amount of money the Foundation is able to raise, a gala has been held at Atonement Lutheran where the scholarships have been awarded. The Foundation has hosted events like a Quarter Auction and Charity Bingo nights to help raise additional funds, but Paul says he still always wanted to do more.
Paul, Jamie & James Bartell, with Cypress Creek High principal Carin Hetzler-Nettles (next to Paul) at the 2024 Sean Bartell Memorial Foundation gala.
“I have had so many experiences as Santa, why not write a book?,” he says. “I’m not really a big TV watcher and I like to read. I had read probably half a dozen books about being Santa and I said to myself, ‘Why can’t I write a book? I’ve been doing it long enough and I’ve got a story to tell.’ And I figured I would donate any proceeds from the book sales to the Foundation.”
Paul says that it took him four or five months to write the book. “Because I’m Santa all through November and December every year, January and February are my ‘down’ times when I’m basically a couch potato.” He adds that he wrote the entire book on his iPhone.
“I just looked back at all of the pictures in my phone that people had sent me and that became my timeline to tell the story,” he says. “I basically went backwards on the timeline and I wrote down what I remembered about each picture.”
He then tweaked it a few times and added pictures at the end of the book and he was ready to publish. He uploaded the pages to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform and, “It was easy,” he says. “You don’t even have to buy any copies. You pick your own sales price, between $10 and $200. So, we picked $19.98, because that was the year Sean was born. I ordered a few author’s copies and it went live on Amazon on July 1 of this year.” The book is available in both hardcover and Kindle versions and the Foundation retains 60% of the proceeds after the initial per-book charge of $8.06.
Paul also says that the full story of what happened to Sean is one of the book’s chapters.
And, in the meantime, “Santa Paul” is in the middle of his busy season. After making 123 appearances as Santa last year, he had been through about two dozen of his 128 scheduled appearances this year, which includes the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel’s “Breakfast with Santa” at Bubba’s 33 on Saturday, December 14.
And yes, Paul still also works full-time in the sales department of a company that sells pumps for vacuums used in manufacturing and laboratories. He also wanted to make sure I mentioned how hard Jamie, his wife of 36 years, has always worked behind the scenes for the Foundation and how much he appreciates all of her efforts.
Unfortunately, this year’s Charity Bingo event for the Foundation was postponed due to Hurricane Milton. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, January 25, but without a location because Atonement Lutheran was badly damaged by the storm.
If you or someone you know has a location that could host that event, visit SeanBartell.org. To order your copy of Santa: An Angel Dad, visit Amazon.com.
Avalon Park Wesley Chapel (4424 Friendly Way) is hosting its annual “Avalon Aglow” celebration, with FREE, fun family-friendly activities all afternoon & evening, including a “Bounce Park,” food trucks, vendors, a “real” snow slide, community performances, pictures with Santa and fireworks beginning at 9 p.m. Note – You do NOT have to be an Avalon Park resident to attend this FREE event!
