Category: Business

A CELEBRATION OF FOOD!

There isn’t anyone alive today who hasn’t been touched by Covid-19 in one way or another. Restaurants, however, were more than touched. They have practically been strangled.

This year has been arguably the hardest on the hospitality industry in American history, thanks to the pandemic that has been a living nightmare and is likely to have long-lasting effects.

Locally, as the novel coronavirus spread through the state, restaurants were closed in the spring for more than a month. Employees lost their jobs. Owners had to pivot to a takeout model for survival, and the community rallied around many of them. Facebook pages implored their communities to place orders and help local eatery owners stay afloat.

But, even as restaurants, and finally bars, reopened, tables inside remained empty. The fear is real. Covid-19 is still in full (or is it fuller?) swing, businesses in virtually every industry — but especially restaurants — still haven’t bounced all the way back, and the road to full recovery is a long one.

Cali – Tampa Palms is always among New Tampa’s top 5 favorites.

So this year, it’s our hope that our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest results will serve as a celebration of food and drink, and of all of our readers’ favorite places in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.

The number of you who took part in the survey this year was less than half of those who entered last year, although a lot of that probably can be attributed to the fact that we didn’t spend nearly as much time in restaurants and bars in 2020 as we have in previous years.

But nonetheless, more than 100 restaurants and bars in the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area received votes in one category or another.

In the favorite restaurant category, 99 restaurants in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa received votes. More than 25 Asian restaurants were selected as the favorite by readers, 26 restaurants offering sweets like cake, ice cream and drinks were chosen, and more 30 different pizza places — yes, 30! — received votes. That is a lot of choices, people. And clearly, you do have your favorites.

Let’s start with the top 20 Restaurants in New Tampa as chosen by our readers.

1 — STONE GRILL & TAVERN
Stonewood Grill & Tavern in Tampa Palms has been either the #1 or #2 favorite restaurant in New Tampa every year since it opened and this year was no exception under new managing partner Matt Passardi.

For anyone who has never tried Stonewood, it combines fresh fish and seafood, perhaps the best variety of hand-cut steaks of any restaurant in either of our distribution areas (Longhorn and Outback are the only ones even close), and the addition of lunch a couple of years ago definitely enhanced its standing as New Tampa’s favorite place for a great, more-upscale meal out, whether for lunch, dinner or even Sunday brunch.

Yes, Stonewood now offers “bottomless bubbles” (for just $12 per person), along with unique brunch items like a crab cake or prime rib “Benny,” creme brulée French toast and shrimp and grits on Sundays, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

And yes, Stonewood may also have New Tampa’s favorite upscale bar scene, even though it didn’t make the top-10 in this year’s Survey.

2 — Cali-Tampa Palms (nee Ciccio Cali)
The name has changed, but Cali was the first to bring “bowl culture” to New Tampa and still has some of the best wrap sandwiches, stir-fry dishes and thin-crust pizzas in our area.

3 — Mr. Dunderbak’s
While it may have originally been located in the University Mall, Mr. Dunderbak’s has been New Tampa’s favorite German eatery since its move more than a decade ago to the Oak Ramble plaza south of Tampa Palms.

4 — The Fat Rabbit
Although it has only been open for a few years in Tampa Palms, The Fat Rabbit has made its mark on not only our readers but our staff as well — especially since it added a fresh catch entrée to its more upscale sports bar fare (amazing wings & burgers, and don’t forget the side of tater tots!).

5 — Liang’s Bistro
Liang’s Bistro has been among the top-10 in New Tampa with our readers every year since it opened and continues to be your favorite Asian restaurant in our area — for good reason. Our faves are the NY-style appetizers.

Baycare Breaks Ground On Second WC Hospital

Wesley Chapel may be known for its growth and burgeoning housing and restaurant markets, but by 2023, it also will be home to two major hospitals.

On Dec. 2, BayCare held a cere-monial groundbreaking event — construction had already previously begun — before a small crowd of BayCare executives, local politicians and invited community members.

The 86-bed, state-of-the-art hospital is scheduled to be completed in early 2023. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, planned are 30 medical/surgical inpatient beds, 12 critical care inpatient beds and 10 emergency department beds.

“While 2020 has been an unprecedented year for health care that has called for tough decisions and creative solutions, we are grateful to celebrate the long-term goals that brought us to this moment,” said BayCare Chairman of the Board Eric Obeck at the ribbon cutting. “I’m proud to be part of an organization that keeps setting the pace, even as we react to the coronavirus’ impact on our daily business.”

The new hospital will be located at the northwest corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Boulevard and Eagleston Blvd. in Seven Oaks, which is just two miles north of AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, which opened as Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel in 2012.

BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel will offer comprehensive medical services and health care resources, including an emergency department, an intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, diagnostic services such as an imaging department and lab, as well as physical rehabilitation.

BayCare also touts the jobs the new facility will bring to Pasco County. Roughly 500 combined employees will work on constructing the 318,000-square-foot hospital, and then staffing it. According to BayCare, it is investing $246 million in Pasco County.

“Across our system, it is the nearly 30,000 people who work here that make BayCare a great place to work,” said BayCare executive vice president and chief operating officer Glenn Waters. “At the same time, we are proud our patient outcomes are among the best as well.”

BayCare purchased 34.6 acres of the planned new site for $15 million in 2006, and then paid $6.67 million for an adjoining 19.9-acre parcel in 2007, for a combined $21.67 million.

Also in 2007, BayCare purchased an 18.25-acres parcel of land across Eagleston and west of BBD in Wiregrass Ranch for $9.4 million, opening the door for possible expansion.

The company originally met with county planners in 2018, looking to build a 60-bed acute care hospital on an 111-acre site it had planned to acquire in the northeast quadrant of the future I-75 exit at Overpass Rd. — construction of which has not yet begun.

“To the leaders here planning new construction in the midst of a pandemic, I thank you,” Waters said. “To the elected officials who have joined us today and who are balancing so many unforeseen challenges this year, I thank you. And, to the local community members who have endured a year like no other, I thank you. We look forward to getting to know each other as BayCare grows along with Pasco County.”

BayCare hospital

Movie Theater, KRATE making progress!

Developer Mark Gold’s vision of a one-of-a-kind hip, trendy and photogenic new outdoor shopping experience off Wesley Chapel Blvd. at I-75 has begun taking shape.

There will there be a sneak preview of the newly-revamped but not yet open movie theater on Dec. 31 at The Grove’s New Year’s Eve Countdown Extravaganza. The event will feature a 4-course meal with complimentary wine pairings for each course, as well as a private open bar cocktail reception with musical entertainment by Cal Morris Music.

Tickets are limited, and for more information click here.

The movie theater party comes on the heels of the first soon-to-be converted shipping container being officially placed on November 20 at KRATE, the outdoor “container park.”

More than a dozen more containers also are now in place, as Gold hopes to open many of the new businesses in the first quarter of 2021.

Seventeen modified containers, which will be home to nine businesses, make up the initial phase of what will one day be one of the largest container parks in the world.

Though Gold’s vision began with a sun-beaten, unsightly faded yellow steel container being lowered onto a sandy patch of land, the shipping containers will be unrecognizable from their original forms after being transformed with air-conditioning, glass windows and doors, countertops, cabinets and wood and tile flooring and a few coats of brightly colored paint designed to create a festive look.

The first set of containers will be occupied by restaurants offering diverse dishes and items like Asian noodles, Puerto Rican cuisine, desserts and charcuterie boards.

Empty shipping containers like these, amongst the first to be put in place at KRATE, are being transformed into a trendy new food and retail “container park” experience at The Grove, which is expected to begin opening in early 2021. ***(Photo: John C. Cotey)***

KRATE is expected to be the biggest of all the container parks. Once complete, it will feature 94 containers and 55 units comprised of 70% restaurants and 30% retail stores. Other restaurants will feature cuisine from around the world like Colombia, Peru and Germany.

Some of the most recently announced tenants include The Cake Girl, Yummy Tablas and ATO, a burrito bowl concept by the owners of Zukku-San Sushi (which we featured last issue). The planned retail shops include a music store and a Lego® brand product superstore.

KRATE also will feature a stage with daily live entertainment, a dog park, a playground and plenty of outdoor seating.

“There is nothing like this in the world,” says Gold, a partner in Mishorim Gold Properties, which purchased the Grove for $62.7 million in September 2019. “KRATE is receiving attention across the globe for its unique concept and offerings. We will become the ultimate shopping and entertainment destination, not just for Wesley Chapel, but for the region and around the world.”

*When it is complete, KRATE (rendering above) will feature 94 shipping containers making up 55 units, including more than 30 new restaurants.*

While the container park concept is still relatively new, it has proven to be popular. Downtown Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf has re-purposed shipping containers housing roughly a dozen takeout restaurants, and places like Kansas City and Philadelphia have opened container parks of varying sizes the past two years.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a popular container park — actually named Container Park — has 34 outlets with an emphasis on hip and quirky local businesses, as well as a stage and a playground.

Since purchasing The Grove, Gold has signed on 75 new tenants, including some businesses that are already open in what Gold calls The Village area — like F45 Fitness, the dueling piano bar restaurant Treble Makers (see pg. 21)and the Double Branch Artisanal Ales brewery (see pages 32-33).

Gold says he has invested more than $110 million into the renovation of The Grove property which, in addition to KRATE, will include a reimagined movie theater and restaurant, a miniature golf course expected to break ground in January and, potentially, a water park.

With pandemic safety at the forefront, Gold says all of the businesses in The Village and in the KRATE complex will include “medical grade” sanitation technology, like fogging machines, automated thermal temperature scan swing gates at the entrance and UV lights.

Those safety steps are expected to encourage people to feel comfortable both inside and outside while shopping and dining, including inside The Grove Movie Theater, which is expected to fully open sometime in January, not too long after the planned VIP sneak preview event on New Year’s Eve.

krate movie theater

Wesley Chapel To Add A YMCA!

The Bonefish Grill officially completed its move from Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel to the Cypress Creek Town Center along S.R. 56 at a grand opening Dec. 14, but it turns out there were even bigger fish fried during the event.

Wesley Chapel is getting a YMCA!

That announcement was all the buzz as folks nibbled on some of the best appetizers the beautiful, new Bonefish Grill has to offer.

“We’re about to be your new neighbor,” Robyn Ostrem, the VP of operations and executive director of the New Tampa Family YMCA, told the gathering right before Bonefish Grill officially opened. “We’re going to build a Wesley Chapel Family YMCA that will break ground in early 2021, and will built by June of 2023.”

Ostrem, who has been with the New Tampa YMCA since 2019, did not announce an exact location for the Wesley Chapel location, only that it would be located on Bruce B. Downs Blvd, although that really only leaves two possibilities — the land in front of the new BayCare Hospital being built in the northesatern portion of Seven Oaks, and the land in front of Meadow Pointe across the street from the Super Target on County Line Rd.

Ostrem said the new facility will cost $15 million to build and will be 30,000 square feet. The New Tampa Family YMCA, which is the closest current option for many Wesley Chapel residents, is 35,000 sq. ft.

“We’re in New Tampa now, but we’re going to be closer to you now in Wesley Chapel,” Ostrem said.

Generally, YMCAs have indoor courts for basketball and volleyball, workout areas and rooms for exercise classes and daycare, as well as meeting rooms. Many, like the New Tampa Y, also have pools and can host events like high school and youth swim meets.

The Wesley Chapel Y will be only the third YMCA in Pasco County, joining the East Pasco Family YMCA in Zephyrhills and the James P. Gillis Family YMCA in New Port Richey.

After years of rapid growth in the housing and restaurant markets, the “sports & activity” market in Wesley Chapel has picked up the pace this year.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County opened in August, with the ability to host sports leagues and tournaments for basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports, while the indoor Recreation Center at the Wesley Chapel District Park is currently under construction and will be completed sometime next year. An outdoor hockey rink right next to the rec center was completed last week as well.

YMCA

Pebble Creek Family Dentistry Celebrates Ten Years & Adds New Dentist

It’s been 10 years since Vijay Patel, D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgery) opened Pebble Creek Family Dentistry at the corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Regents Park Dr. (next to what is now the Chase Bank) in New Tampa in November 2010.

During that time, his practice has grown and thrived, thanks to his focus on ensuring that every patient who walks through his doors has a good experience.

“Basically,” says Dr. Patel, “We provide great service, care about our patients’ dental health and do everything we can to help them.”

Because of the growth in the practice, and to be able to continue to serve more patients, Dr. Vijay Patel (who goes by “Dr. Patel”) brought on an associate in July of last year. Dr. Krupal Patel, D.M.D. (Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry) is not related to the original Dr. Patel and goes by “Dr. K.P.” to avoid confusion.

Dr. K.P. earned his D.M.D. degree from the College of Dental Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, FL, in May 2019. Prior to that, he earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Economics in 2014 and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Biology in 2013, both from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Immediately upon graduation, he joined Dr. Patel at Pebble Creek Family Dentistry. Dr. Patel earned his B.S. degree in Biology from the University of South Florida in Tampa in 2002, and his D.D.S. degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 2006.

“He provides the same caring and compassionate dentistry as I do,” says Dr. Patel about his associate, whom he met well before Dr. K.P. became a dentist.

“I’ve known Dr. Patel for a long time,” says Dr. K.P. “I actually shadowed him here before dental school. Dr. Patel motivated me to pursue dentistry and it came around full circle. Right around the time he needed someone, I had just gotten out of school and I was ready to work.”

General dentistry procedures offered by the two doctors include cleanings, exams and X-rays, composite fillings, root canal therapy and tooth extractions. Additionally, patients can opt for one of the many cosmetic procedures offered, including porcelain crowns, teeth whitening, dental bridges, veneers, bonding, inlays, onlays and more.

Dr. Patel encourages anyone who wants to learn more about the practice to search “Pebble Creek Family Dentistry” on Google and read the more than 130 positive reviews. He says readers will get a clear picture of the kind of service that’s provided at the practice, and see why so many patients choose it.

Dr. K.P. says that one of the great thing about working at Pebble Creek Family Dentistry is, “Whenever we get a bigger case that takes more thought, we tackle it together and think about how to approach it.” ***(Photo: Charmaine George)***

Al Grasser is a Wesley Chapel resident who is one of Dr. Patel’s very happy patients. Grasser has been seeing Dr. Patel since he opened the Pebble Creek office 10 years ago.

“I’m impressed with Dr. Patel and the service,” Grasser says. “Everyone is super nice, and I can schedule an appointment whenever I need it. The work that does Dr. Patel does is outstanding, and I have recommended him to all my friends and relatives.”

Grasser also has seen Dr. K.P., and says that if Dr. Patel trusts him, he trusts him, too. “Absolutely,” Grasser says. “Dr. Patel would make sure he hires someone who is well qualified.”

Having two doctors in the office allows the pair to collaborate on more complicated cases.

“Whenever we get a bigger case that takes more thought, we tackle it together and think about how to approach it,” explains Dr. K.P., “whether he’s doing the procedure or I am.”

Dr. K.P. says the relationship between the two doctors has evolved in the time he’s been in the practice.

“In the beginning,” he explains, “it was very much a mentoring relationship. Over time, he’s treated me as an equal, even though he’s the boss. My opinion matters and we bounce ideas off each other. We have a great relationship.”

He especially appreciates what he describes as a great working environment. “It’s just a nice place to be,” says Dr. K.P. “It’s a very spacious, up-to-date facility and a relaxed environment. We’ve got great support from our team members here. The hygienists and assistants do an amazing job.”

Sharing The Credit…

Dr. Patel agrees that one of the strengths of the practice is the fantastic staff. Like Dr. K.P., he credits his three hygienists and three assistants with taking great care of the patients, and says his four front desk staffers are equally supportive and patient-centered.

“I have the best staff possible,” says Dr. Patel, proudly. “We take a lot of time with our patients to make sure they are comfortable, including helping them to understand their treatment and answering all their questions about insurance. Anything they need help with, we take the time to make sure they understand it.”

And, Pebble Creek Family Dentistry accepts most PPO insurance policies.

The doctors see patients ages 6 and older, so everyone in the family — except for the very youngest children — can be part of the same practice and see the same doctors.

Dr. Patel and Dr. K.P. spend much of their free time volunteering for BAPS Charities, which is a non-profit organization that is the charitable arm of the Hindu temple both doctors attend.

BAPS is short for Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha. BAPS Charities organizes events such as walk-a-thons to raise money for other nonprofit organizations, including Feeding America Tampa Bay and the Pepin Heart Institute. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the cancellation of any walk-a-thons that would have been held in 2020. The doctors also have helped to organize and provide services at blood drives, health fairs for the community and many other types of community-oriented events.

Dr. Patel says the practice has not had to make too many adjustments to be able to continue to see patients during the pandemic.

“We are open,” he says. “We are taking all precautions that are needed to ensure the health and safety of our patients and employees. But, we are open for everything, with the same hours, and we are confident that we are keeping our patients safe.”

Pebble Creek Family Dentistry is located at 19007 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. It is open Monday–Thursday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. For more information or to make an appointment, visit PebbleCreekFamilyDentistry.com, call (813) 406-4947, or see the ad on page 22 of this issue.

dentist pebble creek family dentistry