Healthy Steps & Fitness Focuses On Your Overall Health, Not Just Exercise 

Personal trainer Andrea Barnes of Healthy Steps & Fitness always demonstrates the proper technique for each exercise for her clients. (Photo by Charmaine George)

Imagine a decade spent in personal training, armed not with mere anecdotes but with tangible evidence of transformations — testimonials and before and after photos of lives changed through the power of health and fitness. 

Although Andrea Barnes had been training clients at other local facilities the last 10 years, in March of this year, Andrea (pronounced “On-DRAY-a”), a personal trainer, and her husband Aaron unveiled Healthy Steps & Fitness, a unique facility embodying the mantra “people over profit.” A testament to personal triumph and dedication, it was born from the couple’s own challenges. After being open for several months at another location, Healthy Steps & Fitness is now open in its own space on U.S. 41 in Lutz (in the same building as Villaggio’s Ristorante Italiano). Andrea says it is where well-being takes center stage, and every client’s steps to health are celebrated. 

Aaron epitomized health yet still faced a silent adversary. While diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, dehydration and certain medications are the top five causes of kidney failure, Aaron had none of those symptoms, but was somehow facing kidney failure anyway. His doctor gave him less than two weeks to live. 

Andrea & Aaron Barnes in the hospital after Andrea donated her kidney to her husband (above) & now (below right). (Photos provided by Andrea Barnes) 

Then, nine months ago, Andrea donated one of her kidneys to save her husband’s life. This gift helped spur a miraculous recovery, giving Aaron normal kidney function and a renewed lease on life — a gift he’s vowed to cherish and share through the couple’s new business. 

The steps taken by Aaron to regain his health inspired the gym’s name, emphasizing the commonality of the journey for those facing transplants, chronic illnesses, diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as aging. 

“We chose our name based on the pattern of our lives and how we had to take steps to get to where we are today,” Aaron says. 

With mostly female (but still some male) clients, and most of them ranging in age from their 50s to their 70s, understanding their diverse needs, especially of seniors and those with physical disabilities, Healthy Steps & Fitness offers easy accessibility for those with walkers and wheelchairs. 

“Gyms always think about fitness — how the body looks on the outside,” explains Andrea. “Our approach is to look at your overall health. Our motto is ‘Health first, and the body will follow.’” 

Healthy Steps & Fitness is where your health concerns are heard, and achievable personal goals are set. Andrea goes beyond what traditional gyms do by conducting an in-depth initial consultation with each client, including blood pressure measurements and discussions about your diabetic A1C levels and cholesterol. She encourages her clients to get comprehensive lab evaluations from their physicians before beginning a program with her. This proactive approach addresses a common blind spot in personal health — many individuals, especially seniors, who want to start a training regimen remain unaware of what may be crucial cardiovascular indicators. Aaron recalls a young, outwardly healthy man with three small children, a friend of his sister-in-law’s who had a headache every day for a week. Instead of seeking medical attention, he chose instead to self-medicate with Ibuprofen and coffee. 

“The headache he was having was due to high blood pressure,” says Aaron. “Most people don’t check their blood pressure when they have a headache. He died at his work desk from a stress-induced heart attack the primary symptom of which was unchecked high blood pressure.” 

Aaron and Andrea plan to partner with a local medical office to refer their clients who don’t have a primary care physician to, so they can have things like their blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and other important medical factors checked before they begin working out at Healthy Steps & Fitness. 

If a new client has been receiving physical therapy for an injury, Aaron, who handles the business side of the business, and Andrea ensure that they only begin their journey when they are released by their physical therapist and that it is safe for them to begin training. 

“During our assessment, if we see the person has a bad shoulder or hip,” Andrea says, “before we start working with this person — unlike most trainers — we refer them to their physician to get x-rays to ensure that we don’t injure them further.” 

How many big box gyms can say they know — or even care to know — their clients’ blood pressure or pain symptoms before letting them work out with weights, on cardio machines or take classes? 

“We always encourage our clients — at least once a year — to visit their doctor and have a physical exam and blood work,” Andrea says, “so they can know what their numbers are and can work on improving them.” 

Aaron adds, “I’ve had other gym memberships. No one was ever concerned about my health. I never had health questions asked. It was all about memberships and classes. But, we want to know how people are doing. Underlying health problems can limit your progress.” 

Another important part of this fitness facility is its community “feel.” 

“We believe Healthy Steps & Fitness is unlike any other gym because we get close to our clients from Day One,” Andrea says. “It’s a pride feeling. You’re not just coming here to work out. A lot of friendships start here.” 

Eventually, Andrea says, a wall of success will showcase clients’ before & after photos and testimonials (like the photos, above). 

The gym offers a range of membership options for both one-on-one personal training and small group fitness classes and all of these options begin with a free seven-day trial. You can see what’s included with each of these memberships at HealthyStepsandFitness.com. Each membership level also includes a complimentary “Twelve-Steps to Wellness” online coaching program which promotes gradual lifestyle changes over 12 weeks. 

“Every week, we offer a new online coaching program that we want them to implement into their lives, and every week, we introduce a new lifestyle change,” Andrea says. “By the end of those first 12 weeks, we hope they will have at least begun changing their lifestyle and habits to help them achieve and maintain better health and fitness. For example, she says the first week’s theme is “Love — loving yourself first and what that means.” 

Happy Wellness Day! 

Healthy Steps & Fitness also hosts Wellness Days, featuring experts who address community questions on various health topics, creating an environment that transcends the conventional gym experience. The most recent such Wellness Day, on Feb. 17, was held at Healthy Steps & Fitness’ former location, but Andrea said that about 35 people attended and got a lot of great information about the importance of lab work, managing anxiety, eating and living a cleaner life, overcoming health obstacles (where Aaron was the featured speaker) and even financial health. 

“We got tremendous feedback about that Wellness Day,” Andrea says, “so we definitely plan to do it again soon here.” 

She adds that they envision their gym as the next step in the evolution of physical wellness, offering ongoing care beyond traditional rehabilitation. They see the facility as a bridge back to health, keeping their clients from succumbing to post-rehab challenges, such as dependence upon pain meds. 

“More than likely, people aren’t better when they go home (after a serious injury), and can get hooked on pain medication,” Andrea explains. “Instead of being depressed at home, we see ourselves as the next step in your recovery.” 

Andrea and Aaron stress that they don’t want their clients to be in his situation, “The healthy steps, healthy lifestyle choices, and having my wife as a trainer coaching me along the way got me back, and I’m still a work in progress,” Aaron says. “I made amazing progress from being in critical condition to where I am now. Once the word gets out there, people will know we care. We’re the health care approach to fitness.” 

Healthy Steps & Fitness will host a Grand Opening celebration in May, on the first anniversary of Aaron’s lifesaving transplant. It is located at 118 Flagship Loop (off U.S. Hwy. 41), in Lutz, and is open from Mon.-Fri., 5 a.m.-1 p.m.; & 7 a.m.- 10 a.m. on Sat. For more information, visit HealthyStepsandFitness.com, call (813) 860-7709.

Frapwell Is Pasco’s Volunteer Of The Year; WRH Senior Wins Regeneron Award! 

The Pasco County School District recently named Gretchen Frapwell, whose kids attend Veterans Elementary, the District’s Adult Volunteer of the Year. 
(Photos: Pasco School District) 

Gretchen Frapwell, a volunteer at Veterans Elementary, has been named the Adult Volunteer of the Year by the Pasco County School District. 

According to a Facebook post released by the School District, “Gretchen is the definition of a volunteer. She has been volunteering at Veterans Elementary School for five years and has logged in 220 volunteer hours so far. With two children attending Veterans, she serves on the SAC committee and is a PTA member which supports (the school’s) 91 staff members and 675 students. The PTA recently provided recess equipment for each grade level. She is there for every school event, including book fairs, school carnivals, science nights and holiday shops. Gretchen has shown her creativity by planting a pumpkin patch in the courtyard for the teachers and students to utilize. It was a great idea for learning purposes, but also brought beauty to the school. We appreciate everything she does for Veterans Elementary to improve overall morale for the teachers and students.” 

Sharon Zurita, of the Veterans Elementary PTA, says that, “Gretchen in amazing. She’s everywhere and does so many things at our school. She’s not only willing to do things we ask, but also suggests things we can do to help the school.” 

Among those things, Gretchen says, was that she “Organized closets, planted gardens, ran a carnival last year…Trunk or Treat event, where we handed out actual ice cream, book fairs…anything and everything. My kids are only going to be this young for so long, so I show them, by taking time off from my job, how important their school is. I guarantee that once you (volunteer) for an hour, you’ll want to do more. The kids are just awesome.” 

Other Volunteer winners this year are Ann Birch, Gulfside Elementary (Senior Volunteer) and Avery Hoskins, Anclote High & Gulfside Elementary (Youth Volunteer). 

Congratulations, Meghna! 
Wiregrass Ranch High senior Meghna Manjith was named a Regeneron STS Scholar for her project, winning $4,000. 

Our sincere congratulations go out to Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) senior Meghna Manjith, who has been named a Scholar in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) for 2024. She received a $2,000 award for herself and $2,000 for WRHS for her project, “Preventing Surgical Site Infections: Designing a Novel Post-Surgical Treatment Using Silver Nitrate & Ayurvedic Extracts in Combination with DNA Sequence Analysis.” Amazing! 

According to SocietyforScience.org, “Regeneron STS is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science research competition for high school students. Started in 1942 as the Westinghouse STS, Regeneron STS recognizes and empowers our nation’s most promising young scientists who are developing ideas that could solve society’s most urgent challenges.” 

Only 300 Scholars were selected from more than 2,000 entrants nationwide, with only 40 finalists selected for an opportunity to win the $250,000 top award, which was scheduled to be announced on Mar. 12. 

What an accomplishment, Meghna!

K-Bar Ranch Residents Get Updates From Viera At Latest Town Hall Meeting 

District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera (far right in photo above) says that, as the only still-growing community in New Tampa, he would prefer to hold his Town Hall meetings in K-Bar Ranch at least twice a year. But, even though his last Town Hall in K-Bar was a year and a week before, Viera did return again to the Amenity Center in K-Bar on Mar. 20 to provide updates to the residents of the community. 

And, while about 50 K-Bar residents showed up at the meeting to voice their concerns and, in some cases, complaints about speeding, traffic and other issues in their community, Viera not only took the time to address those and other concerns — plus some of his own — he also brought director Marilyn Heldt and manager Miray Holmes from the city’s new Customer Experience Department to show the residents the best (and fastest) way to get their concerns to the right people. 

One thing Viera brought up during his opening remarks was about his idea to place a “mobile” emergency vehicle in K-Bar. 

“Among the major issues that I see out here are public safety and especially, fire safety,” Viera said. “There’s not a lot of calls in K-Bar — only maybe 100-150 a year, thank God, but when there are calls, we want to make sure that we can get to them on time. The challenge isn’t the number of calls out here, it’s the time it takes for us to get here. So, one of the things I’ve been trying to get out here is some sort of a dedicated ‘modular’ station actually in K-Bar Ranch, but Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) chief Barbara Tripp is not on board with that right now.” 

He added, “But, one thing that is going to happen is that there will be a dedicated rescue vehicle for K-Bar Ranch at Station No. 22 on Cross Creek Blvd. near Morris Bridge Rd., so that’s going to help. The challenge with it is that this dedicated unit will still have to go all the way to Kinnan- Mansfield to get into K-Bar Ranch and that is going to take time. And, one call that takes 12 minutes and someone loses their life or suffers a catastrophic injury is too many.” 

He also noted that the other thing he’s working on with not only the city, but also Hillsborough County and TFR, is a possible cut-through on Morris Bridge Rd. that would take that fire truck or EMS vehicle from Station No. 22 up Morris Bridge and into K-Bar on K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. 

“That would first have to be approved as a re-zoning by Tampa City Council, which could take anywhere from a year to a year-and-a-half,” he said.”As a long-time private sector guy before being elected to City Council, that’s one of the things that’s hard to deal with — how long things take when the government gets involved. It’s just something you have to deal with, though.” 

He also provided an update on the long-planned K-Bar Ranch park. “It’s one of the things we did get into the proposed (fiscal year 2024) budget,” Viera said. “We’ve already gotten the New Tampa Rec Center expanded and added the All-Abilities autism park (both in Tampa Palms), so the third thing I want to get working on is the K-Bar Ranch park. It’s something that’s in the CIT (Community Investment Tax), which means it’s in the plans for the budget, which at least gets the ball rolling.” 

Viera also said, “K-Bar Ranch is kind of the center of development in zip code 33647. The good news is that there isn’t much more new development coming to New Tampa. The bad news is…we’re full.” 

Improving Customer Experience 

Before turning the meeting over to questions from the residents, Viera introduced Holmes (left in photo below) and Heldt (right) to provide the residents with an update on the new Customer Experience department, what it does and how it can help the residents get their concerns in front of the right people in city government, and follow the progress of those concerns as they go through the governmental process. 

Heldt, who said she had been working for the city for about seven years in the technology department before being named the director of Customer Experience “about a year ago,” said, “I’m more of the interpreter between the technology team and our other departments. That is my background, but improving customer experience is my passion.” 

She also explained that when the city came up with this initiative, one of the big parts was strengthening resident services. 

“To improve the customer experience, the first thing we needed to do was to replace the software, which was 20+ years old,” Heldt said. “It didn’t even have a mobile component…it was awful.” 

Heldt also said that although her department and the software being used are still new, “We started out trying to think of what the citizens of Tampa wanted and how we can provide that for them. We want to be the city with the best possible customer experience. Some retail companies are good at customer experience, but government…not so much.” 

She added that her department is coming out with a “robust training program this fall for all of our employees. Next, we want to figure out where the ‘pain points’ are for citizens — what’s taking too long. So, when you put in a service request to have someone come out to fix a pothole, we’ll offer an initial survey to ask you how your experience was putting in the request. Then, when the request closes out, we’ll survey you again to see how the process was for you getting that issue resolved.” 

Heldt also noted that in order for her department to get the data they need to see how the city is responding to its customers, “Citizens have to use the system. Then, when we have enough data, we can start making those improvements.” 

Holmes then handed out cards with a QR code so those in attendance at the meeting could access the new system to get registered and see how it works. Holmes said that the new system went live in November, “and since that time, we have had more than 12,000 new ‘Tampa Connect’ system requests, of which almost 1,000 are from 33647, where the number one request for service had to do with water. That makes sense, because when you move into your home, you have to connect to our water.” 

Holmes then asked if any of the residents in attendance had used the new Tampa Connect system and one resident named Nick (in yellow in photo below) said he called to complain multiple times about speeding on Bassett Creek Dr. near Pride Elementary, but had not yet received a response. “The principal of Pride also called about it, but it doesn’t seem like anything has been done.” 

To that, Holmes responded that her department can talk to the city’s mobility department to ask them why there hadn’t been a response. “But someone should have gotten back to you.” 

Holmes also said that, for example, when you have a pothole on your street, “take a picture of it and upload it to the Tampa Connect system. The system will locate it and then ask you a few questions and once you upload your contact information, someone will respond about that pothole. Once you’ve uploaded your information, you’re given a case number and then, you’re able to track that request through until it is resolved.” 

Other Issues 

Viera then noted that although he’s OK with sending taxpayer dollars to help people in need, he was the only “No” vote when City Council voted to give $25 million in taxpayer funds to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and $10 million to the Tampa Museum of Art, “not because I don’t value the arts but because our roads are falling apart and that money would be better spent improving our neighborhoods.” 

Nick, who said his father was a Tampa Police (TPD) Officer for more than 20 years, also asked about why the 911 call system still doesn’t automatically connect to someone who can dispatch help, apparently because of all the new homes in both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel and the cross-jurisdictions of Tampa, Hillsborough and Pasco. He also noted that although Meadow Pointe residents successfully fought connecting Kinnan St. to Mansfield Blvd., now that Meadow Pointe Blvd. is connecting to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., “We have a lot of people coming from Pasco and there’s a lot more speeding on our roads.” 

Viera said he is trying to arrange a meeting with Dist. 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman to discuss those jurisdictional line issues, not only in K-Bar but also along County Line Rd. 

One resident who didn’t give their name also complained that although Tampa Police officers are out with their radar guns during the day to give K-Bar residents speeding tickets, “they’re not out here at night when there are people drag racing on our streets.” 

Another resident who didn’t give her name asked that when Viera meets with Comm. Weightman if they could again discuss opening Kinnan-Mansfield and the possibility of putting a roundabout at the location. “We also need a roundabout at Bassett Creek Dr. at Kinnan to slow folks down, because stop signs don’t slow folks down.” That resident thanked Viera, “You’re a good listener. Thanks to you, we have gotten stop signs, we’ve gotten lines on our roads and speed limits reduced the last two years.” 

Another idea Viera had to help cut down on speeding, thanks to a new law passed in Tallahassee, is to install speed cameras in school zones. He said, “I’m against speed cameras in general, but not in school zones, during school hours. I proposed passing that ordinance to City Council.” 

After taking questions for almost an hour, Viera said he was going to try to get set up a call with himself, five of the people at the Town Hall meeting and Vik Bhide from the city’s Mobility Dept., to discuss all of the road issues in K-Bar. He also plans to come back to K-Bar in June to meet with Tampa Palms resident and Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn to discuss the traffic situation around Pride. 

Here’s Another Chance To See Wesley Chapel Theater Group’s ‘Broadway Through The Decades’ 

“We Go Together” from “Grease. (Photos by Charmaine George)

A few short months ago, we told you about the Wesley Chapel Theater Group (WCTG)’s “Broadway Through the Decades” performance at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant in The Grove. 

That performance attracted about 150 people and nobody who attended (including yours truly) went home disappointed. 

Well, the weekend we went to press with this issue (Mar. 9-10), WCTG was at it again with another “Broadway Through the Decades: Contemporary Era” show, with the performances this time being held at the Zephyrhills Lions Club. 

The Lions Club provided dinner on Saturday night and dessert for the Sunday matinee, so WCTG secretary Samantha Grahn, who also did the publicity for the show, said that the theater group had to provide a hard number of attendees to the Lions Club a couple of days before the two performances. 

The WCTG cast from “Broadway Through the Decades: Contemporary Era.” 

“That limited us to only about 130 people total for the two shows,” Samantha says. “But, we had a lot of wonderful singers performing and the audiences both days really seemed to enjoy the performances.” 

The “Contemporary Era” performances includes many current and recent past Broadway favorites, including the entire company singing “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast,” Danielle Warren’s “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Vette Berrian & the Company on “Day By Day” from “Godspell,” the entire company on “We Go Together” from “Grease” and favorites from “Rent,” “Pippin,” “Chicago,” “A Chorus Line,” “Sweeney Todd,” “42nd Street,” “Into the Woods,” “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and many more. 

“A Little Priest” from “Sweeney Todd” performed by Krystian Kopycinski & Danielle Warren. 

“We’re now three years in with this group,” Grahn said afterwards. “And every performance we do is a fund raiser so we can afford to rent theaters for our future performances. We’re also writing some grants to try to get some more money to do more shows and we’d like to have them at the (Pasco School District’s) Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC) and other venues in Wesley Chapel.” She adds that the School District is looking into building a smaller “black box” theater for community performances. 

She adds that in the meantime, however, “We have a great relationship with the Zephyrhills Lions Club. They don’t charge us to rehearse there and the rent to do our shows there isn’t that expensive. We really owe them a big thank-you!” 

So, What’s Next? “Office Hours!” 

Grahn says that WCTG’s next show will be the comedy play “Office Hours,” written by Norm Foster, which also will be performed at the Zephyrhills Lions Club, this time without food service. 

There will be three performances of “Office Hours” — matinees on Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21, and a Saturday (Apr. 21) evening performance. Also coming up April 4 at 7pm, the next performance of “Broadway Through the Decades” at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar. 

“We also would love to have feedback from the Wesley Chapel community regarding what shows or types of shows they would want to see,” Grahn says. 

For tickets to see “Office Hours” or the April 4 encore of “Broadway Through The Decades” at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar and more info about the Wesley Chapel Theater Group, visit WesleyChapelTheaterGroup.org or search “WesleyChapel TheaterGroup” on Facebook.  


Cheryl Abramson performing “On My Own” from “Les Miserables. 
Jonathan Hogsett performing “If I Can’t Love Her” from “Beauty & the Beast.”

“Be Our Guest” from “Beauty & the Beast.” 

Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant — Bringing Mexico To Tampa! 


Whether you prefer chicken or steak fajitas, try them at either Don Julio’s Mexican restaurant locations in the New Tampa area. (Photos By Charmaine George)

When Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant opened in the Palms Connection plaza on E. Bearss Ave. (a little west of Bruce B. Downs Blvd.) six years ago, Jannah and I ate there a few times, but of course, without a full-liquor bar, it was never going to be a top choice for us, even though the Mexican cuisine served there was always tasty — and definitely authentic. 

So, when Julio and Ximena Rodriguez opened the second Don Julio’s location — with a full, premium liquor bar — in the City Plaza at Tampa Palms plaza in 2022, we started visiting a little more, but because of all of the other Mexican restaurants closer to where we lived, we never really visited as often as we had some other local Mexican eateries. 

But, when Julio began advertising in these pages a couple of months ago and told me he wanted us to come sample as much of the menu as possible for this story, we realized that we truly had been missing out on a somewhat hidden — but award-winning (more on that below) — gem in the New Tampa area. 

First, A Little History 

According to DonJuliosMexican.com, “Don Julio’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant started as a dream for the Rodriguez-Nambo Family. Julio’s grandparents — the original Don Julio & Esther Rodriguez — migrated to the Tampa Bay area from Mexico in the early 1970s. Esther (or Doña Esther, Julio calls her his “Abuelita”) always had a passion for cooking Mexican food” and she began using those talents in the late 1980s and early ‘90s — by selling her delicious Mexican cuisine from her garage in West Tampa — to put all three of her children through college, as her husband passed away when they were very young. 


Julio & Ximena Rodriguez invite you to check out either of their authentic Mexican locations. 

“Many of (her customers) recommended she open a Mexican restaurant, as her authentic flavors were unmatched by any existing restaurant in the Tampa Bay area,” the website continues. “Don Julio’s opened their doors (in the Palms Connection in) 2018, making the family’s dream come true of sharing Doña Esther’s authentic Mexican flavors with the entire Tampa Bay area and to keep alive her recipes for generations to come. The name was chosen in honor of the late Don Julio, who would be proud to see how his family has come together to make a legacy.” 

Julio adds, “Don Julio’s is truly a family affair. In addition to Ximena and me, we have several cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews working in both of our locations and we pride ourselves on outstanding service, as well as delicious food.” 

And, Speaking Of Food… 

When Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I visited the beautiful Tampa Palms location of Don Julio’s shortly before this issue went to press, we wanted Julio and Ximena to pick “a couple” of their favorite dishes, to go along with a couple we chose. 

The Queso Fundido is another tasty starter. 

OK, sure. Instead of a “couple of” dishes, we were treated to a feast of epic proportions. We started with the house-made chips and perfect salsa, “with very small chunks of tomato and lots of cilantro,” Julio said. 

Then, came the starters (called “Antojitos” or “Cravings” on the menu) and beverages. Jannah loved the Queso Fundido (melted Oaxaca cheese with Mexican chorizo sausage served with handmade chips). And, even though it isn’t made tableside, the house-made fresh guacamole was definitely a true treat, too. 

“Everything we make here is from scratch,” Julio said. “We are always proud to serve our food.” 


The Coctel de Camarones (shrimp cocktail) is made with three kinds of tomato sauce. 

The new birria tacos are among our editor’s favorites at Don Julio’s. 
Whether you call them taquitos or flautas, you should try them at Don Julio’s!

Charmaine raved about the one starter I couldn’t sample, the Coctel de Camarones (shrimp cocktail with Grandma’s homemade proprietary tomato sauce and spices). Julio said, “It’s actually a blend of three different sauces.” But, Charmaine and I agreed that our favorites were the new birria beef tacos, wrapped in handmade soft corn tortillas and served with a delicate dipping broth made from the birria drippings. So delicate and delicious! 

The peach margarita is just one of many available flavors. 

We all also enjoyed the Taquitos Dorados Don Julio, which Julio says also are called “flautas.” They are rolled and deep-fried and available with your choice of meats — from chorizo to shrimp or fish, carne asada steak or even just veggie (we had the chicken). The taquitos are topped with lettuce, onions and the lightest sour cream sauce ever. 

As for the beverages…wow! While all I had a was a Pacifico draft (available with a spicy tahine-salted rim), Jannah loved both the traditional and peach margaritas. Charmaine enjoyed the Cantarito, which is tequila, orange, lemon and lime juices served in a “jarrito de barro,” or clay cup, to help keep it cold and that same tahine-salted rim. Speaking of tequilas, the Tampa Palms Don Julio’s serves many upscale brands, as well as a variety of mezcals, plus other premium liquors and a large variety of Mexican and domestic beers on tap and in bottles. 

The menu includes a variety of other craft cocktails, as well as flights of house margaritas in a number of flavors, Yave Tequilas and cervezas. 

Moving On To The Entrées… 

The feasting did not stop with the starters. We sampled both tender steak and perfectly seasoned chicken fajitas, both served on sizzling plates with crisp, sautéed onions, red and green peppers, with creamy refried beans and Mexican rice. 

We also were served a tasty trio of enchiladas — one shredded chicken, one with ground beef and the third with Mexican cheese, although any combination is allowed. 

“Our enchilada sauce is unlike any other you’ll find in this area,” Julio said. “My Abuelita’s recipe definitely lives on here!” 

We also were treated to another of Julio’s favorites (and now, mine) — the pork carnitas, which are first slow-cooked and then deep-fried until they are crispy outside, but moist and tender inside. The enchiladas and carnitas also are served with the Mexican rice and refried beans. 

Despite everything we got to try, the huge menu at Don Julio’s also has pollo ranchero (sautéed chicken cooked with tomatoes, onions and Serrano peppers), breaded Milanesa chicken or steak, carne asada or bistec ranchero steak, a Mexican bowl called Tazon and a variety of shrimp dishes I can’t sample. 

Neither the tender, tasty carnitas (pork chunks) (Above) nor the trio of enchiladas (Above Left) will leave you feeling disappointed…or still hungry! 

The only thing we didn’t save room for was dessert, but we will be back to try the fried churros with caramel, chocolate or lechera (sweetened, condensed milk) dip. There also are other favorites like a traditional Mexican flan, fried ice cream, fried choco banana with vanilla ice cream, “Sopapillas” pastries dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar and more. 

Julio says Don Julio’s also is the only place you can have Mexican brunch every day — from traditional Huevos Rancheros to a burrito breakfast, Chilaquiles (corn tortilla pieces) & Eggs and Tacos Huevos (eggs) & Chorizo. 

Don Julio’s is proud to have won “Best Mexican Restaurant” and “Best Taco” in Tampa for four years in a row from “Lo Mejor de Tampa” (The Best of Tampa Bay), a local Hispanic website. 

Let Don Julio’s Entertain You! 

The Tampa Palms location of Don Julio’s also offers “Cinco Musical Bingo” every Thursday, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., as well as strolling mariachi bands every Friday and Saturday night. 

But of course, the biggest event of the year at both locations will be the Cinco de Mayo party, which will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5, and will include outside tables, music, specials and more. Look for additional information about the Cinco de Mayo parties at both locations in the ad in our next issue. 

Don Julio’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant (16023 Tampa Palms Blvd. & 2808 E. Bearss Ave.) are both open Sun.-Thur., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. For Tampa Palms, call (813) 644-7899. For Bearss Ave., call (813) 898-2860. For reservations and more info about either location, visit DonJuliosMexican.com, visit them on Facebook or Instagram.

Cantarito

The churros are just one of many authentic Mexican desserts at Don Julio’s. (Photo provided by Don Julios)