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 is located at 10020 Cross Creek Blvd. and is open every day at 11 a.m. For more information, call 907-5252.

 

Santo’s Sold; Remington’s Still Open Despite Rumors

Just as we’re concluding this year’s Dining Survey & Contest (see page 3 for details), two of your favorite (and ours) restaurants in Wesley Chapel have been rumored to have closed over the past two weeks, but only one of those rumors is actually true.

Santo’s Italian Grill, located in the Pinebrook at The Grove plaza on S.R. 54, has been sold. Owner Ken Santo, who is still also an owner of Skinny’s Sports Bar in the same plaza, couldn’t give us any details about the sale, but Santo’s is closed and will be converted to an entirely new restaurant concept for at least several weeks.

Of course, we will provide an update, either on our website (NTNeighborhoodNews.com) or in our next Wesley Chapel issue, or both.

Meanwhile, my friend Abe Srour says he wants to dispel the rumors that his Remington’s Steak House on S.R. 54 has closed or is closing.

“We are open for now,” Abe says. “And, when we do shut down, it will be temporarily for renovations only.”

All I can tell you is that I have been in Remington’s a couple of times before we went to press, including three days after the restaurant was reportedly closed, and it was packed!

Remington’s Steak House is located at 27405 S.R. 54 and is open every day for lunch and dinner. For more info, call 973-1208 or visit RemingtonsSteakhouse.com.

 

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.

 

La Cubanita Adds Beer

Another one of my local favorites, La Cubanita Café on BBD at New Tampa Blvd. (behind McDonald’s), recently added ice cold imported and domestic beer and a variety of house wines. La Cubanita also is where you can save 20-percent off your holiday orders, including the restaurant’s beloved mojo roast pork (mmmm!).

La Cubanita is located at 19040 BBD. To place an order or for more information, call 632-9100.

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 is located at 10020 Cross Creek Blvd. and is open every day at 11 a.m. For more information, call 907-5252.

 

Santo’s Sold; Remington’s Still Open Despite Rumors

Just as we’re concluding this year’s Dining Survey & Contest (see page 3 for details), two of your favorite (and ours) restaurants in Wesley Chapel have been rumored to have closed over the past two weeks, but only one of those rumors is actually true.

Santo’s Italian Grill, located in the Pinebrook at The Grove plaza on S.R. 54, has been sold. Owner Ken Santo, who is still also an owner of Skinny’s Sports Bar in the same plaza, couldn’t give us any details about the sale, but Santo’s is closed and will be converted to an entirely new restaurant concept for at least several weeks.

Of course, we will provide an update, either on our website (NTNeighborhoodNews.com) or in our next Wesley Chapel issue, or both.

Meanwhile, my friend Abe Srour says he wants to dispel the rumors that his Remington’s Steak House on S.R. 54 has closed or is closing.

“We are open for now,” Abe says. “And, when we do shut down, it will be temporarily for renovations only.”

All I can tell you is that I have been in Remington’s a couple of times before we went to press, including three days after the restaurant was reportedly closed, and it was packed!

Remington’s Steak House is located at 27405 S.R. 54 and is open every day for lunch and dinner. For more info, call 973-1208 or visit RemingtonsSteakhouse.com.

 

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.

 

La Cubanita Adds Beer

Another one of my local favorites, La Cubanita Café on BBD at New Tampa Blvd. (behind McDonald’s), recently added ice cold imported and domestic beer and a variety of house wines. La Cubanita also is where you can save 20-percent off your holiday orders, including the restaurant’s beloved mojo roast pork (mmmm!).

La Cubanita is located at 19040 BBD. To place an order or for more information, call 632-9100.