In the Dec 10 issue of New Tampa Neighborhood News (see below), we said that both Shake Shack and Chicken Guy! Were expected to open by one day this weekend, but as of today, both restaurants have told us that the expected openings of both fast casual eateries is now not expected until one day next week, with exact opening dates not yet set by either one until they receive their Certificates of Occupancy from Pasco County, pending final inspections.
Stay tuned to our Facebook page and the December 24 Wesley Chapel and January 7, 2025, New Tampa issues of Neighborhood News for updated opening dates for these hotly anticipated eateries.
Chicken Guy! & Shake Shack Both Expected To Open On Or Around December 13-14!
The long-awaited opening of the Tampa Bay area’s first-ever Chicken Guy location was scheduled at our press time on or around Saturday, December 14 (please check our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page regularly for a more precise opening date). Chicken Guy (top photo), founded by celebrity chef Guy Fieri and restaurateur Robert Earl, currently has a dozen locations, going up quickly to 18, including our “Cypress Creek” location at 25769 Sierra Center Blvd.
The “Mayor of Flavortown” menu features hot and “O.G.” mild crispy (or grilled) chicken tenders (and “Big Bite” sandwiches), plus salads, fries, American slaw, mac & cheese and shakes (sound familiar?), although it does also sometimes feature “Limited Time” offers — such as pepperoni chicken parm sandwiches and chopped cheese & chicken egg rolls, fried chicken dumplings and more. The “Boss of Sauce” also offers everything from Nashville hot honey to avocado crema and many more sauces created by the Chicken Guy himself!
Now with an expected opening on or around Friday, December 13, less than a 1/4-mile from Chicken Guy, is the Wesley Chapel/Lutz location of Shake Shack, in the former slot occupied by Wendy’s, at 25600 Sierra Center Blvd. (photo left). In addition to its variety of burgers — from black truffle to avocado bacon — as well as 100% Vienna® beef hot dogs, Shake Shack also offers (surprise!) crispy chicken sandwiches and bites, crinkle cut fries and shakes (including limited time shakes like Christmas Cookie and Apple Cider Donut), but with the added bonus of vanilla or chocolate frozen custard, which also can be included in your root beer or Creamsicle® float.
For more info, call (813) 696-6752 or visit ShakeShack.com. — GN
Owner Mark Birkin invites you to check out his Birkin’s Steakhouse & Sushi Bar on N. Florida Ave. in Lutz.Â
When we first showed and told you about Birkin’s Steakhouse & Sushi Bar, located on N. Florida Ave. in Lutz (a little north of W. Bearss Ave.) back in June, the then-new restaurant’s main dining room was the main attraction — and it definitely attracted an upscale clientele that appreciated owner Mark Birkin’s selection of prime steaks and fresh sushi.
The restaurant has done so well that Mark decided that the sushi bar side — which previously was where live music was played when the restaurant was the “LA” (Lutz-Area) Hangout (and the Twisted Rooster after that) — needed and deserved an upgrade so that his ever-growing roster of customers wouldn’t have to deal with a wait on the weekends.
Well now, with more than 100 additional seats in a variety of both cozy four-top and larger 8-10-top booths, as well as a few large round tables, Mark and GM Doug Scagliola say the revamped Birkin’s sushi side is quickly becoming the location of choice for many of their regulars.
“It’s only been open three or four weeks,” Mark said at our press time, “but we already have people requesting to sit in the sushi bar area.” (Note- Now that the weather is cooler, Birkin’s also-all-new, large outdoor patio with its own huge bar area, is sure to become another hotspot for his customers.)
The guess here is that the remodeled section also will help increase sales of Birkin’s outstanding fresh sushi — from basics like California and Rainbow rolls and thick-slice tuna, yellowtail and salmon sashimi to more exotic options like Caterpillar Roll (eel roll topped with avocado and eel sauce), Giant Buda Roll (tempura shrimp with mayo, crab, smelt roe and avocado, all deep fried and topped with eel sauce and spicy mayo), to my new go-to, the Yummy Roll (with crispy baked fish, tempura crunch and roe, topped with avocado, eel sauce and spicy mayo; above photo). Birkin’s doesn’t yet have as large a variety of sushi as some Japanese restaurants, but perhaps the best thing about it is that you can still order from the restaurant’s full menu on the sushi side.Â
It was Happy Hour (Wed.-Fri., 3 p.m.-5:30 p.m.) during our last visit, so Charmaine, Jannah and I shared a few of the Birkin’s Happy Hour food specials. We all loved the steak kabobs, made with filet tips and grilled onions and peppers (top photo) with house-made chimichurri sauce ($10 for two kabobs). Charmaine raved about the tangy seafood ceviche (which I couldn’t sample because it’s made with shrimp), served in a martini glass (left photo), for only $6. And, we all enjoyed the crispy potato wedges with blue or peppercorn sauce (I preferred the latter), also for $6. There’s also a Big Burger for $10 and tenderloin sliders for $12, plus Happy Hour California, spicy tuna and a couple of other rolls for just $6 each.Â
Save room for dessert, because Birkin’s has a delicious Bailey’s Irish Cream cheesecake, an apple crumble and brownie with vanilla ice cream and more.Â
And, Birkin’s definitely has your bar favorites covered before, during and after Happy Hour, when select glasses of wine, specialty drinks (including a house old fashioned and “Florida Ave.” margarita) and favorites like Tito’s, Jack Daniel’s, Four Roses, Captain Morgan and Herradura Repo tequila are all just $8.
If you’re planning a holiday party, Birkin’s even has a private room that seats up to 24 people.
The restaurant also will be open both Christmas Day and for New Year’s Eve, so why cook when you can make any holiday a little more special at Birkin’s?
Birkin’s Steakhouse & Sushi Bar (16411 N. Florida Ave.) is open 3 p.m.-11:30 p.m. on Wed.; 3 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Thur.-Sat. & 3:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. on Sun. (it’s closed Mon. & Tues.). For reservations (which are suggested, but not required, except when booking a party) & more information, call (813) 374-8002 or visit BirkinsSteakhouse.com.Â
It’s not every day that the Neighborhood News gets invited to restaurant openings in South Tampa, but when we got invited to the official Grand Opening of the new Barcelona Wine Bar (at 2907 W. Bay to Bay Blvd.), Jannah, Charmaine, Charmaine’s boyfriend Brendan & I decided to go check it out — and what an amazing place it is!
First of all, this location is one of only 22 Barcelona Wine Bars in eleven states (South Tampa is the only one in Florida) and it has a true South Tampa vibe and crowd and already has been packed every day since it opened. But, Barcelona is definitely worth a visit if you love an authentic, fine-dining Spanish tapas restaurant with a huge variety of options — including more veggie tapas (from charred broccolini & crispy Brussels sprouts to roasted carrots & crispy oyster mushrooms) than I’ve found anywhere else — plus charcuterie and cheese plates, paella and other large plates, an incredible wine list and a full ultra-premium liquor bar.
Reservations are pretty much a must, but after sampling a large portion of the tapas menu and the Paella Salvaje (Brarcelona’s all-meat paella with sausage, chicken, chorizo, pork belly, short rib & chickpeas), I can assure you that Barcelona will not disappoint! For reservations, call (813) 722-0202 or visit BarcelonaWineBar.com. For a full rundown of our first visit to Barcelona Wine Bar, see the Dec. 24 Wesley Chapel and Jan. 7, 2025, New Tampa editions of Neighborhood News & please tell them we sent you!
This was a super-competitive category, as NY NY, 900Âş Woodfired & Amici all finished within three votes of each other, while PizzaMania, last year’s #1 “Favorite Pizza in NT & WC,” dropped to 4th in WC this year.Â
(l-r) Coopers Hawk Churrasco Steak and Azteca D’Oro Taquito
Meanwhile, Wesley Chapel is where chain eateries continue to dominate the landscape, as well as our voting (despite my best efforts to get our readers to vote for non-chains).
But, while Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant did mistakenly appear on the ballots for the first issue of the voting, it was so dominant in the voting after it came off the ballots that it would still have been #1 “Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel” without that one-issue advantage. Anyone who has been to the place on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, when it is still on a wait throughout its dinner hours, can understand how Cooper’s Hawk took home this year’s top prize in WC in its first year of eligibility.
Azteca D’Oro and Grillsmith repeated as our readers’ #2 and #3 Favorites in WC, while last year’s first-place finisher, Noble Crust, dropped to #4 this year. New to this year’s top-10 were Vallarta’s at #5 (up from #12), Mac’s Custom Meats & Deli at #7, Florida Ave. Brewing Co. at #8 (up from #16) and Chuck Lager at #9. Dropping out of this year’s top-10 were Zukku-San (down from #5 to #11), Bubba’s 33 (down from #10 to #19), Bonefish, BJ’s Brewhouse and Bahama Breeze (down from #8 to #17). The last four of these are all chains that weren’t on the ballots. — GN
If everyone in Wesley Chapel is so sick of chain restaurants, then how and why did Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant dominate the voting in this year’s Reader Dining Survey & Contest?
The answer to that rhetorical question is that all of you are tired of mediocre chains and although Cooper’s Hawk isn’t Fleming’s, Charley’s or Ruth’s Chris, it is definitely a step up from most of the other chains in the “Chap.” It boasts a solid menu of very good steaks, good seafood, pretty decent pasta and a nice variety of starters, lunch and brunch menu items.
When you add to that the novelty of getting to taste an ever-changing array of palate-pleasing wines in Cooper’s Hawk’s wine bar (although I wish there were seats in it, or at least allowed), it’s easy to understand why locals are fighting for tables there every night. We’ll see how long the party lasts, but so far, so good.
It’s clear that last year’s top-vote-getting newcomer did not suffer a sophomore jinx with our readers this year, as Azteca D’Oro repeated as your #2 overall Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel and again won Favorite Mexican Restaurant in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel, albeit by a much smaller margin than last year.
With tasty menu items like chicken taquitos (top), plus a huge variety (above pic from DoorDash) of authentic Mexican favorites like fajitas, molcajete, burritos, tacos and quesadillas, plus beautiful indoor & outdoor bar areas with great Happy Hour specials, Azteca D’Oro also features a private room that is the perfect place to host your holiday party with its lively music and festive atmosphere.Â
Grillsmith is always among our readers’ favorites every year and repeated last year’s #3 “Favorite in Wesley Chapel” finish again this year. This five-unit mini-chain continues to serve quality fresh fish (photo), plus assortments of flatbreads, salads, steaks, burgers, chicken and pasta options that keep our readers coming back for more. It also is a popular weekend brunch spot with everything from bananas Foster French toast to chicken & waffles Benedict.Â
Whenever you see people in a local online community ask for recommendations for a great Mexican restaurant, roughly half the people highly recommend Vallarta’s, while the other half say “it’s gross.”
Those who love it point to the restaurant’s huge menu with even bigger portions (like the burrito shown here) at the best prices of any true Mexican restaurant in Wesley Chapel. We guess those folks helped Vallarta’s jump from #12 “Favorite WC Restaurant” with our readers last year to #5 Fave in 2024.
Although a lot of online community members complain vehemently about its 20% service charge, our readers still kept The Living Room in the same #6 “Favorite in Wesley Chapel” spot it occupied last year.
It seems like there’s at least one restaurant that seems to come out of nowhere to crack the top-10 with our readers every year.
This year’s surprise is Mac’s Custom Meats & Deli. Although we also enjoy Mac’s quality sandwiches (photo), it’s still really more of a meat market than a restaurant, but whether it made this year’s list because of ballot-stuffing or because enough people really love it this much likely won’t be known until next year’s Reader Survey.
Jumping up eight places from #16 last year is Florida Avenue Brewing Co., which has changed its food menu so often it’s hard to keep up with all the new items to go with its crowd-pleasing variety of house-brewed beers, hard ciders and seltzers. Of course, you can’t go wrong with Florida Ave.’s wings (photo), cheesesteak egg rolls, smash burgers and chimichurri-style Argentine flatbread. Also ask about the Express Lunch menu and about becoming a Brew Perks member.
Another mini-chain making a big jump with our readers this year is Chuck Lager America’s Tavern, which narrowly missed the top-25 last year to jump up to #9 this time — giving The Shops at Wiregrass five of this year’s top-10 Favorites in Wesley Chapel!
Now with three locations and another coming soon to Ft. Myers, Chuck Lager continues to serve tasty giant pretzels, flatbreads, sliders (all in photo), as well as everything from Chuck’s citrus salmon to NY strip steak and Italian specialties like chicken parmesan and Fabio’s meatball sub.
Meanwhile, Ford’s Garage, located across from the Tampa Premium Outlets, dropped one spot from #9 last year to #10 this year, but still garnered plenty of attention from our readers for its popular sports bar-style fare, like the Giant Funnel Tower of Jumbo Piston Onion Rings, Famous Firestone Shrimp, BBQ pork ribs, chicken mac & cheese, smoked brisket burnt ends melt and especially, its Burgers of Fame (photo).
Plus, Motor Club members get 25% Off every 4th visit, a free birthday appetizer, exclusive news & events and more.
