We received word earlier today that two Irish pubs with Wesley Chapel addresses — Irish 31 in The Shops at Wiregrass and the Beef O’Brady’s on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in the Shoppes at New Tampa at Wesley Chapel, just south of the mall — had closed.
Irish 31 posted the following notice on its Facebook page on April 29:
“Thank you, Wesley Chapel, for 7 wonderful years! Sadly, our Wiregrass location has officially closed its doors, but we hope to raise a pint with you some day soon at one of our other Tampa Bay pubs.”
Meanwhile, although we saw no such announcement for the Beef O’Brady’s on BBD, the location was no longer included on the store locator on the Beef’s website and the manager who answered the phone at the Beef’s location on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (next to Winn-Dixie) — which is still open and under new ownership — confirmed that the BBD location had indeed closed.
In case you were wondering, the O’Brien’s Irish Pub in the Wesley Chapel Village Market on BBD is definitely still open, as is the new 40 Thieves Irish Pub on County Line Rd. at Livingston Rd. in Lutz.
The first of the two new restaurants to open at the Shops at Wiregrass mall is the fifth location of Irish 31, which opened on July 7.
Although I missed the actual Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting on July 6 (I arrived a little late; the ribbon-cutting photo on this page was taken by Steve Miller of Stephen John Photography), Irish 31 owner Jay Mize and general manager Mike Forsyth were on hand for it — as was former Tampa Bay Lightning star and New Tampa resident Brian Bradley (who works for the Lightning; he gave away some cool memorabilia), as hundreds of people found their way inside to check out the cool décor, the unique menu and the South Tampa vibe of Mize’s newest Irish 31.
I have only sampled a few items so far on Irish 31’s chef-driven menu, but I did enjoy the boneless wings with Thai chili sauce and the corned beef and cabbage and loaded “boxty” (almost tennis-ball-sized balls of mashed potatoes, mixed with generous helpings of corned beef and cabbage, or bacon, Velveeta cheese and chives, and fried to a golden brown), served with an “Emerald Isle” dipping sauce.
Also among our favorites, at least so far.: The fried zucchini appetizer, the Ploughman’s salad (mixed greens, bacon, roma tomato, hard-boiled egg, bleu cheese, candied pecans and avocado tossed in Irish 31’s really tasty Guinness vinaigrette) and the “Farmer’s Fried chicken — two boneless chicken breasts breaded with seasoned flour, then fried golden brown, and served with mashed potatoes and onion gravy, with a nice side offresh market vegetables.
For more information about Irish 31 (28358 Willett Way), visit Irish31.com or call (813) 907-2306. Irish 31 is open every day at 11 a.m. (at 10 a.m. on Sun.) and stays open until midnight Sun.-Wed., until 1 a.m. on Thur. and until 2 a.m. on Fri. and Sat. I haven’t checked it out yet for live music or for Sunday brunch, but the website claims that Irish 31 is renowned as one of the best brunch spots in the Tampa Bay area!
Two of the most highly-anticipated new restaurants in Wesley Chapel — Irish 31 and Noble Crust — have finally announced their grand openings.
Irish 31 Pub House & Eatery will officially open its fifth Tampa Bay location when the doors swing open at the new Shops at Wiregrass location on Thursday, July 6.
The festivities at the 2,734-sq.-ft. location are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.. The Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce will be on hand for the official ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m.
Founded by former USF football player Jay Mize (who wore No. 31 as a Bull), Irish 31’s other locations are in Hyde Park Village, Westshore Plaza and Westchase, as well as a space on the Chase Club level in Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa.
Meanwhile, Noble Crust is expected to open its doors in mid-July, following a special VIP event on Saturday, July 15, to benefit the Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel Foundation.
The 166-seat restaurant (with 56 outdoor seats on the patio) will feature its popular brand of seasonal Italian fare with Southern soul.
“This is a flourishing area, and we’re looking forward to growing our success in this community,” said co-founder TJ Thielbar.
It seems like new dining options are opening near the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) almost every day (e.g., signs for the previously announced Wendy’s and Taco Bell have recently gone up across the street from TPO), but the restaurant question the most people ask me is “Are Noble Crust and Irish 31 still coming to the Shops at Wiregrass?”
Irish31 in Hyde Park.
The answer is a resounding “yes,” but neither restaurant looks like it will be ready to open by the end of this month, which was the last thing I heard from Noble Crust Wesley Chapel GM Will Perez and founder TJ Theilbar a couple of weeks ago.
Even so, Irish 31, which has existing locations in Westchase, Westshore, at Amalie Arena and Hyde Park Village, all in Tampa, will open its first Pinellas County location on Clearwater Beach and its first Pasco location at Wiregrass, hopefully sometime in July.
We told you about Irish 31, which is owned by former USF football star Jay Mize, before any other news medium, back in January 2016. The Irish 31 at Wiregrass will be 2,800 sq. ft. and will feature the same great chef-inspired cuisine (like the delicious grilled chicken ploughman’s salad above left) as the other Irish 31 locations.
Meanwhile, Noble Crust, which had a widely viewed WCNT-tv episode following its second place People’s Choice award at the Taste of New Tampa, has a 4th St. in St. Petersburg location that continues to impress me with its array of delicious Italian cuisine with a southern twist, like the bucatini pasta with beef, lamb and pork meatballs pictured above center. Just get it open, guys!
Anytime you can offer big servings of good food at a fair price, you have a potential formula for success. One new restaurant that seems to have solved this equation is the third location of Taco Son, which has existing locations in St. Pete and on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, and is now open in the Freedom Plaza (next to Grey Wolf Armory; see ad on pg. 37) at 30056 S.R. 54.
Owner Raymond Rodriguez is an extremely personable, hands-on owner and he knows how to give his customers authentic Mexican fare and very fair value for their money, like the two-taco combination plate (with rice and beans; left) for just $7.99. The place has been packed for lunch and dinner every day since it opened in May and the customers all seem very happy.
Check out Taco Son and tell Raymond and his crew that you read about them in the Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News! For info, call (813) 528-8892 or visit TacoSonMexicanGrill.com.
The Chamber Stays Busy
If you think the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) is going to slow its roll anytime soon, guess again.
With the frenetic pace of construction in our area, especially here in “the Chap,” even if the summer schedule is a little less full than it has been the last month for the WCCC, there will still be plenty for Chamber business members — and the community — to do during what looks to be a long, hot summer.
In May, the Chamber has held its Monthly Business Breakfast on May 2, where Pasco Hernando State College VP of Academic Affairs & College Provost Dr. Stanley Giannet was the featured speaker. Dr. Stan, who used to be the Provost at the PHSC Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, is always a dynamic speaker and he and the faculty and staff of PHSC have a lot to look forward to, including the future expansion of the Porter Campus.
The Chamber also hosted an unfortunately controversial ribbon cutting for U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis’ new office inside the chamber office. There also was another well-attended Coffee Social at Buttermilk Provisions, the Audi Wesley Chapel groundbreaking (see page 11), ribbon-cutting ceremonies on May 24 at the new Axiom Bank inside the Walmart on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa and at the beautiful, new Holiday Inn Express & Suites Tampa North-Wesley Chapel (see below). There also was an outstanding Economic Development Briefing from Wiregrass Sports Complex at Pasco County developer RADDSPORTS (see story on page 6), and another fun Final Friday networking social at Glory Days Grill in New Tampa on May 26.
I also wanted to give a special shout-out to the folks at the new Holiday Inn Express, which hosted one of the best Grand Openingevents I’ve attended, with delicious food from Puff ‘n Stuff Catering and lots of great giveaways, as well as tours of this beautiful, new hotel located adjacent to Florida Hospital Center Ice.
This month, you can attend another Monthly Business Breakfast at PHSC on Tuesday, June 6, where the Chamber will debut its new “Explore Wesley Chapel New Tampa” video; a ribbon cutting on Thursday, June 8, at The Joint Chiropractic in New Tampa; another free Coffee Social at Buttermilk Provisions on BBD in Wesley Chapel on Tuesday, June 20; another Economic Development Briefing at the Pebble Creek Golf Club on Thursday, June 22, featuring representatives of the under-construction Lexus of Wesley Chapel; a ribbon cutting and family field day at Pioneer Museum in Dade City on Saturday, June 24; and another Final Friday networking social, at Pinot’s Palette in the Shoppes of New Tampa at Wesley Chapel plaza (next to Office Depot), off BBD.
Please note that not all Chamber events are free, although most are open to the public. For info (including all start times for these events), call (813) 994-8534 or visit WesleyChapelChamber.com.
