Just before we went to press with our March 18 Wesley Chapel issue, we received the following statement from the management at Rock & Brews:
There has been a lot of confusion regarding the future of Rock & Brews on S.R. 56 and the likelihood of Portilloās replacing it in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets.
To clarify the situation, Rock & Brews President of Operations Kris Maronpot recently provided us with this accurate information.
Whatās Happening?
The Rock & Brews on S.R. 56 will be closing on Monday, March 24, 2025.
Rock & Brews encourages their rock star fans to dine with them by or before their final day of service on Sunday, March 23.
āIt has been a great honor and experience to serve the Wesley Chapel and Tampa community,ā Maronpot says. āWe are thankful for everyoneās continued support. We look forward to serving those who rock in the future at our other Florida locations ā Orlando, Oviedo, and Kissimmee ā soon.ā
Considering that long-established eateries like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays have shuttered many of their stores, it wasnāt a big shock that Bloominā Brands ā which also is the parent company of Outback, Carrabbaās and Bonefish ā made the decision to shutter most of its U.S. locations of Aussie Grill.
Among the stores that already are permanently closed is the Lutz/Wesley Chapel location on the north side of S.R. 56, across from the Tampa Premium Outlets, which closed its doors earlier this month. We had no news at our press time as to what might replace Aussie Grill, but weāll keep you posted.
Portilloās Is Coming…But Where?
Meanwhile, Portilloās ā the Chicago-based hot dog and Italian beef chain ā originally announced on Dec. 5 that it was opening ālater this yearā and even gave the address of the new Portilloās as 26000 S.R. 56 and said that it would be a 6,250-sq.-ft. restaurant. That announcement was later changed to what is shown below, but the spark had been lit, as many midwesterners rejoiced, many locals who had tried but werenāt overjoyed shrugged their shoulders and everyone else tried to figure out how Portilloās could open a huge sit-down restaurant in just a few weeks time, in a location that already has a huge (actually closer to 8,000 sq. ft.) sit-down restaurant ā as that address is where the Rock & Brews on the south side of S.R. 56, in front of the outlet mall, currently sits and is still open (and is still advertising in our pages).Ā
As soon as I saw the original announcement, I headed to the nearest Portilloās location ā on E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa ā to ask what the management of that location knew about the new store, but I was referred to corporate, which has not yet responded to my very detailed email, even though the revised press release at Portillos.com shown left deleted the planned address and timeframe in the original (Note-26000 S.R. 56 is still listed as the Lutz address when you click on the āLocationsā button on the site).Ā
Of course, I also took the time to sample my first Portilloās Italian beef sandwich, with added mozzarella cheese and extra Italian gravy/au jus on the side, and Iāll admit it was pretty tasty. Good crinkle cut fries, too.
Our contact at Rock & Brews didnāt get back to us with an answer as to whether or not that location was closing, but weāll keep you posted. ā GN
Rock & Brews Wesley Chapel general manager Kareem Nelson welcomes everyone to the rock-themed, KISS-inspired restaurant on S.R. 56, in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets.Ā (Photos by Charmaine George)
Like many of you, when Rock & Brews opened to big crowds of people on S.R. 56 in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets in Oct. 2020 ā as things began re-opening after the Covid-19 pandemic hit ā I was excited to have not only a new restaurant that wasnāt part of a giant chain but also a new live music venue.
Well, more than three years later, the 23-unit (seven of which are owned by local franchisee Scott Paul) mini-chain that started in California in 2012 ā inspired, co-founded and owned in part by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of the ā70s rock group KISS ā continues to add new menu items, especially for lunch, and has brought back live music on Friday nights.
General manager Kareem Nelson says that the new āVIP Early Accessā lunch menu (which is available from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. every day), which was just rolled out a few days before this issue went to press, has already been well-received by his customers ā and for good reason.Ā
The new āVIP Early Accessā lunch menu at Rock & Brews on S.R. 56 includes (below right) the birria beef dip sandwich, the āBeeās Gās Kneesā cocktail (bottom of the page), the āIslands in the Streamā shrimp tacos (above), the personal margherita pizza (below left) and the Sāmores Dip dessert (below).
Other new $12 lunch menu items include a huge, shareable tray of BBQ pork nachos with mixed cheeses, pico de gallo, primo queso, lime crema, fresh jalapeƱos and chopped cilantro, āBuffalo Springfieldā chicken tacos, roasted cream chicken and mojo pulled pork bowls, āSweet Heatā fried chicken and cedar plank salmon served with a sweet & smoky BBQ sauce, rockinā rice and fresh broccoli.
Kareem says the best-selling lunch menu items, however, are the blackened shrimp Strawberry Fields salad, with baby greens, strawberries, avocadoes, cucumbers, red onions, candied walnuts, feta cheese and lemon pepper vinaigrette ā and the new smash burger. āBut, everything we make is from scratch,ā he says. āOur customers really seem to appreciate that.āĀ
For dessert, thereās a new Sāmores Dip, which is enough for at least 3-4 people. Kareem says they melt milk chocolate chips and toast a large amount of marshmallows and top it with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar, with a generous supply of softer-than-usual graham crackers to dip. Itās so decadent that itās hard to stop at just one or two graham crackers each (we didnāt), but it was hard to walk out of there after we all wolfed it all down.
For those who have the ability to day drink, there also are some new drink specials on the VIP Early Access menu, including a very tasty Bourbon Street amaretto sour, with Benchmark single barrel bourbon, Amaretto DiSaronno, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and aquafaba. Thereās also a smoked Rock āN Roll Old Fashioned made with Buffalo Trace bourbon, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, Amarena Toschi Italian black cherries and orange peel.Ā
And, speaking of bourbon, Kareem says that with all of the customer requests for more bourbon at the Wesley Chapel/Lutz location,Ā he has added a huge variety of both popular and rare brands, from Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek to American Legend Hell House by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bespoken…and many more.Ā
Although Jannah and I have also always enjoyed the rock videos at Rock & Brews, we werenāt the only ones excited for the return ofĀ live bands on Friday nights to the restaurant.Ā
āOur bands know that this isnāt a concert hall,ā Kareem says. āTheyāre mainly background noise. We want you to still be able to have a conversation at your table when theyāre playing.ā
Check the Rock & Brews Facebook page to see what bands are playing on upcoming Friday nights.
In addition to the live music schedule,Ā Kareem, who recently joined the BNI Alliance networking group, says his assistant GM Devin Johnson comes up with creative ways to attract more customers, including āconcertā events where all the videos playing will be of a certain artistās music, āand weāll have special drink and food menus to go with the music. We had very successful Tom Petty and KISS āconcertsā here. Our next one is a Queen āconcertā on Saturday, April 6. For special events like these, we make the entire restaurant feel like a concert hall, so people who never got to see Freddie Mercury can almost feel like theyāre experiencing him live.āĀ
Rock & Brews (26000 S.R. 56 W., Lutz) is open Mon.-Thur., 11 a.m.-11 p.m., 11 a.m.-midnight on Fri. & Sat. & 10 a.m.- 10:30 p.m. on Sun. For info, call (813) 800- 7625, visit RockandBrews.com.
As you drive eastbound on S.R. 56, past the main entrance to the Tampa Premium Outlets (at Grand Cypress Dr., between BJās Brewhouse and Cheddarās), you may not realize that there is another mall entrance (above photo) that currently offers a right-in-only turn just before you reach Rock & Brews (below photo). Pasco County, FDOT, Sierra Properties & Raysor Transportation Consulting are looking into adding a lane that would provide vehicles with another way to exit the mall and get on I-75 southbound. (Photos by Charmaine GeorgeĀ
Although we went to press with this issue the weekend before Black Friday, I am among the few local residents who avoids the Tampa Premium Outlets like the plague during the holiday shopping season.
Even though I hope both local shopping malls have a successful year, I just donāt have the patience to fight the traffic entering and exiting the outlet mall during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Case in point, despite the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) being pretty much fully open at S.R. 56 and I-75 last year at this time, the traffic getting both into and out of the Outlets was brutal.
I remember wondering to myself, āWhy canāt someone look into adding at least another way to exit the mall?ā And the corollary, āWhy canāt they improve the interior roads at the mall to better handle the traffic?ā
Well, it looks as though someone is trying the do something about it, which surely wonāt be able to help the holiday traffic flow this year or probably even next year, but at least itās becoming a possibility.Ā
Mike Raysor, the president/owner of Raysor Traffic Consulting, LLC, says his company has been retained to study the possibility of adding a right-turn-out exit from, adjacent to the right-turn-in entrance to, the mall. Raysor is studying the possible effects not only on mall traffic but at the DDI itself, since the exit from the mall would put those exiting vehicles in what is now two entrance lanes to get onto southbound I-75.
Pasco County, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Sierra Properties, which has developed not only the outlet mall itself but also the development both north and south of S.R. 56 between I-75 and Wesley Chapel Blvd., are all working with Raysorās company to study the potential effects, not only on traffic flow but also on safety, since adding the new mall exit would have an effect not only on southbound I-75, but also on vehicles attempting to head eastbound S.R. 56 and even some trying to crossĀ enough lanes of traffic to get on northbound I-75 once theyāve exited the Outlets.Ā
Raysor also has retained former FDOT transportation engineer Joel Provenzano to help with the traffic studies. Provenzano, who also provides editorial research for this publication, was unable to help with this story because of his new consulting position.
Provenzano was with FDOT when the āMall Entranceā sign shown in the photo above left was erected at the right-in-only turn near Rock & Brews, in an effort to keep at least some traffic away from the mallās main entrance at Grand Cypress Dr.
Unfortunately, Raysor says, that additional entrance hasnāt done as much as it possibly might have had there also been a right-out-exit at the same location. āA lot of people donāt even realize that entrance is there,ā Raysor says, ābut more people might recognize it as an entrance if there also was a way out of the mall in the same area.ā
Weāll keep you posted as to the outcome of the study. In the meantime, can someone please look into closing off the median and the left turn at BJās right after you enter at the light at Grand Cypress or at least cut the hedges at that median to increase visibility?
