Congratulations to co-owners Victor and Armando Ramos of the ninth family-owned location of Azteca D’Oro, in the space previously occupied by Cantina Laredo in the Shops at Wiregrass.
Azteca Wesley Chapel opened on June 19 and hosted an incredible Grand Opening event the weekend of June 24-25, with a mariachi band and dancers all in traditional Mexican garb — and Victor says that mariachis will play “every Thursday, 6 p.m.-8 p.m.”
However, while the “fiesta” music was great and the completely revamped restaurant — which now features not only outdoor seating, but seats both inside and out at the extra-large bar — is beautiful, without great food, it would all mean next to nothing.
Chicken Taquitos.Pork osso bucco. Tableside guacamole. Coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktail).Combo Fajitas. (l.-r.) Azteca D’Oro general manager Cristina Casimiro & co-owners Victor & Armando Ramos.
But, while Azteca D’Oro definitely isn’t an inexpensive place to eat, the food options include such upscale authentic entrées as borrego (marinated, seasoned and baked lamb shank) and molcajete (steak, chicken, chorizo sausage and shrimp over onions and green peppers in a mildly spicy sauce), plus favorites like the thickest-ever chicken-stuffed taquitos appetizer (above left), which four people can share, and, of course, great combo fajitas (shown, above), of which my favorites were the pork carnitas fajitas, and a huge menu of other authentic specialties for lunch and dinner, including delicious tableside-made guacamole finished with real bacon.
Churros & ice cream for dessert? Yes, please!
And, do not miss the caramel-stuffed churros and ice cream (photo, right) for dessert!
The ultra-premium bar features many upscale tequilas and mezcals, as well as a unique margarita flight of four different favorites, plus specialty cocktails like the Mexican classic Paloma (José Cuervo Tradicional Reposado tequila, fresh lime & Squirt grapefruit soda).
Azteca D’Oro (2000 Piazza Ave., Unit 170) is open every day for lunch and dinner. For more information, visit Aztecadoro.com.
As you can see in the ad on the left, Azteca d’Oro is set to host its Grand Opening in the space (at 2000 Piazza Ave.) at the Shops at Wiregrass previously occupied by Cantina Laredo on Saturday, June 24, with a mariachi band, indoor and outdoor bar with cocktails and more. Azteca d’Oro promises a truly authentic Mexican cuisine experience in an upscale, but still casual atmosphere. For more info, visit AztecaDOro.com.
Crazy Sushi Is Open!
Until Azteca opens, you probably should try the new Crazy Sushi Wiregrass at the Shops. Crazy Sushi is more than just another replacement for the several restaurants that have opened and gone out of business at 28152 Paseo Dr., #150 — it’s a much larger (having also taken over an adjacent store), real sit-down restaurant that just happens to also offer all-you-care-to-eat lunch (for $22.95 per person; available Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. only) and dinner (and Sat.-Sun. lunch, for $32.95) Japanese cuisine that, based on our first visit, is well worth the price.
The sushi (the photo is of a tasty sushi sampler that isn’t on the menu) is really fresh, the appetizers (including gyoza dumplings, tempura veggies, fried chicken karaage, etc.) and lo mein are spot-on and the hibachi sirloin steak and chicken are both of a higher quality than what we’re used to getting at Ginza or Koizi. And. the premium full-liquor bar offers full-sized drinks at lower-than-mall prices.
For more information, call (813) 991-8989 or visit CrazySushiWesleyChapel.com and please tell our friend Edgar behind the bar that we sent you!
Johnny C’s Italian Eatery Has Opened On Cross Creek Blvd.!
The new Johnny C’s Italian Eatery has been open at 10970 Cross Creek Blvd., Suite A (on Morris Bridge Rd.), in the former location of Precinct Pizza, since May 15, and the reaction to the food, the family atmosphere and the service have so far been pretty great.
Johnny C’s, named for Johnny Ciaccio, the father of former Saddlebrook Resort GM Pat Ciaccio, is a partnership between Ciaccio and former Saddlebrook owner Tom Dempsey and Erik Ravenna, a trained chef who worked for years in food and beverage (among other jobs) at the resort.
The restaurant, which is open for lunch and dinner (11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.) daily, features New York-style pizza (like the Margherita pizza shown top), plus a variety of Northern Italian comfort foods, from lasagna to chicken parmigiana, Italian meatballs (left) & more.
“One thing we noticed,” Ravenna told me during the Johnny C’s Friends & Family pre-opening, “is that (the other Italian restaurants in) this area doesn’t have a big variety of seafood options. We all do linguini with clams, but Johnny C’s also has shrimp marinara (shown being prepared above), parmigiana and scampi, as well as a spicy fra diavlo and even a frutti di mare (aka ‘Fruits of the Sea,’ right) with shrimp, mussels, clams and calamari over linguini.” (There’s also a mussels Posillipo appetizer.)
Ciaccio added, “We want everyone who visits Johnny C’s to feel like family. My dad owned restaurants his entire adult life and we lost him a few years ago, so Johnny C’s is a tribute to him.” To which Ravenna added, “He would have loved to have been the ‘mayor’ here.” For info, call (813) 278-8020, visit JohnnyCsItalianEatery.com.
Blush Champagne Bar Is Open!
The Blush Champagne & Cocktail Bar (photo above), the second establishment at the KRATE Container Park (the other is the nearly adjacent Blush Wine Room) owned by Felicia and Nimesh Desai, is an intimate, upscale champagne bar serving sparkling wine from both near and far, champagne cocktails and martinis, and a dozen frozen cocktails, with plans to serve food starting this summer.
“Until then, you can grab food from the Blush Wine Room and drinks from either of our locations,” Felicia says. “And, just like at our original location, the Champagne & Cocktail Bar will have wines and cocktails you won’t find anywhere else.” For more info about the Blush Wine Room or Champagne & Cocktail Bar, call (813) 428-6247 or visit BlushWineRoom.com.
Provisions To Add A 3rd Location?
Meanwhile, Provisions Coffee & Kitchen, which was the first tenant to open in the KRATE Container Park, has announced that it will open a second Wesley Chapel location (Provisions also has a New Tampa location at 2816 E. Bearss Ave.) in a new plaza on BBD Blvd. that is home to Abdoney Orthodontics. For more info, visit either currently open Provisions location or ProvisionsCoffeeFL.com.
Celebrity chef Fabiano Viviani is bringing Chuck Lager America’s Tavern to the Shops at Wiregrass next spring. (CBS Philadelphia)
Chuck Lager America’s Tavern is coming to the Shops at Wiregrass, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
By mid-April, the new restaurant inspired by celebrity chef Fabio Viviani could be open in the 7,500-sq.-ft. space previously occupied by Primebar.
According to TBBJ, the operating partners are Anthony Sandstorm and Brian Henry, formerly regional managers with Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza.
The Wesley Chapel location will be only the second for Chuck Lager America’s Tavern, which also has a Pike Creek, DE location.
The made-from-scratch menu, designed and perfected by Viviani, is loaded with American classics with a twist from the Florence, Italy-born chef.
A restaurateur, cookbook author and former Top Chef star three different seasons — including one where he was voted the “Fan Favorite,” Viviani helped craft a menu that includes items like crunchy smoked mozzarella with tomato jam, asiago gnocchi, chicken marsala, roasted salmon risotto and a variety of pizzas, burgers and salads.
The brunch menu includes tasty-sounding treats like bananas foster french toast, carnitas omelets and lemon ricotta pancakes.
Viviani is involved in several restaurant projects in the Tampa Bay area, including Mision Lago Ranch in nearby Thonotosassa.
Macy’s has announced that it will be closing 68 store sin 2017, but the good news is, one of them won’t be ours.
The department store chain, which announced in August that it would be closing 100 of its 700 stores by next year, announced 68 of its store closings and the Macy’s location at the Shops at Wiregrass mall was not on the list.
That’s good news, says Shops at Wiregrass general manager Greg Lenners.
“Having a Macy’s, it basically rounds out the selection of stores that we have and it’s a great anchor to have,’’ Lenners says.
When Macy’s announced its potential closings last year, Morningstar Credit Ratings identified 28 locations that had sales below the company’s national average for 2014, the most recent year information was available, putting them at higher risk.
The Wiregrass Macy’s was No. 8 on that list, reporting $118 in sales per sq. ft. The average for Macy’s overall in 2014 was $169 per sq. ft.
The other Florida store on the Morningstar Credit Ratings list was the Lakeland Square Mall location. That location did not survive and will close this spring.
Lenners says that despite the report, he never thought the location at his mall would be axed.
“We always anticipated it wouldn’t close,’’ he says. “We are in one of the fastest-growing communities in the state. It didn’t make sense why they would close it.”
Of the 68 stores Macy’s will close, three have already been shuttered, with another 63 closings expected by the spring. The remaining two are set to close later this summer.
Lenners says he is pleased Macy’s, whose storefront faces the center – and, probably, busiest — section of the mall, is staying open. He says the store’s selection, as well as the selection at the other anchors, JC Penney and Dillard’s, fits the local shopping demographic perfectly.
Big-name anchors are generally considered vital to a mall’s success, and the loss of one can sometimes be a hint of a downward spiral.
Lenners, however, points to some recent and planned openings that show the mall is still growing and going strong.
A few months ago, PhoLicious, a Vietnamese noodle soup café, opened, and on Jan. 8, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt debuted.
By the time this issue arrives in your mailbox, the Chinese stir-fry kitchen Wok Chi, located near the Barnes & Noble, should be open as well.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Irish 31 is still expected to open this spring, and an Avalon Spa is under construction next to Dillard’s. Lenners says the mall also recently completed a lease agreement with Noble Crust, a trendy and popular St. Petersburg restaurant that offers “Seasonal Italian with Southern Soul.”
Lenners also said the so-called “connector site” to the east of the existing Shops at Wiregrass, which will include luxury apartments, a movie theater and a green grocer, is still making it’s way through the environmental permitting process, but hopes to break ground sometime in the fall.
“There’s going to be lots of activity,’’ Lenners says.
For those who have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) for many years now, Wesley Chapel resident Lisa Bastone may have summed it up best.
“It’s about time,” she said.
Bastone was one of hundreds who showed up at the TPO (located at 2398 Grand Cypress Dr., at the interchange of I-75 and S.R. 56) hours before it officially opened at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, just to look around and bask in the shiny newness of the upscale outlet mall before the big weekend crowds arrive.
“It’s an event, you can’t miss things like this,” Bastone said. “This is going to make this area explode.”
The 441,000-square-foot mall, already home to more than 100 retailers, kicked off its opening with the Distinguished Men of Brass band, local dignitaries and fireworks as Stephen Yalof, chief executive officer of Simon Premium Outlets, Danielle DeVita, senior vice president of development for Simon and Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader all simultaneously cut the ribbon to officially open the mall to shoppers.
The mall is rolling out with grand opening festivities all weekend.
Here is the schedule:
Main Stage Entertainment Lagoon Court Friday, October 30, 1 – 9 p.m. 1 & 4:45 p.m. Caribbean Crew
2:15 p.m., 6 & 8:30 p.m. DJ Rekka 3:30 p.m. & 7:15 p.m. Nalisio & The Fellas
Grand Opening Fireworks Lagoon Court near Main Entrance Friday, 9 p.m.
Celebrate the Grand Opening of Tampa Premium Outlets with a spectacular Fireworks Show!
Strolling Entertainment Thursday – Saturday, Noon – 6 p.m. Enjoy entertainment while you shop including stilt walkers, face painters, a magician and more.
Visit The VIP Shopper Club Coral Court by Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH Thursday – Sunday, Noon – 5 p.m. VIP Shopper Club Members have exclusive access to the VIP Shopper Club lounge during the Grand Opening Weekend. Enjoy photos with your friends, chair massages, beauty touch-ups, and more. Not a member? Join for free outside the lounge or by visiting premiumoutlets.com/vip.
Meet Bethenny Frankel VIP Shopper Club Lounge Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. 1 p.m. Fashion Essentials for the Perfect Wardrobe 1:30 & 4 p.m. Autograph Session with Bethenny*
3:30 p.m. Essential Accessories to Elevate Your Outfit
*Bethenny will mingle with fans as time and space permits in the VIP Shopper Club Lounge. Autographs only please.
Halloween Happenings Haunted Pirate Ship Minnow Court near Forever 21 Friday & Saturday, Noon – 8 p.m. Fit for a pirate, dead or alive! This Haunted Ship will transport guests to a haunted world of hidden treasures and shipwrecked sails.
Halloween Crafts Friday & Saturday, Noon – 6 p.m. Fun for the kids with interactive craft stations.
Headless Ghosts Friday & Saturday, Throughout the Day These spooky ghosts will make you lose your mind when they lose their heads! Watch as these interactive ghosts entertain the audience and drop their heads before your eyes.
Grand Opening Prize-An-Hour Giveaways Near Main Stage
Register every hour at the registration table near the Main Stage from 11 a.m. – 4:55 p.m. Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30th for a chance to win a fabulous prize package. Must be present to win. Drawings will take place at the Main Stage at the top of each hour. Winner will have 30 minutes to claim their prize. See entry form for complete rules and regulations.
Shoppers are encouraged to visit the Tampa Premium Outlets website by visiting www.premiumoutlets.com/tampa and social media platforms including Facebook at @tampapremiumoutlets and Twitter at @TampaPO. Share your favorite moments using hashtag #TampaPremiumOutlets.
