Shops at Wiregrass Mall Offers Diversity With Latest Offerings

Vom Fass casks.
Vom Fass casks. Shops at Wiregrass Mall .
Vom Fass casks, coming soon to the Shops at Wiregrass Mall.

The Shops at Wiregrass mall in Wesley Chapel will welcome a handful of new stores in the coming months, and while Wiregrass officials aren’t looking to compete with bigger malls like Westfield Brandon, the latest batch of new choices for area shoppers gives the local mall a unique mix that general manager Greg Lenners thinks will continue to make it a prime destination.

Currently seeking an alcohol permit for tastings, Vom Fass is slated to open sometime this spring. Construction already has begun on the store, which will be near Macy’s and the mall’s Center Court.

Vom Fass, which takes it’s name from the German phrase “from the cask”, will offer premium culinary oils, traditional balsamic oils and vinegars, vinegar specialties, and exclusive fruit balsamic vinegars, as well as rare spirits and liqueurs and a boutique selection of wines. Many of the store’s products are cask-aged and stored in cask pyramids.

“What’s made us great for the community is the diverse mix of retailers we’ve always carried here,’’ Lenners said. “It’s kind of a unique blend of stores. We thought Vom Fass would be a perfect fit. No one in the area that has that kind of store.”

This will be the seventh Von Fass store in Florida; the closest ones are located in Sarasota and St. Petersburg.

Candy, 3D And More On Tap For Shops at Wiregrass Mall

Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop also is coming this spring, to Suite #115, near JC Penney.

Founded in 2007 in California, Rocket Fizz has become the largest and fastest-growing soda and candy shop brand in the country, according to its website. The 74 stores nationwide all offer a massive selection of candy, soda, retro and gag gifts, concert and movie posters and tin signs.

“A pretty cool concept, in my opinion,’’ Lenners said. “It’s got a 1950s, specialty convenience store feel to it.”

3D Musketeers Printing, offering custon color-printed three-dimensional figurines, is expected to open by the end of the month.

And as we were the first to report back in January, this fall will see the Wesley Chapel debut of Irish 31. The popular restaurant is referred to as “The People’s Pub” by their customers and dubbed “Irish-plus-gourmet” by Neighborhood News publisher and foodie Gary Nager.

Irish31 in Hyde Park. Shops at Wiregrass Mall.
Irish31 in Hyde Park. Construction has begun on a location at the Shops at Wiregrass Mall.

Irish 31 is being built next to Panera Bread. Lenners said he thinks the mall has already hit a home run with its food offerings, and Irish 31 only strengthens that opinion.

Visionworks, which has roughly 700 optical retail stores in 40 states, is expected to open this fall as well. Construction has begun on the building, which will be across from Moe’s Southwest Grill on the S.R. 56 side of the mall.

Another tenant will share that property (though Lenners was unable to announce it at our press time because the lease hasn’t been signed).

A few stores that have recently opened include Lola Perfume, located in Suite #160 (next to Hollister), and Soleciety Sneaker Boutique,which sells collectible athletic shoes from around the globe, in Suite #170 (next to Zales), and has only been open a few weeks.

For more information about the Shops at Wiregrass, visit TheShopsAtWiregrass.com.

Would Incorporating Wesley Chapel As A City Be Of Interest To You?

Russ Miller. Wesley Chapel Incorporation
Russ Miller

When Ernie Monaco, the director of planning for Pasco County, tossed out the idea — during a meeting to discuss borders — to representatives from the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) last month that they might want to revisit the idea of incorporation, he got the attention of Russ Miller.

“I was surprised to hear that from a county employee,’’ said Miller, often credited with creating the WCCC, although he says he was one of six co-founders, “just the loudest.”

The mention of incorporation took Miller, who was at the meeting to discuss Wesley Chapel’s boundaries, on a trip down memory lane.

In 2003, Miller and fellow WCCC member Jim Williams led a charge to incorporate Wesley Chapel, hoping to turn the quickly-growing Census Designated Place (CDP) into a full-fledged city, with its own government and its own rules, particularly in the areas of land use and zoning.

The incorporated municipality (which can be referred to as a city, town or village) of Wesley Chapel would have extended eight miles east and west from Cypress Creek Rd. to Morris Bridge Rd., and eight miles north and south from County Line Rd. to Elam Rd. (which is roughly three miles north of S.R. 54).

The proposed municipality would have included all of the developments in Wesley Chapel at the time — Lexington Oaks, Meadow Pointe, Northwood, Quail Hollow, New River Township, Saddlebrook and Seven Oaks.

Miller, who lived in Wesley Chapel from 1981-2009 before moving to Palatka, hired a firm to help with a feasibility study.

The effort, which at the time would have taken 11 percent of Pasco County’s land area and included 28,000 residents and 10,000 homes, didn’t get very far and ultimately failed.

Miller said the developers and local daily newspapers were against it, and time was short to get a referendum approved ahead of the 2004 elections.

Also, the idea of another layer of property taxes (to fund a potential city government) did not appeal to some residents, especially since Pasco was already requesting a 1-cent increase in the county sales tax to be on the 2004 ballot.

Even the WCCC effectively came out against incorporation.

“We were just a group of lay people who saw a benefit in incorporating Wesley Chapel,’’ Miller said. “But, we didn’t have the money to fight the developers and the people in the community who were against it, and we got negative press. I have people still say to me, ‘Why did you stop?’ Now, they’re sorry.”

Miller says he just recently threw out all of the paperwork from that failed attempt. However, he still thinks incorporation is the way to go, and doing so would surely settle the long-standing border dispute with Lutz-Land O’Lakes.

“It’s never bad to control your own destiny,’’ Miller says. “Residents get a total say on how the community’s future will look. Now, where is the power? The county government. And where are they located? West Pasco controls it.”

Could a Wesley Chapel incorporation effort succeed today?

In Pasco, 450,000 of the county’s 490,000 residents live in unincorporated areas, meaning decisions about their land, police and schools are made by the county government.

Pasco County only has six municipalities: the cities of New Port Richey, Port Richey, San Antonio, Dade City, Zephyrhills and the town of Saint Leo.

In the 2010 census, Wesley Chapel’s population was listed at 44,092, a number that has grown and at the time was already nearly three times greater than the next largest city (New Port Richey, 14,934) and more populous than all of the other cities and towns put together.

“Had we succeeded, Wesley Chapel (today) would be the biggest and most powerful city in the entire county,’’ Miller laments.

While the WCCC came out against the incorporation efforts in 2003, none of those members are among the more than 500 the Chamber claims today.

“We don’t have an official stance,’’ says WCCC CEO Hope Allen, but she said it may be revisited by the Chamber’s current Board of Directors.

Pulling off incorporation won’t necessarily be any easier today. It takes money and lawyers, a feasibility study that can take up to two years to complete and will need the support of the local State legislative delegation, who would then bring it to the full state legislature, which could then approve it through a special act and put it on a referendum on the ballot.

“I saw an awful lot of interest from the chamber leaders two weeks ago,’’ Miller says about the Feb. 19 meeting. “If they were serious, and wanted to spend the money to promote it, I’d give it a 50-50 chance. But, it’s got to be sold to the residents. And, you need a cast iron stomach and the financial wherewithal to fight the battles.

He adds, “I absolutely would like to live long enough to see the day when Wesley Chapel is incorporated!”

Owner offers up Only The Best (OTB) for local patrons

OTB Tuna SaladWhen you meet Brazilian-born-and-raised Dirson De Mesquita, the owner and chef at Only The Best (OTB) Delights Café, located in the Shoppes at Wesley Chapel plaza across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), you are immediately impressed by any number of things.

Of course, there’s the cleanliness of his place and the way he tries to communicate with every patron, whether they’re happy (as almost all of his customers are; see below) or not. Anyone can see that the man is a tireless worker who aims to please.

And, pleasing locals is what OTB has been able to do for a little more than a year now. With OTB’s healthy menu, featuring organic and locally-grown produce, no microwaves, fryers or freezers, it’s a perfect, casual (but recently redesigned) little spot where so many who work out at the FHWC Wellness Center or work at the hospital itself have invited their friends and co-workers to sample OTB’s tasty food at very fair prices for the quality.

Dirson has made some changes to his menu, but most recently, he decided to bring back his six-item dinner menu.

OTB Owner & Decor WallFor dinner, OTB has two kinds of grass-fed, organic top sirloin (Dirson says to try it with balsamic caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese crumbles), a Salmon Gone Wild entrée (which is a different dish than the Salmon Gone Wild salad on the next page) of wild-caught, baked North Atlantic salmon with pesto sauce, a chicken Ana Bella (free range chicken cooked in a cream sauce with spinach and tomatoes), all served with soup or salad and fresh veggie and rice sides.

The dinner menu, which is offered any time of day (just as you also can get breakfast or lunch whenever OTB is open), also has two kinds of mini-quesadillas — with cheese or chicken and cheese.

The dinner menu is so new, we don’t have pics of the new items to share, so all of the pics on this page are from OTB’s breakfast and (primarily) lunch menus. But, OTB — which Dirson says he has consistently ranked #1 or #2 of all restaurants in the Wesley Chapel area on Trip Advisor.com and has maintained a 4.5-star (out of 5) rating on Yelp.com — already has lots of fans, including everyone here at the Neighborhood News office. In fact, OTB was the #10 Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel with our readers in the most recent Reader Survey & Dining Contest, and #11 on my own list of favorites (and my fourth favorite lunch place and third favorite hamburger joint in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel).

From breakfast, where I flipped for the Good Morning Ciabatta (try it with over easy fried eggs although, I warn you, it’ll get a little messy), even though I really didn’t think I loved turkey bacon, to each of our office’s favorites so far, there’s something for pretty much everyone at OTB.

OTB Egg SandwichBilling manager Jill Reilly loves the Kickin’ Chicken burrito, office assistant Celeste McLaughlin swears by the San Diego Chicken sandwich, office manager Mary Dorey really enjoyed the Salmon Gone Wild salad, assistant editor John Cotey really enjoyed the Seared Steak Delight salad, which is one of my three favorites at OTB, the others being the Asian Orange Ahi Tuna salad and the killer Artisan Burger.

I also can vouch for both the Rio Rancho and Shanghai Chicken rice bowls, which means there’s very little on the menu that I can’t recommend. I don’t eat too much vegetarian-only (and no gluten-free) fare, but OTB does have multiple salads, sandwiches and entrées catering to non-carnivores and those who prefer fresh, real food.

Dirson even recently started growing fresh herbs right in OTB’s new planters to add to the organic feel of the place.

OTB Café is open Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-9 p.m., 8 a.m.-9 p.m. on Sat. and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sun. Catering also is available. For more information, call 973-8880 or visit OTBDelightCafe.com.

 

Junior Woman’s Club Members Accompany Vets On ‘Honor Flight’

honor3Tampa Palms resident Melanie Otte remembers her grandfather’s stories about World War II. He would regale the family about his wartime exploits, as they leafed through his photo albums, and proudly show off a picture of the Enola Gay — the first aircraft ever to drop an atomic bomb — that he had to jump a fence to take the photo with a small spy camera.

It never really hit her, though, what his service meant to him until she recently chose to take part in an Honor Flight.

Otte and Wesley Chapel resident Jennifer Lee, both members of the Greater Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)’s New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club, served as volunteer guardians to a pair of U.S. Military veterans on Sept. 22, an experience that left both amazed, appreciative and very much in awe.

honor2
Jennifer Lee (left) and Melanie Otte

“I had been to Washington, DC, as a kid, but this was a much more moving experience,’’ Otte says. “I mean, standing there with a person who lived it, that was just something totally different.”

Honor Flights are one-day trips organized by non-profit organizations dedicated to providing a way for veterans to visit the monuments created in the name of their service scattered throughout the nation’s capital.

Last year, the New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club donated $400 so one veteran could make the trip. That inspired Otte and Lee to get involved as Honor Flight volunteers this year.

Otte served as a volunteer guardian to 80-year-old Korean War U.S. Air Force Military Police veteran Frank Kynion, who lives in St. Petersburg, while Lee escorted Laura Tilton, a 92-year-old Venice resident and World War II veteran.

The day of the Honor Flight began with alarm clocks going off at 3 a.m. for the volunteers, a donated breakfast from McDonald’s at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport, and a 4 a.m. flight to the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport with about 80 other veterans and their guardians.

When they got off the plane, the spunky Tilton asked Lee if the wheelchair had a speed limit, and Lee asked if she was pushing too fast.

“No, pick it up, we got things to see,’’ Tilton told her with glee.

honor4A contingent of military personnel was there to greet the veterans at the airport, setting off a whirlwind day of emotional sightseeing.

“When we were at the Korean War Memorial, it was very somber,” says Otte. “Frank was visibly taken aback. You could tell he was welling up.”

Otte said the listing of the Korean’s War’s U.S. fatalities (almost 40,000, with more than 100,000 injured) and the 19 haunting seven-foot-tall stainless steel statues standing in a patch of juniper bushes at the memorial was overwhelming.

Lee pushed Tilton around, although the former Naval Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)/pharmacy maid, was able to stand and walk for short periods of time.

“She was a lot of fun,’’ Lee says. “I think a lot of them just appreciated the one-on-one attention. She told me, ‘I had so much fun. I like to giggle, you like to giggle. She told me I was now her third daughter.”

honor1As the vets returned to Florida, they read dozens of letters written to them by school children and adults, thanking them for their service and dedication. When the plane landed back in Clearwater, a throng of roughly 800 people, including a band, were there to greet them.

Kynion, who married a Japanese woman after the war, says he faced discrimination as a result, and also lived through the anti-military era of the Vietnam War, so he was humbled by the support. In fact, many of the veterans, on multiple occasions, asked why everyone was doing this for them.

Otte told him the answer was simple: “Because you are our heros.”

The GFWC New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club meets the second Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the New Tampa YMCA (16221 Compton Dr. in Tampa Palms). For more info, visit GFWCNewTampaJuniors.org.

Two-car collision on S.R. 54 leaves two dead

fhpWESLEY CHAPEL — Two women are dead after an accident on S.R. 54 and Ernest Drive near the New River Library backed up traffic for hours Sunday night.

Lutz resident Barbara Janet Charlebois, 38, was traveling west on S.R. 54  when, for unknown reasons, she drove off the roadway and onto the right shoulder of the road. She overcorrected her vehicle, a 2004 Toyota Camry, to the left which caused her to swerve into the eastbound lane and into the direct path of a 2014 Buick Verano driven by 76-year-old Bridget Mary Kent of Ontario, Canada.

The collision between the two cars occurred around 8:50 p.m.. Charlebois suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. Kent had serious injuries and was taken to Lakeland Regional Hospital.

There were two passengers in Kent’s vehicle. and both were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa. Lillian Cruickshank, 70, suffered serious injuries. William Edward Kent, 78 of Ontario, Canada, passed away overnight.