Tallo Caribbean/American Restaurant Adds A Deliciously Unique Weekend Brunch!

If you still haven’t tried the new Tallo American/Caribbean Restaurant at 4424 Friendly Way in Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel, my question to you is, “Why not?” 

Not only is Tallo an elegant, one-of-a-kind mom-&-pop restaurant — the kind that our readers and so many online posters say they crave — it offers Executive Chef José Soto’s Caribbean twist for dinner and now, for weekend brunch. 

We were invited to sample Tallo’s new brunch on Nov. 23 — the first weekend it was offered — and Jannah and I were super-pleased with everything we sampled. 

Our “Warmup” started with a beef-&-cheese empanada (left), which was extra-crispy and served with a creamy garlic aioli dipping sauce. Chef Soto says he will vary the “surprise” filling of the empanadas every week. Jannah also appreciated the way Tallo does its “Mamita’s Mimosas” — providing a 375-ml (or half) bottle of her favorite La Marca prosecco with your choice of two delicious juices — orange, peach, cranberry, pineapple or mango. Jannah only chose the peach (below right) and savored every sip. 

For our brunch mains, my wife picked Tallo’s omelette, which was overstuffed with arugula, green and red peppers, onions and smoked gouda cheese and served with well-seasoned breakfast potatoes. We added the side of crispy bacon shown in the bottom left photo. 

Meanwhile, I absolutely loved the super-crispy, deliciously different fried chicken & sugar waffles I ordered. The two big waffles were topped with powdered sugar and butter (although I didn’t really need either one) and served with a side of bourbon maple syrup — the syrup was a game-changer for yours truly. The fried chicken on the bone isn’t typical of other places. Instead, it has a Caribbean-spiced twist that I totally ate up! (Pun intended? Maybe!) 

The brunch menu also features avocado bruschetta; creamy smoked fish dip served with artisan toasts, fried shishito peppers and pickled red onions; and a different-each-day Puerto Rican bread I totally will be trying on our next visit. 

There also are four flatbreads on the brunch menu, including a meat & egg variety with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, chicken, capicola ham and yellow cheddar cheese we saw someone else order — and devour. If you feel like a salad instead, there’s a Caribbean mixed green salad with fried sweet plantains, red onions, tomatoes, fried cheese, Duroc bacon and a lime dressing; as well as a burrata caprese, which adds peaches to the usual tomatoes, basil and balsamic glaze. 

Other brunch entrées and handhelds include a Tallo Cuban sandwich, a chimi burger, two Benedicts — one featuring baked salmon and the other with pork belly, both on a bagel with arugula, tomato and herbed Hollandaise, and served with those yummy breakfast potatoes. 

There’s also French toast with citrus cream, maple syrup, mint and fresh berries; a “Great America” option with two eggs, bacon, sausage, fried sweet plantains and an English muffin; skirt steak a Caballo (with a sunny-side-up egg on top, chimichurri sauce and mamposteao rice); a four-stack of pancakes (bananas Foster, pecan or plain); and the Mallorca — scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, white cheddar and powdered sugar. 

And, there are actually two desserts on the “Warmup” menu — a dulce de leche cinnamon roll with roasted pecans, and the P.R. donuts shown above, covered in sugar & cinnamon, chocolate sauce & caramel. Oh so decadent! 

I’ve written before about Tallo’s amazing dinner options, but if you’re looking for a truly unique and beautiful brunch place with a full premium liquor bar, call (813) 355-3603 or visit TalloRestaurant.com for reservations and go check it out this weekend! Also, see the ad (below) on this page! — GN 

Did You Wobble?

More than 1,400 runners — a 40% increase over last year — participated in the annual BayCare Wobble Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, with Steinbrenner High runner and Lutz resident Luca Martin finishing first in a personal best time of 15:37:32 (or just about 5:02 per mile!). The first overall female finisher was Tampa’s Amira Johnson, who also competed in the age 15-19 division. Amira crossed the finish line in 19:00:37, or 6:08 per mile. For the full results of the BayCare wobble, visit runsignup.com and search “BayCare Wobble.”

Hueland Pond Blvd. Extension, To Be Called Maggie Hill Blvd., To Begin Building

(Above, left & right) The Hueland Pond Blvd. extension, which will be called Maggie Hill Blvd., is shown in the maps of two new planned communities in Wiregrass Ranch. (Map source: Pasco County)

The Wiregrass Ranch area north of S.R. 56 is about to get another major connector road — with construction anticipated to start very soon. 

Since it was first built in 2016, Hueland Pond Blvd. (see maps) has ended at a large T-intersection with S.R. 56. That will soon change, as the Wiregrass Ranch development submitted final engineering plans with Pasco County on Oct. 14 to extend Hueland Pond Blvd. further to the north by about a mile, past S.R. 56 and through the cow fields, intersecting with another recently extended corridor — the east-west Chancey Rd. 

The new Hueland Pond Blvd. extension will be known as Maggie Hill Blvd and will connect and align exactly where the new back gate for the 55+ community of Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch is located. 

The extension of Hueland Pond Blvd. is being designed to serve a couple of upcoming communities and will be a 4-lane divided roadway with 10’-wide sidewalks on both sides, making it very pedestrian-friendly. 

Flanked by the 76 gas station on the east side and Florida Cancer Specialists on the west, the intersection of Hueland Pond Blvd. with S.R. 56 will become yet another major roadway for Wiregrass Ranch, as development continues around it. 

These road improvements were approved nearly 20 years ago under the original Wiregrass Ranch Master-Planned Unit Development (MPUD) plan, and since that time, Maggie Hill Blvd. always been shown on the master development map as a critical future road, being placed in a sweeping ‘S-shape,’ almost exactly where the old cattle ranch service path (above photo) exists today. 

Per the development agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation (or FDOT), Wiregrass Ranch will be responsible to construct a traffic signal on S.R. 56 once traffic volumes at the intersection warrant one. The intersection will eventually feature dual left turn lanes in each direction. 

All of this will probably come sooner rather than later, because plans have also been submitted for two new communities (pictured in the two maps) to be constructed on the north side of S.R. 56, both taking advantage of the upcoming extension of Hueland Pond/Maggie Hill Blvd. 

The first one will be a 225 single-family-home community with access directly off of Maggie Hill Blvd, and the other one will feature 111 single-family homes with access off of Chancey Rd. — both on the west side of the proposed Hueland Pond/Maggie Hill extension. 

Unfortunately, no builder info has been announced yet, nor do either of the planned communities yet have a name, but preliminary plans have been submitted that are being reviewed by Pasco County. 

This photo (above) is looking south from Chancey Road across the cow fields toward S.R. 56, at the point of future connection of Hueland Pond/Maggie Hill Blvd. 

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Celebrates Urgent Care Grand Opening!

Susan Byrd, RN (at right in left photo below) and Dr. Joseph Perno (at right in right photo below) led the tours of the new Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital After Hours Pediatric Urgent Care on Oct. 17. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

The Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital under construction in Wesley Chapel isn’t expected to open until late 2027, but that doesn’t mean the pediatric clinical and academic health system isn’t making news in our area. 

Not only does Johns Hopkins All Children’s already have a specialty clinic open off Wesley Chapel Blvd., it also celebrated the opening of its first-ever pediatric urgent care facility in Tampa (which is located at 12220 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Suite B, near USF) on Oct. 17, with a North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) ribbon-cutting event that included tours of the after-hours (it’s open 5 p.m.-midnight on weekdays and 11:30 a.m.-midnight on weekends) and pediatric (under age 21)-only urgent care facility. 

The tours were led by Susan Byrd, RN, the executive director of ambulatory services, Dr. Joseph Perno, the VP of medical affairs, and Chrissie Ladd, PA (in floral dress in top photo), for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. The NTBC ribbon was cut by the urgent care facility’s first patient Shanella Fisher (with scissors in photo below). 

And, the Johns Hopkins All Children’s OB/ GYN Specialists Office located at 19707 Aprile Dr., Land O’Lakes, was set to host another NTBC ribbon-cutting event on Nov. 18, 

For more information about the new Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Pediatric After Hours Urgent Care, call (727) 767- 8170 or visit HopkinsMedicine.org. — GN 

Former Gator All-American Celebrates Grand Reopening Of Sonny’s BBQ

Photos by Charmaine George

As a former Gator, I remember when former University of Florida guard Shannon Snell — who recently became the franchise owner of the Sonny’s BBQ (Note-Snell took over for previous franchisees and New Tampa residents Jim and Cristina Hoff, who ran the local Sonny’s since it opened in 1998) on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel — was a first-team All-American back in 2003. 

What I didn’t know was that Snell lived in Tampa Palms, but attended Hillsborough High instead of Wharton (where he was zoned to attend), and he was a three-year starter for the Terriers and a USA Today High School All-American. 

But, Snell told me that he injured his shoulder during his junior season at Florida and somehow went undrafted by the NFL because he never had the shoulder repaired and couldn’t pass a physical. “It just kept getting worse,” he said. “But, I just wanted to rehab it and not have surgery.” 

Between 2004-06, he had brief stints with the Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys, but told me, “I loved football, but I knew I didn’t have the passion to play that some guys did. My dad said that when you find your passion in work, it’s more fun, more like a hobby.” 

So, when he was still living in Gainesville, Snell says he, “started at the bottom with Sonny’s. But, it had everything I wanted — a chance to move up, with a corporate structure.” 

He adds that today, all Sonny’s franchisees have to also become barbecue pitmasters. 

“Every location has a real person who really knows how to do barbecue,” he says. “And, since every pitmaster does barbecue a little different, you’re allowed to have your individuality, but within our corporate standards. We go to Florida BBQ Association competitions and even have corporate competitions, so we’re always learning how to do barbecue better.” 

Today, Sonny’s has almost 100 locations throughout the Southeastern U.S., owned by CEO Jamie Yarmuth, and Snell says that even though Yarmuth is young himself, he has been “a mentor to me. After I was the GM of a Gainesville location for ten years, he came to me and said, ‘Wesley Chapel is coming available and we’d like you to become the new franchisee.’” 

So, after a couple of months with Sonny’s “back home,” Snell held a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting (top photo) on Oct. 29, that Yarmuth and other Sonny’s execs also attended. 

Snell likes to show off the seasonal menu, with items that aren’t always available — like the maple BBQ turkey club sandwich (left) and the maple BBQ pork burnt ends (above right), which were my favorites of the seasonal items. There’s also a pulled pork stack on “corncakes” (cornbread “waffles”), sweet potato fries, pulled pork mac & cheese and seasonal wings tossed in maple or golden BBQ sauce. 

My favorite thing at Sonny’s, since BBQ sauce doesn’t always agree with me, are the grilled steakburgers (like the candied bacon burger below right) and the new loaded tots (topped with crispy onion straws, queso & drizzled with BBQ sauce, top left). We added some pulled pork because the tots just didn’t seem messy enough (just kidding — they were definitely messy!). 

Every attendee at the ribbon cutting also received a free “Pork Big Deal” with any other entrée purchase. It included a big pulled pork sandwich, a side and a drink. 

And of course, Sonny’s — “Pitmasters since ‘68” — also still has “Signature BBQ” like St. Louis-style and baby back pork ribs, beef brisket and more. We believe Snell is going to do great at his Wesley Chapel location! 

Sonny’s BBQ (5324 BBD Blvd.) is open every day for lunch & dinner (11 a.m.-9 p.m.). For info, call (813) 994-8989 or visit SonnysBBQ.com. — GN