By Gary Nager
Detroit native Toya Tucker was working for the Ford Motor Company when the company closed the plant in 2006. That started a series of moves for her and her husband Kyle and their family that ultimately landed with them moving to our area for Toya’s new job with Kellogg’s (the breakfast cereal company based in Battle Creek, MI, but which has an office in Tampa) in 2009.
About a year after the Tucker family made their move to our area, Toya went into the hospital for a breast biopsy under general anesthesia. Apparently, the dose of anesthesia she received was too strong and she was reportedly dead on the table for about eight minutes — and most people who flatline for six minutes usually have some permanent brain trauma afterwards.
After being in a coma for three weeks, however, Toya somehow came out of it, although certainly not unscathed. She says she has needed ongoing physical and occupational therapy for going on six years and says could not work at all until she finally became self-sufficient again sometime between the last quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.
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By 2011, the Tuckers moved to the new Bassett Creek neighborhood in the K-Bar Ranch development off Morris Bridge Rd. and started looking for something they could do close to home; something that would allow them to once again be their own bosses (they previously owned an independent ice cream parlor together in Reno, NV, for about a year before moving here in ‘09), in order for Toya to be able to accommodate her ongoing therapy needs.
“We have loved living out here in New Tampa and while we were looking for an existing franchise (at the end of 2013), we realized there really weren’t great places for wings in New Tampa,” Kyle says, “and no one was delivering wings or hamburgers, only pizza.”
So, they looked at both WingZone and Wing Stop, but chose WingZone, “because of the variety of food on the menu (more on that below) and the fact that delivery was part of the plan.”
The funny thing, they say, was that both franchises tried to steer them away from New Tampa. “They both told us that Brandon was a better area,” Kyle recalls, “because they were looking at stats from 2010 (when New Tampa was still hurting from the housing bubble that hit in 2008). But, we convinced them both to come see how upscale it is here and then, they were both excited to put a location out here in New Tampa.”
They were able to find a perfect location which, even though there’s no drive-through available, allows for easy-in, easy-out pickup and there’s even a few tables for those who want to dine in (and yes, fast & hot delivery service is available, too). The high-traffic location, in the Publix-anchored New Tampa Center plaza, directly behind McDonald’s and the Mobil gas station just north of the intersection of Cross Creek Blvd. and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in the heart of New Tampa, allows WingZone to draw customers from as far away as Tampa Palms and Wesley Chapel, one reason why they advertise both in our New Tampa and Wesley Chapel editions.
“We’ve only been open a few months,” Kyle says, “but we’ve been getting great feedback so far. People really seem to love (all 15 of) our ‘Flavor Zone’ sauces (and two dry rubs).” And, you can even have any of those sauces/rubs “Flavor-Fuzed” into a burger or grilled chicken sandwich (and not just on your wings) at WingZone.
Now, those who have been reading my dining reviews for a while know that I’m not the biggest wing eater. But, the way I do enjoy an occasional order of wings is to get them unbreaded and just deep fried, with the sauce on the side. And, at WingZones, my wings are served hot, crisp and I have a couple of favorite sauces to dip them in — the three-pepper-spicy-rated mango fire and the sweet-&-sour, two-pepper spicy Thai Chili sauce. I also enjoyed sampling everything from the Sweet Samurai to the four-pepper-rated Nuclear Habanero sauce not only for my wings, but also for the tasty grilled chicken (with cheese and crisp bacon) sandwich.
You regulars also know about my French fry “addiction.” Well, WingZone’s are thick and potato-y (yes, my own word), but still extra crisp, the way I love ‘em. Our office also enjoyed sampling WingZone’s garden salad with hand-breaded tenders, as well as the boneless wings, bacon cheeseburgers, the homemade cole slaw and the one item I couldn’t sample, the extra large fried shrimp, all got high marks. Items we plan to try in the future are the mozzarella sticks, fried mushrooms and fried pickles appetizers and the Caesar salad.
But, for us and the Tuckers, so far, so flavorful at the new WingZone.
The New Tampa WingZone is located at 19062 BBD and is open Sun.-Thur., 11 a.m.-11 p.m. and 11 a.m.-midnight on Fri. & Sat. Call 558-WING (9464) or visit WingZone.com for more info. Also, see the ad on page 56 of this issue for some amazing money-saving coupons!
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