New Tampa Neighborhood News, Volume 28. Issue 9, April 24, 2020 by Neighborhood News

Volume 28 Issue 9 April 24, 2020

Inside: In Praise Of Irish Whiskey!!

See page 38!

A CALL TO ACTION F

or three months, Cory Revoldt’s Christmas present sat unopened. Her plans to unleash her crafty side in 2020 had been sidelined by a busy work schedule and having three kids transition to online learning at home. “One day,” she kept saying to herself. A day in late March, when

she had a conversation with her brother, Jacob Hennings, turned out to be that day. Jacob, a doctor in Chattanooga, TN, working on the frontlines in the battle against Covid-19, told Cory not to let her family out of the house without wearing masks. It wasn’t just because he told

Cory that she needed to take the novel coronavirus seriously, but also because two of her three daughters and her husband, Chris, also suffer from asthma. Chris also continued to work outside of their house. Because there was a shortage in Florida, and because the U.S. Centers for Disease

(L.-r.) Kylie, Avery, Teagan & Cory Revoldt are among many New Tampa residents sewing cloth masks during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by John C. Cotey)

Control (CDC) & Prevention began recommending that everyone should wear cloth face coverings in public to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, Cory figured it was finally about time to open that Christmas present — a Singer Heavy Duty 4423 sewing machine. See “Masks” on pages 4-5.

As we navigate through these unprecedented times, our team is reminded of how fortunate we are to be part of this strong community. It is the power of these communities that will propel us through to the better times. Wishing you & your loved ones health & safety during these times. — From The Grove Family to Yours

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Between NPC & (No) PPP, We Have A Problem, New Tampa An editorial by Gary Nager Dear New Tampa Neighborhood News Readers: I apologize for the fact that this April 24 issue of New Tampa Neighborhood News is reaching you so much later than you might have expected, but there is a good reason for it. Our printer since 2013 — Newspaper Printing Company (NPC), located on Lois Ave in Tampa — has received about a million dollars in paid print bills from the Neighborhood News over the last seven years. Even so, NPC has decided — in the midst of the worst financial crisis of all of our lifetimes — not to print or distribute our Apr 10 Wesley Chapel or Apr 24 New Tampa issues, without giving me any prior warning, because (go figure) it is taking me 10-15 days longer than what the management at NPC has decided, as of two weeks ago, is acceptable to them, to pay one older print bill. In other words, rather than make sure you — our readers — receive the important news and information of your community in this issue on a timely basis, we have had to immediately find another printing company to print and distribute these two issues. Without being able to print our job elsewhere, we would not have been able to get this issue to you at all, much less a week later than usual, and the Neighborhood News might have to go out of business altogether. Obviously, nothing that we’ve done before, none of the hundreds of thousands of dollars we’ve paid to NPC over the years, means anything to that company’s management, so maybe hearing from as many of you as possible, by phone call or email, will. The Neighborhood News has never not paid its print bills and has never gone a month without paying off two of those older print bills. NPC is just deciding now to not be willing to extend any more “days of credit” to a business that has been paying two print bills per month for more than 25 years. To that end, below is the contact information for NPC. Feel free to call or email ASAP to let them know how you feel about them attempting to shut down your primary source of news and information about your community at this most desperate time. Newspaper Printing Company — (813) 839-0035; Ryan Dal Sasso or Brian Harrison

Unlike a corporate entity like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, which surely had their in-house accounting departments and lawyers submitting (and finding loopholes for) their applications for every one of their franchises, actual small local business owners like yours truly had to figure out what to put on those applications ourselves, all while trying to keep our businesses afloat during this crisis. Wasn’t the bulk of the $2.2 trillion federal stimulus package already dedicated for large businesses? Why did huge corporate entities even have an opportunity to compete for and receive any of the much smaller share of the pie supposedly intended to help actual small businesses? It reminded me of when, in 2008, the federal government bailed out giant banks and investment firms like AIG and Bear Stearns, deeming them “too big to fail” during the last

INSIDE:

Takeout business can only carry most restaurants so far.

Pages 6-7

Wharton valedictorian has an inspiring story to tell.

Pages 12-13

Taco Bus in Lutz offers tasty Mexican fare at a fair price!

Pages 32-33

New Tampa Neighborhood News Address: 29157 Chapel Park Dr., Suite B Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 Phone: (813) 910-2575 Advertising E-mail: Ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com Editorial E-mail: EditorialDept@NTNeighborhoodNews.com Publisher & Editor /Ad Sales Gary Nager Managing Editor / Photographer John C. Cotey Correspondent Celeste McLaughlin Lead Video Producer/Multimedia Specialist Charmaine George Photography & Videography Richard Nasrallah • Benjamin Hobe • Amy Stewart Graphic Designers Georgia Carmichael • Valerie Wegener Billing Assistant Jannah Nager

And yes, I did apply and, of course, was ultimately turned down for, one of those coveted Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans at my bank. I found out by watching TV three weeks ago — a day before I was told by my bank that I was not approved for the loan — that the program had already run out of money within the first two weeks the funds were available, even though my application was in my bank’s “portal” the week before. I also started seeing posts on local Facebook community pages that very few actual small businesses like mine received any of that funding, in part because many larger businesses with apparently better credentials than a 26-year-old “essential” media business, had been able to get their hands on the bulk of that $349 billion pot of loan money funded by the federal government’s Small Business Administration (SBA). In what universe is a business with 500 employees a “small” business? Why was that the number used as the cut-off criteria for these SBA loans? And, speaking of cut-offs, how did any of these “small” businesses receive $10-$20 million chunks of that money? How many thousands of actual small businesses of 50 employees or less were there that tried to get that funding that were turned down? Neighborhood News

major recession most of us lived through, when homeowner property values across the country were in the toilet for 2-3 years. Regardless of what it may seem like, this is not in any way a political editorial. I don’t care whether the fault for the lack of funding given to actual small businesses by the SBA is a red or blue, or a right or left problem. All I know is that, for the first time in 26 years, I am losing sleep over my ability to pay the bills of the Neighborhood News and it doesn’t look like additional help is on the way anytime soon. While this issue may not look or feel exactly like your usual New Tampa Neighborhood News, it was the best we could do on very short notice, with very few other printing options. The hope here is that my re-submitted application will be approved for the second round of PPP funding, so our issues can get back to normal.

Nothing that appears in New Tampa Neighborhood News may be reproduced, whether wholly or in part, without permission. Opinions expressed by New Tampa Neighborhood News writers are their own and do not reflect the publisher’s opinion. The deadline for outside editorial submissions and advertisement reservations for Volume 28, Issue 11, of New Tampa Neighborhood News is Monday, May 11, 2020. New Tampa Neighborhood News will consider previously non-published outside editorial submissions if they are double spaced, typed and less than 500 words. New Tampa Neighborhood News reserves the right to edit and/or reject all outside editorial submissions and makes no guarantees regarding publication dates. New Tampa Neighborhood News will not return unsolicited editorial materials. New Tampa Neighborhood News reserves the right to edit &/or reject any advertising. New Tampa Neighborhood News is not responsible for errors in advertising beyond the actual cost of the advertising space itself, nor for the validity of any claims made by its advertisers.

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Masks: Spread of coronavirus finds a determined foe in New Tampa Continued from page 1. Cory began by making masks for her family, which lives in Easton Park off Morris Bridge Rd., and hasn’t stopped since. Seeing that there was a shortage at local hospitals, Cory and her daughters — Teagan, 12, Kylie, 15 and Avery, 16 — have been making masks every night. They made their first donation to Gentle Hands OB/GYN, then handed out a handful of masks to the workers at The UPS Store, and recently passed the 100mask mark with their donations to the Moffitt Cancer Center. All of her masks, like most of those made from fabric, are washable and reusable. Remarkably, Cory didn’t know how to sew when the project started. She got the machine for Christmas to learn. She essentially took a 48-hour online crash course via Facebook, YouTube and Joann.com. “Once we knew there was a need, I was like, okay, let me figure out this sewing machine,” Cory says. “It was frustrating at first. But now, it’s become a labor of love.” ----The Revoldts are members of a large nationwide army that has swept into action as hospitals everywhere have been fretting over a shortage of protective equipment when it comes to fighting the coronavirus. It may not be Rosie the Riveter sweating it out in a World War II shipyard, but living rooms and dens all across the country have been converted to mini mask-making factories. While homemade masks aren’t a substitute for the high-grade N-95 masks or even regular surgical masks when it comes to filtering out the coronavirus, they do offer some protection and, according to the CDC, can help prevent the spread of the virus. Most of these modern day riveters are experienced seamstresses eager to jump into the fray. Heritage Isles resident Katie Johns, who owns a sewing business that makes children’s clothing, said she was inspired to begin making masks when she learned of the local shortages. She also enlisted the help of her 5-, 7- and 9-year-old daughters, and to date, has made more than 200 masks and donated them to individual nurses at Moffitt and the James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital. It began with a simple comment on Facebook by Katie and, almost immediately, she was flooded with requests from medical professionals and friends. 4

Brynn Johns, 5, shows off the fabric her mother Katie used to make her washable mask. (Photo courtesy of Katie Johns)

“I was surprised at the response. It was overwhelming.” — Live Oak resident Amy Zweil, a nurse at AdventHealth Connerton, who received more than 100 replies online when requesting masks. She is wearing one (left) that is big enough to fit over an N-95 mask, made for her by Hunter's Green resident Irma Gill.

“One of my neighbors is a doctor, and he was so grateful just to have a mask,” she says. “There is definitely a need for them, and it’s nice to help.” Katie says there are a lot of considerations to take into account when making masks. She says they need to be breathable yet safe, comfortable for doctors and nurses who wear them for entire shifts at a time, and they have to mold to the bridge of the nose so goggles and glasses don’t fog up. She says a massive underground sewing community is fine-tuning the process every day. For example, The Mask Project of Tampa Bay, a group on Facebook, has more than 4,500 members and has raised more than $7,600 to purchase materials to make more masks. Thankfully, says AdventHealth Connerton (AHC) nurse Amy Zweil,

there is an abundance of Corys and Katies in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area. When Amy, a Live Oak resident, posted online that many of the nurses at her hospital were looking for cloth masks to wear over their hospitalissued masks to help preserve them, her post received more than 100 comments from people volunteering to make and drop off masks. Within an hour of the post, one of her neighbors dropped off a mask in Amy’s mailbox. Another dropped off some masks, as well as hand sanitizer and gloves. “I was surprised at the response,” Amy says. “It was overwhelming.” Amy received a variety of masks, some with elastic that hooked around the ears and others that tied in the back, which can be less painful after hours of use.

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She also was offered N-95 masks but AHC is a long-term acute care hospital and not taking Covid-19 patients. She suggested donating the masks to someone who needs them. She received such an outpouring of generosity that she began directing people to others who needed masks. Irma Gill of Hunter’s Green was one of those who made masks for Amy, as well as for many other people. A tutu designer for professional ballerinas, Irma was part of a large Facebook group of designers from all over the world. Back in March, during one chat, one of the designers in Italy told the group she was switching to making masks instead of designer clothes because the coronavirus was ravaging her country. Irma wondered if, eventually, that would be her calling as well. When Amy posted about her need for masks, Irma started sewing. She made 40 masks, all with three layers of cotton that were big enough to fit snugly over the large N-95 masks. By her fourth week of sewing masks, she had made more than 200. Irma grew up sewing men’s shirts in a factory in Mexico until she came to the United States at the age of 17, so producing en masse was nothing new to her. She graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in health education, which came in handy when she began designing masks for medical workers. She is currently making masks for nurses working in prenatal care at St. Joseph Hospital, as well as for some other nurses, although she says it is getting harder and harder to find the right material. But, Irma says she has no plans to slow down. “I will find something,” she says, “even if I have to take my curtains down and use those.” Finding the right material requires patience, says Cory. Fabric and elastic can be hard to come by. Before masks became a big thing, she said the first time getting fabric was easy. The second time, she says she stood in line for two hours — six feet apart, of course — at Joann Fabrics, which was only allowing 10 people in the store at a time. Now, she uses curbside pickup, although she says it’s harder to use coupons than it would be to bring them inside the store. Proudly, she says she still managed to reduce her last purchase from $186 to $111. Avery, a junior at Wharton,

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Kylie Revoldt pins the three layers of cotton fabric for her mother Cory and sister Teagan to sew together for protective masks. (Photo: John C. Cotey) recently got her driver’s license and made the last pick up while her mother and sisters cut and sewed the remaining fabric at home. It’s a team effort at the Revoldts. They work together measuring and cutting the fabric. Kylie will cut and pin the three 3"x 6" layers — two regular cotton layers and one muslin cotton, a lighter and looser weave — which Cory will sew before adding shirt ties. Even husband Chris has made sacrifices, surrendering many of his tee shirts, which are being cut into strips and made into more comfortable ties. Cory still has the first mask she ever made. The stitching takes a few detours across the white and pinkflowered pattern, and the pleats aren’t After hundreds of people volunteered to perfect like her on latest masks. provide her with masks, these four handsewn masks were among the many re“The pleats are still the hardest ceived by nurse Amy Zweil. part,” Cory says, laughing. Her masks now are a dramatic bees and lady bugs. She added more improvement over that first effort. masculine patterns like sharks and Cory and her daughters have just bi-planes for the male doctors. As she about mastered the art. makes more masks for friends, she “I’m very proud of my girls, I’m is stocking up on Avengers prints, not going to lie,” Cory says. “I’d like Mickey Mouse and Trolls. to think this has brought out the best “Now that this is becoming the on all of us.” new socially acceptable look, people The Revoldts wash, sanitize and will want something with some perpress their masks before placing them sonality,” Cory says. in labeled Ziploc bags. They are One of her side projects is making placed outside where two friends who masks for everyone on Teagan’s club also live in Easton Park and work at soccer team. One of the other mothMoffitt will swing by and pick them ers mentioned that she had tried, but up on their way into work. grew frustrated. As wearing masks becomes more A day later, that same mom and more common — an attempt to dropped her Singer 132 featherweight make them mandatory in Hillsborsewing machine off at the Revoldts ough County was defeated last week, home. Now, Teagan and Cory can but wearing them is still recommendboth sew at the same time. ed by everyone from the CDC to “It’s starting to look like a sweatmembers of President Trump’s own shop in here,” Cory joked. Coronavirus Task Force that they be Last week, with two Singer worn by everyone who goes out in machines humming along in stereo — public — Cory is getting more and chuka chuka chuka — the Revoldts’ more requests from friends. pile of what will be 100 masks to Her first masks were made with donate to Tampa General Hospital fabric depicting things like sea turtles, began growing higher. Neighborhood News

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Restaurants Hoping Takeout Can Save The Day By JOHN C. COTEY john@ntneighborhoodnews.com The usually-bustling parking lot at the City Plaza at Tampa Palms shopping center is eerily quiet. While customers continue to swarm in and out of Publix, the spaces in front of The Fat Rabbit Pub are empty. One car rolls up to the sidewalk, and an employee of New Tampa’s favorite bar, wearing a mask and gloves, runs out to hand an order through the passenger’s side window. Even though it is 6 p.m., typically dinner time and happy hour, it will be another 23 minutes before the next car comes along. “We’re probably doing 10 percent of what we normally do in a week,’’ says Fat Rabbit co-owner John Kuemmel. “We’re way off.” Kuemmel is one of dozens of restaurant owners in New Tampa hoping to stay alive as Covid-19 takes its toll. No longer able to seat customers, they are relying on takeout orders and the generosity of neighborhood customers, who are being urged to order from local establishments, to help keep them from sinking faster. Kuemmel is confident Fat Rabbit will survive. Others are more concerned.

Chef Ramses Garcia, the owner of Las Palmas Latin Grill, says he hopes to reopen to dine-in customers by June. If not, he is fearful about the future of his popular local restaurant. (Photo: Charmaine George)

Chef Ramses Garcia, owner of Las Palmas Latin Grill located in The Cypress Plaza (anchored by Winn-Dixie) just south of County Line Rd., is down 60 percent, and takeout business varies from day-to-day. Garcia is using his credit cards to keep things going until Las Palmas can re-open again. Right now, they are only

open from 4-7:30 p.m. every day except Sunday, when they are closed. “I’m surviving,” he says. But, he fears the worst is yet to come. Garcia watches the news and looks at the number of novel coronavirus cases and deaths and says, “I’m not even sure we’ve reached the top (of the curve) yet.”

His margins are thin. Because he knows he has to lure people from their homes to do business, he has lowered his prices, “because people are broke.” Las Palmas is selling family meals priced in the $40 range: customers get a whole chicken, a pound of pork, quarts of rice and beans and a generous serving of plantains. Those that stop by have been supportive. “Everybody says thanks for being open, stay safe and good luck,” Garcia says. Even so, he is unsure how long he can survive. While Kuemmel says he is shooting for a middle-of-May reopening, Garcia thinks June is more realistic. “May is too close,” he says, adding that when a place like Walt DisneyWorld, which moves thousands of people through crowded spaces every day, re-opens, he’ll feel much better about letting people sit in his small, intimate restaurant. While most every local restaurant is pivoting to takeout during the crisis, those that were already were built around it are also losing money, just not as much of it. At Island Fin Poke Co., which is in the same plaza as Las Palmas, 75 percent of its business was already takeout, so

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The usually-packed parking lot in front of Ciccio Cali, Koizi Endless Hibachi & Sushi and Smallcakes Cupcakery is eerily empty on a Friday evening at 6 p.m.

televised report, Kuemmel (and, he says, other tenants as well) received a letter from Publix saying April and May rent had been deferred, but would still be due with the June rent. That’s a bill of more than $20,000 Kuemmel is unsure he’ll be able to pay. “We used our money for the first month to pay employees and help subsidize them,” he says. “This is not what we were expecting. I’m not sure what we will do.”

A Nationwide Disaster

According to BusinessInsider. com, more than 110,000 restaurants across the country are expected to permanently shutter in the coming weeks, and the restaurant industry lost more than $25 billion in sales in March alone. While takeout provides some relief, it’s not nearly enough. Kuemmel is fortunate his pub is as renowned for its food as it is for its drinks, which include in-house brewed craft beer. He says that usually, his sales are basically 50-50 drinks-food. The future is uncertain, but Kuemmel thinks that if the stay-at-home order is lifted on May 8, as has been mentioned by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Fat Rabbit might be open by Mother’s Day. He just doesn’t expect he will have his usual line out the door. Kuemmel is much more bullish on a May opening that any other restaurant owners we have spoken to. But even if the crisis drags on, he is confident Fat Rabbit is here to stay. “We’re committed to riding this thing out,” Kuemmel says. “We’re in it for the long haul. We’re not going to let this thing beat us.”

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their poke bowl and take it to go. But, that hasn’t stopped Sproat from getting creative. Since his business also sells a popular Dole Whip frozen dessert to go along with its healthy poke bowls, Sproat recently offered a “Buy a Bowl and a Dole and Get a Free Roll (of toilet paper)” special. If anything, he says it provided a moment of levity in these tough times for his hungry customers, who were, by the way, happy to take advantage of the free toilet paper. “Business is down overall, but we’re doing okay and we’re still open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” Sproat says. “It was an easy transition for us. And, we haven’t had to lay off any of our team.” Kuemmel also has managed to keep most of his Fat Rabbit employees by rotating shifts, and the generosity of the local community has helped, too. For example, tips are up, in the 25-30 percent range, as customers pitch in to help hospitality workers, who have been some of the hardest hit during this crisis. He adds that he has already applied for some of the loans being made available for small business owners, but like many local small businesses, did not receive any of the Paycheck Protection Program funds it applied for. A bigger concern for Kuemmel is that he thought Publix, which owns the plaza and whose business is booming during the pandemic, was forgiving rent to City Plaza tenants for April and May to help out. In fact, Kuemmel called it a “huge win,” and praised Publix for its generosity and being a great partner. However, just a few days after a

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‘Surprise! It’s on us,’ Winn-Dixie tells shoppers By JOHN C. COTEY john@ntneightborhoodnews.com

Shoppers at a South Tampa Winn-Dixie store are overcome with emotion after the supermarket paid for their groceries. (Photo: Winn-Dixie)

Winn-Dixie grocery stores across the country, including New Tampa’s store off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., (just south of County Line Rd. in the Cypress Plaza), had a big surprise on April 13 for shoppers taking advantage of its extended hours for those healthcare workers and first responders. Free groceries! Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie, paid for the groceries of every shopper in the store from 8 p.m.-9 p.m., the hour allotted on Mondays and Tuesdays for those on the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19. “It was pretty emotional for a lot of them,” says Rodney Koschman, who has been the New Tampa store’s manager for the past five years. “There were some tears, and they were very, very surprised.” Koschman says it is just another

way Winn-Dixie has reached out to the New Tampa community during the quarantine. He said he noticed a lot of familiar faces in the store that night, and he personally thanked each one of the shoppers after the cashier bagged their groceries and informed them they were on the house. Southeastern Grocers says it was inspired by a similar gesture by filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry, who surprised Winn-Dixie customers in Louisiana by paying for groceries during senior and high-risk shopping hour. The moment went viral and Perry challenged others to pay it forward. “There has never been, in my career, in history, a more important time to be good friends and neighbors, and my company has really stepped forward,” Koschman says. “It was really cool to watch that happen.”

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Small Businesses Getting Creative In These Tough Times By JOHN C. COTEY

john@ntneighborhoodnews.com Many local business were already way ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when he declared on April 1 that all nonessential businesses needed to close their doors. Sensing the bad news was inevitable, some had already begun adapting in order to stay alive. John Thrasher, the owner of Excel Music in New Tampa (see ad on pg. 18), and Larry Bigel of Tampa Fine Arts Academy (TFAA) in Wesley Chapel, both are able to provide all of their lessons online. Thrasher said Excel began the transition the first week in March, with some students choosing to go online. Following spring break, everything went online, and students were able to keep their same teachers. “We did it quickly and on the early side,” Thrasher says. “We beat the governor’s stay-at-home order by a couple of weeks. Anytime you transition, there are going to be some bumps, but for the most part, it’s actually gone pretty smoothly. We’re seeing a lot of smiling faces.” Thrasher is still paying rent on a building he can’t use, and wonders if this is the new normal. However, he is trying to keep things as normal as possible. I think it’s kind of the same with everyone,” he says. “We had a recital scheduled for June, and we’ve already made the decision we’re gonna do it. Maybe it will be a virtual recital, but we feel it’s important to still have goals (for our students) to work towards.” For Bigel, whose academy was formerly located in New Tampa — he says TFAA transitioned 600 students to 100-percent online by March 23 — it was all about keeping the students and teachers safe and the business viable.

Online instruction is one way businesses like the Tampa Fine Arts Academy are adapting to the quarantine.

“Thankfully, you can never catch a disease over the internet,” he says. While a host of the area’s non-essential businesses will have no choice but to close down for the next month, the ones that can incorporate video conferencing technology like Zoom, or even FaceTime, are finding ways to survive. James Serrano, who owns Pinot’s Palette in the Shoppes at New Tampa, had already temporarily converted his Wesley Chapel studio — which specializes in large group gatherings with wine drinking and painting — into a stay-at-home, do-it-yourself painting “experience” by selling kits that included paint, brushes, a canvas and instructions.

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“We basically had to do something,” says Serrano. “We were worried.” On the first day of selling the take-home kits, he arrived to find a line of cars. Some ended up waiting for more than an hour because Serrano was overwhelmed by the turnout. Most of the cars were occupied by eager parents looking for ways to keep their children occupied. Serrano also turned to virtual classes and hosted his first virtual private party for a church group — 13 women painting the same picture who were able to converse with each other online as they did so. He also has delivered kits to people who have requested them, and even filled an order to be shipped to Puerto Rico. Although some adults have asked if he could include Pinot’s usually-present wine with their order (he’s still looking into it), he says his No. 1 customers now are kids, as parents have to constantly be entertaining their homebound youngsters. Because Serrano still has to pay rent on a studio he isn’t using, he isn’t making money right now. However, he is staying afloat and hopeful things can return to normal sometime soon. Steve Falabella, the owner of 900º Woodfired Pizza in the Shops at Wiregrass, has been helped by an idea to sell pizza kits — complete with a hearty ball of dough, sauce, cheese and cooking directions — that he says he saw in an article a friend sent him from a New Jersey newspaper. He tested the concept, put it on sale and says he sold 200-300 kits in the first 4-5 days. “It’s giving people something to do while they’re stuck at home, and they could still get good pizza,” Falabella says.

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Wharton Valedictorian Living The American Dream By CELESTE MCLAUGHLIN When Sarrah Abdulali moved to New Tampa from Georgia her freshman year of high school, she thought for sure her dream of becoming the valedictorian of he her graduating class was out of reach. Wharton, her new high school, was much bigger than her previous one, and there was a crowd of students ahead of her. “I lost that dream,” she says. “I finished my freshman year ranked 50th.” With valedictorian honors seemingly no longer in her future, Sarrah worked hard anyway, making straight As in every class she took at Wharton. Because she was determined to take advantage of every opportunity available to her, she signed up for dual enrollment classes, too, taking the maximum of 10 credit hours every semester online. She made straight As in all of those classes, too, and her weighted GPA continued to rise. Sarrah’s dream of being class valedictorian did become a reality. “She’s an amazing girl,” says Magda Rodriguez, Wharton’s career counselor. *** The daughter of immigrants, Sarrah’s mom is from India while her dad is from rival Pakistan. The two met in the U.S. and married, with Sarrah’s mom

Sarrah Abdulali took a daunting course load on the way to an 8.88 weighted grade-point-average and class valedictorian honors at Wharton High. who is a sophomore at Wharton. Her converting from Hindu to Muslim. Sarrah, 17, lives in a crowded house two cousins, or “brother-cousins,” as she calls them, are eight and 12. — her aunt and cousins live with them. She shares a bedroom with both of Of all the kids in the house, she is the only girl, and a big sister to four “broth- her biological brothers. “I’ve grown a lot closer to them ers.” Sarrah has two biological brothers, from sharing a room,” Sarrah says, one who is 12 and deaf, and the other

without complaint. “I’m so engrossed in my work all the time, and I think it’s motivation for my brothers to see me working so hard. When I’m in college, I’ll have a roommate anyway.” In addition to her schoolwork, Sarrah works to help pay the bills at home. At one point, she worked two different tutoring jobs, plus tutoring privately as well as doing henna art tattoos. All these experiences have shaped her into a fiercely determined person, ready to jump at every opportunity presented to her. *** When Sarrah heard of a program called QuestBridge, she recognized it could mean the opportunity for her to go to college without the financial burdens usually associated with higher education. QuestBridge is a national nonprofit organization that matches high-achieving, low-income students with prestigious universities across the nation. As a junior, she was chosen as one of QuestBridge’s 3,000 “College Prep Scholars.” She received a travel grant to attend a college admissions conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. “It was a guide to how QuestBridge works and what the opportunities

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are,” explains Sarrah. “I took it all in. I realized this was the most important summer for me. There was no time to just hang out.” She dove into volunteer work, racking up 800 hours over her four years of high school. Most of those hours were part of the volunteer program at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa. Sarrah also did an internship with the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, which is headquartered in Tampa, for about a month. Separate from QuestBridge, she also participated in numerous fly-ins, which are programs where colleges pay for low-income students to participate in on-campus visits, often at no expense. “I want people to know that fly-ins are available,” Sarrah says. “Low-income students can visit colleges and universities for free.” All that hard work paid off. Sarrah ranked the top five QuestBridge universities that she wanted to attend and one of her choices, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, chose her to receive a full scholarship, including her room and board, and covered all costs to attend. “UVA is perfectly suited for me,” Sarrah says. “It’s exactly what I’m looking for.” She is excited about being at a rigorous, prestigious public university. While some QuestBridge universities

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“I feel like everyone has a story to tell, but mine is different from everyone else’s. I’ve grown up in conditions that separate me from everyone else.”

*** While pursuing her college dreams and working hard academically, an interesting thing happened. Sarrah’s class rank kept improving. During her junior year, when she reached number five, she realized that becoming her class valedictorian might not be out of reach. She kept her straight As in the most rigorous classes offered at Wharton. While some fellow students leave campus early to drive to dual enrollment — Sarrah Abdulali, classes, Sarrah never did. Instead, she Wharton valedictorian took the maximum credits allowed in expect students to cover a small portion dual enrollment classes online, all of of their cost to attend, Sarrah’s expenses which she completed from home. will be paid in full. “I think it’s a waste of time to “There’s no parent contribution, no leave school early when there are so loans, no work study,” she explains. “It’s many classes here,” she says. Classes like a perfect full ride.” Advanced Placement psychology are her She says UVA even provides a favorites, where she says she can “walk laptop, and will pay for her to visit the into class and not have to stress.” university before she begins attending, She says that while students need where she will meet the other class of 24 credits to graduate high school, she 2020 QuestBridge National College currently has about 48. Match Students. Excelling in those rigorous classes “There are 15 of us who matched allowed her to continue to improve her to UVA,” explains Sarrah, “and (the weighted GPA to 8.88, which has earned university) invests completely in us.” her the coveted title of valedictorian. She has been accepted to the Sarrah says that one of the highcollege of arts and sciences and plans to lights of being valedictorian is giving the major in math. graduation speech. “I don’t know exactly where my “I feel like everyone has a story to tell, interests lie, but I’m good at math,” she but mine is different from everyone else’s,” says. “And I plan to minor in Arabic.” she says. “I’ve grown up in conditions that

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separate me from everyone else.” Sarrah lives in a home that is both Muslim and Hindu, under one roof with nine people from two families. Her parents are immigrants. She’s taken an incredible rigor of classes while also working two jobs. This is the American dream for which so many immigrants strive. Sarrah hopes she gets the chance to share that dream in her valedictorian speech. “I have no money, no means of transportation and I don’t make excuses,” she says, “so I hope to inspire others to have no excuses. What I’ve done is because of my determination. If you have that, no one can stop you.”

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Tampa Palms’ Phoebe Funai Is Tops In Her Class “Class valedictorian wasn’t about just being first in the class, it was about developing a work ethic and seeing how much I could accomplish in my four years of high school.”

By JOHN C. COTEY john@ntneighborhoodnews.com Phoebe Funai’s high school resume is impressive. At Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High on N. Central Ave. in Tampa, the Tampa Palms resident is the captain of the cheerleading team, a member of five honors societies — including the National Honor Society — as well as the founder the Social Studies Honors Society and the student government vice president. And, thanks to her weighted grade point average of 8.72, Phoebe also is the Brooks DeBartolo Class of 2020 valedictorian. However, her most impressive feat might be this: She goes to the gym six days a week, and hadn’t missed a single 45-minute workout in a year and a half until everything shut down due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Every! Single! Day! “She would go on Sunday too, if they were open,” says her mother, Maryanne. It’s really no wonder, then, that Phoebe has an abundance of the dedication and commitment it takes to be a class valedictorian at any school. “I would say it takes a lot of work, a lot of personal motivation and always staying focused towards your goals,” Phoebe says. “But, it’s something I enjoy. I love school.” Born in Ohio, Phoebe’s family moved to New Tampa in the middle of her seventh grade year. She attended Liberty Middle School, but when it came time for high school, instead of enrolling at Freedom, Phoebe decided she wanted to attend a smaller high school like Brooks DeBartolo, which has roughly 600 total students across its four grades. She signed up to be a cheerleader, and dove right into her studies. She had already earned some high school credits at Liberty, and her freshman year, she noticed she was second in her class.

— Phoebe Funai, Brooks-DeBartolo valedictorian

“Phoebe had her eye on the prize from day one,” Maryanne says. Phoebe started taking dual enrollment classes at Hillsborough Community College her sophomore year. Every semester, she took at least three dual enrollment classes, and will graduate with 109 college credits. She also took eight AP classes, joined student government and, in her junior year, started a local chapter of the Rho Kappa Social Studies Honors Society at Brooks DeBartolo. Under Phoebe’s leadership, Rho Kappa members at the school recycled American Flags, volunteered at Metropolitan Ministries and Feeding Tampa Bay, and read books and made Valentine’s Day cards for the residents of Discovery Village at Tampa Palms, an assisted living facility. “I took as much as I could take without being too overloaded,” Phoebe says. “Class valedictorian wasn’t about just being first in the class, it was about

developing a work ethic and seeing how much I could accomplish in my four years of high school.” She says her favorite class was AP psychology; her strongest classes were math — she took eight math classes at HCC, and plans to major

in finance to study things like data analysis in college. Choosing a college was a hard decision, she says. She went back and forth between the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where her father Edmund, a high riskobstetrician/gynecologist, went to school, and the University of Florida in Gainesville. She decided to become a Gator, and says through the school’s combined degree program, she’ll be able to earn both her undergrad and Master’s degrees in four years. The last five years she has volunteered teaching dance at the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms, and hopes to join a dance team in college. When Phoebe says she is going to do something, you can rest assured, says her mother, that it will get done. “Honestly, she has a really positive, outgoing personality,” Maryanne says. “Challenges don’t scare her. She likes to try new things, she’s very dependable, and she’s one of those people that just shows up, no matter what. She always shows up.”

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Visiting Angels Helps Those Most Vulnerable Now & All Year ‘Round By CELESTE MCLAUGHLIN In times of crisis, some people need help more than others. Senior citizens are the most at risk for Covid-19 and, in general, and they shouldn’t be going out during the pandemic. But, who will check on them to be sure they are healthy, safe and comfortable? In many homes in New Tampa, Temple Terrace and the surrounding areas, that need is being met by Visiting Angels, located on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, minutes from most of New Tampa. Visiting Angels provides services as an alternative to moving seniors into a nursing home, retirement center or assisted living facility, allowing them and others in need to maintain the independence of their daily routines in the comfort of their own homes. A nationally branded company, headquartered in Pennsylvania, Visiting Angels has 500 locations across the U.S. Christal Becton, franchise owner and director, opened the local office of Visiting Angels in 2004. For the past 16 years, the company has grown to continue to serve and meet the needs of its clients and their families. “Most of our clients are seniors who need some extra help,” Christal

You may see members of Visiting Angels’ staff in your neighborhood on “No Contact Saturdays,” delivering groceries to seniors in need, whether or not they are clients of the home health care business.

explains. “We also can help anyone over 18 who needs assistance. Younger people sometimes need help, too, due to their own physical challenges or health issues... especially now.” Visiting Angels offers home care services, companion care, personal care and respite care. This can include anything from helping someone temporarily recover from an illness or surgery to providing ongoing companionship to a senior who

just needs a friend. The Visiting Angels home health care aides accommodate their clients’ schedules, whether they need a few hours of assistance a week or even 24-hour-perday, 7-day-per-week care. Day or night, weekends or holidays, temporary or longterm, Visiting Angels can help. With the novel coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, these are unprecedented times. Christal and her staff are rising to

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that challenge, providing extra care for their current clients and reaching out to other seniors who need help throughout the community. “We are going the extra mile to call every client and check on them,” explains Christal. “Our caregivers are ensuring their clients have adequate food and supplies, even if the caregiver typically only provides housekeeping, for example.” She says there are many senior couples where one is well and caring for the other, and for those couples, normal daily tasks may now be difficult or risky. In addition, Christal and the three other members of her office staff are delivering essentials to seniors in New Tampa, even if they aren’t clients. It started with a phone call from a lady with Parkinson’s disease who couldn’t leave her home. Christal went shopping and donated about $100 worth of groceries to her. She realized there are many other seniors in a similarly vulnerable situation right now and wanted to do something to help. Now, Christal calls it “no-contact Saturday,” delivering essentials to seniors by dropping them off, without contact, to minimize any possibility of spreading the virus to someone who is vulnerable. “If people live alone and are in need of essentials, we want to help them,”

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Visiting Angels owner and director Christal Becton (top left), office assistant Yesenia (top right), staffing coordinator Wendy (bottom left), and billing specialist Kim work with 75 home health caregivers to serve people in their homes in New Tampa and other parts of Hillsborough County. Christal says. For now, on Saturdays while and remains on site throughout the appointment, which is often a relief to the office is closed, “we will deliver items relatives who find it difficult to take time such as toiletries, canned goods, water, off from work to drive their loved ones to eggs, milk and bread.” medical appointments. To make “no-contact Saturday” happen on a larger scale, Christal says she will ask for payment for the items needed Getting Started from the store. The Visiting Angels staff The first step to hiring Visiting Anwill pick up and deliver them at no adgels is a free, in-home assessment. ditional cost, dropping them at the door “I personally do each new client aswith no contact. sessment myself,” says Christal. “I like to “We know there are more seniors make a connection with the family. I get out there who need care,” explains to see how they live and learn about their Christal. “We can’t help everyone, but backgrounds, which makes it easier to we want to touch as many people as we connect them with the right caregiver.” possibly can.” During the in-home assessment, If you or someone you know Christal reviews each client’s needs and would benefit from this service, please asks about the types of services desired, call Christal at (813) 929-7067. noting the patient’s daily routine, meals, While Christal says her desire to help proximity to doctors’ offices and number people through this pandemic currently is of regularly scheduled appointments. She on the top of her mind, it’s also what led then prepares a care plan and selects the her to Visiting Angels in the first place. caregivers who are best suited to meet “I enjoy working with seniors in those needs. need,” says Christal. “So, this is the per“One of the things that sets Visitfect profession for me.” ing Angels apart from other home care Her franchise now has about 75 services is that our clients get to choose caregivers on staff, including both their caregivers,” Christal explains. “PeoCertified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) ple don’t just show up and say, ‘I’m here and Home Health Assistants (HHAs). to take care of you.’ Our clients actually All caregivers have passed a background meet the caregivers beforehand, so they screening, and most are graduates of already feel comfortable with the person medical academies that specialize in home who will be caring for them.” care and also have worked at assisted These caregivers become an imliving facilities or in other health care portant part of each patient’s routine, environments. and often, families let Christal know the Typical care might include grocery significance of the care their loved one shopping and running errands, preparing received during their time of need. meals, assisting with personal care and “Saying thank you doesn’t seem to doing light housekeeping. be enough,” said a grateful family in a Christal says some clients require recent letter to Visiting Angels. “Your help with bathing or shaving, some just support, care and love for my father was need a hand getting up in the morning obvious and outstanding. Sandra became and starting their day, while others may a part of our family.” need their clothes laundered and linens Visiting Angels is located at changed. 9812 N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace. She says that one task that is difficult For more information, call (813) for many seniors is arranging transporta929-7067, go to VisitingAngels.com/ tion to and from their doctors’ appointTampa or Facebook.com/VisitingAnments. Visiting Angels transports clients gelsTampaFL. Neighborhood News

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The QVita Health & Wellness Weight-Loss Program Really Works! By GARY NAGER So, even though the novel coronavirus pandemic has stopped us from being able to officially weigh in every week, in the 10 weeks since Jannah and I first started visiting QVita Health & Wellness here in Wesley Chapel, I’ve lost 38 lbs. and Jannah (who had a lot less to lose) has lost 23. By my new math, that’s more than 60 lbs. between us and the best news of all is that it really wasn’t nearly as tough to do as either of us expected. QVita Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Board-Certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP-BC) Peggy Demetriou says that her weight-loss program is one that she’s been on pretty much her entire life, based on the Mediterranean or Dash Diet program, which she says has been shown to be among the healthiest food regimens in the business. “The Dash Diet is much healthier than the Keto programs,” Peggy says. “It is still a low-fat program, whereas Keto diets want you to eat foods high in fats. Like Keto, our diet starts you out with very few carbs but allows you to slowly add good carbs, so it’s the kind of program that more people find easier to stay on longer-term.” I wouldn’t argue with Peggy on which programs are the healthiest — she is of Greek descent and says that most Mediterranean people eat less (and healthier) food

Publisher Gary Nager and his wife Jannah together lost more than 60 lbs. in 10 weeks on a medically-supervised weight-loss plan from QVita Health & Wellness off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. before they stopped being able to weigh in every week because of the Covid-19 pandemic. certainly has no problem with it if you want to visit your primary care physician first. When your blood tests come back and Peggy says it’s OK to proceed, the QVita staff Getting Started will give you a shot of Vitamin B6 and B12, Before you begin a weight-loss program as well as a QVita-exclusive, natural appeat QVita, Peggy and her staff will take some tite-supressing supplement (that is basically blood and some measurements and discuss caffeine and some nutrients), a food journal your medical history to set your baseline. and a copy of the first two weeks of the diet. Since Peggy is a medical professional herself, You start out basically eating very little you don’t have to go to your family doctor — between 1,000 to no more than 1,500 before starting on a QVita program, but she calories per day — and little more than lean

than the average American, but still get to enjoy the foods they love. All I can tell you for sure is that the program works.

meats (included limited amounts of eggs), low-fat cheese and unlimited veggies. You can have things like artificially sweetened Jello, and maybe some nuts as snacks (I did drink a lot of coffee after meals, but I had to measure the amount of creamer I used), but I warned Peggy that I might blow the whole diet from the beginning without any bread, pasta or pizza for two weeks. But somehow — maybe because I was so overweight to begin with, or because of the supplement, or because it started to work immediately without us dying of starvation — we were both able to survive those first two weeks without killing each other. Peggy says another reason it worked so well for us from the start is because we were in it together. We started eating as many meals together as possible and whenever we couldn’t, we tried to basically eat the same things. Jannah did a better job of keeping an exact journal of what we ate but considering that our numbers kept going down every week and we kept telling the QVita staffers (photo on next page; Peggy is third from the left) about the different recipes we kept coming up with, they said we didn’t have to keep journaling unless we hit a plateau we couldn’t beat or started gaining weight. Trust me, that never happened to us. What did happen is that we basically re-set our bodies. After those first two weeks, the first piece of fruit I had as we started adding good carbs tasted as good to me in

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my head as a chewy brownie or an order of crispy French fries usually did. And, not only did we come up with some great recipes — like the spicy grilled chicken with assorted veggies in the photo below (made with a bag of Pero vegetable medley and no-skin Costco rotisserie chicken) — we also made sure to select the healthiest options we could find, especially for our carbs. Living basically next door to Earth Fare (when it was still open) definitely helped, but one of the things we found there were breads and other delicious baked goods (like Jannah’s favorite low-carb almond

cherry tomatoes), but at least I loved everything I did get to eat. The bottom line is that Jannah has reduced by two dress sizes and I’m wearing pants that are two sizes smaller than what I wore in the “before” picture on the previous page — and we never felt that starvation feeling I’ve always felt on previous programs — even with prescription medication. I now weigh the least I’ve weighed since 2006 and best of all (at least for me), I am now able to replace my Sami’s bread for breakfast with half a scooped-out, toasted real New York-style bagel from Bagels Plus on E. Fletcher Ave. and add 1-1/2 slices of cookies) from Sami’s Bakery, which is located real bacon. On the weekends, I’ve even been on E. Busch Blvd. in nearby Temple Terrace. known to top it with one slice of Ultra-Thin Sami’s has two different kinds of surpris- Sargento cheddar or Colby Jack cheese! Another great thing about this program ingly tasty bread with only 2 and 3 net grams is getting to work with Peggy and her amazof carbs per slice. Compare that with most ing staff. Until Covid-19 shut us down, we’d Keto or even Ezekiel bread (12 net grams) weigh in every week, have our temperature, and to us, it tastes even better. blood pressure and measurements taken, Another key is definitely learning receive our B6/B12 injections and get to talk portion control. For example, the only kind of nuts I really like are pistachios and Costco about our week of eating and exercising. And, even though both Jannah and I has already-shelled pistachios that are 170 were working out at least 2-3 days per week calories and 14 g of good fats for 49 pieces as a serving. But, I limited my intake of them when we started the program on January 5, I had to stop for several weeks because I had as a daily snack to only 15 shelled pieces two cataract eye surgeries and wasn’t allowed the first two weeks and only increased to 25 to do any strenuous exercise or lift more than shelled pieces after that (or 85 calories and 20 lbs. — and I still continued to lose. only 7 g of fat). Obviously, your results may vary, and Another example is breakfast, which I you won’t be able to start a program at absolutely need to have every day whether dieting or not. Yes, it took some getting used QVita until after Florida’s stay-at-home order is lifted, but I promise you it works, as evito only have one egg fried in Pam and one denced by the photos on the previous page. slice of the Sami’s bread (plus a side of raw

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In addition to those awesome weightloss programs starting at just $299 per person (plus a weekly office visit fee), QVita also usually offers a variety of cosmetic services, too, such as Botox, facial fillers, lip and cheek augmentations, skin tightening, facials, body contouring and fat dissolving and a whole laundry list of additional services (see the ad on pg. 34 of this issue). In addition, Peggy also provides the full gamut of primary care services, although those services right now are only being offered through Telemedicine following Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stay-at-home order for Florida. “But, there are many medical issues we can take care of by looking at a patient through a computer,” says Peggy, who earned her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Nursing (BSN) degree in 1998 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She says to please call the office number below if you have any questions. Committed to promoting good health and fitness from a holistic perspective, Peggy also teams up with her physician husband Nektarios Demetriou, D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy), to offer patients QVita’s own line of physician-formulated natural nutritional supplements, such as QVita Premium Activated B-Complex, Premier Multi-Vitamin and Ultimate Joint Support. QVita Health & Wellness is located at 2734 Windguard Cir., Suite 101. For more information, visit qvitahealthandwellness.com or call (813) 501-4130. Or, see the ad on page 34.

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Area Golf Courses Are Open, With Governor’s Blessing other local restaurants, is limited to just take-out business. At Heritage Isles, Unger said Easter weekend was fairly busy, but whereas his club would average 175-200 rounds a week this time of year, it is currently doing between 80-100. “It’s not where it usually is, but it’s busier than what I thought it would be,” Unger says. And like Pebble Creek, Heritage Isles’ adjoining restaurant/19th hole, Bayscape Bistro, is struggling as it relies only on take-out orders. The response from golfers has been overwhelmingly positive, according to both Place and Unger. “I hear a lot of, ‘Thank God you guys are open I’m going nuts,’” Place says. “It’s nice to hear the responses.” Folks like Tett — who has been golfing for more than 50 years and has a regular group he plays with three days a week — are grateful. Tett, who sports a 16-handicap, says golf is no more dangerous than going to the grocery store these days, and anything beats sitting inside and watching the cable news. “When they closed all the parks, I thought the golf courses would be next,” says Tett, “I was pretty relieved to find out it was staying open.”

By JOHN C. COTEY john@ntneighborhoodnews.com

When local businesses began feeling the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak and shutting down in mid-March, Heritage Isles Golf Club pro Rich Unger figured it was only a matter of time before his course just off Cross Creek Blvd. (near Morris Bridge Rd.) was closed, too However, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued his stay-at-home order on March 20, Unger received some good, and surprising, news: According to DeSantis, golf was considered an essential business or service. You certainly won’t get any argument from local golfers who have found available courses a path to maintaining their health and sanity during the statewide quarantine. “Golf is an escape from reality,” says George Tett, an avid golfer and Heritage Isles resident since 2004. “When you’re out there, you don’t think about the pandemic. You get out of the house and you think about golf.” Golf is certainly a sport that lends itself to social distancing more than, say, professional wrestling, which DeSantis also deemed “essential.” Heritage Isles’ 18 holes are generously spaced apart on a 6,974-yard patch of manicured New Tampa land. That’s the definition of social distancing. The area’s public and private courses have still had to make some significant modifications, however. At Heritage Isles, the clubhouse is closed and golfers check in with an attendant on the other side of newly installed plexiglass. The flag sticks have extensions so they never need to be pulled (or touched), because the ball is prevented from actually entering the hole. Water coolers along the course have been removed, and the ball washers are taped up. “We’ve basically tried to eliminate touching anything,” Unger says. Golfers are limited to one person per

The wide-open nature of golf lends itself to social distancing, and area courses are taking advantage of being declared an essential service (Photo: Charmaine George) cart at every area course, although allow- County) Sheriff’s Office stop by and inspect, to see how we are doing, and ances are made for family members. At Hunter’s Green Country Club, a they seemed very pleased with the steps private course, family carts for members we’ve taken.” are marked with a colored flag. Business has been steady on area When carts are returned, they are courses, but has definitely been on the thoroughly disinfected. While most busi- decline since the pandemic hit here. nesses are laying people off, Unger says Place says the golfing side of the he has had to employ additional staff just business at Pebble Creek is down by to keep the Heritage Isles course up to about 30 percent compared to other CDC standards. years. Its popular Mulligans Pub, howMany of the same precautions are ever, it is down by 70 percent, and like being taken at New Tampa’s oldest golf course. At Pebble Creek Golf Club, only three people at a time are allowed in the pro shop. The doors are being left open so they don’t need to be touched, and no cash is allowed. The cups have been turned upside We make Medicare simple: down on the greens, so the ball is always raised when it goes in and nothing else ➤ Parts A/B/C/D Explained needs to be handled. ➤ Money-Back Plans “The approach we’re taking is that ➤ Best-Priced Supplements we want to able to be to continue keeping people employed (by staying open), ➤ Online Enrollment Available so we go further than the mandates,” says ➤ Free Phone/Email Consultation Pebble Creek owner Bill Place. “If we see a group of people congregating, we ask them to disperse. It doesn’t happen very By calling this number you will be speaking to a licensed sales agent. This is an advertisement. often, though. We had the (Hillsborough

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DEMPSEY’S IS #1 AGAIN! Last issue, I told you all about my top-25 favorite restaurants

located in New Tampa, but before the Covid-19 outbreak hit home here, I know a lot of folks who live in New Tampa were spending a lot of time eating at the much larger array of restaurants located in and adjacent to Wesley Chapel. So, even though the vast majority of popular restaurants in Wesley Chapel are national and regional chains and those that are open during Florida’s stay-at-home order are offering take-out and delivery only, I decided to run down my 25 favorite restaurants in Wesley Chapel for our New Tampa readers in this issue. I figured that a lot of you have a lot more time to read at home and when Florida begins really going back to work, maybe you’ll sample some of my Wesley Chapel favorites sooner than later. And, even though it’s been more than a month since I got to sit down to the perfect medium-rare, bone-in ribeye with a side of spicy bourbon creamed corn, Caesar salad and a glass of Malbec from my favorite restaurant in Wesley Chapel — Dempsey’s Steak House at Saddlebrook Resort — in this picture it definitely is an extremely pleasant, and delicious, memory. — GN

GARY’S FAVES

Check out the rest of Gary’s 2019 Favorite Restaurants in Wesley Chapel on pages 26-29!

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DEMPSEY’S STEAKHOUSE

GRILLSMITH

BUBBA’S 33

Saddlebrook Resort 5700 Saddlebrook Way (813) 907-4574

rom the day it first opened at Saddlebrook Resort off S.R. 54 somewhere around 20 years ago, Dempsey’s has been my favorite restaurant in Wesley Chapel — and for good reason! It’s not because I used to live in Saddlebrook before Dempsey’s opened, or because it’s the most expensive restaurant in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel. Dempsey’s gets my nod year after year because the steakhouse named for Saddlebrook owner Tom Dempsey always features the best hand-cut steaks, freshest, top-quality fish and amazing starters and sides. In other words, Dempsey’s isn’t just the best restaurant in the Chap. It’s a top-5 steakhouse in the Bay area, as good (and as pricy) as the Council Oak at the Seminole Hard Rock, Fleming’s, Charley’s and the 1200º Chophouse on St. Pete Beach. When I told Saddlebrook assistant food and beverage director Geoffrey Rutgers that Dempsey’s was #1 with me again this year, the long-time Neighborhood News reader quickly set up the photo shoot for my picture on pg. 25. “I’ve trusted your picks for years and I know I’m not the only one,” he said.

OMARI’S GRILL Lexington Oaks Golf Club 26133 Lexington Oaks Blvd. (813) 907-7270

My friends Anass El-Omari and his wife Susana only renamed and reopened the restaurant inside the Lexington Oaks Golf Club a little more than a year ago but it has been a best-kept secret in Wesley Chapel ever since. And, even though you can only get Anass’ perfect grilled mahimahi (above), crispy, but tender chicken parmigiana and filet mignon with cream sauce as daily specials since he revamped his own menu after the golf course was closed for renovations last year, the more golferoriented food is still excellent. 26

2000 Piazza Ave #100 Shops at Wiregrass (813) 907-1900

ven though Grillsmith has always made my top-10 since it first opened in the Shops at Wiregrass, it’s now grabbing its loftiest spot on my list of WC favorites since the Tampa Bay-based chain first opened because of the addition of what they call “short-trip” fresh fish (like the grouper Mediterranean style shown above; we’ve also enjoyed corvina, snapper, mahi and even pompano and never had a bad piece of fish). There’s now also a larger selection of steaks and the mashed cauliflower is the best around.

26340 Silver Maple Pkwy. (813) 522-5090

ubba’s 33 may be the highest-finishing new restaurant on my list since Dempsey’s, even though it’s an entirely different concept, price-point and feel (see ad, pg. 29). Local Bubba’s 33 franchisee Jeff Dean and his wife (and marketing whiz) Crista have years of experience in the restaurant business, but Texas Roadhouse’s new concept also is amazing — sports bar prices with restaurantquality food. “Everything is house-made,” Crista says. “From our hand-tossed pizzas to our hand-cut steaks.” And, the chicken-&-notwaffles above is my current favorite brunch item in Wesley Chapel.

LONGHORN GARDEN GRILLE BONEFISH GRILL STEAKHOUSE Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-WC 1640 Bruce B Downs Blvd.

2647 Creek Grass Way, Lutz (813) 909-0003

When Jannah and I feel like a delicious filet at a fair price, with great sides included, Longhorn is the first place we both usually think of — and not just because it’s the closest steakhouse to where we live. From the tender Flo’s filet to the NY strip (above), Longhorn’s steaks are aways done to perfection and if you’re somehow ever not happy, management will always make it right. We love the salad, the crisp-crust bread and always-fresh veggies, too. And, although we wish the bar area was a little bigger, the bartenders and drink prices are outstanding.

26640 Silver Maple Pkwy. (813) 591-6900

Please stop me if you’ve heard me say this before, but when the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel first opened in late 2018, it hosted a Grand Opening event, where the food served in the hotel’s Garden Grille restaurant was so good, I thought it must’ve come from an outside caterer. Wrong! The food at the Garden Grille is excellent, from delicious crispy wings, to tasty meatballs and even a great ribeye steak. I wish the Garden Grille was open for lunch, but it’s also great for “event” food like the French toast casserole shown above.

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Neighborhood News

Shoppes at New Tampa (WC) (813) 907-8202

When you’re looking for the best seared tuna sashimi appetizer (photo) in Wesley Chapel, there’s no doubt in my mind that Bonefish Grill’s is #1. The thick slices are always fresh, always well-seared but still rare and covered in black and white sesame seeds. Bonefish does also feature excellent fresh fish, but not as good for my money as Grillsmith’s. And, the Outback-quality steaks are an added bonus. I can’t eat the bangbang shrimp because of my accursed shellfish allergy, but people say it’s the best — and most often imitated — you’ll find anywhere. @NTWCNews

p i B t c a a “ a a l b

FORD’S GARAGE NOBLE CRUST 25226 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz (813) 540-3673

Speaking of seared tuna, Ford’s Garage probably has my second favorite version of it in Wesley Chapel, but everything — from the Buffalo chicken sandwich shown above to the prime black angus burgers to the grilled chicken Henry entrée and chop salad — is always top-quality. I feel like the burger buns are a little too big, but you gotta love the “Ford’s Garage” logo they bear. There probably is more indoor and outdoor bar seating at Ford’s Garage than any restaurant in Wesley Chapel not named Bahama Breeze (see below) and the drink prices are great, too.

28330 Paseo Dr. Shops at Wiregrass (813) 703-2602

There is no doubt in my mind that with a little larger and more diverse menu, Noble Crust would finish higher on my list of Wesley Chapel favorites. I love the housemade gnocchi and unique beef and pork meatball appetizers (there’s even Impossible meatballs available now), as well as the double cut pork chop, bistro steak and chicken fried chicken parm (above) entrées and even though the bar area is a little tight, it offers an amazing selection of ultra-premium liquor and a great, fun vibe.

25830 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz (813) 949-0779

Bahama Breeze is more than just another chain restaurant. Even though some say it’s out of place in our area because it doesn’t border on a body of water, people really buy into the tropical look and feel of the Breeze and the food is pretty good, too. Although the ever-changing Market Catch fish isn’t always an option we like, the blackened mahi tacos above, skirt steak churrasco, burgers and Jamaican-inspired specials like the braised oxtail are all tasty entrée options and we also enjoy the wings, the beef empanadas and chicken quesadilla appetizers. It’s also our area’s largest restaurant and bar area. Neighborhood News

GLORY DAYS GRILL 28812 S.R. 54 (813) 535-7678

When our distribution area’s first

Glory Days Grill opened in New Tampa a few years ago, replacing the popular Lee Roy Selmon’s, I will say I wasn’t a big fan. However, when Jannah and I first tried the new Glory Days on S.R. 54, less than a mile from my office, we immediately recognized that the menu had been greatly upgraded. We absolutely love the zucchini fries appetizer shown above, as well as the steak rice bowl, the grilled chicken and comeback chicken entrées, Boston chowda and the 1/2-lb. proprietary blend burgers. @NTWCNews

TOP SHELF SPORTS LOUNGE

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE

AdventHealth Center Ice 3173 Cypress Ridge Blvd. (813) 953-1032

5710 Oakley Blvd. (813) 973-7717

The steak quality at the Outback Steakhouse has never been in question. The ice rinks when both of my sons played ice Victoria’s filet shown above is very similar in hockey, I had no real expectations for good quality and price to Longhorn’s Flo’s filet. food when what is now called AdventHealth It’s all a matter of whose seasoning you preCenter Ice first opened three years ago. Boy, fer. In addition to the great variety of steaks, was I wrong. Not only does Top Shelf have Outback also is famous for its shrimp on the some of the best wings, burgers and bar food barbie and bloomin’ onion appetizers, Alice around, it also serves delicious mixed veggies Springs chicken and surf & turf options that as a side and the beers from owner Keelan I sadly can’t enjoy, but rewards members Cottle’s own 81Bay Brewing are definitely (like me!) get $20 off at Outback or Bonepopular with the hockey moms and dads. fish or $40 off at Fleming’s every third visit. Based on my experience at other

BAHAMA BREEZE

LITTLE ITALY’S 24436 FL-54, Lutz (813) 909-2122

Owners Jessica and Carl Meyers’ seemingly hard-to-find location on S.R. 54, a mile or so west of the Tampa Premium Outlets, has been bringing in hungry fans from the moment it opened and the addition of beer, wine and homemade sangria definitely hasn’t hurt business, either. Although I’ve always said that the menu could be more diverse, if you’re looking for the best lasagne, chicken or veal parmigiana (the latter is usually a special) in our area, this is your place — and the portions are huge, especially the calzones! The homemade Sicilian-style pizza is also unique and yummy.

THE HUNGRY GREEK

2653 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (813) 345-8526

Any time you can offer quality food at excellent prices, you should have a chance to be successful in the restaurant biz and The Hungry Greek is proof of that theory. Years before AdventHealth Wesley Chapel opened directly across the street, The Hungry Greek was packing in the people, especially at lunch time, with its classic gyro and souvlaki sandwiches and platters, shish kabob combo and chicken Caesar pita sandwich and the Greek salad is the most authentic and delicious in our area, too. I also really enjoy the Greek beer and decadent desserts.

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GARY’S FAVORITES (Cont.)

900º WOODFIRED PIZZA 28152 Paseo Dr. #195 Shops at Wiregrass (813) 527-6940

AMICI’S PIZZA & DELI

26602 Wesley Chapel Blvd., Lutz (813) 973-9734

FRATELLI’S PIZZA & CAFE 5327 Village Market (813) 991-1118

LA PRIMA PIZZA

1211 Bruce B Downs Blvd. Northwood Plaza (813) 907-2878

places and Italian restaurants in Wesley Chapel all in a row. I personally prefer the NY-style to the woodfired Neapolitan-style pizza at 900º Woodfired Pizza, but my favorite dish is definitely the freshly-made penne pesto Genovese shown above, although I usually have owner Steve Falabella’s happy crew add grilled chicken and even some sautéed spinach to mine. The penne alla vodka and lasagne are awesome, too!

The new location of Amici’s on Wesley Chapel Blvd./S.R. 54 in Lutz has brought me ever closer to the Mannino brothers and their delicious pizza, like the sausage and pepperoni NY-style shown above. But, like 900º Woodfired, Amici’s makes my list of Wesley Chapel favorites in part because it features a very authentic NY-style version of another one of my favorite pasta dishes — the linguine with white clams. I can’t really call it a sauce, because it’s correctly more of a light broth, but it is loaded with whole clams and garlic and is a definite must-try!

Even though I didn’t remember the name of their long-time, open-24-hoursa-day original Fratelli’s in the Hunts Point Market in The Bronx, NY, I am so happy that the Fratelli brothers decided to sell that location and bring their tasty NY-style pizza and pastas to Wesley Chapel. I was even happier when I first sampled the truly authentic penne with broccoli rabe, chicken and sausage shown above. You won’t find a better broccoli rabe in the Tampa Bay area and the baked pastas and hot subs also rock!

The fact that I have been friends with owner (and fellow transplanted New Yawka) Willie Lopez (and his son and pizza man Chris, photo) for more than 20 years has nothing to do with why I say La Prima has been my favorite NY-style pizza in Wesley Chapel (or New Tampa, for that matter). Unfortunately, since the time that this write-up first came out in our March Wesley Chapel edition, La Prima permanently closed its doors, a tremendous loss not just for me but for the local pizza-loving community.

RICE-N-BEANS

YAMATO JAPANESE

TEXAS ROADHOUSE

ARROY THAI

Here come four of my favorite pizza

27405 Wesley Chapel Blvd. (813) 803-7974

Although I never really thought of Puerto Rican food as one of my favorite Latin cuisines until I tried the original location of Rice-n-Beans on S.R. 54 in Lutz, the spacious and beautiful new location (in the former location of Cody’s Roadhouse) has kept me a fan of Wesley Chapel’s Rice-nBeans, especially the amazing fried chicken chicharrons shown above. I’m also a fan of the roast pork mofongo, the grilled pork chops and chicken breast in garlic sauce. And yes, the rice and (I prefer the red) beans served with every meal are also delicious and authentic. Great drink prices, too. 28

28347 Paseo Dr. Shops at Wiregrass (813) 907-8701

26409 Silver Maple Pkwy. (813) 907-8188

I can live without the line dancing, but the food and service at Texas Roadhouse Wesley Chapel, Yamato has a tremendous va- are both very good and I like picking out riety of hibachi-grilled proteins (photo) and my own steak from the steakhouse’s display the quality of the NY strip and filet mignon, window before I order my meal. I prefer as well as the chicken and even tuna teppan- the NY strip over the filet or ribeye at Texas yaki dishes (and veggies) is good, although Roadhouse, but all of them are tasty and not maybe not quite at the same level as Kobe in as heavily seasoned (or quite as expensive) New Tampa. Even so, the sushi also is fresh as at Longhorn or Outback. And, although and Yamato even has a full, premium-liquor I usually prefer bread with a crisp crust, the bar, as well as its popular sushi bar and tephoney butter Roadhouse rolls are kind of addictive. Jannah and I always sit at the bar to panyaki tables. Jannah and I enjoy the food more than the show at Japanese steakhouses. avoid the sometimes-long wait for a table. Still the only Japanese steakhouse in

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Neighborhood News

27427 Wesley Chapel Blvd. Pinebrook at The Grove (813) 501-4924

Not only is the fast-and-casual Arroy Thai still the only Thai restaurant in Wesley Chapel, it’s also one of the better ones in our area. I enjoy the lunch specials, which include steamed jasmine rice, fried wontons and a salad with peanut dressing for only $8.95-$13.95, depending upon the protein you choose — which for me is usually chicken or pork with garlic and black pepper sauce, although I do also love the spicy basil and fresh ginger sauces, too. I also love the crispy duck dinner entrées, although I’m not big on curry sauces or noodle dishes. @NTWCNews

GARY’S NEXT 25 FAVES

IRISH 31

LOS VALLARTAS

28358 Paseo Dr. Shops at Wiregrass (813) 907-2306

Although I enjoy the food at Irish 31,

much of the menu is fried, so I have limited options to choose from. My favorite appetizer are the crisp-and-light zucchini sticks. I also like the popular boxty (fried potato balls stuffed with everything from Shepherd’s pie to Velveeta, bacon and chives). My favorite entrées are the fish & chips (photo) and the hearty and tasty Mulligan stew. Even the salads are fresh and delicious, with the 31 chopped salad being my favorite, and of course, the atmosphere is great, too.

Neighborhood News

(in alphabetical order)

All of these restaurants are very good, just not good enough (in my opinion) to make my Top-25 in Wesley Chapel. I’m even admitting to liking a few “fast food” places.-GN Hibachi Express Best NY Pizza BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse Hot Wok 88 Bonsai Sushi Jersey Mike’s Subs Bosco’s Italian-to-Go Mellow Mushroom Brunchie’s NY NY Pizza Burger Monger O’Brien’s Irish Pub 365 Caffé Italiano OTB Café Cantina Laredo PizzaMania Chuy’s Pomodoro Pizza Culver’s Red Robin First Watch Umu Japanese & Thai Five Guys Burgers & Fries Wolf’s Den FJ Express

5335 Village Market (813) 907-5161

Mexican food primarily means steak and/or chicken fajitas to me and I prefer Los Vallartas’ always-sizzling and cookedto-perfection fajitas (above) to the more expensive Cantina Laredo and the better bar atmosphere of Chuy’s. Vallartas’ onions and peppers always come out well-cooked and I like the restaurant’s addition of tomatoes to its fajitas. I also really enjoy the huge menu, especially the grilled ribeye steak Mexicana, topped with grilled onions, tomatoes and jalapeños. And, all of the entrées come with rice and delicious refried beans.

@NTWCNews

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Taco Bus: Good Vibes, Good Food By JOHN C. COTEY john@ntneighborhoodnews.com

When Jillian and Chris Bruckner were looking for a small restaurant to add to their Tailgate Mart on the north side of S.R. 56, they wanted something new for the area, something unique and maybe something a little funky and cool. Taco Bus fit the bill. Three years later, the Bruckners are still happy with their choice. They say the Taco Bus, located just west of the Tampa Premium Outlets in the Shell gas station between Wawa and Walgreens, has been a hit as it has established itself in the Wesley Chapel-area community, going as far as to offer discounts to certain communities and neighborhoods on random days. Like most Taco Buses, you can’t miss it — it looks like someone backed a school bus right through the wall and into the Tailgate Mart (photo), a signature look for the franchise’s locations. “There’s always a risk when you’re opening a new business,” Jillian says. “We kept our fingers crossed and so far, it has worked out.” Jillian says the secret is the freshness and quality of the authentic Mexican food served by Taco Bus, which far exceeds what you might expect when you stop in at a gas station to pick up some

tacos and empanadas. At the time the location opened in 2018, there were few options touting themselves as authentic Mexican in the Wesley Chapel area. The Taco Bus does typically offer limited indoor seating, which is obviously not available at this time although Jillian says the location’s takeout business has still been brisk, with its full menu and everything made in house right down to marinating the meat and cooking up the tortilla shells. “Everything is made fresh,” Jillian says. “There is nothing we bring in that is already made. We cut up our vegetables daily, the pico de gallo and guacamole are all made daily and the meat is grilled fresh each day. Everything is done in house to give you a better product.” Jillian says the recipes used for the tacos, burritos, quesadillas and other

Mexican delights are the same ones brought from Monterey, Mexico, by Chef Rene Valenzuela 25 years ago when he opened the original and most famous Taco Bus on E. Hillsborough Ave. in Tampa, in an actual converted school bus. The mini-chain now has 15 locations in Tampa Bay, including the Bruckner’s Clearwater location, and last month opened its first location in Sarasota. Taco Bus’ street vendor taco vibe was featured on a special edition of the Food Channel’s “Man v. Food” in 2011, and also appeared that same year on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Fieri had a chilorio torta (Mexican sandwich) and a butternut squash tortilla.

It’s the same thing Chris ate when he met about buying a franchise. A telera roll, cut in half and warmed before getting slathered with refried beans, shredded pork (or whatever your choice of protein is), cabbage, pico de gallo, jalapeño strips, mayonnaise and cheese. “He ate that, and decided he was signing on,” Jillian says.

The Food What sold my brood were the empanadas (far right photo on next page), which my 14-year-old empanada aficionado said were the best he’s had (ending a bad run of empanada taste-testing at a variety of places). He preferred the

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ground beef, which had a flaky crust and just the right amount of filling, but he gave the portobello ranchero empanada a thumbs-up as well. The steak quesadilla (above) was a hit with the 17-year-old. He likes it plain, so there was no hiding the taste of the meat with all kinds of toppings. Taco Bus passed the test — the steak-loving kid was the first one finished, praising the meat for its tenderness. The twin grande tacos were, well, grande. In fact, we thought we had been given burritos instead, but no sir. Extralarge meant extra-large, and we filled one with marinated pork, which was my favorite protein of the ones we gorged on, and one with chicken (photo on previous page).

□�

We also tried a bean and cheese burrito, which wasn’t our favorite but we probably should have gone with black beans instead of the refried ones. We ate all of it anyway. The quesadillas, tacos and burritos (and every other menu item) can be stuffed with a number of different proteins. Taco Bus offers a wide variety — four different kinds of chicken (grilled, shredded, spicy and chipotle), two different kinds of pork (marinated and shredded), ground beef, steak, fish and shrimp. The fish tacos, in fact, are made with beer-battered grouper and come highly recommended. Jillian says they are “ridiculously good” and one of the restaurant’s most underrated items. My wife is still mad at me for forgetting to order one. Taco Tuesday (with Taco Bus’ $2 tacos), here we come. And, for the vegans, Jillian says Taco Bus has a “humongous” following of meatless Mexican food lovers. There are plenty of options, like grilled portobello mushrooms with poblano peppers, onions and tomatoes in a spicy red salsa, butternut squash grilled with sweet red peppers and topped with queso cotija, textured soy protein seasoned and grilled and a Plant Fare, or grilled plant protein marinated with smokey chipotle. We also tried one of Taco Bus’ newer items, the Elote Mexican Street

Corn. To be fair, grilled corn on the cob with just butter and salt already is pretty much the perfect food, but Taco Bus tops it with smoky chipotle sauce, Cotija cheese and fresh cilantro. If you enjoy smoky chipotle, you’ll like this. Taco Bus has specials every day of the week, and since we ordered on a Monday, we were able to cop an order of Papos — a plate of chips loaded with Mexican rice, a protein of your choice (we went with the marinated pork; it was delicious), cabbage, tomatoes and queso — for $2 off the regular price. Does that sound like a lot of food? I did mention the two teenage boys, right? So, for dessert, we had to try the sopapillas — puffed pillows of fried dough topped with cinnamon sugar and a bit of honey. It was a sweet beginning to our daily quarantine food coma. Though business is down due to the coronavirus, Taco Bus is still doing takeout. In fact, we ordered our food from the parking lot after shopping at Costco, and when general manager Pedro Ramos told us it would be ready in five minutes, my wife and I looked at each other and just smirked. But sure enough, after driving directly across S.R. 56 and parking, Ramos had our order ready to go. That kind of service extends beyond the Taco Bus kitchen. Jillian and Chris offer 20-percent-off orders from first responders and active military, and

last week helped feed the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The week before that, they fed the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz, as well as at Morton Plant near their Clearwater location. “We like to get out in the community,” Jillian says. “They have been giving us a lot of support, and we like to do the same. We love the fact that we are able to give back.” For a list of the daily specials at the Taco Bus located at 25195 S.R. 54, make sure you follow the location’s Instagram page @tacobuslutz. For takeout orders, call (813) 9494012, order online at Taco-Bus.com/ stores/tacobus-lutz/ or call Uber Eats or Door Dash for delivery.

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Nibbles & Business The Latest & Not-So-Great News In Dining, Shopping & Business In New Tampa & Wesley Chapel! Coronavirus Delays In WC, Too

Last issue, I gave you a quick photo update of the under-construction businesses in New Tampa whose openings were being delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this issue, we present pics of many of the long-awaited businesses to New Tampa’s north which can’t yet open either. All of the businesses shown on this page are located in or adjacent to Wesley Chapel and all are still under construction. Some were expected to open by the time this issue reached your mailbox, while others were weeks or months away, even before the coronavirus hit the U.S. But now, who knows when any of these great, highly anticipated businesses will open? (Moving clockwise from the top left photo) Wesley Chapel’s Aldi supermarket might even be open by now if not for the outbreak. Equally close-looking to opening (even going so far, at one point, as to start looking for employees to train) is Main Event Entertainment, located east of the Tampa Premium Outlets on the south side of 56. Perhaps not quite as close to being completed, but not too far behind, is Rock & Brews Restaurant (owned in part by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock group KISS), which is located in front of Main Event with frontage on 56. Meanwhile, directly across 56 from those two is a new plaza that will someday be home to Zukku-San Sushi Bar & Grill (as well as the Woof Gang Bakery for dogs and the European Wax Center). North of 56, the Krate Container Park at The Grove (above) and Mainsail Development’s Marriott-branded Residence Inn both received approval from the Pasco Board of Commissioners to begin construction. Yes, the Wesley Chapel area has a lot to look forward to. Now, we all just need to stay healthy waiting for it all. — GN

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So, You Like Jameson? Here Are My Favorite Irish Whiskeys! By Gary Nager So, how are the rest of you doing in isolation these days? Jannah and I miss our family (especially our beautiful grandbabies) and friends...and going out to eat, watching Tampa Bay Lightning games, checking out live bands and singing karaoke in crowded bars, but otherwise, we’re making do with (about) one trip per week to the grocery store and take out from local eateries. And yeah, we’ve been doing all of our drinking at home and watching a lot of on-demand movies and TV shows, mainly on Netflix. But, riding out the pandemic at home has reminded me just how much I love sipping a good whiskey in front of the TV. Unlike most guys I know, I wasn’t a big beer drinker in college. I preferred rum and Coke and eventually figured out that I preferred dark rum to white. In my later 20s, I discovered the joys of single malt Scotch whiskey, which I could drink without mixers, and transitioned into the sweeter, closer-to-darkrum flavors of a good bourbon, which I could sip without a mixer, but too often didn’t. It wasn’t until the first time I tried Jameson Irish Whiskey in my late 40s or early 50s that I realized that I had been missing out on a whole category of whiskey that generally was significantly less expensive than either single malt Scotch or single-barrel/ small batch bourbon. I once saw someone wearing a T-shirt that said, “God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world” and after my 10+year deep-dive into the amazing array of Irish whiskeys available everywhere, I kind of agree. The thing that has really amazed me is that I always kind of hated blended Scotch and any Scotch, for that matter, that had that peaty (to me, dirty), smoky flavor that Scotch aficionados seem to love. And, considering that most of the bourbons I grew to love (Blanton’s, Knob Creek, Baker’s & Basil Hayden’s, to name a few) were even more expensive than most 12-year-old single malt Scotches, I was happy to find new favorites from the Emerald Isle. The main reason I now love Irish whiskey is that even though most of them are blends, they seem to all be blended for smoothness, not smoke, with some of the sweetness of a good bourbon, but at generally lower prices. For example, you can find Jameson (which I do love) at almost any local liquor

store for $20-$27 per standard 750 ml bottle, while any 10- or 12-year-old “Glen” (Glenlivet, Glem Morangie, Glenfiddich, etc.) usually start at $30-$35 for the same size. By contrast, the good bourbons I’ve mentioned will set you back anywhere from $33 (for Knob Creek) to $55 (for Blanton’s) — and that’s just more than I’m willing to spend on an ongoing basis to satisfy my habit. On this page are ten of my favorite Irish whiskeys. The top row are all what I call “value” whiskeys that are all available for less than $30 a bottle. I almost always have a bottle of Clontarf 1014 at home, as the 750-ml bottle shown here costs just $18.99 at Party Liquors on U.S. 41 in Land O’Lakes (which generally beats ABC and sometimes even Total Wine on price). And, as some of the reviews I’ve read about it have said, “The whiskey has a beautiful aroma of toasted oak, toffee and malt, which leads to a palate filled with mellow hints of vanilla and butterscotch. The finish lingers with hints of lush barley and honey...This blended whiskey offers a gentle entry to the category at a more than gentle price... it contains enough musky, raw-barley pot-still spirit to give it ample body.” Also on my “value” row are The Dubliner ($23.99 at Total Wine), which also makes the best honey Irish whiskey liqueur I’ve tasted for coffee, Wolfhound ($18.99 at Total Wine), Kilbeggan (hard to find locally, but $27.99 on Wine.com) and Proper No. 12 ($24.99-$27.99, and available almost anywhere because it is the whiskey created by UFC star Conor McGregor. Proper 12 is my least favorite of this group (it’s the least smooth of my top row), but it’s still very tasty and a great gift for any whiskey drinker, especially for anyone who hasn’t yet tried it. The bottom row on this page includes most of my true Irish favorites, but these are all in the same price category ($32.99$42.99) as most entry level single malt Scotches and small batch bourbons. The first three shown here are musttrys, in my opinion, as much for the names as for the smoothness of these blends. The first — Uisce Beatha (another rare find locally, but I have found it at Norman’s Liquors on St. Pete Beach for an astounding $29.99; it’s usually closer to $40) — looks like it would be pronounced “Whiskey Beath-a,” but is actually pronounced “Ish-ka Ba-ha,” which literally translates to “water of life” in Gaelic. So cool.

Anyone who knows me personally will understand why no one has ever called me “The Quiet Man” (a bargain at $31.99 at the Winn-Dixie on County Line Rd.) and why a whiskey called “Writer’s Tears” ($39.99 at Total Wine) would be so appealing to me. The first time I tried Teeling Whiskey was at Mulligans at the Pebble Creek Golf Club (see story on pg. 22), but it’s at least $40 at most liquor stores until I found it at Total Wine for $32.99. And, I chose to show The Irishman here over my other more expensive favorite, Powers Gold Label, because the recent Academy Award-nominated movie of the same

name makes it a nice conversation starter. Both are $32.99 at Total Wine (which I hope is coming soon to S.R. 56; still no word on it) — and soooo smooth. So, there you have it — eleven amazingly smooth Irish whiskeys you may or may not have heard of before. Please note that all of these “houses” also put out single malts and other more upscale, more expensive versions, but if you’re currently a Jameson-only or novice Irish whiskey drinker, you seriously can’t go wrong starting out with any of these. Slainte! (a popular Gaelic toast meaning “Health!”...Even more meaningful these days.)

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