Bamboozle’s new Seminole Heights restaurant dishes out banh mis, curries, bowls of pho and spring rolls. Credit: BamboozleLiving / Facebook

Openings

Bamboozle After waiting a year and some change, a new Seminole Heights restaurant has finally opened its doors. Located inside of a revamped bungalow next to Tampa’s beloved Bo’s Ice Cream, Vietnamese restaurant Bamboozle has soft opened its newest location on Florida Avenue. During its soft opening phase, Bamboozle’s Seminole Heights restaurant is open for dine-in, take out and online ordering from noon-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Loyal customers of Bamboozle will recognize the new Seminole Heights restaurant’s menu, which include a variety of fresh spring rolls, piping hot bowls of pho, bánh mis, curries and traditional Vietnamese salads. Since wellness is at the forefront of Bamboozle’s mission, its menu caters to a variety of gluten-free and vegan diets as well. A drink menu of various milk teas, fruit smoothies, iced coffee and lemonade joins its spread of healthy Vietnamese fare. While Bamboozle’s Seminole Heights location gets up and running, its Channelside restaurant at 109 N 12th St. will remain closed for the summer so its team can focus on “maintenance and repairs,” according to its social media. 7107 N Florida Ave., Tampa. Eatbamboozle.com

Topgolf One of the best ways to beat the summer heat has finally opened its doors in The ‘Burg after a four year-long wait. Tampa Bay’s newest Topgolf location makes its debut at 220 Carillon Pkwy. N in St. Pete, near the St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport. According to its website, St. Pete’s 67,000 square-foot Topgolf celebrates its grand opening on Friday, June 30, although it soft opened earlier this week. Topgolf’s new, three-story facility features over 200 TVs, a full-service bar and restaurant, a rooftop terrace with fire pits, a variety of golf-related games and over 100 climate-controlled driving range bays. Although Topgolf is known for its fancy driving range technology, its restaurant and bar dishes out a menu of high-end bar food that might warrant a visit, too. The entertainment destination dishes out burgers, sandwiches, salads and shareables like buffalo chicken dip, mac and cheese bites, tacos, flatbreads and various flavors of wings. Its bar offers all of the expected beer and wine options, in addition to a menu of signature cocktails. 220 Carillon Pkwy., St. Petersburg. topgolf.com

Closings

Zoie’s Earlier this week, the owner of restaurant and event venue Zoie’s took to social media to deliver some bad news. Effective immediately, Zoie’s—located in St. Pete’s Grand Central District —is now closed. Owner and operator Jeff Baker disclosed that a recent cancer diagnosis lead him to close the restaurant he spent endless months building out. “This unexpected turn of events has lead me to reassess what’s most important in life, and prompted me to make the difficult decision to close our beloved Zoie’s for the sake of my health and well being,” Baker wrote on Facebook. “It’s been an honor and pleasure to provide you with a place to gather, enjoy good food and create lasting memories. Our loyal guests, you have turned this restaurant from a dream into a reality.” The restaurant is already listed as “permanently closed” on Google. Zoie’s made its long-awaited debut on Central Avenue in the fall of 2022, after a full year of construction and permitting-related delays. In addition to its brunch, lunch and dinner menus loaded with comforting Southern dishes, the 3,000 square-foot restaurant was also known for hosting regular entertainment, drag shows, karaoke nights and live piano performances. 2245 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. zoiesfl.com

7venth Sun’s Tampa taproom Seminole Heights just lost one of its craft beer mainstays. 7venth Sun Brewery’s Tampa location at 6809 N Nebraska Ave. recently closed its doors—but don’t fret, because its beloved beers aren’t going anywhere. “With heavy hearts, we’ll be closing the doors of our Tampa facility on Friday, June 30th. But fear not, because we’re about to embark on an exciting new adventure,” 7venth Sun wrote on Facebook last week. “This means we’ll be able to explore new and innovative beers while ensuring you have even better access to crowd favorites…We’re always ready to welcome you in Dunedin, where our signature saisons and funky fun beers will continue flowing.” The brewery’s flagship Pinellas location will stay up and running across the bridge at 1012 Broadway in Dunedin. The woman-owned brewery dishes out everything from saisons, lagers and IPAs to barrel-aged brews, sours and fruity weisses—including some of its most popular brews like the Control Freak pale ale and Headbanger IPA. 7venth Sun’s Dunedin location—which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary–remains open from 2 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, noon-midnight Fridays and Saturdays, and noon-10 p.m. on Sundays. 6809 N Nebraska Ave., Tampa. 7venthsun.com

Coming Soon

Kinjo Noble Rice and Koya will soon get a third sibling, creating a trifecta of high-end Japanese fare in South Tampa. While Italian-Japanese food might be a new concept to Tampa Bay’s foodies, Wafu-Italian or “Itameshi-style” cuisine has been a fine dining trend throughout Europe and Asia for quite some time. Kinjo’s full-service bar loaded with wine, sake and spirits will be joined by an intimate menu of fresh pastas, crudo, sashimi, and a variety of meats and cheeses cured in-house. Co-owner Eric Fralick—who’s opening Kinjo with his wife and business partner Adriana Fralick—tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that their newest concept is slated to debut in the late summer or early fall, perhaps September. “Kinjo” is Japanese for “neighbor”— we love that name as it literally is a neighbor to both Koya and Noble Rice,” he explains. “We will have a full bar, dedicated climate controlled wine room, and handmade pasta from a machine that we flew in from Italy.” According to Kinjo’s newly-formed social media pages, it will also host live jazz music on the weekend after it debuts later this year. 226 S Blvd., Tampa. @kinjo_tampa on Instagram

Events

8th annual ‘Epic Chef’ For the eighth year in a row, South Tampa’s Epicurean Hotel hosts a series of friendly battles between local chefs, which always benefits a great cause. Epic Chef is a series of local “Chopped”-like culinary competitions that benefit Feeding Tampa Bay, a popular nonprofit that aims to end hunger across a 10-county span in Central Florida. The first round of Epic Chef—happening on Monday, July 10 at 1207 S Howard Ave.— pits Evan Lipman of popular St. Pete restaurant Wild Child against Josue Collado of the Bib Gourmand-winning Rooster & the Till. Each dish—which consists of mystery ingredients picked by a child currently served at a Feeding Tampa Bay Summer Food Service Partner—will be assessed by presentation, creativity and flavor, and a panel of esteemed judges will decide which chef moves on to the competition’s finale. The second round of this year’s competition pits Noble Rice’s Jada Vidal against Bandit Coffee Co.’s Adriana Siller on July 17. The winners of the first and second rounds battle it out at the Epic Chef finale, which takes place on July 24.epicureanhotel.com
An Evening of Art & Food with Chef Chuck Bandel In conjunction with the Dalí Museum’s current exhibit “Where Ideas Come From: Dalí’s Drawings,” Café Gala’s Chef Chuck Bandel hosts a sold-out celebration of art, food, and the creative forces that connect the two on Wednesday, July 5. Bandel will offer a tasting menu inspired by Dalì’s watercolor paintings, “guaranteed to delight all of the senses.” The event kicks off with a private viewing of the rarely seen works on paper from The Dalí Museum’s permanent collection, followed by small plates of art-inspired food from the cafe’s executive chef. The museum’s house white and red wine will accompany the spread of fancy bites. Just like Dalì himself said, “beauty should be edible, or not at all.” “Where Ideas Come From: Dalí’s Drawings”—which features approximately 100 rarely-seen works from 1916 to 1974—is on display in St. Pete until Oct. 22, in addition to the museum’s permanent collection of art. 1 Dali Blvd, St. Petersburg. thedali.org
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