Credit: Pete's General / Facebook
Openings

Shortwave Coffee Sparkman Wharf is a go-to spot for street tacos, Asian fusion and gourmet hot dogs, but the downtown Tampa hotspot’s newest addition is of the caffeinated variety. Shortwave Coffee, a Missouri-based specialty roaster, soft opened at Sparkman Wharf earlier this week. The cafe serves a range of espresso-based beverages, pour overs, tea, plus a variety of pastries and casual breakfast items. According to its website, Shortwave’s signature drink is the “Mint Mayday,” a sweet and creamy cold brew complete with muddled mint. Photos show that this newly-opened cafe has lofty ceilings, sleek and minimalist decor, and large, floor-to-ceiling windows. In the far corner, guests can watch its coffee roasting machine in action. Shortwave is now open from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. daily during its soft opening phase. Water Street Tampa’s Instagram says that an official grand opening will happen sometime in the near future, in addition to an expansion of hours. For more information, follow @shortwavecoffee Instagram. 615 Channelside Dr., Tampa. shortwave.coffee

Five-O Donuts Christine Nordstrom will open Five-O’s first St. Pete location out the former Uptown Snoballs space on 4th Street N. The new doughnut shop celebrates its grand opening on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 8 a.m.—with a ton of promotional gifts in tow. Facebook says that its first six customers in line wearing Five-O shirts will receive a free four pack of doughnuts, everyone will get a free doughnut (while supplies last) and free merchandise will be given away randomly throughout the day. According to its website the upcoming dessert shop offers 24 different types of doughnuts daily—separated into two categories, “simple” and “fancy.” Simple donuts include classic flavors like glazed, chocolate iced yeast, cinnamon sugar cake, powdered cake and lemon old fashioned, while fancier donuts range from Reeses croissant, Boston cream, peanut butter-filled, maple bacon and cookie butter cheesecake. The doughnut shop also has a variety of vegan and gluten-free doughnuts that change flavors often. 1003 4th St. N., St. Petersburg. fiveodonutco.com

Wing Boys A new chicken wing spot is heading to Northwest Tampa, and its 100-plus sauces might intimidate the indecisive customer. Wing Boys opens this weekend, Saturday, Dec. 16, at Tampa’s Citrus Park Mall. A press release from the company says Wing Boys’ owners, Javier and Angelica Torres, decided to open a new location to expand their massive sauce list to foods other than wings. The 100 sauces that the local chicken chain offers are separated into several categories: garlic, buffalo, lemon pepper, ranch, Cajun, teriyaki, honey, bourbon, blue cheese and jerk. From there, Wing Boys customers can choose their variation of sauces—like lemon pepper honey garlic or teriyaki honey barbecue— to smother their wings, ribs, shrimp or tacos with. Don’t let its chicken wing-oriented name fool you, the local restaurant also offers a variety of sandwiches, nachos and seafood dishes— in addition to newly-added vegetarian options like salads and wraps as well. 8021 Citrus Park Town Center, Tampa. Wing Boys Deli on Facebook

Aussie Grill The newest restaurant from Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (aka the folks behind Outback Steakhouse) recently debuted in Carrollwood. “Inspired by the bold flavors of Outback,” Aussie Grill is slightly more casual than its big brother, but still boasts a menu full of steaks, burgers and hand-breaded chicken. Other heavy hitters on the Aussie Grill menu include bloomin’ onion rings, crispy Cajun shrimp and its BBQ brisket sandwich. Although the newly-opened restaurant has a drive-thru, it doesn’t consider itself fast food in the slightest. Carrollwood’s Aussie Grill is now-open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. seven days a week. There are several other locations throughout Tampa Bay, including inside of Raymond James Stadium, Brandon and Clearwater. 14777 N Dale Mabry Hwy., Tampa. Aussiegrill.com

Coming soon

Pete’s One of The Burg’s favorite breakfast spots is making its journey across the bridge for an exciting—and slightly different—new concept. Popular bagel spot Pete’s Bagels will open a second location in Ybor City in spring 2023. Much different than its flagship storefront in St. Pete that closes at 2 p.m. daily, the new Pete’s in Ybor City will be an all-day cafe that offers sandwiches, coffee, espresso, salads, beer and wine alongside its beloved bagels. “The idea is to create a community focused space where you can grab your morning coffee, eat lunch and meet your friends for happy hour,” says a post from Pete’s Instagram. “We will have lots of community-focused events as well.” Although its social media post did not reveal the exact location of its upcoming Ybor City storefront, it did say that the new cafe will “overlook a brand new dog park.” The new, 4,000 square-foot Friends of Ybor dog park will debut sometime this month at 1802 E 4th Ave.— so folks can expect Pete’s to open somewhere near the corner of 18th Street and 4th Avenue in historic Ybor City. petesgeneral.com

Closings

Chatterbox Family Restaurant After almost 50 years of dishing out homestyle meals and stacked breakfast plates, a Dunedin favorite has closed its doors. Chatterbox Family Restaurant—attached to the Dunedin Lanes bowling alley at 405 Patricia Ave.— served its very last customers earlier this week, on Monday, Dec. 12. According to the Tampa Bay Times— which recently did a deep dive on the restaurant’s history—Chatterbox’s third generation owner Billy Drulias is closing the family eatery to retire early. Drulias, 59, and his 89-year old mother Katy Drulias said goodbye to their final customers yesterday, posing for pictures with large balloons that commemorated the restaurant’s 48 year-long run. Drulias told TBT he’s considering going back to school, as not finishing college was one of his biggest regrets in life. Chatterbox is the last of three Drulias family restaurants that once spanned across northern Pinellas County. Clearwaters’ Bay Drive-In and Pete’s Restaurant have both been shuttered for years now, as the family’s last-standing concept joins the ranks of its now-closed siblings. 405 Patricia Ave., Dunedin.

Events

Supernatural & Lucky Tigre’s ‘Hot Rod’s Hot Run Rodney Cordero is a fixture in the window at downtown Tampa’s Supernatural sandwich shop, and this weekend a bunch of his pals are celebrating him—and his goals for 2023—by going for a jog after work. “Hot Rod’s Hot Run” happens on Saturday, Dec. 17, and leaves Supernatural Food & Wine—located at 305 E Polk St. in Tampa—at 5:15 p.m. It ends 2.5 miles away at South Tampa’s Filipino sari-sari store concept, Lucky Tigre, where the Supernatty team will buy anyone who goes on the run a drink. The exercise and camaraderie is all in in the name of Cordero, who injured his ankle six or seven years ago, leading to pain for a full day after he spent extended hours on his feet. “This time last year our boy could barely stand a full shift and definitely could not imagine being out on a run. His goal was to rehab and be able to run a mile. Which he has accomplished (crushed)…,” Supernatural wrote online. “If you love supporting others, crushing personal goals, want to have fun and a good run or just want so tasty food , come join!” 305 E Polk St.,Tampa. supernaturalfoodandwine.square —Ray Roa
Wild Child’s “One Crazy Night” Chanukah pop-up party One of the most popular restaurants in St. Pete will soon host an exclusive Chanukah dinner, chock full of modern takes on traditional Jewish holiday dishes and drinks. This special event takes place on Tuesday, Dec. 20—in the middle of 2022’s Chanukah holiday, which runs from Dec. 18-26 this year. Wild Child co-owner Matt Kaye tells Creative Loafing that its one-night-only food menu will consist of exciting dishes like pastrami lamb ribs—complete with smoked spices, yogurt dijonnaise, a Dr. Brown’s soda glaze and pickled green tomatoes—latkes with sour cream and a pomegranate applesauce, and a chicken schnitzel sandwich topped with amba tehina, za’atar, shredded lettuce and pickled long hot peppers. Dessert is sous chef Evan Lipman’s and executive chef and co-owner Rob Reinsmith’s Floridian approach to the traditional Jewish sufganiyot or jelly doughnut, which will be filled with guava and cheese and topped with dulce de leche and powdered sugar. 2710 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. wildchildstpete.com
 Brunched 2023 Each year, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay partners with local bars and restaurants to provide guests with some of the best brunch samples and daytime cocktails in the Bay area. 2023’s Brunched will take over the Tampa River Center on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. In addition to unlimited brunch samples, this exciting event also features a bloody mary competition (where folks can vote for their favorite cocktail), a variety of boozy beverages, photo opportunities and tasty waterfront views. Although the full list of participating bars and restaurants has yet to be released, a few eateries that we hope will return for 2023’s Brunched include Sweep Coffee, Fresco’s, Sea Dog Cantina, Hew Parlor and Chophouse, Bulla Gastrobar, Cru Cellars, 7th + Grove, Shuffle and Dough. General admission tickets are on sale now for $45, GA Plus runs for $65 and VIP tickets are $75. All ticketing tiers come with unlimited brunch bites, bubbles and complimentary parking, but GA Plus folks can access the event at noon, while VIP ticket holders can enter even earlier at 11 a.m. 402 W Laurel St., Tampa. brunchedtampabay.com

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This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2022.

Kyla Fields is the food critic and former managing editor of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay who started their journey at CL as summer 2019 intern. They are the proud owner of a charming, sausage-shaped, eight-year-old...