Nibbler

Bucs belly up to the sushi bar

What do Tampa Bay Bucs do when they have time off, for this week's playoff bye or the empty months between the seasons?

The restaurant business, where they can press the flesh -- and red meat -- with the fans is an old offseason, post-NFL home for life after football.

But for the Bucs, a lot has changed -- and not just their win-loss record. Two Buccaneers with new entries in the local restaurant game, Mike Alstott and Keyshawn Johnson, didn't make their celebrity names a big part of the Island Way Grill in Clearwater or Profusion in Tampa. They can't conceal, however, that their taste -- and ours -- has shifted from raw meat to raw fish.

Yep, sushi, uncooked fish on vinegared rice wrapped in seaweed and fired with wasabi, is a key feature of both restaurants and the snack food of these champions.

Any way you slice it, toro tuna wrapped in a makimoto roll is a far cry from a rib eye or a pork chop with Mike Ditka's name on it.

There's still plenty of red-meat football eating (and fried chicken, too) around the Tampa Bay area by fans and Buccaneers. Hall of Famer, South Florida athletic director, expressway namesake, BBQ sauce-maker and all-around local hero Lee Roy Selmon has hung his name and image on Outback's hugely successful barbecue concept. (Look for a second Selmon's to open in Carrollwood in May.)

Former Bucs tackle Tom McHale became a restaurateur of many tastes and is now focused on tending the fires at McHale's Chophouse in Brandon.

Don Shula's off-field empire includes a steakhouse in Tampa, 15 more around the country, five beefy sports bars and two seafood places. Former Gator and Dallas Cowboy Crawford Ker coaches an 11-unit chain of sports 'n' shorts Wing Houses. And before Chidi Ahanotu left for Buffalo, he made Sacks a clubby place to hang with hot steaks and cool jazz.

Alstott and Johnson, however, joined with partners headed in newer directions.

To create Island Way Grill (20 Island Way, Clearwater Beach, (727) 461-6617), Alstott and former teammate Dave Moore hooked up with fishing buddy Frank Chivas as he planned his biggest seafood palace two years ago. (Alstott had briefly been involved in a failed pizza place in downtown St. Petersburg).

You won't see their jerseys or memorabilia until the corridor to the restrooms; in the main dining rooms, pride of place goes to the art glass of Duncan McClellan -- and the fresh fish.

Which is where Alstott really does come in. He and Moore love to fish and often toss their catch into the restaurant kitchen, and they enjoy eating it cooked or raw.

"They both eat sushi; they love sushi," Chivas said. "They eat more seafood than they do meat."

You'll often see Alstott there at dinnertime with a small group of friends. His face and signature were on the restaurant's $100 gift certificates this Christmas. But he and Moore also are actively interested in the practical side of the restaurant.

Alstott spent time learning how to make sushi with the restaurant chef during a photo session for ESPN the Magazine. Moore is getting a captain's license and takes his boat out twice a week to hunt grouper, cobia and amberjack for the restaurant.

Johnson's connection to fine dining began before he arrived in Tampa. A kid who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, he eventually put some of his football winnings into opening a restaurant in Beverly Hills called Reign. The menu is his mother's Southern home cooking, but the diners and decor are A-list slick. And Johnson is known as a detail-minded owner responsible for all of it.

When his investments took him to Montreal, he and his former wife, Shikiri, became fans of the upscale Chinese restaurant Profusion, run by the Mah family.

So when the Mahs arrived in Tampa in 2001 to open another Profusion (2223 Westshore Blvd., International Plaza, Tampa; (813) 353-8400), "we knew Keyshawn would be involved somehow," Clarence Mah says.

The restaurant is Johnson's kind of place. Its modernistic east-west decor is the classiest in the mall, with a wine cellar in the round, a valet stand just outside the door and a long, curving sushi bar.

"Keyshawn loves sushi. His favorite items have tuna and fresh crabmeat," Mah says. And because Keyshawn has become an active partner in the restaurant, the sushi menu has expanded, a tuna steak has been added to the entrees and his face has appeared on the restaurant's billboards.

Mostly he has been a regular customer, once or twice a week, sometimes more. Not surprisingly other Bucs are customers, too. There have been Jon Gruden, Warren Sapp, Brian Kelley and John Lynch sightings. Alstott even had a birthday party there.

Johnson is a diner with a vision just as sharp as when he's picking a route downfield. "He's got a very keen eye for detail," Mah says. "He'll pick up on some stuff where we weren't really paying attention."

The Bucs' new appetite for raw fish reflects modern taste. Or maybe a change in protein makes for a winning diet.

Save the pizza parlor

So McDonald's had it tough last year.

The Nibbler's not too surprised, nor optimistic. The truth is that chains such as Panera, Subway, Einstein and Starbucks catered to growing hunger for bread and caffeine and cut into the quick-food niche once filled by burgers.

Don't expect the golden arches to collapse. More likely you'll see them straddling more new age concepts. If McDonald's can make pizza, fried chicken and Cubans, don't be surprised if it adds bad panini or bowls of soba noodles.

What worries the Nibbler most is the overall strength of chains and that they will continue to gobble up another area as beloved as cheeseburgers: pizza.

So my resolution for 2003 is try to find the last good independent pizzerias. If you've got a favorite pizza, thick or thin, with pepperoni or zucchini, please share it with me.

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