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Everybody's business

He'll help revive Bread and Butter

The deli's former owner is sad it has closed. But if someone wanted to open it again, he'd be more than happy to lend a hand.

By MICHAEL CANNING
Published April 22, 2005

It pains Theo Abbas to see his former Bread and Butter Gourmet Deli closed. It was enough that he had to sell the Mediterranean restaurant at 507 N Franklin St. last September because of his poor health.

He and wife Nellie kept his original Bread and Butter Deli open in Tarpon Springs but had to watch from afar as the downtown Tampa deli declined. Three weeks ago, it finally was shuttered.

Now there's a "For sale/foreclosure" banner hanging on the vacant, three-story building. Neither the property's owner, Omni National Bank in Atlanta, nor the listing agent, Jane Levin, are commenting about it.

The ground floor of the building is divided into three restaurant spaces. Bread and Butter occupied two, and the former Trolley's restaurant occupied the third.

Abbas suffered brain damage after a fall in July 2002. He wasn't expected to live but slowly has recovered. His wife sold the Tarpon Springs Bread and Butter to family members in October 2002 so she could take care of him.

Since then, Abbas' health has improved and he has been able to help at the restaurant. The couple finally bought it back last year, a few months before selling the Tampa deli.

Now Abbas needs his wheelchair only occasionally, when he gets dizzy. As he ponders opening other Bread and Butters around the bay area, he hopes someone revives the Tampa Bread and Butter.

He'd be willing to help.

"I can get in there and get that place back and running within two months," he said.

TWO DECADES FOR SOHO SHOP: This is a big week for Other Side Antiques owners John and Mary Ann Benton.

They celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and their 20th year in business.

The Other Side has occupied a two-story, 1921 house at 308 S Howard Ave. for 15 of those 20 years, long before the street was known as SoHo or Tampa's Restaurant Row.

"Now everybody and his brother seems to be moving to this part of town," John Benton said. So he doesn't expect to be moving any time soon.

Even when the 3,000-square-foot house gets packed with fresh shipments of antique furniture and stained glass from the United Kingdom and France, Benton doesn't think about relocating.

"I don't really think I'd want a bigger a building," he said. A crowded old house is an appropriate environment for selling antiques, he said.

Many times, the house helps make a sale.

"Often we'll have a customer say something like, "We're looking for something to fit between two windows - kind of like those.' "

For its first five years, the Other Side was located on Barcelona Street next to the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

KMART CLOSING: The Kmart at Dale Mabry Highway and Columbus Drive will close in late June, according the Kmart spokesperson Stephen Pagnani.

The property owner, USA Management, is planning to redevelop the site, he said. USA Management did not return phone calls seeking details.

But a neighboring outparcel, Miami Subs, is undergoing renovations, and folks at the adjacent Sound Advice and Big Lots Furniture say they aren't moving. The Kmart is in the same plaza but occupies a standalone building.

Approximately 75 employees at the Kmart will lose their jobs, Pagnani said, and there are no plans to open another store in the area.

CRAFTING ENDURES IN CASITA: HandMade in Florida, located in an old Ybor City casita, celebrated its grand opening April 12 with an exhibit by ceramic sculptor Jack King, Betwixt and Between.

Crafters Gary Burge and his wife, Judi Jetson, opened the gallery at 1903 N 19th St., across from Centennial Park, to help promote local crafts. It carries only handmade goods by Florida craftspeople, including jewelry, hand painted vintage photos, baskets and clothing.

"There's so many fine craftspeople living in Florida," Burge said. "In St. Petersburg they're lucky enough to have the Florida Craftsmen (gallery). In Tampa there's really no gallery that's devoted to fine craft (from Florida)."

The business leases one of the casitas the Florida Department of Transportation relocated and restored to accommodate the Interstate 4 expansion. Crafters from another era - the cigar makers of Ybor City's past - most likely occupied the house decades ago, Burge said.

From the shop, Burge makes jewelry and Jetson weaves garments.

Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3394, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com

NOTE TO READER: The Kmart at Dale Mabry Highway and Fletcher Avenue plans to close by late June. An Everybody's Business item that ran April 22 named the wrong store. The Kmart at Dale Mabry and Columbus Drive will remain open, a company official said.

[Last modified May 4, 2005, 19:39:55]