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Everybody's Business

Tweaking of menu closes Mary Z

Just three months after opening, the Latin cafe's owner shuts down to dress up the dinner fare.

By MICHAEL CANNING
Published June 10, 2005

First it was parking. Now it's the menu.

Three months after a delayed opening, Mary Z Tampania Cafe on Howard Avenue and Platt Street has closed. Owner Robert Velasco said he needs to change the menu before reopening in about a month.

A dressed-up spin on the classic Tampa Latin cafe, Mary Z offered familiar beans, rice, roast pork, Cuban sandwich fare. But now Velasco thinks a spot on Tampa's Restaurant Row requires higher end offerings.

So he's creating a dinner menu that will include appetizers such as escargot, Oysters Rockefeller and caviar and entrees such as sirloin tips, pheasant and Grouper Imperial. The common Latin staples will stay on the lunch menu, but he's adding sandwiches.

The restaurant is named after Velasco's late grandmother Mary Zorilla, who worked in local restaurants for several decades. It was originally scheduled to open in February 2004, but delays involving parking and disabled access pushed that to this January. The cafe has been closed for about three weeks.

NEWK'S CAFE SHUT FOR SUMMER: A business closing for a few months might seem common in a small resort town. But downtown Tampa?

Newk's Cafe, a restaurant and bar across from the St. Pete Times Forum, closed a few weeks ago and will reopen Sept. 1, owner Thomas Newkirk said.

"Summer has always been slow," Newkirk said. Combine that with a canceled NHL season and a light concert schedule at the Times Forum, and it just seemed the thing to do, Newkirk said.

Besides, Newk's is in need of some repairs and maintenance, he said.

The temporary closing has nothing to do with Anthony Development Group's proposal to buy the site, tear down Newk's and an adjacent warehouse, and build a 250-unit condominium project.

Newkirk said he's still negotiating with Anthony Development, and the proposed project's design has not been completed. Even if he agrees to sell the property, Newk's would remain open for at least another year, Newkirk said.

TWO EXITS FOR MMG: A couple of months before a scheduled move across the street, Michael Murphy Gallery has opened Exit at MMG. The small storefront next door to his gallery at 2722 S MacDill Ave. is "a way for us to offer the public overstock and discontinued items," gallery director Katty Hoover said.

That means up to 75 percent off on frames, prints, mirrors and even some of the gallery's original art.

Exit at MMG is open the first Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hoover said those hours might increase if business warrants.

Meanwhile, construction is finally under way for the gallery's future home across the street at 2701 S MacDill Ave., formerly Michael's Door furniture store on the southwest corner of MacDill and Barcelona Street. The move will increase the gallery's space from 1,500 to 5,000 square feet.

The gallery will keep its original building for Exit at MMG, frame production and the gallery's back office operations. Eventually, frame production could move to another site, Hoover said.

The gallery should move into its new space sometime in August, with a grand opening planned for September, Hoover said.

- Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3382, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com

Dad will find this clip-on bag just the thing to keep cigars handy while golfing. Good for Father's Day, the bag includes a Fuente premium cigar, a cutter and special teegar to hold your cigar. It sells for $14.95 at Tampa Sweethearts Cigar Co., 1310 N 22nd St. in Ybor City. Call 247-3880.

- AMY SCHERZER

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 10:29:11]