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Salad dressed in parking crunch

By SHARON GINN
Published June 16, 2006

Let the salad - and parking - wars begin.

Crispers, the restaurant chain that is majority-owned by Publix, is scheduled to open today in the Publix shopping center at Dale Mabry Highway and Neptune Street, said Crispers president and chief executive officer Michael Calhoon. The 5,400-square-foot restaurant will serve gourmet salads, soups, sandwiches and wraps, flatbreads, and doctored-up baked potatoes. There will be seating for about 160, but takeout also will be available.

Crispers is the second gourmet salad restaurant to open in that part of South Tampa in the past two months. In April, Doc Green's Gourmet Salads opened on the other side of Neptune Street. It is the first Doc Green's franchise in the Tampa Bay area; more are anticipated.

So far, there are more concerns about too little parking in the area than too much lettuce. New businesses in the Publix shopping center have put a squeeze on parking. First Bank of America built a branch in the northeast corner of the parking lot, and Publix Liquors and Eddie's Custom Cleaners recently opened stores next to Publix.

Many patrons fear the parking lot, already jammed on weekends, will become too crowded. But Calhoon said Crispers looked for sites throughout South Tampa for six years and rejected many of them "because there was never any parking.'' The Publix complex was a unique opportunity, he said.

"We don't anticipate parking is going to be a problem for us at all,'' Calhoon said. "That's one of the advantages of having Publix as our partner and having the shopping center in front of us.''

Crispers will be open 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

MORE SPACE, MORE DOUGH: Brooklyn native Danny Paci quickly learned that his New York-style pizza was a hit among South Tampa diners. But the idea of a big city walk-up pizza parlor? Not so much, at least not in an area where people don't actually do much walking.

So Paci's Pizza, which opened nearly a year ago at 3201 S Dale Mabry Highway, is moving north to a bigger space on Dale Mabry in the San Miguel Plaza. Its current location has just three tables and on Friday and Saturday nights, the line snakes out the door. Paci and co-owner Skip Glass quickly learned that many people would prefer to dine in than grab a pie and bring it home.

Glass hopes to move to 2307 S Dale Mabry by the end of the summer. The new space will have room for 13 tables and will serve beer and wine. A bigger kitchen also is in the plans.

"We needed more room for storage of dough,'' Glass said.

"We make it fresh and store it two or three days to allow it to rise and develop that crisp New York-style crust. The second part is we want to have some tables in there for families. ... Our pizza is very successful. Getting everybody in the store is an issue.''

Glass said the restaurant has no plans to add delivery. Paci's has been profitable since its third month, focusing on takeout and dine-in business.

"We want to do what we know is best, and that's Danny making the pizza,'' Glass said. "Not worrying about where the drivers are.''

FORMER CAFE ANNA FOR SALE: The two-story building at 3671 S West Shore Blvd. that housed Cafe Anna is for sale. The restaurant closed abruptly May 22 with no explanation, and the local investors who own the property put it on the market last week.

The asking price is $1.8-million and includes all the restaurant equipment, which remains in the building, said John Jenkins, a broker for CB Richard Ellis. The building is about 6,000 square feet. Jenkins fielded two dozen calls in the first several days.

"Most people are looking at it as a restaurant.''

Do you know something that should be everybody's business? E-mail sharonlginn@yahoo.com or call 226-3394.

[Last modified June 16, 2006, 13:05:50]