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Talk of the Bay: Tapas arrives at your local Melting Pot

Man, it seems, does not live by fondue alone. So the Melting Pot, an Oldsmar chain of 122 restaurants, will take its first step into bar food beyond melted cheese.

By Times Staff
Published December 9, 2007

Tapas arrives at your local Melting Pot

Man, it seems, does not live by fondue alone. So the Melting Pot, an Oldsmar chain of 122 restaurants, will take its first step into bar food beyond melted cheese. We're not talking chicken wings dipped in nacho sauce. Served at the wine bar and priced at $8 to $13, the tapas-sized selection includes garlic Dijon shrimp scampi and seared Ahi tuna with wasabi soy sauce. Top seller at the Melbourne and Long Island stores where the experiment was introduced: lobster quesadilla. "Guests have been asking us for something different as appetizers," said Mike Lester, vice president of operations. The menu - still a test - makes its Tampa Bay debut Dec. 17 when a 220-seat replacement for the recently closed Countryside store opens in Oldsmar.

Leave hotel early, get chance to win

It can be a struggle for hotels to clean rooms in time for new arrivals. The Don CeSar Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach is trying a novel approach: give guests a chance to win a two-night return stay if they leave at least two hours before the noon checkout. Anyone who goes by 10 a.m. gets one entry in a weekly drawing. Check out by 9 a.m. and receive two entries, scoot by 8 a.m. and you get three. The voucher is good Sunday through Thursday, based on availability. Between 7 and 10 percent of guests are taking advantage of the offer, says general manager John Marks.

Hangar anger still persists

Hard feelings still linger over an Alabama company's failed bid to take over Tampa International's former US Airways hangar. ASTAR Air Cargo of Miami charged last summer that the airport shut it out of competition to lease the facility. Pemco World Air Services won the right to negotiate a lease but backed out in October. ASTAR wrote airport officials a told-you-so letter Thursday, noting its warnings that Pemco's spinoff to new owners could change the company's plans to bring 400 jobs here. Regardless, the airport will resume talks with ASTAR about using the hangar for a maintenance shop, said Tampa International executive director Louis Miller.

Here's a twinkle of housing optimism

Tampa Bay home sales could start improving next year, but prices won't head up until late 2009. Moody's Economy.com released that largely pessimistic housing forecast last week, liberally tossing around the term "housing crash." On the crash scale, Moody's rates us No. 27 in the nation, behind Miami, Orlando, Naples and Sarasota, among others.

[Last modified December 7, 2007, 21:53:34]