Published: July 27, 2023
Feast Your Way Through Tampa Bay
Photographs courtesy of Babushka’s, Courtside Grille, Zukku and Thai Island
Get to know the people behind the plates at these alumni-owned restaurants
(And if we missed your favorite, make sure we know! Email publicaffairs@ut.edu)
By Holly Neumann, Madeline McMahon, M.A. ’24, Brianna Kwasnik ’16, M.A. ’23
Zukku | Zukku-San | Ato | Astro Craft
Ferdian Jap MBA ’10 owns five Asian-flavor-inspired restaurants, including Zukku at Armature Works, Zukku-San in Lutz/Wesley Chapel, and Ato in Wesley Chapel and Lakeland. Photo courtesy of Zukku
Looking for Ferdian? He’ll be at the Restaurant
That kid sitting at the back table of the Chinese restaurant? The one reading and staying out of the way, who looks a little bored but who’s trying to blend in? Ever seen that kid? It could have been Ferdian Jap MBA ’10.
Jap spent his adolescence in Largo’s Golden Palace, the restaurant his family owned. From middle school on, he hung out there on afternoons and weekends while his immigrant parents pursued their American dream.
The books came first, as education was the reason his family left Indonesia in the first place. But when homework was done, he took phone orders, prepped food, cooked and gained some cool knife skills. He remembers learning how to get the perfect char on a dish (it’s not easy!); that the lunch buffet cost $4.85 in 2002; and how the food aromas mixed with the smell of cigarettes. He waited on the smoking section. Sometimes, his friends stopped by to say hi.
“Hey, I’ll be at the restaurant,” he’d tell them after school. “You know me.”
The Golden Palace hours paid off for Jap. He ended up earning a salad of degrees (a bachelor’s in biomedical science and master’s in entrepreneurship from USF; an MBA from UT; a law degree from Stetson). And he works a mean wok. Today, he owns five Asian-flavor-inspired restaurants, including Zukku at Armature Works, Zukku-San in Lutz/Wesley Chapel, and Ato in Wesley Chapel and Lakeland. There’s a Zukku in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he also owns Astro Craft Ice Cream at Armature Works and in Lutz.
At Zukku in Armature Works, the shrimp volcano roll reigns. Tempura shrimp and spicy mayo top a sushi roll of tuna, cream cheese and avocado. Zukku-San, which offers a full-service experience, has Jap’s favorite, the dancing eel roll, with BBQ eel, avocado, tomago (egg) and serrano peppers.
Today, Jap owns five Asian-flavor-inspired restaurants, including Zukku at Armature Works, Zukku-San in Lutz/Wesley Chapel, and Ato in Wesley Chapel and Lakeland. Photo courtesy of Zukku
Jap’s brother-in-law, Gia Tran, is the sushi expert, executive chef and one of his three business partners. It was Tran’s idea to open a restaurant together, and the timing of the suggestion aligned with the opening of Armature Works, where Jap had a connection to the developer.
In 2018, Zukku and Astro Craft were among the food hall’s original tenants.
“It was nonstop for two weeks,” Jap said, and he soon knew that he needed a lot more than the seven employees he’d hired.
Today, he employs 25 at Zukku alone, and he leans on a lot of what he learned in his MBA program to manage them.
“I took leadership classes that taught me how to motivate team members, how to interact with them properly so that they don’t feel like I’m a typical restaurant owner who just bosses people around and doesn’t care,” Jap said, citing empathy as the first quality needed to own and run a restaurant.
Even with all his education, formal and otherwise, Jap is still learning. In fact, he has one new employee who might have lots to teach him: his mom.
Jap’s parents sold the Golden Palace years ago, and his father is happily retired. His mother, though, likes having some extra spending money. She called her son last spring, asking for a job, and he put her to work at Zukku-San, where she’s a food runner who takes plates from the kitchen to the tables.
When he signed her first paycheck, Jap said he couldn’t help but think, “This is weird.”
“It’s a new experience,” he said, and he admitted being nervous. “The good thing,” he said, “is that I’m always there.”
That sounds about right. You know him. He’ll be at the restaurant. —H.N.
Zukku: 1910 N. Ola Ave., Tampa | zukkusushi.com/zukku | @zukkusushitampa
Astro Craft: 1910 N. Ola Ave., Tampa | astrocrafticecream.com | @astroicecreamtpa
Zukku-San Lutz/Wesley Chapel: 25916 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz | zukkusushi.com/zukku-san | @zukkusan
Ato Wesley Chapel: 5816 Goldview Parkway | zukkusushi.com/ato
Ato Lakeland: 640 E. Main St.| zukkusushi.com/ato
Santoro’s Pizzeria
Travis Kaiser ’07 with his sons Santoro, left, and Giancarlo. Photo courtesy of Santoro’s
Bringing the Boardwalk to the Bay
Travis Kaiser ’07 knows what it’s like to have a craving. When he was a student at UT, there was no place nearby to get a taste of home — that expertly hand-tossed, oven-baked, thin and crisp Jersey slice.
Today, thousands of UT students from the Northeast and anyone else in the neighborhood don’t have that same problem, thanks to Kaiser’s pizzeria, Santoro’s, a mere seven-minute walk from campus.
Step inside, and it’s like entering a slice shop on the Jersey Shore boardwalk. “The goal was to make it look like a pizzeria and a surf shop had a baby,” Kaiser said.
Pies are stacked in a case next to the register; red booths line the walls; Yankees and Giants memorabilia, stickers and family beach vacation photos don the walls; a ’90s rap playlist with some Sinatra slipped-in plays in the background; and there’s a good chance that whoever is taking your order has a Jersey accent.
For Kaiser, it all comes down to relatability.
The staff, 80% from the Northeast and including about 25 UT students currently, “understands what we’re going for,” Kaiser said. “They already work at home in places very similar.”
With all the feels-like-home atmosphere, it’s on-brand that the restaurant itself is named for Kaiser’s first son, and the most popular menu item is the “grandma pizza,” called the “Nonna Lisa” after his mother and grandmother. The pie is an “old school approach” on a cheese pizza, Kaiser said, that is traditional in Brooklyn and New Jersey, with plum tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh garlic, olive oil and basil.
Kaiser’s personal menu favorite, though, is the meatball sub, which uses his grandmother’s recipe.
“We have, by far, the best meatballs — outstanding. I’ll put them up against anyone, anywhere,” he said.
Kaiser credits a cousin who’s been making pizza “since forever” in New Jersey for helping with sauces and dough recipes, and other friends and mentors steeped in pizzeria experience who tweaked the marinara to make it “just that much better.”
Add to the mix his mom’s vodka sauce, and his dad at work in front of the oven (under the title HR for “head relative”), and “it was a collaboration. That’s how good restaurants are,” Kaiser said. “If you have one chef and he’s one-sided and not open-minded, eventually, that just fizzles out. You got to understand that you hire people for a reason, and you should let them be creative.”
Santoro’s has been open since 2021, and Kaiser said he’s just getting started. He’s on the lookout for the next perfect location — this one to be named for his younger son, Giancarlo — to bring even more of New Jersey a little bit closer to home. —H.N.
1329 West Cass St., Tampa | santorospizzeria.com | @santorospizzeriatpa
A mural on the outside of Santoro’s Pizzeria features a mashup of Travis Kaiser’s inspirations: his son Santoro and 1990s pop culture.
Harvest Bowl
Atheer Naif, left, and Athar Naif ’09 with their daughters. Photo courtesy of Harvest Bowl
A Fresh Choice that Makes a Difference, Bowl by Bowl
A month after Harvest Bowl opened its doors in January 2020, the reality of COVID-19 washed over owner Athar Naif ’09.
The health food restaurant had to quickly pivot its business model while the excitement of the new eatery was fresh.
“It was stressful not knowing what would happen next. A lot of restaurants fail within the first year; we didn’t want to be a part of that statistic,” Naif said.
Naif, who majored in biochemistry at UT and works part-time as a pharmacist, decided to use her contacts to organize a program called “Feed Our Heroes.” Through the program, individuals or companies could sponsor hospitals around Tampa Bay and donate funds to feed healthcare workers.
The restaurant, which features meat and veggie bowls, also offered healthy meals at a discounted price and free delivery to any hospital in Tampa, St. Petersburg or Sarasota.
The restaurant features meat and veggie bowls. Photo courtesy of Harvest Bowl
Through the program, they were able to provide more than 5,000 meals, Naif said.
Naif owns and operates Harvest Bowl with her sister Atheer, who also attended UT. Running a business is not new to them, as their father owned the Rainbow Mart from 1991 to 2018, just five minutes away from UT’s campus.
When the sisters were at UT, they would go to the store to have lunch, and doing so “exposed me more to business,” Naif said.
She describes the atmosphere of Harvest Bowl as healthy and fresh, and it caters to all different diets. The restaurant offers pressed juice, a dessert section and a small market.
“Eventually we want to expand. (We) figured if we can’t expand outside, we’ll expand inside, so people won’t get bored of the product we offer,” Naif said.
“It’s not easy staying relevant in the restaurant world.”
Two of the most popular menu items, Naif said, are the acai bowl and the “Steak It Out,” which comes with jasmine rice, filet tips, sweet potato and mushrooms, drizzled with chimichurri sauce.
Her favorite menu item, however, is the “Hula Hula,” a bowl that has jasmine rice, pineapple, red onion, corn and balsamic dressing.
“There are a lot of bowl concepts in Tampa,” Naif said. “Harvest Bowl is special because it’s family-owned, and we have a lot of options.”
In fact, Harvest Bowl recently added a smoothie bar and also has several brunch items, like smashed avo toast, a breakfast burrito and a steak-and-eggs bowl with roasted potatoes.
“Don’t let the small business fool you,” Naif said, “because we have everything.” —B.K.
6109 N. Florida Ave., Tampa | theharvestbowl.com | @harvestbowl
Café Dufrain and Watervue Grille
Andy Bonnemort ’94 is the founder and owner of two Harbour Island neighborhood mainstays: Café Dufrain and Watervue Grille. Photo courtesy of Watervue Grille and Café Dufrain
A Taste of Harbour Island
Andrew (Andy) Bonnemort ’94 has never been much of a conformist. He majored in communication at UT and worked in television/film at NBC in New York City for a bit. Then he moved back to Tampa and worked briefly in finance before deciding to venture out on his own.
He landed in the restaurant industry.
Now, 30 years later, Bonnemort is the founder and owner of two Harbour Island neighborhood mainstays: Café Dufrain and Watervue Grille, steps from Garrison Channel and across the water from Amalie Arena. Hungry customers often arrive by boat or walk downstairs from the apartments stacked above the restaurants.
The dishes at Café Dufrain and Watervue Grille are as gorgeous as they are delicious
Café Dufrain is the place for casual, American fare like burgers, salads and pulled pork mac and cheese. At Watervue Grille, locally caught seafood rules. Watervue also has breakfast items ranging from specialty coffees to a simple egg sandwich on a kaiser roll to a luscious crab cake Benedict.
Both outlets host corporate events and parties like wedding rehearsals, happy hours, dinners and luncheons. A UT classmate of Bonnemort’s, Cathy Bellatin ’93, handles all the marketing and events.
Bonnemort grew up around food. His father owns a restaurant in Paris, and his mother was a founder of the James Beard Foundation and wrote cookbooks. Still, he said he didn’t expect to go into the industry himself, and if he’s in the kitchen, he’s likely to be washing dishes or polishing glasses.
“We’re not stuffy here,” said Watervue’s chef of more than six years, Mike Smith.
Bonnemort said a day in his life as a restaurant owner looks like, “father, therapist, janitor, electrician, dishwasher manager, web programmer, accountant, whatever comes my way.”
And yet, even balancing all those plates, Bonnemort says his restaurants are the best places in Tampa to relax. He says the community-centered vibe at the end of Harbour Post Drive makes it the place to be.
“Everybody loves Mike’s food, and the relationships that come with everything bring it all together.” —H.N.
700 block of Harbour Post Drive, Tampa
watervuegrille.com | @watervuegrille
cafedufrain.com | @cafedufrain
Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co.
Vinny Andriotti ’14 opened Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co. in March for takeout and delivery and is in the process of opening a traditional storefront near the UT campus. Photos courtesy of Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co.
Where Food is Like Family
Vinny Andriotti ’14 doesn’t play favorites. When it comes to choosing his No. 1 at Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co. … well, he just can’t.
“Oh, you’re asking me which child of mine is my favorite?” he asks. “These are my, these are my children, these recipes!”
And then, with the pride like that of a new dad, he decides on the vodka parm — “I just love vodka sauce so much,” he says. Except, no, maybe the Bada Boom, a shredded braised beef sandwich with spicy vodka sauce and some “moz,” as the native New Yorker calls it, tops his list. “That one just pummels the taste buds.”
Cousin Vinny’s opened in March for takeout and delivery and is in the process of opening a traditional storefront near the UT campus. Andriotti, the chef and creative force, owns the operation with three partners and is considered the face of it. It’s a team effort where each man, including fellow UT alums A.J. DeSimone ’14 and Jake Schmidt ’16, and a tight-knit group of vendors (many of whom are also UT grads) brings their individual strengths and expertise to the table, like in photography, social media, web design, marketing and business analytics.
Especially at first, Cousin Vinny’s website and Instagram were crucial for attracting potential customers. “We wanted everything on the web to look just as good as if you were to walk in and Vin were to make it for you and put it on the table in front of you,” said DeSimone. The approach worked — Cousin Vinny’s Instagram reaches tens of thousands of people per post, and web orders revealed repeat customers from even the earliest weeks of being open.
“I see every name that comes through,” DeSimone said. “We’ve gotten just such great feedback. People tell me, ‘We love the food.’”
Andriotti developed the recipes over years in his own private dining business and decades as the son of Italian immigrant parents who elevated meals to the level of a learning experience.
“My mom taught me to cook, and my dad taught me to eat,” he said, describing how his mother shared her kitchen with him and how his father “tickled his curiosity” to explore fine dining from a young age, introducing him to delicacies like rack of lamb, cognac butter, basted lobsters … “you name it.”
Andriotti’s dad is who truly recognized his son’s passion for food and how it inspired him.
After graduating from UT, Andriotti, a finance major, began working in sales. He remembers talking to his father about work, and his dad noticed how when Andriotti closed a deal, he’d be on a high for a short time. And when he lost one, he’d push the blame onto others.
Then, once Andriotti opened his private dining business, the elder Andriotti noticed that his son’s successes buoyed him longer, and his failures motivated him to do better next time. He mentioned his observations to his son.
“‘You’re the happiest when you’re in the kitchen,’ Andriotti remembers his dad telling him. ‘And I just want to see you happy.’”
It was one of their last conversations. Andriotti’s dad died last August, and losing him has made Andriotti “hell bent” on getting Cousin Vinny’s off the ground. It’s taken a combination of conviction, determination and discipline, Andriotti says — and some key support behind the scenes.
Andriotti’s mother, the original Chef Andriotti, was there for opening weekend, and her presence meant everything to her son.
“It was phenomenal coming home to her after the first service,” Andriotti said.
“She was, like, ‘What do you want me to make you for dinner?’” —H.N.
cousinvinnystampa.com | @cousinvinnyssandwichco | catering only, Aug. 13 until store opening in October at 1331 W. Cass St., Tampa
Courtside Grille
From left, John Koutroumanis ’93, Alan Shoopak ’79 and Dean Koutroumanis ’89, MBA ’91. Photo by Bob Thompson
Big Menu, Big Screens for the Big Game
Brothers Dean Koutroumanis ’89, MBA ’91 and John Koutroumanis ’93 are no strangers to the restaurant industry. In fact, they’ve been in the business for about 30 years.
The brothers started their careers in Ohio, but came back to Tampa in 1995, because they loved the area and wanted to start Antonio’s Pasta Grille along with another UT alum, James Montevago ’89, MBA ’91.
Then, in 2004, they invested as minority shareholders in the Courtside Grille along with Alan Shoopak ’79.
John took over as operating partner of Courtside Grille in 2013.
Over the years, the brothers have launched or been partners in six different restaurants or nightclubs, not surprising since their family has been in the restaurant business since 1968, and Dean has dedicated his career to fostering entrepreneurship. (He’s the associate director of UT’s Lowth Entrepreneurship Center and a professor in the Sykes College of Business.)
The brothers describe Courtside Grille as a “sports-themed restaurant,” because it’s “more than a bar.”
There’s a 300-seating capacity, with indoor and outdoor bars and 45 big-screen TVs to showcase sporting events.
Because the menu is large and diverse, offering everything from sandwiches and bowls to pasta to sushi, it’s hard for the brothers to pick a favorite menu item.
The sushi is extremely popular, and the restaurant just added pizza. Equally popular items are the Thai chicken pasta (Dean’s favorite), French dip sandwiches and the grouper piccata (John’s go-to).
Dean said he remembers the Tampa restaurant scene as once lacking in terms of food quality, service and choices. But over 30 years, “we’ve seen Tampa Bay turn into a culinary destination for people that rivals some of the bigger cities,” he said. “The Tampa culinary scene has been elevated to a new level.” —B.K.
110 Fountain Parkway N., St. Petersburg | courtsidegrillestpete.com | @courtsidegrille
Because the menu is large and diverse, offering everything from sandwiches and bowls to pasta to sushi, it’s hard to pick a favorite menu item. Photos courtesy of Courtside Grille
Crabby Bill’s
Crabby Bill’s is “no frills” seafood. Photo courtesy of Crabby Bill’s
A Beachy, ‘No Frills’ Vibe
Food. Service. Atmosphere. Tom Geller ’79 says that’s the trifecta needed for restaurant success. He should know — he’s been at it 30 years with Crabby Bill’s in St. Pete Beach.
Crabby Bill’s is “no frills” seafood, he says. Add in a rooftop tiki bar, picnic tables and a west-facing, sandy locale, and Geller says Crabby Bill’s becomes the best place to watch the sunset and have a drink. Geller’s personal-favorite menu item is grouper or the fish tacos, which are customer faves, too, along with the all-you-can-eat crab legs.
Geller co-owns the St. Pete Beach Crabby Bill’s location with fellow UT alum Garry Flowers ’79. They were friends during their UT days, but their partnership was born more than a decade after graduation when they both attended a third UT friend’s toddler’s birthday party. Geller had an in with the owner of the original Crabby Bill’s in Indian Rocks Beach, and Geller had been green-lighted to open a second location. Seeing his old friend at the party, he asked Flowers to join him.
“It was just the right time,” Geller said. “It changed our lives.”
Indeed, a lot has changed since that day. In the restaurant’s early years, servers passed free pitchers of beer among the lines of people waiting to get inside. Patrons played a game called
“Crabby Makes a Deal,” complete with Crabby merchandise as prizes. Families would sit at long tables next to strangers.
“You could meet somebody from Germany or California,” Geller said. “You didn’t know who you were going to sit down at the table with. Back then, people didn’t mind.
“I liked the concept, and obviously, it worked out well,” he said.
Today, Crabby Bill’s in St. Pete Beach has 300 seats, and while the free beer outside stopped flowing a while ago, people still flock to the restaurant. Geller said Crabby Bill’s is on its way to its most profitable year yet.
“It’s a loud restaurant. It’s fun with good food and reasonable prices, and I think that’s what attracts people,” Geller said. —H.N.
5100 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach | crabbybills.com | @crabbysspb
Thai Island
Clay McElmurray ’83 and his wife, Penn, who is from Thailand, opened Thai Island in the quaint downtown strip of Davis Islands in October 2003. Photos courtesy of Thai Island
On the Menu: Hard Work and Handmade
Clay McElmurray ’83 is a self-identified jack-of-all-trades.
“You kind of have to be,” he said of opening a restaurant with no prior experience.
McElmurray and his wife, Penn, who is from Thailand, opened Thai Island in the quaint downtown strip of Davis Islands in October 2003. His expertise at the time was in software, after studying management information systems at UT, while Penn had a background in banking.
But they were up for the challenge. “People told me, ‘Don’t do it.’ So when we did succeed, it became more interesting,” he said.
With their persistent work ethic and Penn’s family recipes, they didn’t need anything else to build the place from the ground up, literally.
“None of this was here,” McElmurray recalled, gesturing around the charming outdoor deck and inviting, tropical storefront. They put everything together themselves, he said, from the flooring to the drywall, “in the middle of August with no air conditioning.”
That handiwork also transfers over to the dishes served at Thai Island. “Everything is handmade,” said McElmurray. The “best calamari you’ll ever have” is always fresh, never frozen; the peanut sauce and curries are made from scratch, in-house. Everything is made to order as requested, and it’s obvious after the first bite.
Penn and her mother have been the head chefs at the restaurant for the majority of its lifespan, while McElmurray mostly works up at the front with the customers. His introverted tendencies were an obstacle at first, but now his favorite part of the job is all of the different people he meets.
“It’s become a lot of fun.” —M.M.
210 E. Davis Blvd., Tampa | thaiisland.biz
Babushka’s
Kirill Chemodanov M.S. ’22 was 20 when he opened Babushka’s, an Eastern European restaurant in Temple Terrace, in October 2018. Photo courtesy of Babushka’s
Just like Grandma Made
Before Kirill Chemodanov M.S. ’22 could legally buy a drink, he was serving them in his own restaurant. He was 20 when he opened Babushka’s, an Eastern European restaurant in Temple Terrace, in October 2018. He was still completing his last year at the University of South Florida.
His entrepreneurial spirit was eager to learn outside of a classroom, so when he found a hole in the market, he knew he could fill it up, along with people’s stomachs.
The menu features dishes from Russia, Ukraine and Georgia.
“I knew the food was good. And at the same time, it’s underrepresented. There were really no other Eastern European restaurants around,” Chemodanov said.
The first location opened in a strip mall down the road from USF, but once it got the Babushka’s treatment, it started to feel like home. Babushka translates to grandmother in Russian, and the ambiance of the restaurant can transport you to a more comforting time and place.
“We put our whole soul inside that location,” he said.
After the original location was established, Chemodanov decided to put some work back into himself and come to UT for a master’s in finance. His favorite thing about his time at UT is also something he excels at while running his restaurant: attention to detail.
He notes how important it was that his professors paid attention to every individual student’s needs, and he gives similar advice to other restaurateurs looking for an edge.
“Just make everyone feel special; give people things they don’t expect,” he said.
One thing visitors can expect from Babushka’s is authentic, quality meals made by hand. A second location in South Tampa opened in late 2021 with a more upscale feel, but the focus is still on the food. Chemodanov explained that the dishes come from family and traditional recipes, like his mother’s kompot, a juice made with currants, cherries, strawberries and mint.
While Babushka’s is a premium spot for those looking to try something new and adventurous, the welcoming staff and cozy interior make it feel like a home-cooked meal at your babushka’s house. —M.M.
901 W. Platt St., Tampa | 12639 N. 56th St., Temple Terrace | babushkas.us | @babushkas.hydepark | @babushkas.tt