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Joe Dodd looks at the closure of Flocale and his move to Ybor City as a chance to start fresh.

“I look at it as a new beginning,” Dodd told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “I know it sounds cliché and corny.”

Flocale, which combined Dodd’s King of the Coop and Westshore Pizza in one Seminole Heights building, is the latest restaurant Dodd has had to shutter. His stores in Tampa’s SoHo district and St. Petersburg’s Tyrone area also closed this year. A highly anticipated location in Westchase, first announced in March 2021, still isn’t open: Dodd says he “hit a snag” with an electrical inspection, but once that’s resolved, he should be able to move forward quickly.

King of the Coop, which sells Nashville hot chicken, hush puppies and other Southern favorites, launched in Seminole Heights in April 2019. Its Wesley Chapel location remains open.

In Ybor City, King of the Coop will move into Cigar City Cider and Mead, where owner Joey Redner has built out a kitchen for the Nashville hot chicken joint. Dodd hopes to open there by Nov. 8, and in that space, he plans to get back to basics.

Tampa Bay’s restaurants and hotels typically see a slowdown in business during the blistering summer months. The slowdown, combined with rising food costs, strained King of the Coop’s business model.

“What made us successful — outside of having the best damn chicken — was we as a company didn’t care how much money we made, but rather, we cared about how we made our money,” Dodd said. “And when costs got out of control and food costs went through the roof, I then became focused on how much money we made instead of how we made our money, and that’s where we went wrong, I believe.”

He says he isn’t fearful that a shooting in Ybor City on Halloween weekend could put that location off to a slow start as consumers avoid the area.

“Unfortunately, we now live in a society where this could really happen anywhere,” he said. “You see it all across the U.S.”

Dodd said he is open to new investors, and he maintains a good relationship with the investors in Flocale, including Redner, who founded Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing. Going forward, Dodd said he plans to prioritize taking care of his employees and food quality.

“What I need to do for myself currently is refocus,” Dodd said, “and get back a piece of myself.”

After a 2-2 week, things might finally be getting back on track for our weekly picks.

The Carolina Panthers not only covered the three-point spread this past weekend, they won outright over the Houston Texans, 15-13, on a 23-yard field goal as time expired. The key to my handicap was the potential for an improved Carolina offense with coordinator Thomas Brown calling the plays, and while it wasn’t an overwhelming showing, rookie quarterback Bryce Young completed 22 of 31 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown in his first career win. It was also his first NFL game with a passer rating above 100 (103.6). There is clearly still room for the Panthers’ offense to grow, but we will take the victory and the cover. New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson also added a win to our ledger. The third-year signal caller threw 36 passes against the New York Giants — and none of them were intercepted, cashing the under 0.5 interceptions prop at plus odds.

It was not, however, a perfect Week 8. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew ran only once for three yards, falling short of the 7½ rushing yards he needed for that player prop. And our second team pick, the Chicago Bears, were embarrassed by the Los Angeles Chargers in prime time to the tune of 30-13, never threatening to cover the spread.

This week is going to be tough, and we’re starting out with just one pick, but check back later in the week for a potential player prop or two. There are a plethora of quarterback injuries around the league, and 12 of the 14 games on this week’s schedule feature home favorites (including the Kansas City Chiefs, listed as the home team for an international game in Frankfurt, Germany). Eight of those were lined at -2½ early in the week.

Best bets record: 6-7

Player prop record: 5-3

Picks were made against the consensus point spreads as of Wednesday morning; odds that have since changed have been updated in bold type, but picks are locked in at the earlier odds.

Bye week: Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos

Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS

Pick: Texans -2½

This is a fade of the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay is coming off a 24-18 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, and that performance was worse than it might appear. On their second drive of the game, the Bills failed to convert third and fourth downs on the Bucs’ one-yard line. Later, the Bucs benefited from a fluky interception that gave them excellent field position on Buffalo’s 23-yard line, and the subsequent drive ended with a touchdown two plays later. Overall, Tampa Bay netted seven fewer points than expected based on the down, distance and field position of their offensive and defensive plays, per data from website TruMedia.

Tampa Bay has also yet to post an above-average offensive success rate — the rate of plays that improve a team’s chance of scoring — this season. Houston, on the other hand, has had six performances (in seven games) at least on par with an average NFL offense.

The percentage of plays that improve the team's chances of scoring. League average is 41 percent.

Buccaneers

Texans

8

Data is through Week 8 of the regular season

Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts under 30½ rushing yards

We have no idea how much Hurts’s knee is bothering him, although he got up and left the podium during Wednesday’s news conference when one reporter asked about the injury. Jay Glazer of Fox Sports said Hurts “has been dealing with a bone bruise in his knee for four weeks” and also reported that Hurts “re-aggravated” the injury after he “took a helmet to [his left knee]” in a win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 7. This past weekend, Hurts had a season-low three designed runs against the Washington Commanders. His scrambles have also been on the decline the last few weeks.

Fewer runs means less rushing yardage so I am taking the under on Hurts this week against the Dallas Cowboys, a team that has allowed just one quarterback to gain more than one total rushing yard off designed runs this season (Joshua Dobbs, five rushes for 50 yards in the Arizona Cardinals’ Week 3 upset).

The plays above represents our best bet of the week because our analysis shows its value is the most lucrative compared with what we expect to happen on the field. Below, you will find against-the-spread picks for all of the games on this week’s schedule. However, trying to pick every game is something of a fool’s errand. The house wins so often partly because bettors try to make too many plays when the odds aren’t in their favor. Keep that in mind when evaluating the remaining games from this week’s slate.

Thursday, 8:15 p.m. | Prime Video

Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers -2½

Sunday, 9:30 a.m. | NFL Network, NFL Plus

Pick: Miami Dolphins +2½

Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS

Pick: Arizona Cardinals +8

Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS

Pick: Chicago Bears +7½

Sunday, 1 p.m. | Fox

Pick: Green Bay Packers -3

Sunday, 1 p.m. | Fox

Pick: Atlanta Falcons -4½

Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS

Pick: Baltimore Ravens -5½

Sunday, 1 p.m. | Fox

Pick: New England Patriots -3½

Sunday, 4:05 p.m. | CBS

Pick: Carolina Panthers +2½

Sunday, 4:05 p.m. | Fox

Pick: Dallas Cowboys +3

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. | Fox

Pick: New York Giants +2

Sunday, 8:20 p.m. | NBC

Pick: Cincinnati Bengals -2½

Monday, 8:15 p.m. | ABC, ESPN, ESPN2

TAMPA — Down the red carpeted hallway at Bern’s Steak House, past eight dining rooms, a bustling kitchen and an army of waiters in suits gliding between both worlds, there’s a set of stairs leading to an entire floor of dessert. Before you make it to the top, you can hear Kenny Haelsig.

If you’ve headed up for a nightcap in the Harry Waugh Dessert Room in the last two decades, there’s a chance this man has delighted you. Five nights a week, the piano man provides the soundtrack for the glitziest dessert in Tampa Bay.

Haelsig, 44, draws from a repertoire of over 300 songs from “All of Me” to “Zoot Suit Riot.” If you come up to his piano bench with a song that’s not on his list, chances are he can figure out how to play it on the spot.

This was his first steady restaurant job, and likely his last.

“You don’t get an atmosphere like that anywhere else,” he said. ”I’ve been working here for 23 years, and I hope I stay here for the whole rest of my career.”

A sweet start

When Bern and Gertrude “Gert” Laxer purchased the former Beer Haven property on Howard Avenue in the mid 1950s, they initially considered opening a soft-serve ice cream business, according to Times archives. Back then, the modest block in Hyde Park was also home to a liquor store, barbershop, pharmacy and bookstore.

The restauranteur couple couldn’t find a bank that would lend them money for such a project. So, they pivoted to serving beer and burgers. They would later end up buying the rest of the businesses on the block and transitioning to a steak house.

The entire vibe of the restaurant, starting with its windowless exterior, was designed to surprise patrons and plunge them into a fantasy world far from Tampa. According to the book “Bern’s Rare and Well Done,” the Laxers were inspired by European design. They scoured auctions for ornate antiques and hired seamstresses to create custom burgundy and gold wall coverings to match the aged steaks and wine on the menu. The lobby, with marble busts and moody red lighting, was once described by the Tampa Tribune as “half-brothel, half-spook house.”

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The Laxers would end up spending seven years working on the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, building and rebuilding it seven times according to the Bern’s book. The name comes from a famed British wine expert who inspired the Laxers while hosting them during a trip abroad.

At the time, there was no other restaurant in the country that boasted an entire floor for dessert, and Gert predicted that the dessert room would flop. The Laxers transformed their dust-covered attic by building 48 private booths out of aged redwood wine casks. They papered the walls with enlarged printouts of century-old books on wine. Each booth once had its own television screen to watch the piano player who performed in a lounge area on the same floor.

Manny Furia started playing music at Bern’s in 1967, roaming the dining room with an accordion. He later moved upstairs, behind the piano in the dessert room. While patrons tucked into macadamia nut ice cream or Cheesecake Gert, Furia showed off a repertoire that ranged from Dean Martin to heavy metal. He would later inspire Haelsig.

“He was a great mentor,” Haelsig told the Times in 2008. “He taught me how to interact with people. He helped me become a better entertainer for Bern’s.”

Meet the piano man

Past the private wine cask tables, the luckiest patrons in the dessert room are seated in a semicircle nook. Six curved booths, bathed in low crimson light, point toward Haelsig.

Under two bright spotlights, Haelsig is the focus of the room. He plays gracefully as his audience orders cappuccinos and whiskey flights. He is not distracted by plates of bananas foster and baked Alaska bursting into blue flame beside him.

Haelsig says his musical streak runs in his mom’s side of the family. He inherited his grandmother’s perfect pitch and started learning piano at age 3.

A trip to Bern’s Steak House is actually what kicked off his piano career. A Tampa native, his family would spend special occasions at the restaurant. He still can remember the first time he visited around age 8 or 9. It wasn’t the food that amazed him most, it was the phone next to his table, where he could call the pianist and send in a request.

Haelsig went on to study music at the University of South Florida. At 21, he decided to audition for an open position in the dessert room. He got the job on the first try.

“I enjoy pretty much any song that people want to hear,” he said. “As long as they’re happy, I’m happy.”

On a recent Wednesday night in October, Haelsig serenaded a young birthday girl wearing a pink crown, watching from behind her mom. He smiled at two little boys who stood on their toes to toss dollar bills into his tip jar. He wished two couples a happy anniversary, reminded countless others to watch their step and have a good night on the way out.

His audience wanted Gershwin and Beethoven, Van Morrison and Tracy Chapman. When two folks on a date night asked for “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a song Haelsig didn’t know well, he pulled it up on YouTube so he could improvise. He got close enough to have the audience toe-tapping and singing along.

“Newsflash,” he quipped after the bridge. “Bill Withers knows.”

A red light flickered on the phone behind him. He twisted around to answer it.

“Hello?” He paused. “I’d be more than happy to do that.”

Then his hands started moving again.

The opening bars of “Piano Man” filled the room.

Hear Kenny Haelsig at the Harry Waugh Dessert Room

Bern’s Steak House is located at 1208 S Howard Ave, Tampa. Haelsig can be found playing piano upstairs in the Harry Waugh Dessert Room from 7 p.m. to midnight on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The dessert room also has piano music on Thursdays, performed by another pianist. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.

The dessert room accepts reservations between 6 and 6:45 p.m. daily, though walk-ins for dessert are also welcome. Dinner patrons at Bern’s Steak House and sister restaurant Haven do not need to make additional reservations for the dessert room. For more information, visit bernssteakhouse.com/harry-waugh-dessert-room.

Information was used from the Tampa Bay Times archive as well as the book “Bern’s Rare and Well Done” by David and Christina Laxer.

TAMPA, Fla. — Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has revealed its big plans for 2024, which include a new roller coaster, a revamped animal exhibit and a new ice show.

What You Need To Know

The park on Thursday shared an early look at the new offerings it’s adding next year.

Phoenix Rising, the previously announced suspended family thrill coaster opening in the spring, is the park’s biggest project for the Pantopia area. A new rendering released during a presentation at the park shows the coaster’s layout.

“This new attraction is going to give you a good look at the Serengeti Plains,” said Erik Elliott, vice president of engineering & general services. “It’s going to give you great visuals of the Pantopia area. It’s just going to be exciting for everyone.

The coaster will reach a top speed of 44 mph as riders travel across more than 1,800 feet of track. It will be the park’s 10th coaster and the first to feature onboard audio.

Busch Gardens is also planning to revamp Kangaloom, its interactive kangaroo and wallaby experience. The exhibit will be updated with a “lush, green environment,” Elliott said.

The outside of the exhibit will also be updated with new facades and signs, new concept art revealed.

Next year will also bring new entertainment offerings to the park. A new ice skating show is in the works. Although not many details were shared, the show is slated to debut in the summer.

Phoenix Rising won’t be the only new addition to the Pantopia area. A new show called “Animal Tales” is will be offered at the Pantopia Theater—although it’s debuting this month not next year.

The show, which park leaders said will evolve over the course of its run, will feature rescued animals in Busch Gardens’ care. Visitors will learn about each animal’s “tale” and what part they play in the environment.

Adventure Island, Busch Gardens’ water park, is also getting something new next year. The park will open a new family play area called Castaway Falls.

The area will feature more than 100 water elements, multiple slides and three large water dump buckets.

Thursday’s reveals come as Busch Gardens gets ready for its popular holiday event, Christmas Town, which will run Nov. 11 to Jan. 7.

TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa attorney who recently closed his business continued to come under fire Monday from former clients who said he took thousands of dollars from them and won't refund their money.

Croce is the latest former client of Dennis Szafran to contact FOX 13 about her situation. She said she reached out to attorney Dennis Szafran in 2021 to help her maintain guardianship of her soon-to-be 18-year-old son, Vincent Croce.

Croce has a receipt showing she paid Szafran $3,800 in September. Less than a month later, Szafran shuttered his business. Croce said he never filed her case.

"I regret the fact that I ever looked him up and actually retained him as an attorney," she told FOX 13, adding her son turned 18 last week, but the celebration was hardly what she envisioned. "To try to make it as happy as I could for him was so hard."

Croce said she never received any notification that Szafran planned to close.

RELATED: Bay Area lawyer under investigation after shutting down business with unfinished cases, no refunds for clients

Other clients spoke with FOX 13 last week and said they also paid Szafran between $3,000 and $4,000 for probate work to settle loved ones' estates. They reported receiving a letter that read, in part: "Due to unforeseen financial circumstances, DJS Law Group has been forced to close its doors. We understand this may come as a shock, and we deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause you."

Croce said she eventually got a phone call from Szafran.

"He was crying on the phone, telling me how sorry he was and how he apologized for all the pain and suffering he has caused," she said. "I told him that he stole from a child, he stole from a disabled child, that this was not excusable, that a bankruptcy does not happen from one day to the next. A bankruptcy is a process."

FOX 13 has attempted to contact Szafran multiple times, but he has not responded.

A background check through public records shows Szafran filed for bankruptcy in 2010 while living in New Jersey. As of Oct. 30, he had not done so in Florida. What public records show he did do, however, is purchase a new home in Tampa in September with a reported sale price of $737,500.

Last week, Szafran's former clients found him on TikTok, where he lists himself as a Navy veteran and a motivational speaker. He'd also posted two videos that have since been deleted, in which he talks about success and failure. In one, he appears to address his bankruptcy.

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"There's a reason why my business why my business failed. There's a reason why I lost everything 15 years ago. It was to provide me with the future I need, to provide me with the opportunity to give my family a better life," he said.

Several of Szafran's former clients said they've reached out to law enforcement to file complaints. The Florida Bar Association has launched an investigation.

Tampa attorney Anthony Rickman weighed in.

"If a law enforcement agency were to look at it, they'd have to prove that that was his intent all along, to take their money, not do the work and essentially steal from them," Rickman said, adding he isn't sure why Szafran couldn't still do the work. "The fact that he has a bad business going bankrupt, whatever it may be, it still shouldn't prevent him from performing the service."

That's exactly what Croce wants Szafran to do: finish the job or find someone who will.

"Here I am trying to suffer to try to figure out how I'm going to make ends meet to get another attorney for my son," Croce explained.

Rickman told FOX 13 Szafran's former clients can contact the Florida Bar to file complaints and claims to try to recoup their money. They can also continue to contact law enforcement in their area to determine whether any laws were broken.