Celebrity chef Fabio Viviani, about to debut Chuck Lager America's Tavern in Wesley Chapel, still wants a major presence in Tampa Bay
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 4, 2020

Celebrity chef Fabio Viviani abruptly exited Tampa Bay's restaurant scene after scandals engulfed his business partners this summer — but he's back with a new concept in the suburbs and says he still wants to have a major presence here.

Viviani exited the restaurants he owned with Tampa's Nocturnal Group — Osteria Bar and Kitchen, Mole Y Abuela and Shibui in downtown Tampa — after Nocturnal co-founder Lanfranco Pescante wrote "just shoot them all" on an Instagram post about racial injustice protestors. After that comment, screenshots of text messages containing racist and antigay slurs that were allegedly from Pescante also went viral. In July, three anonymous women sued Pescante and nightclub Franklin Manor, alleging that they were sexually assaulted and exploited while working at Franklin Manor.

"Clearly I was very interested in the Tampa Bay area," Viviani told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "Unfortunately, what happened happened. Now that everything is finally final, we can start the rebuilding of the region from a Fabio Viviani perspective."

Viviani, who appeared on Bravo's "Top Chef" in 2008, has opened 34 restaurants under his restaurant group, Fabio Viviani Hospitality. The first concept owned solely by Viviani to debut in the Tampa Bay area will have soft opening events this weekend: Chuck Lager America's Tavern, a casual dining New American restaurant, will open in the former Primebar space in the Shops at Wiregrass. Operating partners Anthony Sandstrom and Brian Henry, who were formerly regional managers with Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, signed a lease for the space in late 2019.

The Wesley Chapel storefront is the third Chuck Lager location in the U.S.; others are open in Delaware and New Jersey. With flatbreads, a full burger menu, handhelds like Fabio's Meatball Sub and a first cut filet mignon served with jalapeno cheddar mashed potatoes and broccoli for $29, Viviani thinks the Chuck Lager concept is well-suited for a Florida expansion.

The ideal footprint for a Chuck Lager location, he said, is between 4,500 and 6,500 square feet with patio seating.

"Florida likes to go out," Viviani said. "They like to eat good food, drink a good craft cocktail."

Beyond Chuck Lager, Viviani said he's interested in pursuing restaurants in Tampa and St. Petersburg. An outspoken critic of Covid-19 regulations in his home base of Chicago, he said he's a fan of the political climate here.

"It's very favorable to business, and although it's seasonal, there are a lot of people living there," he said of Tampa. "It's growing as a city and has a lot of young people who tend to go out."

He said he's still in discussions with St. Petersburg landlord Third Lake Partners on the space that was slated to be La Pergola, an Italian restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg's 200 Central tower.

Whether it's that restaurant or another in the Tampa Bay region, Viviani said he will likely move forward without local business partners this time around.

"Everything that happened with Tampa left a little bit of a bitter taste in everybody’s mouth as far as not operating the venues ourselves," he said. "So we’re trying now to figure that out."