NY Minute Del-Eatery in North Tampa (Wesley Chapel), Florida

Come to the NY Minute and spend many minutes enjoying soul-satisfying food in a delightful atmosphere.

I just wanted a pastrami-on-rye to go, before the afternoon thunderstorm hit, honest! But the hostess and waitstaff were so welcoming (the only thing not typically NewYawk about the place) and the music so inviting and the visual theme so intriguing ... I parked myself in a booth and waited out the thunderstorm. Best impulse I've followed in a long time. I was waited on hand and foot and, mostly, mouth.

I've returned many times since, and here's what you should know.

The food fills you joy as well as nutrition. Everything tastes the way you've always known it's supposed to since the first time you ate it in the Bronx or Brooklyn or Manhattan. That is, better than you've ever eaten in Tampa.

Bronx bagels. "The" Jr.'s Cheesecake. "Matzuh Bawl" soup your mama would want the recipe for. Biiiig cups of coffee. French toast made with challah (egg-bread), so good you wanna hollah. Potato pancakes, crispy outside and tender in. Bagel/lox/cream cheese platter with real lox, not that greasy saltless nova. Home-made tuna and egg salads. Pastrami and corned beef perfectly tender and spicy. You pick your bread, meat, and cheese to "build your own" sandwich. And the waitstaff continues to be as smiling and helpful and attentive as their initial welcome led you to believe. They bring complimentary assorted pickles to your table - crispy, garlicky Kosher and other appetite piquing pickles of tomato as well as cucumber.

But wait ... other aspects of the NY Minute experience will have appeal beyond your ego and mouth.

Your inner poet will be pleased. The décor expands the "building" metaphor to what you always see in New York - construction. (But the only pounding you'll hear is a cook tenderizing some pork.) Yellow- and white-outlined road lanes lead to your table ("We do it") or to the take-out line ("You do it"). The audio is pleasant "old New York" music played at a volume that allows conversation. Big plasma-screens showing videos of the music are coming soon. Exposed ductwork traces the ceiling between the lights. Feast your eyes on the scaffolding along the walls inhabited by oversized construction-worker mannequins. (But they don't wolf-whistle at you.) Just the right mix of audio and visual stimulation sets the stage for your meal and meet-up with friends.

But enough about us, the diners. There's an entrepreneurial story here, too. NY Minute is (for the moment) one-of-a-kind. But in the New York second when I first saw it, I thought, "This has got to become a chain." Sure enough, its owners have a dream, and these families know how to dream big - and they've got the experience in restaurant management to build that dream.

Building continues as the theme, here. Fred and Elaine Grunewald and Bob and Farzi Conigliaro opened this flagship eatery near their homes in Land o' Lakes, but plan to open four more NY Minutes around central Florida, starting with one in South Tampa. So keep your eyes open.

Meanwhile, come to Wesley Chapel and come hungry between 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM weekdays, and weekends beginning at 8:00 AM ('til 6:00 on Saturday and 3:00 on Sunday). If you think you'll crave their bagels or salads when they're not open, you can buy bags of bagels and containers of salad. And cinnamon-sugar bagel chips, so addictive the FDA is bound to raid the joint.

I just have one question. When they have 60 of them, will there be a NY Hour Del-Eatery? Because I tell ya - that's how long you'll want to sit and schmooze with friends, and as Bob C says, "mangia."

You can visit the N.Y. Minute Del-Eatery and 1704 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Wesley Chapel. Their phone number is: 813-973-3060. (The space would be great for a big family or after-the-game get-together, but you should probably call ahead.) Their website: www.nyminutedel-eatery.com.