'UDDER DELIGHTS' NOT JUST ICE CREAM ANYMORE
New owner gives 'professional' touch
Udder delights ice cream shop has been in the Brooker Creek (Publix) shopping plaza on East Lake road (across from Lansbrook Golf Course) since the strip mall's inception in 1994. But it's never offered the wonderful assortment of breakfast and lunch items that new owner Steve Bagley and his staff have recently introduced. Now you can get 'delighted' seven days a week from 8:00 am to 10:00 p.m. all year around with breakfast items such as pancakes and bacon, sausage or ham and a large Joffrey's coffee for just $4.99. Maybe you'd prefer the scrambled eggs, bacon, buttered toast with jam or jelly and a large coffee also for only $4.99. Or how about something like a sausage,egg and cheese on an everything bagel breakfast sandwich? "I bought Udder Delights six months ago because I knew it had the best ice cream (Working Cow) and bagels in the area and I immediately saw a great opportunity to expand the breakfast and lunch menus" said Bagley. "It has always offered the best breakfast sandwiches and Authentic Cuban sandwiches around but I envisioned a much larger selection of food, that could be served fourteen hours a day, was the shot in the arm that it would need to be a really great placefor the locals of all ages".
Bagley, a Class 'A' PGA club professional for the past twenty-seven years, was a winter snowbird from Newton, Massachusetts to Pinellas County Florida from 1976 to 1987 and then decided to be a year 'round resident in 1988. "I will always love my home town as most people do but the continuing 'follow the sun' thing got pretty old after twenty years of it. Back then I met a gal in Dunedin that didn't want to leave Florida for six months a year so it was then that I decided I would move here permanently. We broke up seven years later but I knew I had made the right decision to live in Florida for the rest of my life. The winters were great up there when I was a kid playing hockey but as a golfer and an adult they were a killer".
"Going back to Udder Delights let's not forget the new lunch menu" Bagley said with a smile. I've kept the authentic Cuban's because half of East Lake would have clobbered me if I didn't but I've also added Sloppy Joes, grilled hot dogs, sloppy joe cheese dogs, BLT's, tuna, egg and chicken salads on a warm croissant and so much more. We even give a free scoop of delicious southern style potato salad with every lunch. And you can't beat the prices either".
When Bagley was asked why he bought a restaurant instead of continuing on as a PGA club pro he quickly answered, "'Well I am still a PGA pro and will be for life. No one can ever take that away from me. But after I retired in 2002, at fifty-two years old, from being the golf director at Cove Cay Country Club in Clearwater for twelve years I took five years off to just relax and play golf. So I joined Crescent Oaks and did just that. I had been waiting on rich members (Bagley was head pro at two of the most affluent clubs in Massachusetts until his move here) my whole adult life and I always wanted to see how the 'other half lived' and I wanted to see how good I could get at golf if I could practice and play any time I wanted to. The best I could get to was a three handicap. Even if I was twenty-five years old I probably couldn't have gotten much better than that. Those guys on the PGA tour are way out of my league. They are simply totally gifted at playing golf. My gift, if I have one, was and is being very detail oriented and organized. People don't understand how important that is when you are a club professional. They think that all we club pros do is play golf, get drunk and chase women. Most of us never had the time to do any of that stuff". Bagley then said with a laugh and a twinkle in his eye, "Heck, I'd go months without playing golf or drinking".
"So why the restaurant business Steve"? I asked . "Well, I had done the golf thing for over thirty years including my apprenticeship and I wanted to do something a little different. My entire working life has been in customer service so I felt it was a natural for me. This is the first time in my career that I haven't had to answer to a board of directors and I love it. I got lucky because I have a geat staff of friendly, energetic, hard working young women and part time East Lake High Schoolers and we are having lots of fun. We have really cleaned the place up, painted it all white and wallpapered it. We serve everything on paper plates with plastic forks and knives so everything is always completely sanitized and we don't have to wash too many dishes. We are just hoping the local people will come in and see how much better it is now than it used to be. As a golf director at several private and semi-private clubs you have to learn a lot about dining too. In fact club pros have to wear more hats then any other profession I can think of" then he paused for a few seconds and said with a smile....."except maybe being a restaurant owner".
Udder Delights is located at 36109 East Lake Road in Palm Harbor, Florida. The shop hours are 8a.m. to 10:00p.m Monday through Thursdays, 8:00a.m. to 10:30p.m. Fridays and saturdays and Sundays 9:00a.m. to 10:00p.m. Phone 727-897-1313 for call ahead pick-up or free delivery (5 mile radius,$12. min. order) 11:00a.m. to 2:00p.m. Monday through Fridays.