When Will Lee Roy Selmon's Sports Grill Open in Brandon?

The Brandon building that once housed Giordano’s is under reconstruction for the planned Sept. 9 opening of the Lee Roy Selmon’s sports grill restaurant.

Miles McConnell, the managing partner, said in an on-site interview Aug. 16 that hiring is well under way to fill the 75 to 80 positions necessary to run the grill in Brandon, at 11310 Causeway Blvd.

The restaurant, named for the legendary National Football League Hall of Famer, opens near the entranceway to the expressway named as well for Selmon, the first recipient of the Ring of Honor for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"We're at the end of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, which is very fitting," McConnell said. "We've been looking [to open a restaurant] in the Brandon area for a long time," McConnell said. "It's a great family environment out here and we're a great family restaurant."

The Brandon location is the chain's eighth restaurant, all of which are in business in the Greater Tampa Bay area and beyond.

"Normally we open our restaurants on a Monday," McConnell said. But Sept. 9 is a Sunday, set for the first game of the season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and "we consider ourselves a sports grill."

Game time for the matchup between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers is set to begin at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa at 4:15 p.m.

Sept. 9 marks as well the first anniversary of Selmon's memorial service at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz. Selmon died Sept. 4, 2011, after suffering a stoke. He was 56.

"To us, he's still a driving force in what we're doing," McConnell said. "It meant a lot to him to be out in the community and to have these restaurants. Just like he played football with passion he had his restaurants with passion and he did a lot for charities."

Lee Roy Selmon's will include “stadium seating, authentic sports-theme ambiance and state- of the-art sports viewing, with high-definition screens,” according to a company release.

"We consider ourselves a sports grill and we're really focused on food, food is our number one priority," McConnell said. "You can't beat our baby back ribs, our Selmon's wings are really legendary and we have really amazing, large-entree salads."

The restaurant serves also seafood and has a gluten-free menu, McConnell said.

McConnell said the restaurant will seat up to 225 diners, including in a comfortable and large outside dining area. Twenty-three flat-screen TV's will be "tastefully placed," he added, so that if you want to watch the game, you can. If you're on a date and rather not, it won't be in your view.

The restaurant will have a soft opening in the two nights leading up to the Sept. 9 grand opening, with proceeds benefiting a charity, for which plans were being finalized.

Lee Roy Selmon's will be open for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday, Saturdy and Sunday, and for dinner only on Monday through Thursday, from 4 to 11 p.m.

The restaurant will open in space that once housed Giordano's, and before that, Hops. With the renovations under way, "it's a completely new building," McConnell said. "It's going to be a very upscale restaurant but our prices are very reasonable."

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Good Things To Know About Lee Roy Selmon's

• The first Lee Roy Selmon's restaurant opened in Tampa in 2001.

• Many of the dishes on the restaurant's menu trace back to Selmon's boyhood days, growing up on a farm in Oklahoma, including "Mama's Meatloaf, fried green tomatoes, pulled pork, cornbread casserole and cheesy bacon grits," according to a company release.

• Other menu items include prime burgers, sliders, creamy macaroni and cheese tossed with braised short ribs and contemporary salads, including bruschetta chicken salad and the Lee Roy Selmon Chopped Salad.

• Drinks include buckets of cold beer, craft beers, signature cocktails (including the award-winning Smokin' Tampa Tea), wines by the glass and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Want a sneak taste? Here's where you can find a Lee Roy Selmon's sports grill open today:

• Bradenton: 6510 Cortez Road / 941-798-3287
• New Tampa: 17508 Donna Michelle Drive / 813-977-3287.
• Fort Myers: 5056 Daniels Pkwy. / 239-690-3287
• Palm Harbor: 34200 North U.S. Highway 19 / 727-216-6566
• Sarasota: 8253 Cooper Creek Blvd. / 941-360-3287
• St. Petersburg: 2424 Tyrone Blvd. / 727-347-5774
• South Tampa: 4302 West Boy Scout Blvd. / 813-871-3287

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RELATED COVERAGE:

• Lee Roy Selmon Remembered in Quotes by Friends, Colleagues

• Lee Roy Selmon Memorial Service Held Sept. 9 at Idlewild Baptist Church