Sprinkling of food halls blooming in South Florida

Eateries combine food court and outdoor market concept

Over the din of sizzling butter and the occasional butcher’s chop at Grandview Public Market in West Palm Beach, developer Chris Vila is describing how his plan to build a small chicken shack blossomed into one of South Florida’s buzziest culinary trends: a food hall.

A New York transplant to Palm Beach and son of home-remodeling TV star Bob Vila (“This Old House”), Vila says he abandoned plans for the chicken joint once he found a worthy investment in West Palm Beach’s growing Warehouse District, a dense industrial neighborhood off Interstate 95 and Okeechobee Boulevard. Three years later, Vila’s sophisticated foodie village, Grandview Public Market, will have its grand opening on Tuesday.

“Ten years ago, if you drove through here, you’d just keep driving. Now, we’re on the tip of everyone’s tongue,” Vila says between mouthfuls of a Korean-style fried-chicken sandwich bought from Clare’s, a Southern-style chicken restaurant inside Grandview. The sandwich is topped with blackgarlic aioli and kimchi slaw on a potato roll. “Food halls are a new revelation to people who want chef-driven food and to chefs who need a runway to launch their restaurants.”

Boasting cavernous, open-floor plans, exotic ingredients, a paralyzing lineup of restaurant vendors and upscale dishes prepared by chefs in front of patrons’ eyes, food halls such as Grandview are surging in popularity across South Florida, with 10 such emporiums scheduled to open before the end of 2018. The bounty of food halls began in 2010 with chef Mario

CARLINE JEAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Zipitio owners Ricky Perez and Niria Proa prepare pupusas, a traditional El Salvadorian dish, inside the West Palm Beach food hall Grandview Public Market. The market features 12 restaurants and artisanal groceries inside a 12,000-square-foot space.