Top chefs join Time Out Market food hall lineup
Another food hall is on the horizon, and this one will gather some of South Florida’s biggest culinary names under one roof. Time Out Market Miami is scheduled to open in February near Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, and the market’s operators announced Monday that legendary chef Norman Van Aken has been added to the roster. Who’s cooking?
Food halls have become a hot dining trend, a way to sample dishes and bites from multiple cuisines and chefs in a communal setting. Time Out Market Miami previously announced that top local chefs Jeremy Ford of Stubborn Seed, Michael Beltran of Ariete, Scott Linquist of Coyo Taco and Alberto Cabrera, a Cuban chef noted for his sandwiches, would be opening stalls at the market.
The roster keeps growing with the addition of Van Aken, a James Beard Award winner and original member of Miami’s famed “Mango Gang,” Giorgio Rapicavoli (Glass and Vine, Eating House), pastry chef Antonio Bachour and Suzy Batlle of Azucar ice cream shop.
Other stalls will include Phuc Yea, a popular Vietnamese-Cajun eatery in Miami from chef Cesar Zapata; Love Life Cafe, a vegan eatery featuring salads and smoothies from partners Veronica Menin and Diego Tosoni; Salt and Brine, a raw bar from the operators of Ella’s Oyster Bar; Wabi Sabi by Shuji, a Japanese udon noodle and sushi bowl eatery; and outposts of Miami Smokers, Kush, Stephen’s Deli, and 33 Kitchen.
How big will it be?
Pretty large, even for a food hall. The project, at 1601 Drexel Ave., spans nearly an entire block and some 17,050
square feet. It will feature 17 eateries, three bars, a demonstration kitchen, art space to showcase new talent and a central dining area along with outdoor tables.
Each chef will showcase six to 10 menu items, served on chinaware with flatware. The average food check will be $20, and cocktails will start at $13. Why is it called Time Out? Did a kid throw a tantrum?
No, this “Time Out” refers to the weekly dining and entertainment magazine that was a staple of young clubgoers in 1970s and 1980s London. The publication branched worldwide and onto the internet, and in 2014, its editorial team took a foray into food by revamping a historic market building in Lisbon and selecting vendors to sell items.
It became a smash hit and is now one of Portugal’s biggest tourist attractions, drawing 3.6 million visitors in 2017.
Time Out Markets are now being built in Miami Beach, New York, Boston, Chicago and Montreal. All are expected to open in 2019.
When I toured the Miami Beach construction site recently with Didier Souillat, CEO of Time Out Market, he seemed like a very harried man. Are food halls just a fad?
They certainly have sprouted like mushrooms in South Florida, and their staying power remains to be seen. One food hall, at the Jackson Hospital medical complex in Miami, has already shuttered. But Souillat believes the concept has legs. “They’ve been around for a few hundred years in Asia,” Souillat says.
American food halls took off in the 1970s and 1980s with the opening of Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall in Boston and the South Street Seaport market in New York.
Why does it seem like Miami-Dade is having all the food-hall fun? What about Broward and Palm Beach counties?
Most have opened in Miami and environs, but West Palm Beach got its first hall earlier this year with Grandview Public Market and Delray Beach will soon get one with Delray City Market. Fort Lauderdale’s first food hall, Sistrunk Market and Brewery, is under construction and expected to open in early 2019.