If you think the “food hall” is the new wave in dining, you’re on to something there.
Plans were revealed today for the transformation of the old Shops at Grand Avenue. Besides office spaces, apartments and new retail, The Avenue (as this development is named) will include a 35,000-square-foot food platform called 3rd Street Market Hall, which will be on the street level and feature more then 20 vendors that, per the press release, is supposed to reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of our area. The hall with also include a special event space. It’s slated to open in 2019.
“This is much more than just another food hall,” says SURG Restaurant Group’s Omar Shaikh, a partner in the market hall.
(On the East Side, Crossroads Collective, a “micro” food hall in the former Oriental Pharmacy space on Farwell and North is opening the week of Dec. 17.)
Six of the 20-plus food-and-bev vendors at 3rd Street Market Hall have been named:
- Stone Creek Coffee
- Milk Can, created by the owners of Muskego’s Bass Bay Brewhouse, including noted pastry chef Kurt Fogle. The theme incorporates cheese curds, burgers and frozen custard.
- Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, a line of healthy, grilled spring rolls (made by local entrepreneur TruMan McGee) are also available at the new Sherman Phoenix.
- Donut Master, the brainchild of Jackie Woods (a former Ardent chef) and his spouse Sara. Their line of scratch doughnuts toots the horn of quality ingredients.
- Char’d, a “New Korean” concept whose owners also have a full-service Third Ward resto and a new Korean fried chicken bar on the East Side.
- Waterford Wine & Spirits, a 13-year-old company with locations on Brady Street and in Delafield.
