Myron B. Pitts| mpitts@fayobserver.com
They call them food halls.
Not to be confused with food courts, which are more associated with shopping malls.
Food hall owners are serious about that distinction.
“Morgan Street Food Hall,” says the home page for the Raleigh establishment, “is a new lifestyle dining concept; not to be confused with a food court. It features local eateries and restaurants as well as local food retailers. Morgan Street Food Hall introduces the concept of cross meal ordering, where different meals are enjoyed in a shared seating area.”
So yeah, that’s the gist.
Whenever I’m out of town and have a look about different places, I cannot help but wonder how certain concepts and ideas would play back home in the ’Ville. A food hall is one that could work. Of course, I think most things can work here with the right vision and right team behind it.
Myself and the rest of the merry band of Pittses went to Raleigh a few weeks ago, mainly to take the kiddos to Marbles Kids Museum and to link up with some friends.
We kicked around Marbles for three hours, and Sam, who is 6, was still not ready to go, but we were all hungry and our friends had suggested a food hall.
The food hall is in a brick building on West Morgan Street that used to house Jillian’s, which was like a smaller version of a Dave & Buster’s entertainment complex (we are supposed to be getting one of the latter next year in Cross Creek Mall). I remember going to Jillian’s every now and again when I was a much younger fellow.
My, what they’ve done to the place …
So as the name “hall” implies, the facility is essentially a big room with rows of restaurant counters all under one roof. There is outdoor, covered seating.
It’s a little hard to focus in a food hall, especially with children, so we took a good deal of time figuring out what we wanted to eat. All four of the merry band like empanadas, so we started off with some of those as appetizers from a place called Makus.
I didn’t know how to pronounce “Makus” and asked the girl behind the counter, and to my surprise she didn’t know, either. I kind of figured that would be something covered in the first day of training, if not indeed the first minute. But I’m old school.
Anyway, the empanadas were small but good.
The strength of the food hall, much like — dare I say it— a food court, is that everybody can kind of go their own way when it comes to the main course. Then come together again like Voltron for desert.
I wound up getting a sizable sandwich from an Asian-cuisine place called The Katsu. It had beef, thin-sliced cabbage, tomato red onion, pickle and custom sauce. It’s one of those sandwiches that is so big you’re like, “Do I eat this with my hands or …?”
Sarah got food from a Mediterranean place called Sassool, which is a spin-off of a place we’ve eaten at and enjoyed a few times in Raleigh, Neomonde. We got the kids fries and mac-and-cheese from Iyla’s Southern Kitchen.
We ate in the outside covered area, then topped everything off with ice cream from a stand back inside. Our friend Jessica treated, which made it all the sweeter.
Nonetheless, by the time I got some coffee for the road from a place called Bad Cat Coffee, Crepes & Bagels— the total tab had crept right on up there.
So, if there’s a caution, I’d say if you’re on a budget maybe familiarize yourself with the vendors from the website and have a plan before you go in.
We had fun, though.
Now, can the food hall concept work here?
Sure. We have all types of cuisine and it trots all across the region and globe — Cuban, Jamaican, Indian, southern, soul food, barbecue, South American, Italian, we got it. Many of these restaurants are locally owned, so we can check that box, too.
If you’ve been to our International Folk Festival, you know we’ve got the cooks and chefs. If you’ve been to the farmer’s markets, the one downtown, or the one across from Fayetteville State University, or to any of the produce stands, such as on Reilly Road or Cumberland Road, you know we have folks growing fresh food.
Food halls are kind of an extension of food trucks, and we have plenty of good food trucks, too. Food halls, like the trucks, make opening restaurants a little more doable for chefs without the big budgets for a brick-and-mortar lease.
We have some big available spaces around the city for a hall, or so I’ve heard. I’m sure one of those could be re-purposed.
So I guess the only thing we really lack is someone with a heart and vision to do a food hall and the investors to make it happen.
Getting that combo together, however, can be the hardest part.
Columnist Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
