Ohio’s first food hall, Food Hall, is nearing an opening, and the five food vendors that will serve it have already been revealed. Sushi, ramen, Texas-style barbecue, Mexican street food, and Italian — all are represented at Food Hall, the latest concept by Corso Ventures. The local restaurant group is known for other Short North spots including Pint House, Standard, and Forno. Food Hall will open to the public on Thursday, March 22, at 1112 N. High St.
“I think its a place that, for me personally — and I know for Chris Corso, too — we always want to build places that we personally want to hang out at,” said Reed Woogerd, President of Corso Ventures, “just fun, energetic places that the neighborhood wants and needs. And for that pocket of the neighborhood, it’s just adding more options for people that live down there as well.”
Occupying 8,000 square feet of space, Food Hall presents five restaurants from which guests can choose: Short Grain Sushi (run by Jeff Tsao, founder of Fukuryu Ramen), Shokudo Modern Asian Kitchen (also Tsao), Legacy Smokehouse, Tortilla Mexican Street Food, and Vinny’s Pizza (run by Corso Ventures’ Corporate Chef Vince Martin). Guests can order from virtually anywhere within Food Hall, either from the main central bar, from a server at their table, or from the kitchens themselves.
Eventually, they hope to roll out an app that would allow Food Hall guests to scan their table’s QR code and have their food delivered to them.
“Basically, it’s just a way to more conveniently streamline ordering from five different kitchens and having one central location where you’re going to be hanging out,” Woogerd said. “It’s all about user experience, anything we can do to enhance the user experience to make it easier or more enjoyable for them to spend time there, hang out, take photos.”
Catering to groups of friends or family, Food Hall’s bar program includes bottled cocktails available by the bucket along with traditionally sized cocktails and draft beers. And, “in an effort to keep it interesting,” Woogerd said there would be a weekly collaboration night, during which vendors would offer one special that received input from another Food Hall vendor.
Plans have already begun for the rooftop portion Corso hopes to add, which would free up more room for another vendor. That project is going in front of the Italian Village Commission later this month, and Woogerd said the community can help it along.
“We feel all the positive feedback we can get from the neighborhood about adding on that space would really help get the job done,” he said. “It’s something that we would love to add as an amenity to the Short North, and I think people would get really excited about it, so we’re working on it as hard as we can.”
For more information, visit Facebook.com/shortnorthfoodhall.
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