San Diego's Little Italy Food Hall has been packing them in since debuting within Piazza della Famiglia on Date Street last summer, but there will soon be more stalls to sample as ownership is in the process of nearly doubling the footprint.
A cornerstone of Little Italy's recently-minted, 10,000-square foot, European-inspired Piazza Della Famiglia community gathering space, the 4,685+ square-foot Little Italy Food Hall unveiled in July 2018 as the first project from new San Diego-based hospitality group Grain & Grit Collective. Featuring a hand-picked lineup of 6 food vendors and an Italian-inspired cocktail bar, the concept was developed in conjunction with developer H.G. Fenton Company. Sam Zien, better known as the host of popular television show Sam the Cooking Guy and the author of several playful cookbooks, not only is the face of the food hall but also operates a non-conventional taco shop Not Not Tacos within the space. Other vendors include refined Milan-style pizzeria Ambrogio15, Wicked Maine Lobster, Mein St. Asian Kitchen, Bobboi Natural Gelato and the recently opened Semola Artisan Express Pasta, a homemade pasta shop and eatery by the team behind Ambrogio15.
After more than a year of packing the piazza, Little Italy Food Hall is set to expand its footprint directly across the communal thoroughfare. The team is taking over the last remaining commercial space in Piazza della Famiglia and will soon build a central wine bar to be surrounded by 3-5 new food stalls. There is no word yet on what vendors will occupy the space. We reached out to Grain & Grit founder Mike DiNorscia for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publishing.
Little Italy Food Hall is located at 555 Date Street in San Diego's Little Italy. The second part of the project is not expected to unveil until mid-2020. For more information, visit littleitalyfoodhall.com.
