The opening of downtown Birmingham's new Pizitz Food Hall is so close you can taste it.

Many of the vendors -- who will serve an international mix of foods from such countries as Ethiopia, India, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Vietnam, as well as the United States -- are in the latter stages of training their staffs and fine-tuning their recipes. Some have already hosted private tasting events.

While the opening date is still a "moving target," a representative for developer Bayer Properties said, the food hall will "open in the coming weeks."

The 20,000-square-foot space at 1821 Second Ave. North is on the ground floor of the former Pizitz department store building, which has undergone a $70 million restoration that also includes apartments, office space and, eventually, two independent movie theaters.

When it reaches full occupancy, The Pizitz Food Hall will include 14 food stalls, three restaurants, two retail shops and a central bar, The Louis, that developers hope will become the focal point of the food hall.

"We needed kind of a gathering place," said Sam Heide, Bayer's vice president of leasing. "That's how the idea of The Louis bar came about. That's going to be the convening spot."

Named in honor of the building's original owner, Louis Pizitz, The Louis will not only serve cocktails, beer and wine for the grown-ups, but also milkshakes and soft drinks for the kids.

"We want the food hall to be very family-focused, very family-friendly," said Bayer Properties' Tom Walker, the lead developer on the Pizitz project.

Three restaurant spaces -- one of which has yet to be leased - will anchor the northwest, northeast and southwest corners of the 94-year-old building.

The main entrance to the food hall will be on Second Avenue North, across the street from the McWane Science Center, with additional entrances from the courtyard and on 19th Street North.

Seating will be available in the common areas of the food hall, as well as in the courtyard behind the western side of the Pizitz building.

Food hall guests may park for up to two hours for free in the adjoining deck at the corner of 18th Street and First Avenue North.

The Pizitz project also includes 143 one- and two-bedroom apartments; 14,000 square feet of office space on the mezzanine overlooking the food hall; and the future home of Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival, which will have two 100-screen art-house movie theaters and office space for the festival's staff, on the lower level of the building.

At full occupancy, the Pizitz Food Hall will include 14 food stalls, three restaurants, two retail shops and a central bar. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

'A foodie's heaven'

The food hall, however, is the piece of the puzzle that has generated the most buzz, including a shoutout in The New York Times last summer.

"It's going to be elevated food, not like the food court at the mall," said Birmingham sushi chef Abhi Sainju, who will operate one of the food stalls. "For Birmingham to have it, I'm super excited. You have them in cities all over the world. To have all of these ethnic foods available under one roof, I'm super excited about the concept."

The idea of converting the ground floor of the Pizitz building into "a foodie's heaven," as The Times called it, was partly inspired by a story on Eater.com, a dining website that ranked the country's top food halls, Heide said.

"Even though they had been around for ages in Europe traditionally, and in larger cities like New York, we saw they were re-emerging as a trend," Heide said. "We thought, 'Why can't we bring that to Birmingham?'

"We've got an amazing culinary landscape here, with wonderful chefs that have created this kind of family tree of talent, and we felt that we had the talent, and the interest level of people that have sophisticated palates, to bring that to Birmingham.

"The question was, 'Well, how do we do it?'"

This is an archival photo of the Pizitz department store building, which opened in 1923 in Birmingham, Ala. The new Pizitz Food Hall will include a central bar called The Louis, named in honor of the building's first owner, Louis Pizitz. (Birmingham News file photo)

'A very unique space'

The Bayer developers -- along with Atlanta architect Ron Gill, of Rule Joy Trammel + Rubio Architecture and Design, the firm that designed Atlanta's Krog Street Market -- went on a tour of food halls to see what would be the best fit for the Pizitz building.

"It's a very unique space," Walker said. "It's about 20,000 square feet of gross area that has double-height ceilings on the historic retail floor with a historic mezzanine that surrounds all of that. It's not your typical put-up-demising-walls-and-lease-the-space-out-to-traditional-tenants (space), so we had to get creative with what we thought the space could be used for."

Among the stops on their food hall tour were Gotham West Market in New York City, Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia and Union Market in Washington, D.C.

"When we were at Gansevoort Market in New York, we saw a guy making crepes in a 10-by-10 stall," Heide said. "We realized we could add to our mix (of tenants) if we just shrink these stalls.

"The other thing we learned is that these food stalls are really specialized. There are not a lot of stalls with 40 things on the menu. They pick what they're best at, and they do it really well."

They returned to Birmingham energized with a new vision for what The Pizitz Food Hall could, and should, be.

"We came back with a very different image of what the food hall in the Pizitz needed to be, versus what it was when we left for that trip," Walker said. "Our vendors that we had sort of penciled in on our plan (before) were all very typical Southern food -- barbecue, pizza, that kind of stuff -- which all would have been very delicious. But the most successful food halls really had almost a global variety of foods."

To find the chefs to prepare those international dishes, they enlisted the help of "What to Eat in Birmingham" food bloggers Scott Doty and Jessie Merlin.

"Sam and I still amicably refer to Scott and Jessie as 'The Pizitz foodies,' because they knew some of the people we needed to talk to," Walker said.

With Doty and Merlin as their guides, they put together a pretty incredible variety of ethnic cuisines that spanned the globe, and in many cases, they didn't have to go far beyond Birmingham to find them.

Appleseed Workshop, the Birmingham design and build firm whose previous projects include Brick & Tin and El Barrio restaurants, among others, partnered with Golden Construction to help many of the food hall vendors create their own, distinctive stalls. The largest stall is about 330 square feet, and the smallest is 100 square feet.

"If everybody looks the same, it's very easy to call it a food court," Walker said. "What Appleseed was good at doing was challenging these tenants to come up with a (different) design.

"So, in a perfect world, you look at three tenants sitting right next to each other, and one of them's primary colors are orange with a modern design, another one is yellow and black with a homier, soul-food design, and then on the end, (there is) a lot of wood and rusted metal.

"It's very, very diverse, and it's very obvious that each stall has its own individual operator."

Yellowhammer Creative, which has designed T-shirts and posters for such Birmingham-centric clients as the Alabama Theatre and the Sloss Music & Arts Festival, is responsible for all the branding for the food hall, including creating the logo and the signage, as well as handling social media and planning special events. Yellowhammer also will have a retail store on the first floor.

Abhi Sainju, a native of Nepal, will serve Asian dumplings and Vietnamese banh mi at his MoMo food stall in the Pizitz Food Hall in Birmingham, Ala. (AL.com file photo)

'An opportunity'

Among the food hall tenants are Dan and Audrey Roberts, who have run a successful catering business and will operate a sweet and savory waffle shop called WaffleWorks; Eli Markshtien, a native of Israel who will open his second Birmingham location of Eli's Jerusalem Grill; and Brian McMillan, whose Busy Corner Cheese + Provisions will be a retail outlet for his wholesale business, the Cheese Advocate.

Sainju, most recently executive chef at the Asian fusion restaurant Bamboo on 2nd in downtown Birmingham, will serve Asian dumplings, or momos, and Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches at his MoMo Food stall.

At his Ono Poke food stall, Vietnamese native Vinh Tran will introduce Birmingham to classic Hawaiian poke, which features chunks of marinated raw fish and seaweed served over a bowl of rice.

Although he's worked in his brother's sushi restaurant, Ono Poke is the 25-year-old Tran's first business of his own.

"To me, opening in the Pizitz is an opportunity," he said. "I want to introduce Birmingham to poke. You have to make money, but it's more about bringing a new trend here. I want people to try it and experience it."

Another one of the food stalls, the Reveal Kitchen, will be an incubator to help aspiring chefs learn the ins and outs of the restaurant business. The stall, which will rotate every few months, is supported by REV Birmingham and will offer a proof of concept opportunity for culinary graduates of Create Birmingham's CO.STARTERS program, a joint effort of both organizations.

The first occupant of the Reveal Kitchen will be Tropicaleo, a Puerto Rican restaurant concept from Maria Isabel Medina and her husband, Gabe Marrero. Tropicaleo, which has hosted several pop-up dinners at breweries around Birmingham, specializes in mofongo, a dish that features fried plantains served with meat or as a vegetarian dish.

"Being at Pizitz, it's a great opportunity, not only in terms of the huge exposure we'll get, but we're going to be part of something huge," Marrero said. "And this food hall specifically, it has a very good concept, and that's an international concept.

"That's something that hasn't happened in Birmingham whatsoever. You can get some international food here or there, but having this many vendors who have very specific restaurants, it's just something entirely new.

"Not only as a restaurant owner, but as a food fan, we think that is going to be fantastic for the city."

Choza Taqueria will open its first location outside of New York City in the Pizitz Food Hall in Birmingham, Ala. (Photo courtesy of Choza Taqueria)

Sold on Birmingham

Matt Wagman, of Park South Hospitality, and his business partner, chef Akhtar Nawab, who operate a small chain of Mexican eateries called Choza Taqueria in New York City, will have three properties in the food hall -- a Choza Taqueria food stall, The Louis bar and Fero, an Italian restaurant.

Initially, Wagman got involved as a consultant on the food hall project, but the more he learned about it -- and about Birmingham -- the more he wanted to be part of it, too.

"It was Birmingham that sold me first, more so than the project itself," Wagman said. "I went down there, to be honest, not really knowing what to expect. Birmingham, for better or worse, is not on a lot of people in New York's radar.

"But when I got down there, first of all, I fell in love with the city. The pace of life is a little bit different there. It's a little bit slower, people take a little more time to be a little kinder to each other. And the food scene is kind of remarkable with how much excitement and energy there is."

On one particular whirlwind, 24-hour tour of the Magic City, Wagman and Nawab hit nearly a dozen Birmingham restaurants and bars.

"Off the top of my head, I've been to Babalu, Bottega, Alabama Biscuit, El Barrio, Bamboo, the Collins Bar, Carrigan's, Good People, Chez Fonfon, 5 Point Public House, Feast & Forest, Brick & Tin, Paramount, the Wooden Goat and OvenBird," Wagman said, rattling off the names like a regular. "I'm sure I'm leaving a couple out."

Wagman and Nawab hired Birmingham chef Roscoe Hall II -- another branch of that "family tree of talent" that Bayer's Heide talks about -- to be director of operations for their three Pizitz Food Hall properties.

The grandson of Dreamland Bar-B-Que founder John "Big Daddy" Bishop, Hall has worked everywhere from Bottega and Hot and Hot Fish Club to Woodlawn Cycle Cafe and Jones Valley Teaching Farm.

"Roscoe is one of those guys -- and I think every town has one -- who is just kind of a guy that everyone knows and likes and respects," Wagman said. "He's worked with a lot of guys down there. He's worked with Frank (Stitt, of perennially James Beard award-nominated Highlands Bar and Grill). He's worked with Chris Hastings (of Hot and Hot, and OvenBird). He's worked with Revelator Coffee. He's got all of this wonderful experience as a cook, as an operator, all of these different things.

"I also was very leery. I didn't want it to feel like my partner and I were sort of carpetbaggers coming into Birmingham and just looking to put a New York stamp on it. I really wanted to partner up with local guys who already have skills, have experience and were looking for another opportunity. And with Roscoe, it's been great."

Eli Markshtien and his, wife, Laurel Wurthmann-Markshtien, will open a second location of Eli's Jerusalem Grill in the Pizitz Food Hall. (Photo courtesy of Pizitz Food Hall)

From ramen to dosa

Other food stalls -- not all of which will be ready for the initial opening -- include:

--> The Standard, a classic hamburger and hot dog joint from Birmingham chef Matt Ralph, formerly of HotBox and the Wooden Goat.

--> Lichita's, which will serve Mexican paletas (frozen pops) and ice cream made with fresh fruit and other ingredients from farmers markets and other local sources.

--> Ichicoro Ramen, a restaurant that began in Tampa, Florida, and features a menu that includes ramen bowls with meat and vegetarian sauces and rice bowls with brisket, pork, chicken or salmon.

--> Dosa, an Indian food concept from Aleem Tooalim, who owns Paradise Biryani Pointe in Hoover. Dosas are similar to crepes and are made with rice, flour and lentils and filled with chicken or lamb; they'll also be available as a vegetarian dish.

--> Alabama Biscuit Co., which began in Cahaba Heights in fall 2013, will open its second location in the food hall. Choices include sweet (goat cheese, pecan and honey) and savory (fried bologna) biscuits.

--> Revelator Coffee, which already has locations in downtown and Mountain Brook, is headquartered here. The Revelator menu also will feature a few local delicacies to complement the coffee.

Besides Fero, which will offer a rustic Northern Italian menu that includes pastas and pork dishes, the other full-service restaurant in the food hall will be Ghion Cultural Hall, an Ethiopian restaurant that began in Atlanta.

"This will be what we think is the first Ethiopian restaurant in the state of Alabama," Heide said. "When we first talked about what types of cuisine would go in the food hall, the 'What to Eat in Birmingham' folks said, 'You've got to get an Ethiopian restaurant.'

"We were a little perplexed at first, but every person we walked through the food hall that was interested in opening a business, when we talked about Ethiopian food, their eyes lit up."

The Pizitz Food Hall is part of a $70 million restoration effort that also includes apartments, office space and, eventually, two art-house movie theaters. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

Pizitz gets it due

For longtime Birmingham residents, seeing the old Pizitz building come back to life rekindles memories of when that area along 19th Street and Second Avenue North was the heartbeat of the downtown retail district.

Completed in 1923, the 225,000-square-foot building was the flagship store of the Pizitz department store chain, but it has been an empty shell since the store closed in 1988, not long after Pizitz was bought out by McRae's.

Bayer Properties, which developed The Summit open-air retail center on U.S. 280 and, more recently, the Uptown Entertainment District, bought the building and the adjacent parking deck in 2000.

After various projects that included law offices and condos failed to materialize, the idea of repurposing the old department store as a mix of apartments, office space and a food hall finally started to take shape about two years ago.

And now that the $70 million restoration is almost done, one of those who can't wait to look inside is Tom Cosby, a former chamber of commerce executive who also led the $7 million fundraising campaign to restore the 103-year-old Lyric Theatre.

Cosby has a soft spot for historic old Birmingham landmarks, from Vulcan to Rickwood Field, but he has a particular fondness for the old Pizitz department store, where his father, Robert Cosby, sold refrigerators and air conditioners for 48 years.

Back in the day, Pizitz and Loveman's department stores, which were directly across the street from each other, were like the Gimbels and Macy's of downtown Birmingham.

"All of us who have family members who worked at Pizitz always felt that Loveman's was considered to be one tick above Pizitz, so we had an Avis 'No. 2, try harder' mentality," Cosby said. "One thing that has struck me is just how wonderful it is now that Pizitz is finally getting its due.

"Loveman's has been repurposed, of course, as the McWane Science Center for years. And I think's it's just great that the two major downtown retail anchors have now reached an equivalency. It seems symmetrical to me that that has finally happened."

The Pizitz Food Hall will have three entrances, including this one near the courtyard on the western side of the building. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

'A forgotten clock'

And just as downtown shoppers used to tell their friends to "meet me under the clock" outside Loveman's, The Pizitz Food Hall also has an old clock that workers uncovered during the interior demolition of the building.

The clock goes back to at least before the 1950s, Walker said, and the letters "L.P." on the clock likely refer to the building's founder, Louis Pizitz. The clock's housing is original, Walker said, but other parts had to be replicated.

"It was a forgotten clock," he said. "But it's going to be an integral part of the food hall. 'Meet me under the clock' - that's something we want people to do."

As opening days nears, Bayer developers are eager to tear off the wrapping paper and let everybody see what's inside the box.

They plan to have an unannounced soft opening to let some of the tenants get some real-time experience cooking and serving customers and then announce an official grand opening later this month. They're not ready to reveal those dates.

"As with anything, when you work on something for such a long time, you want to open it and you want people to be really excited about what they see," Heide said. "When the doors open, we want people to be really in awe of what they see and be proud of it.

"This is a project that means a lot to the city of Birmingham and that the city of Birmingham has waited on for a very long time. It's extremely important, and we want to make sure we get it right."