Nov. 7, 2019

Look’s Marketplace is taking shape as its retail section – The Mercantile – and part of the bakery are set to open.

That follows the meat counter, which opened Tuesday.

The Mercantile is scheduled to open Friday, and the bakery plans to start serving coffee plus a limited selection of breakfast foods, while adding pastries and ice cream next week.

“I just hope people are excited and that we live up to their expectations,” co-owner Nick Heineman said. “I hope everyone is really pleased with the space and the experience within it.”

Look’s has been transforming the 17,000-square-foot former Callaway’s at 500 E. 69th St. for much of the year.

“It’s gorgeous,” co-owner Beau Vondra said. “I think it’s exceeded our expectations. We always thought it was going to look nice, but with the finishings on it … I feel like we made the right decision.”

The grocery space has been enlarged from the former location at 69th Street and Western Avenue to include more produce.

It’s located in what used to be the Pub area of Callaway’s and includes a walk-up area for food to go that’s opening Nov. 8. That menu will feature sandwiches, sausages and French fries.

The dining areas will be the last to open, but the plan is to add them likely next week.

“The menu started off with rough ideas that Nick and I had, and we let our chefs take those ideas and shape them into their own,” Vondra said.

That includes the Culture Kitchen, which features creations by chef Ryan Tracy, who used to run Bros Brasserie Americano.

“It will be a really fun menu and the only one that changes from lunch to dinner,” Vondra said. “Pressed sandwiches and tartines and salads and soups and raclette will be a highlight, and at night we’ll add a line of fresh pastas.”

He describes The Live Fire, which is the full-service restaurant inside Look’s Marketplace, as “a classic steakhouse meets French fine dining.”

The brewery is located in the back of the marketplace and will serve only the building for now.

“The brewers have been brewing every day getting the tanks full,” Heineman said. “We won’t have them all ready at open, but we’ve done collaboration brews with other local brewers. We’ll have our beers, but the offerings will really ramp up in the first month of being open.”

Hours will vary for the restaurants, but the marketplace will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.