On Vero's Island, Dinner Just Moved Across A1A

For 15 years, Johnny D's Market & Bistro was the family-style casual eatery on South A1A, with specialty foods and wines alongside the dining room. In summer it offered $22 specials and $6 glasses of wine, as Vero News noted. Now the building is dark. A sign-off note on the family's website points every regular to the same place, which is right across the street.

That one direction tells you what happened on the island this fall. One owner moved South Beach's casual market across the road and added a fine-dining room beside it. The Central Beach restaurant that was supposed to be part of the plan stayed home on Cardinal Drive and grew its daytime business.

One Owner on Both Sides of the Road

The man behind most of this is Anthony DeChellis, principal of Windward Restaurant Concepts. Vero News reports that he owns the Johnny D's building, the new Turtle Cove complex across South A1A, and a commercial building just south of Johnny D's. He told Vero News the moves are meant to give South Beach residents "a series of establishments the community can be proud of."

Johnny D's was run by the brother-and-sister team of Nina and Mario Amelio, who are DeChellis's cousins. In Vero News's report on the closure, DeChellis said both will join the management team at the new complex. All of Johnny D's employees were invited to apply there, and "about 10 or 12" had already been hired when the paper went to press.

So the closure works more like a transfer. The family put it this way on the Johnny D's website:

"In the meantime, you don't have to go far to find us. Visit our family just across the street at Turtle Cove Market, where you'll find many of the foods, wines, and specialty items you already love, along with some familiar Johnny D's faces."

The same page says the building will stay closed for renovations through October 2027. The business that reopens there may be a different one. DeChellis told Vero News that his family once ran a liquor store on the site, South Beach Liquors. He already holds a liquor license, so the next version could be a high-end wine and liquor shop. "In a way, it may be back to the future for the liquor store," he said. He hasn't settled on a concept or a renovation budget yet.

The Blu Fin Opened First

The original plan had the market opening first. By September, Vero News reported, the restaurant looked set to debut first or alongside the market, and it did open ahead of it. Hometown News reported a grand opening on Oct. 10 and an official opening on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Here are the basics:

• Address: 916 Turtle Cove Lane, Suite 201, Vero Beach
• Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m.
• Reservations: Through OpenTable, linked from The Blu Fin's website
• Kitchen: Mediterranean, seafood-forward, with Latin influence, led by Argentine-born culinary director Sebastian La Rocca

FSR Magazine reported that the launch menu included seafood dishes, a smoked beef tartare and Charley's Steak. Before the reservation system went live, DeChellis told Vero News that people were calling his personal phone to book tables.

The complex was hiring at a scale South Beach rarely sees. Windward held two job fairs aiming for about 80 hires, and La Rocca told Vero News that about 70 percent of those jobs had already been filled. He also praised the "education, training and energy" of the local workforce.

Still to Come at Turtle Cove

Two more pieces of the complex are announced but not yet established in the neighborhood routine:

1. Turtle Cove Gourmet Market. This is the space Johnny D's is sending its regulars to, with familiar foods, wines and specialty items. Its website still says "coming soon." The Johnny D's site links to the market's Facebook page, which is the better place to check before you go.
2. The Motley Cow. This is the complex's tiki bar. FSR's early October announcement said it would open shortly after The Blu Fin and planned on 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. service.

Once both are running, the corner will have a full day of service. The market and tiki bar cover late morning and afternoon, and The Blu Fin takes over at 5 p.m. That's a lot of hours for one stretch of South A1A that, until this fall, mostly ran on Johnny D's alone.

The Restaurant That Stayed on Cardinal

One more piece of the story sits a few miles north. When DeChellis first announced his new building, The Tides was supposed to move in. The Tides is the long-running Central Beach fine-dining restaurant on Cardinal Drive. Vero News recalled that Johnny D's managers didn't see it as competition, since the two places served different crowds.

Executive chef and owner Leanne Kelleher backed out and chose to stay at 3103 Cardinal Drive. DeChellis then hired his own culinary director, and Johnny D's was folded into the new venture. Without that decision, there would be no Blu Fin as it exists now.

TCPalm announced that The Tides would reopen Oct. 1 after a two-month renovation. By Oct. 8, Vero News's dining review had it serving dinner daily from 5 p.m.

Kelleher's bigger change is during the day. On Aug. 20, the City of Vero Beach Planning and Zoning Board voted 5-0 to let The Tides add Sunday brunch and weekday takeout lunches under its existing permits, according to Vero News. The approval is tied to the current management. If the business is sold, a new owner would have to apply again. Call ahead to ask whether brunch and lunch have started. For now, the restaurant's Tides To Go page describes an evening pickup routine, with orders placed between noon and 4 p.m. for pickup starting at 6 p.m.

Kelleher has run The Tides for 26 years. She also described a free "VIP invitation" for about 100 of her best customers that would let them buy prepackaged takeout. "It's like a market for pay-as-you-go crab cakes or other items," she told Vero News, "stop by and take home some of our gourmet food."

So both ends of the island are heading the same way. The Blu Fin brings a market and a restaurant together under one owner on South A1A, and The Tides is adding a small market-style service of its own on Cardinal.

Parking on Cardinal Drive

Kelleher's daytime plan came up in a familiar Central Beach debate. At the August hearing, a neighboring business owner said she supported The Tides and its brunch plan. She also asked the city to try again on a comprehensive fix for beachside parking, which Vero News describes as a long-running source of frustration for merchants. The city has tried a short-lived shuttle and several rounds of changes to how long cars can stay parked.

Kelleher told the board she didn't expect takeout lunch to add to the problem. When she offered takeout during the pandemic, many of her customers walked over from nearby homes. Planning and Development Director Jason Jeffries agreed, saying he saw "no adverse effect" on Cardinal Drive and recommending approval.

Where the Island Eats This Season

If you'd like to talk about how a new corner like Turtle Cove fits into your plans for the season ahead, Danielle M. Reidy is happy to sit down and walk through it with you. Request a Free Market Analysis whenever you're ready.