The food hall at the OCVibe is taking shape, with developers revealing six bar and lounge concepts coming to the newly dubbed Katella Commons venue.<\/p>\n
Named after the neighboring Katella Avenue, the 50,000-square-foot market hall occupies the first two floors of The Weave office building, which is currently under construction at the $4 billion mixed-use entertainment district in Anaheim near the Honda Center.<\/p>\n
OCVibe on Feb. 10 announced a slate of new food and beverage concepts to open at the hall in addition to the 21 incoming chef-driven food stalls.<\/p>\n
The venue will include Bar Bacchia, a wine-cave-inspired tasting bar; the gin- and martini-focused Vesper Lounge featuring a piano; an outdoor patio named Barrel Bar, modeled after all-day European caf\u00e9s; a beer-garden-inspired setting called Rea\u2019s Ranch; and two other yet-to-be-named spaces.<\/p>\n
The latter two will be a tequila-forward concept and a social lounge with 70s and 80s influences.<\/p>\n
The intention, according to Nick Pacific, vice president of Katella Commons Operations, is for the market hall to be a new \u201cday-to-night\u201d gathering place for the city and, hopefully, Southern California.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe market hall is looked at as more quick service, maybe at a lower price point but just as elevated. It\u2019s our opportunity to really kind of dive into the diversity\u201d of Orange County, Pacific told the Business Journal.<\/p>\n
Previously, Pacific worked for Arteco Partners as general manager of the Riverside Food Lab overseeing the venue\u2019s operations, marketing and leasing for three years until joining OCVibe in 2021. The executive studied at the Napa Valley Wine Academy and attended the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park in New York for hospitality management.<\/p>\n
Pacific also said that the OCVibe team designed Katella Commons to be a venue where chefs don\u2019t get caught up on the business end of opening a new restaurant and can focus on the menu. The Anaheim development is offering its chef partners the space, kitchen designers, its architect and engineering teams and its technology and marketing departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really study the different things that make a food hall successful, and a lot of it has to do with focusing on the chefs, and then the restaurateurs themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is going to make them successful?\u201d<\/p>\n
The market hall is slated to open in early 2027 as part of the first phase of the OCVibe project.<\/p>\n
Chef Partners<\/p>\n
OCVibe tapped French-born chef R\u00e9mi Lauvand last year to provide a culinary lens to the eatery.<\/p>\n
Lauvand, now based in Los Angeles, previously worked in restaurants in Paris and New York City before moving to California. He was sous chef alongside French restaurateur and chef Daniel Boulud and later became the executive chef at Montrachet in Tribeca.<\/p>\n
The Anaheim team asked him over a year ago to come in as an advisor for Katella Commons. Pacific explained that Lauvand plays a critical part when meeting potential chef partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving another chef with that background giving them support makes them feel confident that what we\u2019re building is going to work and it\u2019s for them. That we have this culinary lens, and we\u2019re not coming at it from just a developer, landlord lens,\u201d Pacific said.<\/p>\n
At the end of 2025, OCVibe revealed that chef Debbie Lee will be opening two Korean food stalls at the hall. More names will be announced later this year, according to Pacific.<\/p>\n
A Restaurant Out at OCVibe<\/p>\n
Outside the incoming Katella Commons, OCVibe\u2019s first opening phase will include an avenue of five full-service restaurants in an area called Restaurant Row.<\/p>\n
The dining options will stand between The Weave office building and the concert hall on the west side of the 100-acre development.<\/p>\n
In 2024, OCVibe announced that River Jetty Restaurant Group would be one of the first tenants selected to open a new A Restaurant location at the Anaheim site.<\/p>\n
River Jetty, founded by Jordan Otterbein and director McG, is the operator of the first A Restaurant in Newport Beach, A Crystal Cove, CdM Restaurant and the Lido Theater.<\/p>\n
However, River Jetty has not been working with OCVibe since last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time, A Restaurant is no longer moving forward as part of OCVibe,\u201d the Anaheim organization said in a statement to the Business Journal.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson from the restaurant group added: \u201cRiver Jetty Restaurant Group ultimately determined that OCVibe wasn\u2019t the right fit for their long-term strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs plans continue to evolve, we\u2019ll share updates on confirmed dining partners and concepts,\u201d OCVibe said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The food hall at the OCVibe is taking shape, with developers revealing six bar and lounge concepts coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-190259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}