La Centrale Italian Food Hall

The challenge of this project was how to gracefully integrate various restaurant program elements, their corresponding systems, and unique look and feel, into a singular operation dispersed across three levels— each with a different footprint than the other. To achieve this we we took inspiration from Roman City Planning and also some of the great Civic Architecture of Italy— i.e. Santa Maria Novella Train Station and Milano Centrale— and referenced how they structure and organize diverse program elements.

The first floor is the most casual of the three. There are six grab-and-go counters overflowing with espressos, salads, cheeses, meats and breads, along with an all-day breakfast and lunch café, and a rustic pizza and pasta family style restaurant.

The second floor features three traditional sit-down restaurants, each focused on meat, fish or plant-based items. Carne, La Centrale’s steakhouse, cooks 48-day dry-aged steaks over a wood-fire grill, while Pesce, the hall’s seafood restaurant inspired by the Italian Riviera, flies in fresh branzino from Italy every morning. There’s also a lively cocktail bar with a large performance stage, and a chocolate shop filled with two chocolate fountains, 16 rotating gelato flavors and 80 types of imported chocolates.

The top floor is all about wine. The star is Enoteca, a robust wine bar, complete with wine flights, a small bites menu and free weekly tastings. There is also a private dining room hidden inside an adjacent wine cellar, and a cooking and event studio. Also, on the third level is a commissary that receives, processes and preps al ingredients for the 8 kitchens throughout this Italian Food Emporium. All was programmed and design with the ultimate goal of making patrons feel as if they were on an Italian Holiday.

Architecture: Urban Robot Associates
Photography: Courtesy of Urban Robot Associates