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DISH ON DINING: County's first food hall offers family friendly and fancy variety

By Bill Moss, Published: May 22, 2024

From the county’s first food hall to “elevated Southern comfort food” on the Ecusta Trail to fancy cocktails and tempting desserts, new and rebranded dining options are popping up all over.

The Auction House Food & Drink Hall spared no expense in renovating an old commercial space into a roomy family friendly space where diners can visit food sites upstairs and down.

The fast-casual dining and beverage options include KO Burger, Fish Camp 25 and the open-air Blue Collar Social bar downstairs and Mercada Cantina, an upscale cocktail and wine bar, on top.

“Bring your picky eaters. Sarah and Mike wanted to offer everything that Fletcher didn’t have,” manager Kelli Rowe says, referring to owners Sarah Klaassen and Michael Olbrantz.

“We wanted to hit all the markers.” One of those markers was cost. “We are priced family friendly,” she adds.

The Auction House prides itself on offering its 54 employees an attractive salary and benefits package, something rarely seen in the food service industry.

   The spacious backyard space includes a stage for live music and picnic table seating, which is convenient to the outdoor-facing side of Blue Collar Social. One floor up is Mercado Cantina, an upscale cocktail and wine bar in a large room with refinished wooden floors and a neon donkey.

The kid-friendly KO Burger menu offers a single or double smash burger ($8-10), plant-based Impossible Burger ($13.50), pimento cheese fried chicken sandwich ($10.50), brat dog and hot dog and KO fries ($3.50) plus soft serve ice cream and with toppings and sundaes. There’s a kids menu, too.

Fish Camp 25 starts off with smoked trout dip, lobster mac&cheese and peel and eat shrimp and offers main dishes of blackened catfish salad ($17), fried cod sandwich ($14), Maine lobster roll ($22) and fried cod, blackened catfish and fried shrimp platters ($19).

In addition to nine specialty cocktails, Mercado has four smaller bites, including its trademark Mexi-Dog ($6.75), plus $5 tacos and chicken and Carne Asada quesadillas ($11, $13.50).