Downtown D.C.’s highly-anticipated food hall and market, The Square, opens Tuesday, Sept. 5, with a handful of stalls manned by locally-famous chefs including Minibar alum Rubén García and James Beard award winning chef Ann Cashion to start.

The indoor/outdoor market located above the Farragut West Metro in the International Square building has been over two years in the making. The Square is the brainchild of García, who helped create New York City’s Spanish food hall, Mercado Little Spain, and Richie Brandenburg, a chef who transformed Union Market into the city’s food hall destination.

The business partners don’t want people calling the Square a food hall, per Washingtonian. They see it as part market, part restaurant, and part food incubator, with vendors collaborating with one another instead of competing as is customary in the average food hall. In practice that means the market’s bakery and butchery will provide goods for vendors, and everyone will share one accountant and sales software.

Eventually, The Square will house a Catalan open-fire restaurant from García called Casa Teresa. It’s the first standalone restaurant from García, who spent over a decade as José Andrés’ right-hand chef, according to Axios D.C.

There will be over a dozen vendors in the 25,000-square-foot space, with more and more chefs joining in phases. Roughly 500 patrons can eat inside the airy glass atrium or outdoors under umbrellas in street view.

When The Square opens in a few days, patrons can purchase food from the following vendors:

• Atrium Bar by Beverage Director Owen Thompson. This will be market’s central watering hole for cocktails, wine, and beer.
• Brasa by García. Devour Spanish street food off an open flame.
• Cashion’s Rendezvous by Ann Cashion and John Fulchino. The stall will vend oysters, crab cakes, and strong drinks, reminiscent of beloved Johnny’s Half-Shell that shuttered during the pandemic.
• Jamón Jamón by García. Expect hand-cut jamón ibérico and cheeses as well as croquetas and charcuterie.
• Junge’s by Brandenburg and García. Enjoy tasty sweets such as churros and soft serve.
• Taqueria Xochi by Teresa Padilla and Geraldine Mendoza. The U Street restaurant that serves Mexican dishes such as birria, tacos guisados, and street tacos, gets a second location.
• Yaocho by John Mooney. The Bidwell chef will offer Polynesian-inspired fried chicken, deep-sea snapper, superfood juices, sweets, and drinks.

To start, vendors at The Square will be open Monday through Friday for lunch, specifically from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Atrium Bar will only be open Tuesday through Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The opening comes as downtown struggles to attract people in the wake of the pandemic. D.C. government is trying to convert office buildings into residential buildings and the federal government is pushing workers to return to the office. If people flock to The Square, the market will help to revitalize downtown. Union Market helped transform Northeast D.C. —between 2015 and 2020, city officials say the food hall brought in over 2.75 million visitors each year and created 1,200 jobs.

This story has been updated to include hours.