Why did a family market on South A1A close after 15 years and tell its regulars to shop across the street, at a market that has not opened yet? The answer runs through one landlord. He owns the closed market, the new complex across the road, a commercial building next door and the Cardinal Drive building where The Tides cooks. This fall's restaurant news on the Vero Beach barrier island looks like several unrelated stories. It is closer to one plan, carried out in stages, with a short gap in the middle.
One owner, four buildings
Anthony DeChellis grew up in The Moorings and returned to Vero Beach after a finance career in New York, where he was president of Credit Suisse Private Banking. He now runs DeChellis Capital LLC and its hospitality arm, Windward Restaurant Concepts. The name honors Windward Way, the street where he grew up and still lives.
According to reporting in Vero News and Vero Beach 32963, the properties tied to him include:
- The new 27,000-square-foot complex at 1410 South A1A, next to the South A1A 7-Eleven, now addressed as 916 Turtle Cove Lane
- The Johnny D's building directly across the road
- A commercial building immediately south of Johnny D's on A1A
- The Tides' Cardinal Drive location in Central Beach
DeChellis told Vero Beach 32963 that these moves are meant to give South Beach residents "a series of establishments the community can be proud of." The paper described the season's changes as "a dizzying game of musical chairs with island eateries." Every chair in that game sits in a building with the same owner, which is why one change keeps setting off the next.
The building was drawn for someone else
The South A1A complex was first meant to be a temporary home for The Tides. Chef and owner Leanne Kelleher was going to cook there for a couple of years while her Cardinal Drive building was torn down and rebuilt. DeChellis custom-built the new space with her input and also drew plans for a new Cardinal building to her specifications.
Late in the process, Kelleher chose to stay at the Central Beach location and close only for a couple of months over the summer for modest upgrades. Vero News reported that both of them called the change amicable. Both pointed to how attached the staff, patrons and neighbors were to the old Cardinal Drive building.
That left a finished, purpose-built restaurant space without its intended tenant. Rather than one restaurant moving in, the building became three venues under one new culinary director.
Three venues, opening one at a time
DeChellis found Sebastian La Rocca through a headhunter. La Rocca is Argentine-born, 48, and has worked in several Michelin-rated kitchens. He came from a job in the Midwest and told Vero Beach 32963 he had been "longing to be close to the ocean." He oversees all three venues. They sit in a row on the site: the market at the western end closest to A1A, the tiki bar under a large palapa in the middle, and the fine-dining restaurant with parking in the rear.
| Venue | What it is | Size and seating | Status as of Oct. 8, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Blu Fin | Mediterranean fine dining with Latin influences | 3,000 sq ft; 78 seats, including 6 at the bar and 8 at bar tables | Official opening Tuesday, Oct. 13 |
| Turtle Cove Gourmet Market | Fresh pasta, seafood, pastries, coffee, prepared meals, specialty goods | About 3,000 sq ft; 28 terrace seats | "Shortly after" Blu Fin; no date announced |
| The Motley Cow | Seafood-focused casual dining and cocktails under a palapa roof | 1,100 sq ft; 54 seats, including 18 at the bar | "Shortly after" Blu Fin; listed hours 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
The order changed along the way. The market was originally supposed to open first. By mid-September, Vero Beach 32963 reported that The Blu Fin looked likely to debut first or alongside the market, with an Oct. 6 soft opening penciled in. DeChellis said then that the final date depended on an equipment delivery. An Oct. 5 announcement published by FSR magazine set Tuesday, Oct. 13 as The Blu Fin's official opening, with the market and tiki bar to follow. Today, Oct. 13 is five days away.
What's on The Blu Fin's opening menu
La Rocca describes the menu as moving between the Mediterranean and Latin America, drawing on his Argentine upbringing, his family's roots in Puglia and the nine years he lived in Costa Rica. The dish with the deepest local roots is Charley's Steak. It is a Black Angus New York strip with a giant lump crab "fricassee," inspired by Charlie Brown's, a Vero Beach favorite from the 1970s. It arrives tableside under a cloche, and each guest picks a steak knife from a presentation box.
Other dishes include cured red snapper with ajo blanco and shaved truffle, grouper roasted on a cedar plank with Champagne clams, capellini with Santa Barbara sea urchin and caviar, and El Secreto Iberic pork with Oaxaca mole. La Rocca says he plans to buy from local fishermen and farmers whenever possible and let the seasons guide the menu. No prices for individual dishes have been published. On OpenTable, The Blu Fin sits in the $50-and-over price tier.
Getting a table
Reservations are required and open through OpenTable, which began taking bookings Oct. 5. Walk-ins will be seated when there is room. The listing shows dinner Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. When we checked the listing, the earliest available table was Wednesday, Oct. 14. The online system replaced an informal one. In September, DeChellis said people had been calling his personal phone to ask for reservations. The restaurant is also planning its first New Year's Eve celebration, with details due this fall.
Across the road, the market that already closed
The opening order matters most across A1A. Johnny D's Market & Bistro has been run for 15 years by siblings Nina and Mario Amelio, who are DeChellis's cousins. In September they announced it would close in October for about a year of renovations. The restaurant's own website now says it has served its final guests at that location and will stay closed for renovations through October 2027. The site does not say what the last day of service was.
The family is pointing customers across the street. Their note says Turtle Cove Market will carry "many of the foods, wines, and specialty items you already love — along with some familiar Johnny D's faces." Staff have made the same move. Johnny D's employees were invited to apply for jobs at the new complex, and DeChellis said "about 10 or 12" had been hired by mid-September. Both Amelios are joining the new management team. At that point La Rocca said about 70 percent of roughly 80 positions had been filled through two job fairs.
The handoff has a gap in it. Johnny D's has already closed. Turtle Cove Market, the place its regulars are being sent, has no announced opening date beyond "shortly after" Oct. 13. Until it opens, South Beach is without the neighborhood market and casual bistro it has had for 15 years. The pricier restaurant is opening first.
The price points are different too. Vero Beach 32963 described Johnny D's as a family-style casual spot with $22 summer specials and $6 glasses of wine. The first venue to open across the road is a $50-and-over dinner room where reservations are required and walk-ins are seated only when there is room. Turtle Cove Market and The Motley Cow, with its daytime hours, are the venues closer to what Johnny D's offered day to day.
What comes back in 2027 may be different
When the Johnny D's building reopens, it may not be the same business. DeChellis said his family once ran South Beach Liquors on the property. Because he already holds a liquor license, 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 told the paper. The format is not settled, and no renovation budget has been set.
The Tides stayed put and added hours
The restaurant that started all this is back in its old home. A TCPalm report published Sept. 25 said The Tides would reopen Oct. 1 with a new look and updated menu after closing in August and September. The restaurant's website now says "We're open!" and that the refresh is finished. It lists dine-in service and Fine Dining To-Go.
Staying on Cardinal Drive also brought new hours. On Aug. 20, the Vero Beach Planning and Zoning Board unanimously approved The Tides' request to add Sunday brunch and weekday takeout lunch. Vero News described both as planned for the reopening. As of today, the restaurant's site does not list brunch or lunch hours, so those services are approved but not yet confirmed as running.
Dates to keep loosely
Openings shift, as the Oct. 6 date for The Blu Fin already showed. Here is what is confirmed and what is still a plan as of Oct. 8, 2026:
- Confirmed: Johnny D's Market & Bistro is closed, with renovations running through October 2027.
- Confirmed: The Tides is open on Cardinal Drive after its summer refresh.
- Announced: The Blu Fin opens Tuesday, Oct. 13, with dinner Tuesday through Sunday.
- Not yet dated: Turtle Cove Gourmet Market and The Motley Cow, both promised "shortly after."
- Approved, not confirmed: Sunday brunch and weekday takeout lunch at The Tides.
- Undecided: Whether the Johnny D's building comes back as a bistro, a wine and liquor shop or something else.
The new venues will post updates on Instagram at @theblufin, @turtlecovemarket and @motleycowvb, and theblufin.com has restaurant details.
What opens on South A1A, and in what order, shapes daily life on the south end of the island as much as anything built there this year. If you own property near this stretch of A1A and want to talk through how the new complex and the Johnny D's renovation might affect your street, William Taylor Real Estate is glad to share what we're seeing. Let's Connect.
