Stellar Cheese Shop Is Leaving Downtown Austin Food Hall

One of Austin’s best cheese providers, Antonelli’s Cheese Shop, is closing up its downtown restaurant and store within food hall Fareground. Its last day will be on New Year’s Eve on Monday, December 31.

Antonelli’s had been one of the original vendors of Fareground, serving up various cheeses and retail edibles, along with dishes like soups, mac and cheese, raclettes, grilled cheese sandwiches, and more.

The shop wants to refocus on its original shop and business up in Hyde Park. “We’re ready to spend more time behind the cheese counter,” said co-owner and operator Kendall Antonelli in a statement.

There is already a replacement vendor for Antonelli’s in Fareground, which is all managed by ELM Restaurant Group, but it hasn’t been announced yet.

Also, there are new updates on that street-level bar ELM is opening as part of Fareground at the corner of 2nd Street and Congress Avenue. Now called Level Up (previously known as the Jewel Box), it will still feature cocktails, as well as select items from the food hall’s various vendors: Easy Tiger, Henbit (from Emmer & Rye), Dai Due Taqueria, Contigo, and Ni-Kome. It’s expected to open in early spring 2019.

Construction on Level Up is beginning now, though the structure has been sitting there since the food hall opened in January 2018.

• All Coverage of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop [EATX]
• All Coverage of Fareground [EATX]