Donald Ross Village Traded Its Big Menus for Specialists

"After 18 wonderful years, we want to share that our restaurant will not be renewing its lease and will be closing its doors on Saturday at 9 p.m." That was the note Asian Fin taped to its front door in March, according to the Palm Beach Post. The Pan-Asian restaurant at Donald Ross Village served its last dinner on March 28.

Three months later Grande's Bella Cucina closed too. It had been in the plaza since 2007.

The spaces that opened up, and the ones that changed hands, are going to tenants that each do one thing: New York-style pizza, Wagyu, sushi and tacos. The Palm Beach Post now calls the plaza "quietly evolving into north county's most notable dining hub."

Two Restaurants Built to Cover a Lot of Ground

Asian Fin and Grande's both ran wide menus for a mixed crowd.

When the Post reviewed Asian Fin in 2016, it praised the service and consistency, along with a menu that "extended well beyond sushi." The restaurant was a sit-down Pan-Asian room with a broad menu and owners who were often on the floor.

Grande's did several jobs at once. It had an Italian dining room, a takeout section that sold pastries, and a courtyard bar the Post described as a popular happy-hour spot. The Post's photo gallery called it the second Donald Ross Village restaurant to close in 2026.

Each tenant that followed them tries to be the best version of a single thing, close to restaurants that already have national recognition.

What Took the Spaces

Here is the plaza's 2026 turnover, space by space.

According to Florida's state trademark records, Nori Kai FL LLC lists Suite 106 at 4650 Donald Ross Road for restaurant services featuring sushi and Japanese cuisine. In late September the Post reported the space under construction as Asian Fin's replacement. Asian Fin's old menu was known for going past sushi. Its successor's paperwork puts sushi first.

El Segundo will be Subculture Restaurant Group's second location with that name. The first is at 3950 Georgia Avenue in West Palm Beach. When Subculture announced it in 2024, the company described a taco concept with agave cocktails, mole chicken wings, brisket burnt-end tacos, squash-blossom tacos, al pastor and birria. The Gardens location is set beside Coolinary's courtyard seating.

The Pizza Counter That Kept Its Owner

The Pizza Connection is the best example of the change, because nobody new took over. Sal's Express made pizza at Donald Ross Village for two decades. On Sept. 28 it reopened as The Pizza Connection with a brighter, remodeled dining room. Owner Fabio Bartolotta still runs the business.

The menu is what changed. Bartolotta's partner, Christie Bellino, grew up in a family of New Jersey pizzeria owners, and the two rebuilt the concept around New York-style pizza and Italian-American classics. South Florida chef Louie Bossi consulted on the menu. Specialty pies include the Hot Honey Goomah, made with pepperoni and hot honey, plus the Ridgewood Sicilian and the Undercover Hawaiian with mortadella and pineapple pesto. The non-pizza side has garlic knots, arancini, heroes, chicken Parmesan, meatballs with ricotta, spicy rigatoni alla vodka and spaghetti with clams.

It opens daily at 11 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m., or 9 p.m. on Sundays. The phone number is 561-493-7116. The Post's tip is to order ahead.

A Butcher Counter With No Kitchen

Palm Beach Meats pushes the specialist idea further, because it does not serve food at all. The all-Wagyu butcher shop belongs to husband-and-wife team Eric and Meghan San Pedro. Its first shop opened in West Palm Beach in 2020, and that flagship has a Bib Gourmand from the MICHELIN Guide. The Gardens shop is the brand's third Florida location, after the flagship and Orlando. Florida Weekly reported that the new shop is about 900 square feet, in the former Meraki Juice space, and built for retail.

The counter carries Japanese A5, Australian and American Wagyu. The shelves also hold high-end cheeses, imported spices, Iberico ham and other pantry items. Florida Weekly reported that staff help customers choose a cut and learn how to cook it.

Palm Beach Meats' own site lists the Gardens shop at 4550 Donald Ross Road. Butcher hours are 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, and the site says this location does not serve food.

With this shop, the plaza now sells dinner you cook at home as well as dinner you sit down for. A Grande's-style restaurant used to cover both.

The Anchors That Bring People In

Specialists need traffic, and two tenants that stayed put supply it. In August, WPTV reported that Coolinary and Ela Curry & Cocktails each earned a 2026 MICHELIN recommendation.

• Coolinary is at 4580 Donald Ross Road, Suite 105, according to its MICHELIN Guide listing. Its courtyard seating is where El Segundo is going.
• Ela Curry & Cocktails is at 4650 Donald Ross Road, Suite 100. Its site lists daily dinner hours and hours for Peacock Tiki.
• Mango Mercado is the Post food writer's "frequent go-to" at the plaza. A second location was expected at CityPlace in December.
• Blue Moon Diner is at 4650 Donald Ross Road, Suite 104. It passed a state food-service inspection on July 24, 2026.

The Shops of Donald Ross Village says Brock Development Corporation founded the center in 2006 and began what it calls a "re-imagination" in 2019. Asian Fin and Grande's both opened before that work started. The newer tenants join a plaza where two of the neighbors already have MICHELIN recognition. A sushi counter or a Wagyu butcher next door to that kind of reputation picks up diners who already plan their nights around this address.

Getting In and Out

More specialists mean more short trips, like grabbing a pie, picking up steaks or stopping for one drink, and all of those trips share one parking lot.

A few habits make a quick stop easier:

1. Call The Pizza Connection ahead at 561-493-7116, as the Post suggests, so the pickup takes one trip into the lot.
2. Plan Palm Beach Meats runs around its 7 p.m. weekday close and 5 p.m. Sunday close. Since the shop serves no food, it pairs best with a pickup elsewhere in the plaza on the same trip.
3. Pick one end of the plaza for a sit-down evening. Coolinary and The Pizza Connection share 4580 Donald Ross Road, and Ela, Blue Moon Diner and Nori Kai's Suite 106 share 4650.

If your weeknight dinner now starts at a butcher counter on Donald Ross Road, you already know how much these small changes shape a neighborhood. I follow them for my clients, block by block and plaza by plaza, from my office in Palm Beach Gardens. If you'd like to talk about what's changing near you, Lorie Arena is a phone call away. Call Lorie. I Answer My Phone!