A year ago, the plan for The Tides had two addresses. The restaurant would spend about two years in Anthony DeChellis' new mixed-use complex on South A1A while its Cardinal Drive building was torn down and rebuilt. Chef Leanne Kelleher would also run a neighborhood food market in the front building of that South Beach complex.
This October, The Tides reopened at 3103 Cardinal Drive in the same building, on a layout that was not substantially changed. The market idea did not stay in South Beach. A small version of it is coming back to Central Beach.
If you live in Central Beach, at The Village Spires or anywhere within reach of Cardinal Drive, the reversal changes more than where dinner happens. The Tides is adding daytime hours and a takeout service. Meanwhile, the space built for it has become a different restaurant entirely.
The Plan Was Two Addresses
The reversal makes more sense when you see how settled the move looked. In December 2025, Vero Beach 32963 reported that DeChellis' three-building project, just south of the 17th Street Causeway, was "98-percent complete." The Tides was scheduled to move in that April. Kelleher was leasing space there for an office and for Turtle Cove Gourmet Market, which her staff would run on the first floor of the front building, "directly across the central courtyard from her signature restaurant."
Here is how it changed:
- December 2025. The South A1A complex was nearly finished, and The Tides was due to move in by April. Kelleher was to run the market there.
- June 2026. Kelleher announced on Facebook that the restaurant was staying put. Vero News reported that DeChellis, who owns both properties, said regulars kept telling them not to move.
- August and September 2026. The Tides closed for its "remodel and refresh," covering the roof, air conditioning, landscaping and furnishings.
- August 20, 2026. The City of Vero Beach Planning and Zoning Board approved Sunday brunch and weekday takeout lunches at Cardinal Drive.
- October 2026. The restaurant reopened. TCPalm had reported Oct. 1 as the planned date.
In her Facebook announcement, quoted by Vero News, Kelleher wrote: "We realize our heart is here. Rather than relocating, we have chosen to reinvest in our current home and prepare for the future."
What the Board Approved on Aug. 20
The renovation explains why The Tides was closed for two months. The Aug. 20 vote explains what the restaurant can do now that it is open again.
Vero News reported that the Planning and Zoning Board voted 5-0 to let The Tides offer Sunday brunch and weekday takeout lunches under its existing permits. Until now, the restaurant has served dinner only. Kelleher has run The Tides at the same Cardinal Drive location for 26 years. She told the board she first offered takeout during the COVID closure. It was never a commercial success, but customers liked it, and many of them walked over from nearby homes.
That walk-in takeout customer is where the market idea comes back. Kelleher also described an invitation-only "membership" for about 100 of her best customers. It costs nothing and gives members the chance to buy prepackaged food to take home. Here is how she described it to the board, as reported by Vero News:
"It's just a neighborhood-type service I'd like to offer to about 100 members. It's like a market for pay-as-you-go crab cakes or other items – stop by and take home some of our gourmet food."
When The Tides was moving, the plan put Kelleher's market across a courtyard in South Beach. Now that she is staying, a members' takeout service will run out of the Cardinal Drive kitchen. It is far smaller than a nearly 3,000-square-foot store, but it serves the same idea of taking Tides food home, and it is in Central Beach.
The approval has one condition. At the urging of board chairman Jeb Bittner, the new services are tied to The Tides staying under its current management. If the business is sold, a new owner would have to apply again. The board discussed the membership idea because private club use is not allowed under current zoning. Kelleher said her version is a free invitation to her best customers to buy takeout food.
Parking came up at the hearing, as it does whenever anything changes on Cardinal Drive. Neighboring business owners told the board they were concerned that more daytime traffic would add to Central Beach's long-running parking shortage. Planning and Development Director Jason Jeffries said he did not expect takeout lunch traffic to add congestion or parking demand on Cardinal Drive.
The new services were approved for the reopening, but no start date for Sunday brunch or weekday takeout lunch has been announced yet. If you want either, call the restaurant at 772-234-3966 or watch its website.
The Dinner Menu Neighbors Already Know
Dinner is still the main event. The Tides' site says the refresh is complete, and November and December reservations are open on Resy. The site also notes the reservation-system issue that held up access to those dates.
Kelleher has served her Floridian and New American menu here since March 2000. It draws on Southern, Latin, Caribbean and classical French cooking. The wine list has won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for 26 straight years. On the current online dinner menu, crab cakes are $24, black grouper is $48 and a 32-ounce tomahawk for two is $125. Those crab cakes are the same item Kelleher named for her pay-as-you-go members' takeout.
The Space Built for The Tides Is Now Blu Fin
The South Beach space did not sit empty. Once Kelleher chose to stay, DeChellis hired a headhunter. He brought in Argentine-born culinary director Sebastian La Rocca, who has worked in Michelin-rated restaurants in Europe and the Americas, to run all three venues through Windward Restaurant Concepts, the hospitality division of DeChellis Capital.
The complex is listed both as the 27,000-square-foot development at 1410 South A1A and at 916 Turtle Cove Lane. It sits across A1A from Johnny D's. According to FSR magazine, it includes three venues:
| Venue | What it is | Size and seats | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Blu Fin | Mediterranean fine dining with Latin inspiration | 3,000 sq. ft., 78 seats indoors and out | Opening scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 13; dinner Tuesday to Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Turtle Cove Gourmet Market | House-made pasta, seafood, pastries, coffee, prepared meals | Nearly 3,000 sq. ft., 28 terrace seats | Opening "shortly after" Blu Fin |
| The Motley Cow | Open-air tiki bar under a palapa roof, seafood-focused, charcoal oven | 1,100 sq. ft., 54 seats, 18 at the bar | Opening "shortly after"; planned hours 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
The Turtle Cove Gourmet Market name survived the reversal, but Windward Restaurant Concepts runs it now. Kelleher does not.
Blu Fin's opening menu, previewed by FSR magazine, includes:
- Cured red snapper with ajo blanco and shaved truffle
- Olive oil-poached lobster with lettuce gazpacho
- Capellini with Santa Barbara sea urchin, saffron cream and caviar
- Grouper roasted on a cedar wood plank with Champagne clams
- Charley's Steak, a Black Angus New York strip with a lump crab "fricassee," inspired by Charlie Brown's, a Vero Beach favorite from the 1970s
Reservations for the Oct. 13 opening were required through OpenTable, with walk-ins seated when there was room, and the OpenTable listing now calls reservations recommended. The restaurant is also planning a New Year's Eve celebration and says details will be announced this fall.
What Central Beach Gets Out of the Swap
The reversal leaves the island with more than the original plan did. That plan would have moved The Tides to South Beach for about two years while Cardinal Drive was rebuilt. Instead, the island now has two fine-dining kitchens instead of one. The Tides stays on Cardinal Drive, and Blu Fin takes the South A1A space.
For Central Beach, the biggest change is the clock. A restaurant that has served dinner only now has approval for Sunday brunch and weekday takeout lunch. It is also adding a members' takeout service that Kelleher compares to a market. South Beach gets the full market and an 11 a.m. tiki bar. Cardinal Drive gets a smaller version on its own block.
For now, The Tides is taking November and December dinner reservations on Resy, and Blu Fin is taking reservations on OpenTable. The best way to learn when brunch and takeout lunch start is to call Cardinal Drive directly.
Keeping up with Cardinal Drive and South A1A is part of knowing Central Beach day to day, from dinner reservations to the buildings around The Village Spires. If you're weighing what a season or a full year on the island looks like, Alexis Miller is glad to talk it through. Schedule Your Personalized Vero Beach Consultation.
