Fresh from a three-and-a-half-hour inspection of his two-story, 13,000-square-foot space, principal Michael Kim is ready to talk about Epiq Food Hall, slated to open April 1. With 14 culinary partners, Epiq will be one of the largest food halls in Northern Virginia, let alone the Woodbridge area. Tucked into the same strip mall as Mofongo Steakhouse & Grill and Arepas Capitol, Epiq isn’t in a metropolitan center–but according to Kim, that’s kind of the point.
With a background in commercial real-estate development, he hopes to help the building “Amazon-proof itself,” with a highly original offering. “You don’t have to go downtown to find a very special food hall like this,” Kim says. “Good food is good food, great atmosphere is great atmosphere. Let’s bring this environment and this great cuisine into local neighborhoods.”
Kim and his team started work on Epiq in 2017 by beginning to compile a list of potential vendors, mostly existing food trucks. That’s different than many food halls, which often place an open call for businesses and merely take what they can get. Instead, Epiq’s culinary partners were carefully curated both for the quality of their food and with an eye toward making offerings diverse. Besides a bar and the Sweet Bakehouse, the dozen vendors sell fare including ice cream and taiyaki, brick oven pizza and housemade pasta, Korean fried chicken, Caribbean barbecue, ramen, and fish and chips.
The emphasis on community means there’s more to Epiq than food and drink. Ongoing entertainment programs will include live music, theme nights, karaoke, trivia, and sports and movie screenings on a 12-by-8-foot video wall and 14 big-screen TVs.
But this is just the beginning for the Epiq concept. Kim and company are already working on an additional space in the same building that will include more food vendors (likely including tapas), but also an indoor farmers and artisans market. Games will be part of the second installment, but don’t think Dave & Buster’s. Kim says the fun could include everything from ax-throwing to cornhole to a giant Jenga set. Ultimately, Epiq’s raison d’etre is connecting the community, so interaction, whether over food or an axe, is of the utmost importance. // 14067 Noblewood Plaza, Woodbridge
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