October 1, 2026
Meg Stepanian, executive director of the Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District, described the two counter-service openings to Gulfshore Business: "We're seeing the thoughtful evolution of Naples' iconic Fifth Avenue South, known for its elegance and world-class hospitality." It's a fair description of Barrio Taqueria and All Too Well Gourmet Sandwiches. Old Naples' 2026 dining additions also included Annie's Bistro on Third Street South, inside a hotel that took more than a decade to build.
Barrio Taqueria opened on Fifth Avenue South with a short menu built around birria tacos, chicken-and-poblano empanadas, and a Barrio Caesar topped with charred corn and Cotija. All Too Well Gourmet Sandwiches followed in February, launching on the corner of Fifth Avenue South and Eighth Street South with a butcher-shop pedigree behind the counter. Both are quick, both are counter-service, and both are a genuine departure for a street built on white-tablecloth anchors like Bice, Caffe Milano, La Trattoria and Vergina, all four owned by longtime Fifth Avenue restaurateur Stefano Frittella.
Stepanian framed the shift as additive rather than a downgrade, telling Gulfshore Business the goal was a mix that serves someone celebrating a milestone dinner as easily as someone grabbing a quick lunch. Together, the two openings add sandwich and taco options to Fifth Avenue South in 2026.
The avenue's next big move has a name, a location, and no opening date. In October 2025, the Naples Design Review Board unanimously approved Avenue 31, a three-story mixed-use building planned for 472 Fifth Ave. S., on the block between Del Mar and Osteria Tulia. The project belongs to Frittella, who described his plans plainly: "a super high-end restaurant like I have in Monaco." The site currently holds La Pescheria, the Italian seafood restaurant that's operated there since December 2018, along with two retail units.
As of publication, no construction start date or restaurant opening date for Avenue 31 had appeared in published updates.
As Avenue 31 remained in the planning stage, the Olde Naples Hotel opened its first building on May 15 at 200 Broad Avenue South, at the intersection of Broad, Gordon Drive and Third Street South. Inside is Annie's Bistro, Bar & Bakery, a restaurant that shifts format through the day, opening as an espresso-and-pastry café and closing as a full American bistro and bar. The dining room carries murals from local artist Janine Wesselmann and a piano in the corner. The hotel's general manager, Laura Radler, said the intent was for the property to carry Old Naples' sense of place forward in a way that feels natural today, and the food and beverage program was built to serve locals as much as overnight guests.
The hotel's June 11 ribbon-cutting was attended by Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann and state senator Kathleen Passidomo. Annie's is a full-service restaurant, open to the public without a room key, sitting closer to Third Street South than to Fifth Avenue. The opening also gives the hotel a public-facing dining destination.
None of this touched the one Old Naples institution that runs on its own calendar regardless of what opens or closes around it. The Third Street South Farmers Market has operated since 1994, drawing close to 60 vendors, most of them local growers and independent food producers, every Saturday from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., year-round. No chains, no franchises, same hours it's kept for three decades. Whatever else changes on the two streets that frame Old Naples, the market hasn't been part of the churn.
The next thing on Third Street South's own calendar is dated and close. From Thursday, October 15 through Sunday, October 18, the street runs its Autumn Sidewalk Sale, a French-themed weekend built around the idea of merchants making way for new discoveries. A few practical notes if you're planning around it:
That overlap is worth building a Saturday around if you're local: market first, sale after, all within the same few blocks.
In 2026, Fifth Avenue South had two counter-service openings, while Avenue 31 remained without a published construction start or restaurant opening date. Third Street South added Annie's Bistro at Olde Naples Hotel, and its farmers market continued its weekly schedule.
If you're weighing what those changes mean for a specific address, whether it's a walk to Annie's at Olde Naples Hotel or the distance from your own door to the Saturday market, that's the kind of downtown detail Joe Caveney and the CVJ Team track block by block. Reach out anytime you want the current read on a specific corner of Old Naples.
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