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BOSTON - When Steve Immel opened Zuma Tex-Mex Grill in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace here, he had high hopes that the tourist mecca was on its way to reclaiming the glory it had enjoyed in the 1970s and early 1980s as one of Boston's top culinary destinations
As it turned out, he was right. However, it took 11 years for Faneuil Hall - long regarded as the seminal development in the "festival marketplace" retail-as-- entertainment movement - to reach that point of revival.
With the recent openings of Todd English's KingFish Hall, Frank McClelland's Sel de la Terre and the imminent renovation of four restaurant sites around Faneuil Hall, marketplace officials are optimistic. They believe that they are on the verge of finally drawing more of the city's popular operators to the area for a much-- needed culinary renaissance.
"It's been a long process, but it's starting to bear fruit," said Immel, president of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace Merchant Association and a restaurant consultant who has been active in recruiting big names to the downtown venue. "I think the fact that Todd is here will draw other similar talent."
English, the well-known chef-- owner of the proliferating Olives chain, based in Charlestown, Mass., debuted KingFish Hall in the marketplace's South Building in late July. The expansive space, which seats 260 on two floors and has patio seating for 45, reportedly is serving its extensive seafood assortment to about 1,000 customers daily.
"Boston is a small town and I wanted to open up in a relatively different area and not cannibalize on what I had already developed," explained English, who also owns several Figs restaurants around the Boston area. "Kingfish Hall is different sort of site. It's got some residential places along the water...