When was the last time you checked which doors are still open at Donald Ross Village? The plaza sits where Donald Ross Road, Military Trail and Central Boulevard meet. That's about half a mile by car from Evergrene's North Gatehouse on Donald Ross Road. For most of the community, it's the closest place to have dinner without getting on PGA Boulevard.
Since March, the plaza's two longest-running sit-down restaurants have closed. One familiar name has reopened under a new sign, and another restaurant has been "coming soon" for weeks. The kitchens holding the plaza steady are the two that the MICHELIN Guide put on its first statewide Florida list in June. Dinner at Donald Ross Village now leans more on chef-driven, reservation-taking rooms than it did a year ago.
Two Closures in Six Months
Asian Fin went first. The Palm Beach Post's roundup of 2026 restaurant closures says the long-running Pan-Asian restaurant on Donald Ross Road closed on March 28. The Post describes its "high-energy dining room and broad menu" and says regulars kept coming in right up to the end.
Grande's Bella Cucina followed on July 2. It had been in the plaza since 2007, and its courtyard bar was a well-known happy hour spot. The Post called it the second restaurant at Donald Ross Village to close this year. Owner Giuseppe Luppino ran the original Grande's in New York before bringing the concept to Florida.
Together, these two closures removed nearly two decades of Italian dinners and a big, busy Pan-Asian room. As of early October, no public announcement names a new tenant for either space.
Here is the plaza as of October 3, 2026:
| Tenant | Address on Donald Ross Road | 2026 status |
|---|---|---|
| Asian Fin | Donald Ross Village | Closed March 28 |
| Grande's Bella Cucina | Donald Ross Village | Closed July 2 |
| The Pizza Connection | Former Sal's Express space | Opened Sept. 28 |
| El Segundo Norte | 4550, Suite 107 | Coming soon, no date announced |
| Coolinary and the Parched Pig | 4580, #105 | Open, MICHELIN Recommended |
| Ela Curry & Cocktails | 4650, Suite 100 | Open, MICHELIN Recommended |
| Mango Mercado | 4650, #110 | Open daily for breakfast and lunch |
The Rooms That Stayed Are the Ones MICHELIN Listed
On June 1, the MICHELIN Guide published its first statewide Florida selection. Two of its Recommended restaurants share this plaza: Coolinary and the Parched Pig at 4580 Donald Ross Road, and Ela Curry & Cocktails at 4650 Donald Ross Road. Both sit in the Recommended tier, below the starred and Bib Gourmand categories. Ela is a new addition to the guide, which lists it under a West Palm Beach address even though it is in the same strip as its neighbor.
Chef and owner Tim Lipman used to run Coolinary and the Parched Pig as two separate concepts. The inspector's note describes how he combined them:
"Contemporary with a seasonal focus, this kitchen-sink menu has everything from lamb croquetas and deviled eggs to crispy pork ramen and a smashburger."
The same note says the menu "is always shifting." It also says that when the cornmeal-fried fluke with Key lime chayote squash slaw is on, ordering it is "a no brainer." Coolinary takes reservations through Resy for parties of one to six, up to 30 days ahead. It serves dinner Monday through Saturday and is closed Sunday.
Ela is run by Pushkar Marathe and Andy Dugard. MICHELIN describes its Indian cooking as "rooted in regional flavors" and singles out the lamb samosas and a Kerala curried beef short rib. The guide lists Ela as open from 11:30 a.m. every day. It closes at 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and at 11:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Reservations go through OpenTable.
Those hours matter for the plaza as a whole. On Sunday, Coolinary's kitchen is dark and Ela's is open. With Grande's and Asian Fin gone, Ela is now the only MICHELIN-listed dinner option in the plaza on Sundays.
Sal's Express Became The Pizza Connection
The plaza did get one opening this fall, and it came from a familiar tenant. After two decades of making pizza at Donald Ross Village, Sal's Express reopened on Sept. 28 as The Pizza Connection. Owner Fabio Bartolotta is still running it, and the remodeled dining room comes with a menu the Post describes as mostly new.
The Post's photo tour shows the details. The dining room has vintage photographs and New York pizzeria imagery. The menu includes a traditional Sicilian, a thinner-crust grandma pie baked in a rectangular pan, a White Pie with mozzarella, ricotta, provolone, Parmesan and garlic, and the Hot Honey Goomah with pepperoni and hot honey. The stromboli are fresh-baked, and the pizza pinwheels are baked fresh daily. Bartolotta runs it with business partner Christie Bellino, and the photo captions call it The Pizza Connection Takeaway.
During the day, Mango Mercado at Suite 110 is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It serves made-to-order breakfast and lunch sandwiches, soups, salads and specials, and it runs a small curated market.
The Pizza Connection is the only new opening at the plaza in 2026 so far. Everything else this year has been a closure.
What's Still Pending at Suite 107
The next name expected is El Segundo Norte, a Mexican restaurant from Rodney Mayo's Subculture Group. Subculture's own page lists it at 4550 Donald Ross Road, Suite 107, still labeled "coming soon." It names Bradley Bopp as general manager and Kevin Avellaneda as executive chef. A Palm Beach Post photo gallery from Aug. 28 showed El Segundo preparing to open at Donald Ross Village. On Sept. 11, Stet News reported that Mayo's El Segundo brand "will expand soon to Palm Beach Gardens."
No opening date has been announced. The same Aug. 28 Post caption pointed out that El Segundo would share the plaza with two MICHELIN Guide-recommended restaurants. Even the coverage of the newcomer frames the plaza around its two recognized kitchens.
Suite 107 is a different address from the former Grande's and Asian Fin spaces, so El Segundo Norte does not fill either of them. If it opens, the plaza will have a Mexican kitchen alongside the contemporary and Indian ones. It will still have two vacant restaurant spaces that, so far, have no announced tenant.
A Week of Nights From the North Gatehouse
Here is how the current lineup fits a week, based only on posted hours and booking policies:
- Sunday dinner. Ela Curry & Cocktails is open until 10:30 p.m. Coolinary is closed.
- Weeknight dinner with a plan. Coolinary takes Resy bookings up to 30 days out, and Ela takes OpenTable bookings.
- Late Thursday through Saturday. Ela's kitchen runs until 11:30 p.m.
- Pizza night. The Pizza Connection, in the former Sal's Express space, open since Sept. 28.
- Weekend lunch. Mango Mercado, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.
- Mexican. Nothing yet. El Segundo Norte has not announced an opening date.
The Post once described Evergrene as sitting just east of Military Trail, off Donald Ross Road. From the North Gatehouse, every stop on that list is about half a mile away. If you come and go through the South Gatehouse on Hood Road, the same estimate is about 1.6 miles. In August we wrote about the quieter side of the season around Lake Dorothy. The plaza at the north gate has spent the same months changing tenants, and El Segundo Norte and the two empty restaurant spaces will decide what it looks like next.
If you're keeping track of how places like Donald Ross Village shape day-to-day life in Evergrene, or you're weighing what the community's two gates mean for daily errands and dinners out, Chris Moody follows this corner of Palm Beach Gardens closely and is glad to talk it through. Let's Achieve Your Real Estate Goals.
