Day Market Kitchen: Fast-Casual by the Owners of Market 17

From the owners of Market 17 in Fort Lauderdale comes a new “fast casual” concept just a few doors down. Day Market Kitchen is aptly named — a place where one can get Market 17-quality eats in a casual, daytime setting.

Market 17, known for its eclectic, imaginative farm-to-table fare, is the type of date place you’d take a serious foodie for dinner, with a menu that changes nightly and a “dining in the dark” option, where diners are served a blind tasting menu in a pitch-black room. It’s one of the few places in South Florida with a menu that isn’t at all predictable and aims to showcase local fare juxtaposed with sometimes unfamiliar ingredients.

To a food snob, this is Shangri-la; to the layman or the “eat to live, not live to eat” type, this can be confusing, even intimidating. With Day Market Kitchen, however, eating a meal is a much simpler feat. Open every day for breakfast and lunch, the restaurant offers a menu composed mainly of salads and sandwiches.

The menu is quite extensive for a daytime café, however, with seven salads, four “grain bowls” available in half or full-sized portions, and a whopping 16 sandwiches. Plus, there’s the option to create your own sandwich or salad, choosing from a daunting list of ingredients. They’ve tried to simplify the process with colorful icons for different proteins (pasture-raised pork, grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, house-made sausage) and vegetables (there are currently three vegetarian sandwiches on the menu).

The items on the menu reflect chef Steven Manee’s travels. A native Michigander with a slight resemblance to Macklemore and who is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, he completed culinary externship in Spain, then worked on yachts and traveled to many far-flung locales. He served as the interim chef between Daniel Ramos and Lauren DeShields at Market 17, and his ideals are in line with the ethos “eat local but think global.” The sandwiches and salads are named for the places that inspired them. The “Traverse City” salad has local farm greens, quinoa, shaved fennel, green apple, dried Michigan cherries, Pecorino Romano cheese, slivered almonds, and white balsamic vinaigrette ($8.25); the “Lyon” has baby spinach, roasted beets, blue cheese, pickled red onion, pistachios, and white balsamic and basil flower vinaigrette ($7.75).

Standout sandwiches include the “Kingston Jerk Chicken” with rum pickled peppers, lettuce, and sweet plantain butter on baguette ($9.25) and the “Juarez,” pulled pork with tamarind chipotle, lime pickled onion, queso fresco, and corn pico de gallo on a hoagie ($8.75). The “Nashville PB&J,” Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich creation, gets the Market 17 treatment with house-made peanut butter, bacon jam, and bananas grilled on sour dough ($6.25). If you choose to make your own sandwich, this place truly satisfies the condiment-obsessed: lemon thyme aioli, chimichurri, chive crème fraiche, sweet chili mayo, mojo mustard, Sichuan soy, pistachio pesto, and chipotle-tamarind vinaigrette. We’ll take them all, please.

Day Market Kitchen offers an array of beverage choices as well. It carries two lines of organic, cold-pressed juices, house-infused bottled waters, craft beers, and biodynamic wines for the discerning customer. It exclusively serves local Panther Coffee, based in Miami, in all of its iterations: espresso, macchiato, cappuccino, French press, and, of course, the ubiquitous cold brew.

Day Market Kitchen is located at 1850 SE 17th St. in Fort Lauderdale. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visit daymarketkitchen.com.