It’s Blind Pig v. Wood Tavern at Allapattah Market. It re-opens Sept. 2 — but under what name?

The Allapattah Market, a hipster outpost in what many think is Miami's next hot 'hood, is reopening under new management six months after the city shut it down just after its debut for lacking permits.

But there's a spot of bother over it in hipster land.

The owner of the Blind Pig, a throwback speakeasy-style bar in the Omni arts district that opened last year, took over the Allapattah Market lease from the previous operator, the owner of Wynwood's seminal Wood Tavern. He plans to open Labor Day weekend with craft vendors, food and drink on an outdoor patio with an expansive tiki hut.

Gustavo Osuna, mixologist and Blind Pig operator, says he plans to gradually expand the market into a family-friendly community hub in Allapattah, the ethnically diverse, working-class neighborhood that’s starting to experience serious redevelopment spillover from the adjacent and fast-gentrifying Wynwood warehouse district.

His vision: healthful craft food, beer and wine but no hard liquor, local craftspeople and artists displaying wares for sale, plus live music, yoga sessions and even a bodega, all with a kids-are-welcome ambience.

“You can do something cool here,” Osuna said. “It’s a new territory. I think Allapattah and Wynwood will be integrated in a year.”

But Osuna’s uses of the Allapattah Market name is not sitting well with Cesar Morales, the Wood Tavern owner. Morales says the name belongs to him.

“They do not have my permission to use the name Allapattah Market,” Morales wrote in an email to the Miami Herald. “I will be pursuing this mater legally if they do not change the name.”

Which was news to Osuna, who said he has never met or spoken to Morales and took over the property lease after the Wood Tavern operator gave it up or lost it.

Osuna noted that the Allapattah Market name is emblazoned in a big sign that sits atop the warehouse building on the property. In any case, he said, the registered legal entity he formed to run the business uses the slightly different moniker of “Allapattah Market Miami” — the name that appears on promotional materials and the state’s corporate registry.

Osuna said he would reach out to Morales.

“I’ll call him and talk to him,” Osuna said. “Just like him, I’m a businessman. I don’t want any problems with anyone.”

The “pop-up” opening event for the market on Sept. 2 and Sept. 3 features local designers, bites and drinks, Osuna said. He plans to continue opening every Saturday and Sunday after that, he said.

The concept is similar to what Morales had planned for the market, itself an outgrowth of a monthly crafts market at Wood Tavern that he said no longer takes place.

Morales had a splashy opening for the market in February that got some social-media pop because it’s the first new spot in Allapattah designed to draw young creative types.

Just days later, Morales acknowledged in an apologetic post on Instagram and Facebook that the city closed down the market because he had failed to obtain permits to open.

Osuna said he made sure he had all necessary permits to open the outdoor market in hand. Never mind that the name of his Omni bar, Blind Pig, is an old term for an illegal saloon.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 1:55 PM with the headline "It’s Blind Pig v. Wood Tavern at Allapattah Market. It re-opens Sept. 2 — but under what name?."