Hot South Florida restaurant makes debut in region, starting in Naples

A popular upscale casual South Florida restaurant concept has debuted on the Gulf Coast, with a location in Naples.

Tap 42 Craft Kitchen + Bar opened Aug. 2 in Mercato, a mixed-use development in north Naples. It replaces AZN Azian Cuisine, which had been at the high-end center for some 15 years. The 6,622-square-foot space is on the ground level below Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. 

Alex Rudolph with Tapco Restaurant Group, the company that operates Tap 42, says Naples is “a natural progression” for the brand outside South Florida and Mercato is a “premiere location” in Florida. There are 10 Tap 42’s in the Miami-Dade and Broward areas; the first one opened in Fort Lauderdale in 2011.