The gourmet market, a Miami Beach institution for more than 60 years, will be one of the key tenants for a new mixed-use development two blocks west of Miami's Brickell Avenue. Epicure will anchor the ground floor of the Off Brickell project, including a full-service market and sit-down restaurant.

The project, by developer Harvey Taylor, will also include a Hilton Garden Inn with 213 rooms, a 150,000-square-foot office building and small retail shops.

The Brickell location also launches Epicure's new plans to expand around South Florida. Next up: the likely conversion of the Rascal House restaurant in Sunny Isles into an Epicure Market. Eventually there could be at least six Epicure locations in the tri-county area.

''We feel it's time to grow Epicure,'' said Jason Starkman, one of the owners of Epicure, which was purchased 10 years ago from the original founders by Jerry's Famous Deli. ``The one thing we don't want to do is open up stores that are not like the original. It has to be exact. It has to have the same feeling.''

It's a plan that Starkman's group has talked about since it bought the gourmet grocer. But Epicure's expansion plans got sidelined while the group focused on plans to build a condo on the site of Rascal House. With the crash in the real estate market the condo plans are on hold and the attention is back on Epicure.

This isn't the first time that Epicure has tried expansion. Epicure's original owners, the Thal family, opened stores called Epicure's Hostess Pantry, which contained a smaller selection of goods. A Surfside location opened in 1961 and closed in 1991, while a satellite store on 41st Street in Miami Beach opened in 1965 and closed in 1985.

Mitchell Thal, grandson of founder Edward Thal, told The Miami Herald previously that the family found when it closed the two other stores the quality and profit in the main store went ``way up.''

But Epicure's sales have continued to skyrocket over the years. When Jerry's purchased the market 10 years ago, sales exceeded $10 million a year while today they're closer to $23 million, Starkman said. Some of that growth has come from the addition of a cafe, flower shop and coffee bar. Epicure typically draws between 1,500 and 1,700 customers a day.

Starkman doesn't expect expansion to take much business away from the original location, but he plans to go slowly. ''You won't see us open three in a year,'' he said. ``We will not dilute the brand. We will only improve it.''

The Brickell area seemed like an obvious first step for expansion given the dense population of urban condo-dwellers and downtown office buildings, Starkman said. It's also a way to reach out to residents in Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and South Miami, some of whom have long made regular treks to Epicure's South Beach location.

Industry experts agree.

''They will absolutely do phenomenally,'' said Mickey Finkle, managing director of Koniver Stern, the Miami Beach firm that is handling the retail leasing for Off Brickell. ``People are going to stop at Epicure on the way home to pick up dinner.''

Starkman said the company hopes to decide in the next few months on a plan for Sunny Isles. It's likely to include closing down Rascal House and conducting a massive gut-rehab to convert it into an Epicure Market.

When it comes time to find other locations, Epicure will have no shortage of landlords knocking at its door. Potential target markets could include Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Weston.

''There's enormous room in the marketplace for a high-end grocer,'' said Stephen Bittel, chairman of Terranova, a Miami Beach real estate firm.

``The couple with two jobs is becoming more and more the norm and whoever is in charge of putting dinner on the table is going to want to pick up great prepared foods.''