Best Dining Markets/ Food Courts in New York City
Sorry Auntie Anne, in New York City food courts are out of your league. Dedicated to non-chain, gourmet fare, their booths are being claimed by some of the city’s most celebrated chefs. And the number of these multiple-venue eateries has exploded in just the last few years. Here are my favorites. Note: All have seating and most serve alcohol along with the food.
Here are our picks from downtown to up in Manhattan followed by the Brooklyn Markets and one in Queens.
Financial District Food Courts
Hudson Eats (inside the Brookfield Place Mall, 250 Vesey St., across from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum). Highlights: Brisket from Mighty Quinn’s Barbecue and burgers or clam chowder from PJ Clarkes.
If you’re downtown on a Friday during the warm weather months, top option is to head to the massive food festival Smorgasburg (see below), which occupies the plaza in front of the Oculus in the World Trade Center 11am–7pm.
Eataly (4 World Trade Center, Liberty St. at Church St., 4th floor; www.eatalyny.com; 212/229-2560; and at World Trade Center, Liberty St. at Church St., 4th floor). Highlights: You’ll find sit-down restaurants here for the holy trinity of Italian food: pasta, pizza, and antipasta.
Chinatown Food Court
Mott Street Eatery (98 Mott St., btw. Canal & Hester sts.). Here’s where the folks who live in Chinatown eat; the food is tremendously authentic and affordable. Highlights: Tofu desserts from Yan Wo Dou Bun Inc., Taiwanese-style dumplings from Sanmiwago, roasted duck over rice from 89 Eatery.
Lower East Side Food Court
Essex Street Market (88 Essex St., at Delancey). Highlights: Coffee at Porto Rico Importing Co., Thai burgers at Zaab Burger, chicken mole burritos from Puebla Mexican Food. The star restaurant here is Dhamaka.
Flatiron District Food Court
Eataly at 200 Fifth Ave., between 23rd and 24th streets. Eataly was founded here, but has since become a major chain and has seen a dip in the quality of its eateries. Still, the simple Italian food here is usually tasty.
Chelsea & Hudson Yards Food Courts
Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Ave., btw. 15th & 16th sts.) is the most fun food court in Manhattan. Specialties: Authentic, Tijuana-style tacos from Los Tacos No. 1, halvah (sesame candy) from New York Seed + Mill, and Israeli hummus from Dizengoff.
Mercado Little Spain (in the basement of the Shops at Hudson Yards, entrance on 29th St. off Tenth Ave.) All the fare is Spanish, and the paella may be the best of that dish in the city. Among the stations for takeaway food are several sit-down restaurants.
Midtown West Food Courts
Moynihan Food Hall (in the Amtrak station, at 421 Eighth Ave.). Highlights: Burgers from Burger Joint, gut busting pastrami sammys from Pastrami Queen, bagels from H&H Bagels.
Urban Hawker (135 W. 50th St.). The first Singaporean-style market outside of Asia is staffed by actual vendors from Singapore, handpicked by that country’s version of the late, great Anthony Bourdain, KF Seetoh (a friend of Bourdain’s, Seetoh has a hugely popular food TV show in Asia). Highlights: Hainan Jones (addictive chicken and rice), Mr. Fried Rice (try version #1), and Prawnaholic Collections (for prawn noodle soup).
Midtown East Food Courts
You’ll dine under full-size trees and lots of twinkling hanging lights at The Hugh (157 E. 53rd St., near Lexington Ave), choosing from an impressive range of cuisines, from West African fare to Israeli specialties to affordable and very fresh sushi rolls from Kazu Nori.
Brooklyn Food Courts
Dekalb Market Hall (basement of City Point Mall, 445 Albee Square W.) hosts the only offshoot of famed Katz’s Delicatessen, along with a number of food stands serving specialties you’ll rarely see outside of Asia, like jianbiang (Shanghai crepes) and Isan chicken (Northern Thailand). It also has a bar, beer hall, and more standard offerings, all in a very festive setting.
Time Out Market (55 Waters St.' Sun–Thurs 8am–10pm, Fri-Sat 8am–11pm) is a multi-story, genuinely hip place to hang, especially when its rooftop bar is open (the market is between two bridges so the views are fab). Among the treats here are handrolls from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, bagels from Ess-A-Bagel, and very good felafel. The Union Square version of the Time Out Market isn’t nearly as fun (and not recommended).
Smorgasburg (warmer months Sat–Sun 11am–6pm). The largest outdoor food market in the United States, Smorgasburg features 100 or so food vendors who take their stands outdoors to Marsha P. Johnson State Park in Williamsburg on Saturdays (enter at Kent St. and N. 7th St.) and to Prospect Park on Sundays (use Breeze Hill entrance, East Dr. at Lincoln Rd.). Highlights: You pick; I can’t. With dozens of vendors, the variety of foods is staggering. On a recent visit, my group noshed on curried hot dogs with kimchi apple slaw; oysters with three mignonette sauces; fried eggplant with yogurt sauce; fab barbecue; and El Salvadorian pupusas (like tortillas).
Queens Food Market
What Smorgasburg did for Brooklyn foodies, The Queens Night Market, in the parking lot of the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Corona Park (May–Oct Sat 6pm–midnight; subway 7 to 111th St.), has done for this borough. In the 8 years this Taiwanese-style night market has been in existence, it has hosted 2 million diners, and vendors from over 90 countries. And it’s done so affordably: Food prices are capped at $5‒$6 per plate. Highlights: Romanian chimney cakes, Sudanese salads, Tibetan dumplings, Salvadoran pupusas.