GOOD EATS ON THE GO
New York’s food halls
For a food-lover visiting New York City, the trip can be boiled down to so much deliciousness, so little time.
Culinary attractions abound, from almost 80 Michelin-starred restaurants to the pleasures of pastrami at Katz’s Delicatessen, from cheesecake to Cronuts to hotdogs to pretzels to world-class sushi and ramen.
But what if you’re pressed for time, and can’t make that commute to Flushing, the neighbourhood in Queens that boasts the best Chinese food in the five boroughs, and also keep your appointment for a Broadway show or trip up the Empire State Building?
The practical answer is to eat as many New Yorkers do, quickly and casually, in one of the city’s bustling food halls, which can be found beneath hotels, connected to subway stations or inside landmarks such as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station.
These food halls aren’t the cookie-cutter affairs you can find in many a Canadian shopping mall. Instead, you can find acclaimed and even fetishized New York eateries such as Katz’s or Ivan Ramen or Roberta’s pizzeria setting up spinoffs in food halls to vie for New Yorkers’ disposable income.
Before my recent trip to New York, I consulted an article at eater. com’s New York website that listed 15 alluring food hall options in Manhattan between Central Park and Battery Park, plus a few more in Brooklyn and Queens.
For my first food-hall excursion, I made the subway trip across the East River to DeKalb Market Hall in downtown Brooklyn. While this food hall’s marquee tenant is the stand run by Katz’s Delicatessen, the Lower East Side institution made famous in When Harry Met Sally for something other than sandwiches, I sought out even more exotic treats for a hip, multicourse, multicultural lunch.
After several circuits past 40odd vendors, I started at Daigo Hand Roll Bar, where the specialty is temaki sushi — a.k.a. “hand rolls” — meaning cones of seaweed, wrapped around rice and raw fish or seafood fillings. I went for rolls filled with sweet, luscious Hokkaido scallop and snow crab with avocado, and wasn’t disappointed.
For a more fiery course, it was on to Pakistani barbecue fare served at BK Jani, an offshoot of a small Brooklyn restaurant. I watched staff grill my lamb chops, toss them with a finishing spice blend and arrange them on a plate with some fried cauliflower and shredded veg. The lamb was remarkable — tender, meaty and potently spicy.
There are several more geographically focused culinary destinations, including the two Eataly food halls in Manhattan and the France-themed Le District complex, while the 20,000-square-foot Japan Village is to open in Brooklyn next spring. Scandinavianbased fare is on offer at the Great Northern Food Hall in Grand Central Terminal, where I had a “Great Dane” hotdog dressed with spiced ketchup, remoulade, pickled cucumber, red onion and crispy shallots.