Join Us on a Tour of Battery Park City’s Brand New Mega Food Hall Hudson Eats
If you haven’t been downtown recently, you might want to make the trek. Hudson Eats — the just-opened food hall at 200 Vesey Street — is turning a once sleepy corner of Battery Park City into a culinary destination.
Located on the second floor of Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center), the gleaming, white-tiled emporium is one of many new additions helping to revitalize Lower Manhattan. Along with the trendy restaurants that now call the neighborhood home — like Danny Meyer’s North End Grill and Stephen Starr’s new El Vez — there’s also the recent debut of the 9/11 Memorial Museum and eventual moves from media powerhouses Condé Nast and Time Inc.
Brookfield has been leading the charge, turning what was once a confusing maze of small shops into a sprawling 30,000-square-feet food hall brimming with big-name eateries like Mighty Quinn’s, Black Seed Bagels and Sprinkles Cupcakes. The top-notch offerings will not only draw in the office crowd during lunchtime, but also give residents and visiting tourists much-needed new options.
The teams behind the space — New York’s AvroKo and Spector Group, plus San Francisco’s BCV Architects — worked with vendors to customize their kiosks, so every outpost has its own personal flair. The one for Cambodian sandwich slinger Num Pang is outfitted in dark wood and graffiti-scrawled blackboard menus, while Little Muenster keeps its spot brighter with a swatch of yellow tiles and whimsical cheese grater chandelier.
But the designers have also done a fantastic job giving the huge space a cohesive feel. Massive floor-to-ceiling windows flood the food court with plenty of light and gives diners a birds-eye view of the yachts coming in and out of North Cove harbor. Seating is scattered all around — for 600 people in total — and there’s enough variety for an array of party sizes. Single diners can snag a seat at standing height marble tables, while larger ones will fit into big, family-style ones.
There’s still plenty more to come. Blue Ribbon Sushi will open its kiosk in July, while three other culinary concepts join the fray in 2015: high-end French Market Le District, an outpost of Parm and Amada from Philly chef Jose Garces. Along with all the amazing food options, Brookfield will also add retail shops to the floor space opposite Hudson Eats. We’ll definitely be keeping on eye on what crops up next.
Learn more about the offerings at Brookfield Place here.
Images © Patty Lee
