The Market Line food hall is officially open at Essex Crossing

After years of anticipation, The Market Line food hall at Essex Crossing is officially open to the public today. Like most large-scale food halls in the city, there are plenty of options to choose from (24, to be exact), and the space is a stylish spot to hang out. But where The Market Line is most successful is in its curation of “locally-sourced vendors and restaurants reflecting the character, culture and grit of the Lower East Side,” as the press release says. From long-time local favorites like Nom Wah and the Pickle Guys to establishments that are important to the cultural history of other NYC neighborhoods–the Upper East Side’s Schaller & Weber and the East Village’s Veselka–to newcomers making their mark on the small-business food scene, The Market Line really does feel like a neighborhood space.

Photos courtesy of QuallsBenson

What makes The Market Line feel even more neighborhood-friendly is its connection to Essex Market. In May, the 77-year-old public market moved from its longtime home across the street into a ground-floor space at Essex Crossing, just above The Market Line. Current vendors at The Market Line are:

• Ample Hills Creamery, a nine-year-old family-owned company that got its start as a single cart in Prospect Park and now produces up to 500,000 gallons of ice cream in a day at their Red Hook factory.
• Cafe Grumpy coffee, a Certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise that started out in 2005 in Greenpoint.
• Doughnut Plant, which began on the Lower East Side 26 years ago.
• Ends Meat, a whole-animal butcher and salumeria that opened its first location in Industry City.
• Seafood restaurant and market Essex Pearl, a child of Aqua Best, a family-run fishmonger that started 30 years ago near the Fulton Fish Market.
• Mushroom coffee company Four Sigmatic.
• Gouie New York, both a sake bar and Japanese small plates concept that has American and European influences.
• Kuro-Obi, a new quick-service ramen spot from the Ippudo family.
• The first storefront of Moon Man, which serves Southeast Asian street food desserts (they say they’re the only people in the country making their delicious coconut pancakes)
• An outpost of the 1920-founded tea parlor and dim sum spot Nom Wah, which is serving up noodles, scallion pancakes, dumplings, and more.
• Peoples Wine Shop and Bar, which comes from the team behind Contra and Wildair.
• Nearly 20-year-old Lower East Side Vietnamese restaurant Pho Grand.
• Long-time LES favorite The Pickle Guys.
• The first storefront of Que Chevere, a Puerto Rican restaurant that will donate a portion of their proceeds to Autism Speaks.
• Rebecca’s Cake Pops, which is relocating from their Garden City location.
• Rustic Table Shuk, an offshoot of Hell’s Kitchen’s Rustic Table that serves dishes with North African and South-Eastern Mediterranean influence.
• 80-year-old Upper East Side German market and butcher shop Schaller & Weber, which also has a second location of their Schaller’s Stube sausage bar.
• Pizza place Slice Joint, whose chef comes from Roberta’s.
• Juice bar Substance Juice.
• The Grand Delancey beer hall, featuring 1,200 different beers “through a state-of-the-art, 50-tap draft system.”
• Authentic Queens-based Mexican restaurant Tortilleria Nixtamal.
• East Village institution Veselka, which first opened in 1954 and will serve their classic pierogis, borscht, and potato pancakes.

The Market Line will also have an information kiosk for the nearby Tenement Museum and a grocery store/showroom for Southeast Asia Food Group. It’s located at 115 Delancey Street and will be open every day from 7am-1am.

When The Market Line is complete in 2021, it will total 150,000 square feet, making it the larget market in NYC and one of the largest in the world. The second phase will add more food vendors, along with boutiques, art galleries, maker spaces, art installations by local LES street artists, and a live music venue.

Rendering of Essex Crossing courtesy of Moso Studio

The six-acre $1.9 billion Essex Crossing development is expected to be completed by 2024. It includes 1,079 new residential units, more than half of which will be set aside for low- and middle-income tenants, as well as 350,000 square feet of office space, 100,000 square feet of green space, and 400,000 square feet of retail space. Other offerings at Essex Crossing will include the largest Trader Joe’s on the east coast, Target, bowling alley the Gutter, and a new home for the International Center of Photography.

RELATED:

• Is Essex Crossing the ‘anti-Hudson Yards’?
• Essex Crossing’s public park is now open on the Lower East Side
• Essex Crossing reveals new renderings of trendy office space

All photos courtesy of QuallsBenson