This.
Plenty of people (too many?) at Chelsea Market, which is close to the High Line. That area is awash in folks, and it’s a quick 5 minute walk from the nearest subway and the crosstown bus drops you off 2 blocks away if you can’t walk.
i don’t get the irony either. in fact, to me, it sounds amazing. chelsea market, le district, eataly, gotham west, urban space.
all of these are amazing urban markets and experiences staffed with passionate and expert people. go to any of them and strike up a conversation about ingredients, cooking, etc.
shocking to me that this somehow is selling out or whatever as opposed to creating something special and valuable.
Yaacov,
I enjoy Eataly for example but it doesn’t present itself as the equivalent of an asian night market. Bourdain has made his money promoting the idea of the independent indigenous, back street food experience which he now wants to monetize by packaging it into a cleaned up food court version … it’s just the antithesis of what he claims to celebrate, isn’t it?
Within the past week I’ve eaten at Gotham Market in NYC, Brentwood Country Mart and Grand Central Market in Los Angeles. All three were great experiences. Who cares if the new Bourdain market recreates the Asian market vibe with authenticity? If it provides good food in a fun environment it will be a success.
FWIW, give me great street style food in a clean environment rather than a gross, dirty street environment any day of the week.
“In addition to prepared food stalls staffed by vendors from around the world, Bourdain Market will also have meat and fish butcher counters. One of those stalls will be operated by the team from Sydney, Australia’s famed Victor Churchill butcher shop.”
What, there aren’t any quality butchers in NYC? They have to bring in Australians? What’s that all about?
And just because someone runs a successful taqueria in Mexico or a rice restaurant in Singapore, isn’t it a stretch to imagine that they’ll seemlessly transition to an entirely new environment, without their accustomed suppliers, etc.?
Strikes me that there’s a bit of a theme park thing going on.
ah, good point. we have plenty of quality butchers in NYC. Just the right amount. In fact, it would be really, really, really terrible to add more.
#NoMoreButchers!
Sounds like the hawker centers in Singapore
Agreed. He’s essentially trying to recreate things he personally fell in love with abroad and more food choices here will only be a boon. Can’t wait for it to open.
I really don’t get the negativity. It sounds like a great addition to the NYC food scene.
Add me in the camp of thinking it sounds great. I lived way over west near Gotham Market for many years and I would have been thrilled for this resource, especially if it’s open late and as diverse as it sounds.
OK, fine, Australian butchers, how cool is that! (#NewYorkersAreSoEasilyImpressed… ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
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I’d like a Panzanese butcher
Can’t wait for those koala burgers! In fact, I’m starting a new #…#antipodeanmeat
They’re cute, and oh so tasty!
The questions/claims about hypocrisy are uninteresting to me. The food market may or may not be good. I hope it’s good. I’m no longer in the market for authenticity.
If the food and market is great, great, if not who gives a shit, if it sucks, it sucks.
How about everyone goes before pontificating their opinion in public about what it will, or will not be before it has even been.
I hope to go once and feel the pain of dissatisfaction or the pleasure of contentment.
That misses the point critics make entirely. If a congressman who spent his life railing on about “family values” was caught having an affair, would your first comment be “Well if the chick is hot, I’m Excited for him” or “Well who doesn’t like sex?”
Or would you think, “what a hypocrite”?
I don’t know. I think it depends on whether the congressman represents me or has a role in governing me. If so, than I’m concerned about his character. I’d also probably use the hypocrisy as a cudgel if I didn’t agree with the “family values” thing in the first place, although that’s just playing politics. But if that congressman was a congressman from Kazakhstan, I’d probably be more interested in whether the chick was hot or not.
I think the point is that I don’t want Anthony Bourdain to be my representative, my codifier of “right” consumption, or my guide to authenticity. He’s not the same as a congressman at all. I also don’t want to cut off my nose to spite my face. So even I did take my lead from Anthony Bourdain on subjects gastronomical, I’d really try to minimize any disappointment over his relative purity to what I perceive to be his ideals so I don’t miss out on a cool new market because of my moral outrage.
yes, i totally agree.
an elected official, sworn to uphold the law and represent his constituents in congress, is totally the correct analogy to evaluate the authenticity of a food hall concept.
thanks for bringing some much-needed seriousness and context to the topic.
Sorry Yaacov, I should probably explain.
Figurative analogies are by their very nature not literal representations of the thing they are meant to represent. The subjects only share certain common properties, but here is the kicker…they do not share all properties.
