{"id":265917,"date":"2025-09-30T07:21:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T07:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/265917\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T07:21:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T07:21:47","slug":"what-to-order-at-the-new-time-out-market-near-union-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/265917\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Order at the New Time Out Market Near Union Square"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two excellent new restaurants opened last Friday, about 15 steps from each other near Union Square.<\/p>\n

One is a kebab stand from the unstoppable Unapologetic Foods<\/a> team, whose Adda, Semma, and Dhamaka are not only among the city\u2019s finest restaurants, they also helped change the entire narrative surrounding Indian food in this town.<\/p>\n

The other is from Sam Braverman, an Upper West Side guy whose burgers, wings, and, improbably but gloriously, paper boats of steak frites slung from the back of a Bushwick dive helped spearhead the current golden era of bar food in that part of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Kebabwala<\/a> and Lori Jayne<\/a> (Manhattan\u2019s version) sit at opposites sides of the main dining area at the new Time Out Market<\/a> (124 East 14th Street, between Third and Fourth avenues) a relatively intimate food hall with over 200 seats, a sweet back patio, a full bar, five other restaurants with offerings that range from OK to very good, and a couple of stellar dessert options.<\/p>\n

The main problem with all of the above? Remembering that this place exists. One of the biggest challenges for New York City food halls is luring us inside without the storefront visual appeal. Lots of good stalls have closed in ventures like The Market Line<\/a> on the LES, Gotham West<\/a> in Hell\u2019s Kitchen, and the former tenant of this space on 14th Street, Urbanspace Union Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Time Out\u2019s mega-market in Dumbo, on that neighborhood\u2019s meticulously developed waterfront, is one of the genre\u2019s few success stories not located in Flushing, thanks in large measure to a steady stream of tourists coming from their walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.<\/p>\n

This stretch of 14th Street that the new market calls home, however, with neighbors such as an NYU dorm, a subterranean Trader Joe\u2019s, and Mount Sinai\u2019s Ear and Eye Infirmary, seems like a less vital destination for out-of-towners. And the facade of the place, essentially a row of windows through which it\u2019s impossible to really see what\u2019s going on inside, is as unremarkable as can be.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve walked this block a million times in my life, and if it wasn\u2019t my job to pay attention to such things, I\u2019m not sure I would even know that treasures like Kebabwala and Lori Jayne were lurking within. I hit the Time Out Market Union Square twice on opening weekend: Here\u2019s a look at all of the vendors, in basic order of how stoked I am to go back and eat some more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Scott Lynch<\/p>\n

Roni Mazumdar and chef Chintan Pandya first started kicking around the idea of doing a kebab stand back in 2018, at the dawn of their Unapologetic Foods era, when the pair opened the first Adda along a stretch of Long Island City. Multiple acclaimed and always-packed restaurants followed (Semma, Dhamaka, Masalwala, the new Adda in the East Village), but for one reason or another, the kebab stand never took root. So when the Time Out team offered them a booth here, it offered an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Located right near the entrance of the market, Kebabwala<\/a> has a tight menu that can be configured a bunch of different ways. Start with however many of the four different types of kebab you can handle. There are tender chunks of beef rib-eye ($13.50), squeaky squares of paneer (have you had the paneer at Adda? this is as good as that, and will cost you $9.50), a lovely lamb seekh ($11.50), and hunks of chicken tikka ($7.50), charred to hell but somehow still juicy. These are all ridiculously good, so just follow your heart and you\u2019ll be happy.<\/p>\n

Each kebab comes with a lively mint chutney for dipping, but you should also consider tacking on a tub of butter masala ($2.50) which Pandya told us takes the team hours to make each day and is pure indulgence. An egg paratha roll ($4) and\/or a saffron rice bowl ($5) bring some well-seasoned carbs into the picture. As ever at an Unapologetic Foods joint, the mango lassi hits the spot, smoothing out the intensity of the spices.<\/p>\n

Or, if you\u2019re lucky, there will still be one of Pandya\u2019s $16 chicken biryanis available when you show up \u2013 right now they\u2019re only selling twenty a day, ten at lunch and ten at dinner \u2013 and, if you\u2019re with someone who also likes to eat, my advice is to pounce. Team Unapologetic always makes a phenomenal biryani, and the Kebabwala version, baked in a disposable \u201cpot,\u201d is no exception. It\u2019s perfect with a couple of kebabs. This place is a destination restaurant in the guise of a food court booth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam Braverman grew up on the Upper West Side, but he became a legend in Bushwick for his burgers, hand-cut fries, Sichuan shrooms, saucy ass wings, and, eventually, his famous steak frites, all fired in a tiny kitchen in the back of the music venue\/dive bar Alphaville. Lori Jayne<\/a> enjoyed a magnificent two-year run in Brooklyn, but the hours and space limitations were exhausting, he says, so when the Time Out folks approached him about moving his operation to 14th Street, he couldn\u2019t turn it down, especially since he has a kid on the way.<\/p>\n

The new Lori Jayne menu has all the epic orders from the Alphaville days, including Braverman\u2019s cheeseburger ($11), a quarter-pound beauty which you can, and should if you want to get messy, order with slab bacon and a ladle-full of zingy chili on top ($17 all in). New here in Manhattan is a stellar Buffalo 2.0 chicken sandwich: crisp, vinegary, punchy, $12, and some sticky black garlic wings ($9). Wednesday, and Wednesday only, is steak frites day, and soft serve is coming soon. Bushwick Lori Jayne is dead; long live Manhattan Lori Jayne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot of great work at the old place,\u201d Braverman told Eater. \u201cBut pretty much every day for the past year I went into work wracked with anxiety, a pit in my stomach. Being here at the Market in daylight, going home before 3:00 a.m., this is the path forward. This is sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Crab<\/a><\/p>\n

Crab fried rice, Northern Thai sausage, and hat yai fried chicken from Kam Rai Thai. Scott Lynch<\/p>\n

Chef Dhanapol \u201cOak\u201d Marprasert and Jiraporn \u201cJina\u201d Tisopa, partners in work and life, have been feeding their regional Thai favorites to Astoria for a couple of years now, and I\u2019m happy to report that the Manhattan version of Kam Rai Thai<\/a> delivers those same big flavors in a food-hall setting.<\/p>\n

Portions are hefty, and standout dishes include a bowl of sweet and aromatic crab fried rice ($20), a huge, crackling piece of hat yai fried chicken served with sticky rice ($16), and a pile of kicky Northern Thai sausage ($16). Get any of the above with a big cup of milky Thai iced tea to perk yourself up before heading back out onto the streets.<\/p>\n

\"Suadero<\/a><\/p>\n

Suadero and tripa tacos and a carne quesadilla from Taqueria el Chato.<\/p>\n

Chris Reyes and Chef Gerardo Alcaraz are on a tear with their Taqueria el Chato<\/a>, which first opened less than a year ago in Greenpoint, followed quickly by a second shop last spring in the West Village, and now with a third outpost at the Market.<\/p>\n

All the hits are here: suadero, pastor, tripa, lengua, asada, and chorizo, piled onto a freshly made corn tortilla as a taco ($5 to $7 each), or, for an extra buck, as a vampiro, which basically means you get two tortillas, constructed sandwich style. The quesadilla (an extra $3) is served folded over and brings some chewy cheese to the sandwich. A buddy of mine dismisses the tacos here as \u201cwet,\u201d but I really like the gloppiness. Plus, the housemade salsas are awesome.<\/p>\n

\"Calabrese<\/a><\/p>\n

Calabrese with soppressata from Fornino<\/p>\n

Fornino and Anthony\u2019s Paninoteca<\/p>\n

\u200bYou can\u2019t really have a NYC food court without a pizza place and a bunch of overstuffed Italian sandwiches, and your choices at Time Out Market in these categories will definitely satisfy. Brooklyn go-to Fornino<\/a> churns out floppy, personal-size pies with crowd-pleasing toppings like prosciutto and arugula ($23), vodka sauce and sausage ($23), and a salty, gooey, funky Calabrese with soppressata ($21).<\/p>\n

And Staten Island\u2019s acclaimed Anthony\u2019s Paninoteca<\/a>, which seems to make every Best Sandwiches In the City list, builds monsters out of things like mortadella, stracciatella, and pistachio pesto (the \u201cDella-Tella,\u201d $16); salami, smoked burrata, and fried eggplant (the \u201cVesuvi,\u201d $16.50); and some beautiful roast beef, fresh mozzarella, and tons of balsamic-laced sauteed onions (the \u201cTime Out NY,\u201d $16).<\/p>\n

\"Beef<\/a><\/p>\n

Beef patty in coco bread from Patty Palace .<\/p>\n

Chef Kwame Onwuachi\u2019s Afro-Caribbean sensation Tatiana, located within the Lincoln Center campus, was called the best restaurant in NYC<\/a> by the New York Times. He\u2019s won a James Beard Award, he\u2019s been on Top Chef, and he recently expanded operations with two fancy places inside a hotel in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\u200bSo Onwuachi\u2019s Patty Palace <\/a>was one of the first stops at the Market on opening day, a single-item stall celebrating the chef\u2019s Jamaican patties, available stuffed with curry chicken, jerk mushroom, or beef; covered in slaw, and wrapped inside coco bread. These cost around $15 each. We bought the beef, and it was the only real disappointment of the day. The meat felt stingy and underseasoned, the patty shell was dry and crumbly, and the coco bread was more stale than spongy.<\/p>\n

Onwuachi himself wasn\u2019t at Patty Palace on opening day, nor on Saturday evening when I went for my second meal, and, given his other responsibilities, isn\u2019t likely to be manning the booth when you arrive. You can buy some of his Miri-brand flavored sparkling water, though.<\/p>\n

\"Cinnamon<\/a><\/p>\n

Cinnamon roll from Sunday Morning. Scott Lynch<\/p>\n

Coffee, pastries, and booze<\/p>\n

Facing 14th Street in front of the space is a bar and coffee station with $12 to $15 cocktails, $7 to $9 draft beers, and $6.50 lattes. Even more enticing for me: the gooey cinnamon rolls from Sunday Morning<\/a> and chef Scottish Francis\u2019s layered Shortbread Society<\/a> creations, available at the opening in either rainbow cookie or peanut butter cup flavors.<\/p>\n

Time Out Market Union Square offers several very solid, and a couple very exciting, new options in the area for grabbing a quick meal in a comfortable, convivial setting. The key is to remember that it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n