The World's Best New Food Halls
Markthal, Rotterdam
Even without the food, Markthal would be a showstopper. The interior is blanketed in a giant artwork by Arno Coenen depicting a profusion of larger-than-life fruits and vegetables. It’s also the largest indoor market in the Netherlands, with around 100 stalls and 20 shops and restaurants, from a Sicilian-inspired pasta bar to a Middle Eastern café. Don’t miss: Aged local cheese, or Rotterdamsche Oude Kaas, sold at the shop of the same name.
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Krog Street Market, Atlanta
Housed in a renovated 1920s warehouse, this Inman Park market features full-fledged restaurants (Ford Fry with Superica, Eli Kirshtein with The Luminary) alongside first-class food shops (Xocolatl Small Batch Chocolate, The Spotted Trotter charcuterie). Don’t miss: the Hot Mortadella or Black Pepper Sorghum Salami at the meat-centric Cockentrice restaurant.
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Gotham West Market, New York City
The far western reaches of Midtown are suddenly an eating destination thanks to Gotham West, hosting chef Seamus Mullen's tapas bar El Colmado, outposts of sandwich shop Court Street Grocers and carnivore-friendly Cannibal, and much more. Don’t miss: the Tokyo Shoyu Ramen from Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop.
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The Source, Denver
The 15 vendors and restaurants at The Source, a repurposed 1880’s brick foundry building, range from sour beer specialists (Crooked Stave) to locally beloved coffee purveyors (Boxcar Coffee Roasters) and a taco truck-turned-modern taqueria (Comida). Don’t miss: wood-fired Colorado trout from Acorn, sister restaurant to Boulder’s renowned OAK at Fourteenth.
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The Market, San Francisco
The first of several planned “The Markets” in San Francisco opened last January in the Twitter building, and has quickly become a neighborhood fixture. There’s a well-curated grocery store; sandwich, taco, and pizza counters; and local favorites Blue Bottle Coffee and Project Juice. Don’t miss: the nine-piece nigiri from Sushi Oyster Bar, where fish is flown in from Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji Market.
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Mercantile and Mash at Cigar Factory, Charleston
The iconic Cigar Factory, now renovated into industrial-chic office space, is also home to ambitious projects befitting the white-hot food city. There’s the 7,500 square-foot Mercantile—an emporium with everything from baked goods to gelato, charcuterie, and Southern-inspired grab-and-go eats—and Mash, a bar (complete with an indoor bocce court) specializing in American-made whiskies. Don’t miss: boiled peanuts with Benton’s ham hock from Mercantile.
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Grand Central Market, Los Angeles
While the market itself dates back nearly 100 years, a massive revamp brought the downtown building into 21st-century food culture, with newcomers like Wexler’s Deli and Horse Thief BBQ joining legacy vendors (Jose Chiquito, China Cafe). Don’t miss: the Fairfax sandwich at Eggslut: soft-scrambled eggs and chives, cheddar, caramelized onions, and sriracha mayo. (Expect to wait in line.)
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Locale Market, St. Petersburg, FL
James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Mina is among the talent behind this Florida food market, a mega-grocery highlighting local ingredients and artisan foods along with 11 separate open-air kitchens and the eight-seat tasting menu restaurant FarmTable Kitchen. Don’t miss: the “St. Petersburger” at the Grill, with Locale’s dry-aged beef, bacon, mushrooms, and Gouda.
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St. Roch Market, New Orleans
One of the oldest open-air markets in the region, St. Roch had a major refurbishment- post-Katrina—and has never looked better. It’s now enclosed, with vendors specializing in everything from local produce to Korean-Creole fusion. Don’t miss: Dirty Dishes’ “munch” crêpe (pulled pork, mac and cheese, barbecue sauce).
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Plaza Rio Food Garden, Tijuana
While malls of the world gave “food courts” a bad name, this project at Tijuana’s Plaza Rio brought together major food players from both sides of the border including a rotisserie from Mexico City-born Martin San Roman and the seafood house Erizo from Javier Plascencia. Don’t miss: the excellent paletas from Ciadely.
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Chophouse Row, Seattle
Melrose Market was an immediate hit when it opened in Capitol Hill five years back, and the same seems likely of follow-up project Chophouse Row. It’s lined up local talent like Ericka Burke of Chop Shop, Sara Naftaly of Amandine bakery, with more to follow. Don’t miss: Puget Sound cheeses and dairy from the tiny Kurt Farm Shop.
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Ponce City Market, Atlanta
Housed in the 1926 Sears, Roebuck & Co. building, Ponce City Market will have offshoots from some of the South’s best-loved chefs when it opens this fall, including Sean Brock’s Mexican-inspired Minero and Anne Quatrano’s seafood shack Dub’s Fish Camp. Don’t miss: H&F Burger, featuring the legendary cheeseburger from Holeman & Finch.
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Copenhagen Street Food, Copenhagen
Visit this cluster of warehouses on Paper Island, a short walk from Noma, before it’s too late. The buildings—with 31 vendors inside, including the pork-centric Oink Oink and Stormly, a bar serving organic Danish beer—will be demolished in 2018. Don’t miss: Koldskål (sweet buttermilk soup) from the Spoon Company, where every dish can be eaten with, well, a spoon.
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UrbanSpace Vanderbilt, New York
Gotham West Market, Berg’n, Le District—New York City seems to sprout a new food hall every day. Among the latest: UrbanSpace Vanderbilt, around the corner from Grand Central Terminal, which has Red Hook Lobster Pound, La Palapa, and dozens of other hometown favorites. Don’t miss: Broccoli tacos from No. 7 Sub.