Don't Call It a Food Court
Hudson Eats | New York Outsmart the line: Head to Blue Ribbon, which offers grab-and-go sushi, a first for the high-end New York brand.
With 14 stalls in one room, Hudson Eats is winning lunch in Lower Manhattan. Skinny Pizza (pictured) offers healthy part-skim and vegan slices. Little Muenster serves gourmet takes on grilled cheese. There are open-faced sandwiches at Tartine and West Coast burritos at Dos Toros. Black Seed bakes its bagels onsite before topping them with tobiko cream cheese.
The bankers and lawyers of Lower Manhattan used to hunt down food trucks for lunch, but now they’re lining up somewhere else. Hudson Eats, a food hall of 14 eateries, is located on the upper level of Brookfield Place—the renamed World Financial Center—with marble countertops, sleek walnut furniture, and custom light fixtures worthy of a boutique hotel. Most of the stalls are miniversions of popular Manhattan lunchtime haunts such as Black Seed Bagels and Num Pang sandwich shop, all serving $10 meals found on their regular menus. It’s good business—operating as a vendor at Hudson Eats is at least five times cheaper than opening a standalone storefront.