Manhattanville Market Brings An ‘Oasis’ Of Culinary Options

Columbia Daily Spectator

BY BELLA DRUCKMAN

JULY 1, 2021

Within the boundaries of Manhattanville, few dining options exist for local residents. Jin Ramen sits at the south end of the neighborhood, offering fresh tonkotsu ramen and steamed chashu pork buns, while Home Sweet Harlem sits at the north end, offering comfort food like challah french toast and fried buttermilk chicken.

More restaurants started to vanish as rising rent and food prices in Morningside Heights and Hamilton Heights made it increasingly difficult to run a profitable business. In 2019, 29.3 percent of renter households in Morningside and Hamilton Heights were severely rent burdened. This means that these households spent more than half of their household incomes on rent, leaving little to spare on food. These acute conditions explain the dearth of affordable, local, and tasty restaurant options in nearby Manhattanville.

Chef Franklin Becker, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a former competitor on “Iron Chef America,” saw Manhattanville as a “culinary desert” that needed an “oasis.” With this mission in mind, he created Manhattanville Market, a chef-driven, multi-concept food hall. Located at 3229 Broadway around 130th Street, this market will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

“[Being a chef-driven food hall] means we put food first and we care about the ingredients that we incorporate,” Becker said. “We want to give something better to the community than there used to [be] and at competitive prices.”

The market will host five food concepts, four of which Becker created. The Botanist is a salad concept that draws its greens from Farmshelf, a smart indoor farming company that helps restaurants grow fresh produce on site. Next to the Botanist is Shai Hummusiya, a Mediterranean stall. Shai will serve dishes based around hummus, house-made pita bread, and little salads. Next to Shai, Benny Casanova’s serves square pizza pies, arancini balls, and Brooklyn-style heros. Although not open until the fall, full-service restaurant Oliva will serve Spanish tapas and alcoholic beverages both indoors and outdoors.

Butterfunk Biscuit, a biscuit sandwich eatery, is the “ground zero of soul food,” according to creator Chris Scott, a chef devoted to telling the story of Southern food and heritage through family recipes. The restaurant serves variations of biscuit sandwiches such as avocado toast, smoked salmon, and crispy fried chicken.

“I remember when I was a young cook, and I was hungry to have a platform to show my art because, at the end, I’m an artist,” Scott said. “My approach to food is so much different than just putting a plate of food in front of you. It needs to have a story. It needs to have background, depth, that I want you to understand. So that way, you know food a little bit better.”

Becker gave Scott the platform to tell his culinary story when he employed Scott as his sous chef 15 years ago. Becker wants to help members of the Manhattanville community and beyond in the same way.

“I really wanted to bring something to the community that would be like a gift to [them],” Becker said. “I want to hire from within the community. I want to foster a relationship with the community. I want to make sure that the community benefits from what we’re doing the same as any other community might benefit from [it].”

After the market establishes itself, Becker plans to bring in local artists and Columbia students to perform music as well as to host a street market that would sell fresh produce and products from local vendors.

“I think it’s going to bridge the gap between Columbia proper and the community itself,” Becker said. “I think it’s going to be something that everybody embraces.”

Deputy Editor Bella Druckman can be contacted at bella.druckman@columbiaspectator.com. Follow her on Twitter @bella_druckman.