Administrators at the Brooklyn Navy Yard took advantage of this past weekend’s comfortable weather when they sponsored the official launch of their Market @77 Food Hall. Greeters were marshaled in front of 141 Flushing Avenue to welcome people to the Navy Yard’s Open House NY weekend celebration.
The Navy Yard had been waiting for the opportunity to showcase the culinary talents of its food vendors. After an initial soft opening during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Market@77 Food Hall is now officially open for local families, community members, and area visitors to enjoy, relax, and soak up the festive atmosphere.
Market@77 Food Hall vendors so far include traditional Neapolitan pizza purveyors Pizza Yard; the Lower East Side’s Jewish comfort food restaurant Russ & Daughters; Bed-Stuy/Clinton Hill’s makers of modern American food, Rustik Tavern; and the Dominican/Colombian food presenters Sabor Restaurant and Bakery.
The food hall’s mix of ethnic cuisines reflects the traditions of old New York. Market @77 promotions note that “Market visitors [can get] everything from freshly baked bagels with lox to piping hot pizza and delicious tacos. The food hall’s foundation pays homage to the original Wallabout Market –– a bustling meat, produce, and fish market active from the 1890s into WWII that was located next to the Navy Yard.”
Cristiana Franco, owner of Sabor Restaurant and Bakery, has been at the Navy Yard for about five years now. “First of all, I’m so proud that we were such a small business and were able to stay at the Navy Yard,” she said. Franco operates her original Sabor Restaurant and Bakery in College Point, Queens, with her husband Luis, who is the house chef.
They initially started at the Navy Yard with a pushcart featuring samples of their food. Now they have an established store in the food hall and recently opened a booth at JFK Airport, both of which are open Mondays through Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Franco confessed she was initially nervous about the reception her food would get at the Navy Yard. “I was so scared because I used to say, ‘Oh my God, all these people — they’re not going to like my food. They’ll want vegan; they are trendy people — that’s what they’re looking for.’ I was really scared. But when you have something you love and you believe in it … that’s how we sell our food. We just ask you to try it and if you don’t like it, that’s fine, but we’re going to give it to you with all the love that we have to give you. I want people when they eat our food to think, ‘Oh, that’s how my mother used to cook.’ It makes you feel good when they say things like that.”
Frantz Metellus, owner of Rustik Tavern, expressed enthusiasm for the recent launching of his American comfort food restaurant at the Navy Yard. Rustik’s sizable footprint at the base of Market@77 features spacious family-style dining tables and large picture windows overlooking the Navy Yard operations area.
Market@77 is Rustik’s second location: Their original restaurant is in Bedford Stuyvesant. Metellus first submitted a bid to open at Market@77 back in 2017. Putting together architectural plans, getting engineers and permits, and building out the kitchen and dining area all took up time –– and then the pandemic hit and slowed down the entire process.
Market@77’s Rustik finally opened earlier this year, but to little fanfare. Metellus said he wanted to do a quiet opening and see what the reception would be like. “We just literally opened our doors because we wanted to see who would see us, but we have a large following from our other location, and they are also slowly making their way here to see this space,” he said.
This past Saturday, the restaurant’s customers were treated to a live deejay and could also watch –– and even compete with –– members of the Clinton Hill Backgammon Club, who met at Rustik to take part in competitive games.
Market@77’s varied restaurants want to re-entice local residents and the many people who come to visit the Navy Yard’s resident artists and small businesses.
“We cater to the working people that work in the Navy Yard and the people passing through: those are our clients,” said Franco.
“The pandemic has made this whole area a work-from-home sort of thing,” Metellus observed. “Prior to the pandemic, there were a lot more people [working in the Navy Yard buildings]. I think that’s slowly coming back, but it’s not to the levels it was pre-2019. If the pandemic hadn’t happened, this place would have probably 10- to 20,000 people working out of it. I think it’s a gradual move up again.”
The Market @77 food hall is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Building 77, 141 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. Hours vary per vendor. For more information, visit brooklynnavyyard.org/marketat77/.