Anthony Bourdain cancels his huge NYC food market
For years Anthony Bourdain has been working on a huge, ambitious, international food market meant to open in New York, but this week Bourdain announced that he was pulling the plug on the project.
Bourdain first started talking about plans to open an enormous international food market in New York about five years ago, and in 2015 he announced that Bourdain Market would open on New York’s Pier 57. The market was originally meant to open in 2017, but last year the expected opening date was pushed back to 2019.
The 155,00-square-foot market had been described as a Singapore-style hawker market, with retail and wholesale vendors from New York and around the rest of the world. Bourdain previously mentioned wanting the market to serve Hainanese chicken rice from Singapore, spicy noodle soup from Malaysia, and barbecue pork and roast goose from Joy Hing Roasted Meat in Hong Kong.
Now, however, after multiple delays and difficulties obtaining visas for the market’s employees and vendors, Bourdain says he’s canceling the project at Pier 57, for which he says he still hasn’t signed an official lease.
“Launching what is admittedly a very ambitious venture has proven to be challenging at every turn,” he said in a statement obtained by Eater NY. “It seems increasingly clear that in spite of my best efforts, the stars may not align at Pier 57 which is an especially complicated site for which we still do not have a lease.”
Bourdain may have given up on the Pier 57 location, but he’s still holding out hope to open the market somewhere else someday.
“I promised a certain kind of market to New Yorkers and to potential vendors, and if that vision becomes clouded, diluted or compromised, it is no longer something that our city needs,” he said. “I remain hopeful that New York will someday have such a market -- I still passionately wish to create this resource that New Yorkers deserve.”
The world will just have to wait and hope Bourdain finds someplace else to open his enormous midnight food market in between traveling to some of the most dangerous places in the world.
More on Bourdain
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- Anthony Bourdain Is Banned From Azerbaijan After Visiting Off-Limits Territory
- Anthony Bourdain Aims to Be a Better Ally for Women After Besh and Weinstein Scandals
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