December 6, 2006
To Market, To Market -- Essex Street Style
The New York Times takes a close look at the Essex Street Market, a Lower East Side institution that's been doing business since 1940. Although the market was only 60 percent full five years ago, its low rent and the steadily increasing income stream of many in the neighborhood have led to a rejuvenation. But not everyone who walks in the door is a LES trust fund hipster with extra cash to spare. Saxelby Cheesemongers is one of several merchants who advertises their acceptance of E.B.T. cards -- the electronic replacement for food stamps. The market is a shopping mecca for all in the community, and has not become unwelcome to those who have been shopping there for decades just to cater to the influx of wealthier residents:
While the market has welcomed purveyors like Ms. Saxelby, it has not given itself over entirely to epicurean gentrification. The indoor stalls are a good place to encounter yautia, a root vegetable that looks like the love child of a soup can and a coconut. One morning last week Maria Maldonado was buying some to make spicy fried cakes. The 40 pounds of banana leaves in her cart would wrap pasteles, a sort of Puerto Rican tamale filled with pork shoulder and olives and popular at Christmastime.A quick calculation determined that this was Ms. Maldonado’s 2,900th visit to the market, give or take a dozen. She has been going there once a week every year since she arrived in New York from Puerto Rico in 1950.
Do you shop at the Essex Street Market? Tell us about it!
More on Saxelby Cheesemongers.
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paradou just opened a great little creperie stand in the market -- the owner is the nicest guy. definitely stop by next time you're walking by -- it's at least an order of magnitude better than the crap they serve at the joint on ludlow.
I do love the new direction the market is taking, and it's nice that they've extended they're open an extra hour on Thursday, Friday & Saturday, but I think it would behoove them to extend them further, possibly to include being open on Sundays?
Sometimes I just really need obscure Ecudorean hot peppers of death on the day of rest too!
The best part of the market is definitely Saxelby Cheesemongers. The big drawback from the market from my perspective is the hours -- no business on Sunday, and only open until 7pm. Barely gives me enough time to get there after work!
I don't know how people manage to live in the neighborhood and not shop at the Essex Street Market. When I moved in relatively recently, I already knew about it and had shopped there before: it took weeks for me to figure out that there was a Key Foods close by. The grocery sections have good produce and some suprising speciality ingredients. There a couple good random stands like the bakery and juice bar by the north entrance. Saxelby's, of course, is a really welcome addition. The ESM is also a lot more fun to shop at than a supermarket.
All that said, I thought the Times article (or maybe it was the little related blurb about the market) fawned over everything a little excessively. For instance, there are some harder to find items at the butchers (especially Jeffrey's) that make for exotic shopping, but the quality, while perfectly fine, is nothing special. Same goes for fish. ESM is not quite like the working-class covered markets of Europe where you can buy beautiful local produce for cheap, but it is fun and functional. Way to go invading hipsters for patronizing it. I know that some of the great covered markets in France are disappearing, not to gentrification, but to changes in lifestyle (people just love supermarkets I guess).
the times article did a great job expressing the... unique feeling of shopping at the essex street market. it is easily the most "new york" experience i have on a regular basis, much of the rest of the city, frankly, can be like shopping anywhere else anymore.
none of the three produce stands in the market appears to make even the slightest nod towards local or organic produce. the one on north side of the market usually has fresh, clean produce, at good values too. the other two, well, at least you're not going to pay much...
I would shop there all the time if the whole market didn't close at six! 6:00 PM! They've made a big to-do about expanding their hours for the holidays, all of one hour, until 7, Thu-Sat. And... they're closed on Sundays. I haven't bought meat or fish there yet, it's mostly put away by the time i usually get there, about 5:45. it all looks good though...
most of the service and merchandise-based businesses seem uninterested in non-spanish speaking customers. the tailor in the back is the most ancient old guy though, he seems like he would be interesting to talk to.
formaggio is your standard the-cow-munched-on-this-kind-of-grass cheese and oil shop with the commiserate prices, albeit one of the few in this neighborhood (for now). they do have incredibly well selected pour-your-own oil and balsamic. The first time i went in there, there was this old italian guy grousing about how he never thought he'd pay $15 for a bottle of olive oil. i haven't been to saxelby cheesemongers, but their presentation and quality appear to be exquisite and the counter girl is super cute and friendly, so presumably they deserve the great press they get.
one thing i'd hoped the times would get into is that there are two other abandoned spaces, one to the north and the other to the south, also part of the essex street marketcomplex. any development plans for these?
Maria Maldonado is a fictional character in Robert Anton Wilson's "Historical Illuminatus Chronicles".
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The LAMEST part of the market is obviously Saxelby Cheesemongers. I'm really glad that trust fund kids aren't just opening up fake vintage cheese shops because it looks cute, they're signing up for foodstamp cards and buying cheese for $24.99/lb!
I totally agree with what the other person said about the Times article. The market is a mix of poor local vendors against douche-bag expensive shops and nobody sells anything I would buy everyday.