A popular Middle Eastern market in Brooklyn is setting up shop across the East River.
For 75 years, Sahadi’s has been slinging carefully-curated Levantine staples from an iconic Atlantic Avenue storefront. Now, the family-owned business is getting ready to bring delicious magic to Manhattan.
The historic grocer — known for its bulk bins of dried fruits and imported olives, specialty cheeses, smoked fish and general old world atmosphere, even after an extensive renovation in 2012 — will start service later this month at a new bar and restaurant in Chelsea, within Pier 57’s Market 57 food hall.
“As long as I can remember, customers have been asking, ‘When are you coming to Manhattan?’ and I’m thrilled to be able to have an answer for them now,” fourth-generation Sahadi’s co-owner Christine Sahadi Whelan said in a statement, according to TimeOut.
“Market 57 provided us with the perfect opportunity to join the rich array of cultures, traditions, and culinary talents at the food hall. We’ll be launching a few new food items, as well as bringing our legendary hummus, classic meze, baklava and more,” she said.
A rotating selection of Middle Eastern beers and wines will also be offered.
The eatery — which will not have a grocery store component, Eater clarified — actually represents the brand’s return to the borough: Before moving to its landmark address on the border of Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill in 1948, Sahadi’s was located in lower Manhattan.
Indeed, the business was born there, having first opened in 1895 in Manhattan’s former “Little Syria” neighborhood, part of what’s known today as the Financial District.
Once a thriving Arab immigrant community, that area was forever redefined in the 1940s, when eminent domain was used to force the majority of residents out to make way for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel’s entrance ramp.
The new Chelsea spot will be bring Sahadi’s total number of operating venues to three — the family also runs a grocery store and restaurant within Brooklyn’s Industry City complex.
That branch opened back in 2019, and marked the company’s first expansion in 70 years.
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