Chef Franklin Becker Opens NYC’s Latest Food Hall on Columbia’s West Harlem Campus

Chef Franklin Becker debuts West Harlem food hall

Chef Franklin Becker — one of the founders of local fast-casual chain Little Beet — is overseeing a slick new food hall, Manhattanville Market, debuting on Columbia University’s campus in West Harlem this Friday.

The hall, located inside the school’s Jerome L. Greene Science Center at 3227 Broadway near 130th Street, includes four fast-casual food options to start: Southern spot Butterfunk Biscuit from chef Chris Scott, Israeli restaurant Shai, Sicilian pizza shop Benny Casanova, and salad spot The Botanist. A full-service tapas restaurant, Oliva, is slated to open in the fall. The hall will be open for takeout, delivery, and indoor and outdoor dining from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

The move marks Becker’s latest expansion following a ghost kitchen debut earlier this year that included three new delivery-only restaurants, including the first NYC outpost of Shai. Butterfunk Biscuit, which counts Becker as an investor, also sells food out of the same ghost kitchen.

In other news

— Popular dessert chain Mango Mango, founded in Chinatown, is expanding into Long Island City this summer.

— French-Vietnamese pastry pop-up Bánh by Lauren is dropping by Ho Foods in the East Village tonight, selling an a la carte menu that includes pandan coconut chiffon cake slices, macarons, and banh bo nuong, or honeycomb cake. The pop-up runs from 5 p.m. until sold out.

— Downtown Alliance’s “explorer in chief” Josh Katz documents a Thursday night shift hour-by-hour at renowned FiDi Irish bar the Dead Rabbit.

— London celebrity magnet Sexy Fish is plotting an NYC expansion.

— New York restaurant critic Adam Platt deems Williamsburg brasserie Francie “worth the price of admission.”

— Happy primary election day: Here’s some of the mayoral candidates’ favorite pizza shops in the city.

— Spending the rest of the day trying to unsee this: