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Smorgasburg, New York’s longstanding outdoor food markets, which attract tens of thousands of people on weekends, has announced its opening dates for the 2022 season in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Jersey City.
The market’s Oculus outpost at the World Trade Center will be the first to reopen; it returns with 20 vendors on April 1, and operate Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Starting April 2, Smorgasburg reopens in Jersey City, at a location that’s yet to be determined, with 40 vendors and a full bar, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Saturday. The market’s outpost at Prospect Park’s Breeze Hill, near the Lincoln Road entrance, will follow on April 3 with 50 vendors, and run Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Smorgasburg’s Williamsburg market will reopen in June following delays due to renovations at Marsha P. Johnson State Park.
The outdoor food market boasts a lineup of more than 60 returning vendors this year, including a handful of new faces. Smash burger hit Smashed, with locations on the Lower East Side and in Fort Greene, is signing onto the market, as are Tijuana-style birria taco spot Birria LES, and Black Rican Vegan, which operates out of the Bronx. Food is available for takeout and delivery from all of its locations through Uber Eats.
A decades-old Dominican restaurant appears to be returning
El Gran Castillo de Jagua, a decades-old Dominican restaurant in Prospect Heights, closed its doors in January, but now the neighborhood staple appears to be making a comeback in the same space. “Castillo returns April 1, 2022,” a sign posted to the restaurant’s former storefront reads. The 34-year-old restaurant announced its closure earlier this year, saying that it had lost its lease at 355 Flatbush Avenue, near Park Place. In a comment on Facebook at the time, its owners said they had no plans to reopen at another location, and it’s not clear at this time if the same owners are behind the reopening. Eater has contacted the restaurant for more information.
Unionization efforts at Starbucks head to Queens
A number of NYC Starbucks have joined efforts to unionize ever since a trio of the chain’s upstate New York stores spearheaded the efforts. Now, the first shop in Queens, located in Astoria at 30-18 Astoria Boulevard, has announced plans to join more than 100 locations across nearly 20 states organizing under Starbucks Workers United, according to the Sunnyside Post.
From food to fashion at Zabar’s
Zabar’s collaboration with high-end fashion brand Coach is just the latest, though perhaps most expensive, to date for the legendary Upper West Side market, the New York Post reports. The “Spring 2022 NYC Institutions” collections include a leather tote ($550), mohair sweater ($495), and t-shirt ($150) — all featuring the store’s iconic orange logo with a bagel.
