Food is the new fashion as dining halls meet the mall

Westfield Garden State Plaza announced this week that it will undergo a major makeover that will, among other things, transform its food court into an “urban bistro” style dining hall. What’s an urban bistro dining hall? The answers are just across the Hudson, in the food halls that have been drawing crowds in Manhattan, and that are making malls like the Plaza hungry to copy their success.

These days, food is the new fashion, and celebrity chefs are being courted by more shopping centers than designers are. That’s because, in the digital age, dining experiences are a better draw than clothes, books, household goods, makeup or anything else that can be ordered online.

Malls around the country are vying to land a chef for a food hall. Tyson’s Galleria in Virginia has a deal with Mike Isabella, of "Top Chef" fame, to open a 41,000-square-foot dining hall that will give diners a choice of 10 different restaurant concepts.

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Another celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain, is at work on a Bourdain Market dining hall, to be located at Pier 57 in Manhattan.

Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, the state’s largest mall, has a good shot at attracting some of Manhattan’s and the country’s hottest chefs to its new food court. It was dubbed the country’s “most influential mall” by The New York Times because of its ability to attract new concepts that would catch the eye of New York-based analysts and bankers, who visit the mall frequently to track trends. Meanwhile, chefs looking to create and expand a new food chain see it as a perfect place to test if their idea will play across the country. “We’ll learn more by being in Paramus” than in any other New York City or urban location, chef Daniel Delaney said recently, explaining his decision to open a Delaney’s Chicken outpost at the mall.

The Plaza also can benefit from connections forged by its owner, Westfield Corp., which has brought celebrity chefs into its shopping center at the World Trade Center, and at its other malls around the world.

Another Paramus mall, Paramus Park, is widely credited with creating the first suburban mall food court, with its circular food court located on the second floor. That mall opened in 1974, and food courts were a passion of James Rouse, of The Rouse Company, then-owner of the mall, who envisioned the food court as a kind of “community picnic” area.

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Now the Plaza is hoping to reinvent the food court as a food hall that will mimic New York City favorites. Here are five of the Manhattan food halls that are pushing the Plaza, and malls around the country and the world, to replace their food courts:

Brookfield Place

This office, shopping, and dining complex in lower Manhattan, originally known as the World Financial Center, has a 37,000-square-foot French-themed marketplace and dining zone. Le District, and a more casual food hall, the 35,000-square-foot Hudson Eats. When the complex opened in 2014, the leasing director estimated that sales from all food operations would generate $120 million to $160 million the first year. The food stands have become so popular that the complex has created an app, available only to tenants of the buildings, that lets them bypass the lines.

Eataly at Westfield World Trade Center

The Westfield mall at the World Trade Center, which opened last summer, has an Eataly Italian-themed market and dining area, as well as numerous other eateries, including chef Akhtar Nawab’s Choza Taqueria and Marc Forgione’s Lobster Press. The 41,000-square-foot Eataly is backed by chefs Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich. The Eataly brand has locations around the country, including two in New York City.

Plaza Food Hall

The iconic Plaza Hotel has also discovered that food is a crowd magnet. The Plaza Food Hall opened in 2010, anchored by offerings by chef Todd English. It now is a place tourists flock to for fast meals of Chinese dumplings, lobster rolls, or desserts from the Lady M bakery.

Gotham West Market

The developers of this residential building in Hell’s Kitchen market their food hall as the best amenity that comes with a Gotham West apartment. The dining hall  has nine restaurants, including Ivan Orkin’s ramen shop and a Choza Taqueria from Akhtar Nawab.

Chelsea Market

This dining, shopping, and office building located in a former Nabisco factory can be called the inspiration for all future food halls, at close to 20 years old. It has some three dozen food vendors, ranging from bakeries, coffee shops and snack bars to sit-down restaurants, and draws over 6 million visitors annually. The building also houses the offices of the Food Network, the television channel that helped feed the food hall trend.