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The Bronx Night Market brings out the best of the borough’s culinary offerings. Every Saturday night, from May through October, a diverse array of local vendors convene at Fordham Plaza to serve up food and beverages from all different cultures. Untapped Cities Insiders recently got to tour the market with one of its co-founders, Amanda Celestino, to meet vendors and sample some of their specialties. The market, which was started last year by Celestino and Marco Shalma, is free to enter and features more than fifty vendors. In addition to the incredible food and drink offerings, each market also features merchandise vendors and live music. Check out the handful of culinary creations we got to indulge in, and discover more for yourself at the next Bronx Night Market!
Untapped Cities Insiders started our food tour off with a drink from the Bronx Brewery. We sampled their refreshing Summer Ale and American Pale Ale. The brewery operates out of a large brick building in the Bronx which was a former iron works showroom in the 1920s. The building also housed a lace garment manufacturer, and served as a vending machine warehouse, before the brewery moved in in 2013.
The Bronx Brewery is proud to be a part of the Bronx community. Like the borough it hails from, their beers are “no nonsense” and represent the company’s values of “grit, drive and union.” You can enjoy Bronx Brewery beers every weekend at the Bronx Night Market, or at their taproom located right in front of the brewhouse.
The Fried Kitchen is a staple of the Bronx Night Market. It was one of the very first vendors to sign up. The Fried Kitchen is a pop-up vendor and catering company that started three years ago. It is run by long-time chef Randy Carpenter and his son Christopher. There is no brick and mortar store, but there may soon be a food truck.
The Fried Kitchen specializes in hand-crafted, fully loaded potato waffle sandwiches. We sampled The Classic, a piece of fried chicken between two waffles drizzled with maple bourbon syrup. The batter for the fluffy waffles is made using a family recipe that goes back multiple generations and includes spices like paprika and tumeric, which helps give the waffles a beautiful golden color. At the Fried Kitchen, food is made with fresh locally sourced ingredients, often in collaboration with other local vendors. You can expect to see the Fried Kitchen at the Bronx Night Market, and can check the company’s website for other appearances.
The motto of Sechebel Catering Co. is “where the plates are pretty and the palettes are pleased.” Owner Stephanie McBarnett has a diverse cultural background of Moroccan, Spanish, and Caribbean descent, which she explores in her culinary creations. The result is what she calls her spin on Latin soul.
At the Night Market, Sechebel offers a selection of empanadas filled with ground beef, braised chicken, and BBQ roast pork. Insiders dug into a platter covered with a variety of Sechebel empanadas, which also featured a special BluChick empanada with spicy chicken and cooling bleu cheese, and a mac and cheese empanada for the vegetarians on our tour. For catering, Sechebel offers a customizable menu of all different foods from breakfast and brunch to tapas and family style meals.
The cultural history of the food at Rellenos is also diverse. Owner Catherine serves up food inspired by Dominican, Ecuadorian and Puerto Rican culinary traditions. The catering company just launched in 2018 and has quickly become a favorite at the market.
We tasted Catherine’s delicious plaintain chips and tostones rellenos filled with picadillo, stewed chicken, pork, shrimp ceviche and avocado, corn and black beans. Two trays of the bite sized samples were passed around and gobbled up quickly!
The BX Burger Co. is a family business run by three brothers born and raised in the Bronx. The company hopes to expand by drawing on the talent of the borough and employing people that live here in the Bronx. The brothers are currently saving up to acquire a food truck and eventually their own brick and mortar restaurant. You can support their efforts here.
On our culinary journey through the market, Insiders got to taste the BX Burger Co.’s Maple Bacon Burger, a 100% Angus beef patty with NY sharp cheddar, Maple-glazed bacon, and special BX sauce. By this point in the tour, we were getting a little full, but determined to keep going. Everything tasted amazing and we still had more food and desserts to look forward to!
Joon is the Bronx Night Market’s newest vendor. Joon brings to the Night Market “delightful Persian cooking.” Their bountiful crispy rice cups are the main dish. The signature cups, baked with saffron and yogurt, are accompanied by your choice of topping. Insiders tried a variety of unique flavors including pomegranate walnut chicken, turmeric beef and eggplant, and chicken with plums and apricots.
Of Rain and Sun is the Bronx Night Market’s all vegan vendor. Everything on the menu is 100% plant-based and driven by sustainability. Their tacos are made with sautéed cauliflower and sweet potatoes and Impossible beef, a meatless substitute, is used in their chimi burger and empanadas. You would hardly know the difference.
Owner Ronald brought out a platter of tacos and crispy empanadas that was nearly empty before we even got to snap a photo! Many of the vendors at the Bronx Night Market have vegetarian and vegan options. The Market also hosts a variety of themed nights where certain food types, such as vegetarian dishes, are highlighted.
Lokal Artisan Foods is one of the few vendors that travel from far out of town. The Philadelphia based vendor brings their mouthwatering Loaded French Toast Bites to the Bronx Night Market. They fill your package up with a nearly quarter-pound of lightly fried, melt-in-your-mouth artisan french toast bites that are hand tossed in “The Only French Toast Seasoning You’ll Ever Need.”
Then the fun part, picking your toppings. On top of your already delicious bites, you can add seasonal toppings and syrups like whipped cream, strawberries or caramel.
Insiders finished our tour of the Night Market at Baked by Dawn, a pastry vendor from Queens. Dawn is another vendor who is new to the Night Market, but has been baking for decades. She wants customers to find everything they remember from their childhood, comforting desserts that remind you of what your grandma used to bake.
Dawn offered us up a platter bursting with delectable sweets. There were vegan brownies, blueberry cheesecake, cream puffs, whoopie pies and cookies, all baked lovingly from scratch. But what if you bring a furry friend and want to give them a treat?
We didn’t have a furry friend with us, but if we did, we would have made a stop at Autumn’s Bake Shop, a vendor just for dogs. ate there. The healthy canine treat shop takes out all of the preservatives and by-products from their products and offers instead, a made-to-order, human-grade, organic, limited ingredient line of pet treats. Everything is safe for both humans and pets to eat, because the company believes “If you won’t eat it, why should they?”
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