Adding a French Accent to the New York Market Scene — NY Times — Chelsea Improvement Company
Chelsea Improvement Company & Bensidoun USA
By Florence Fabricant
Bensidoun USA, the American branch of the company that runs all the public food markets in Paris — 26 outdoors under canopies and six indoors — will open its first market in New York on Friday, at the invitation of and in partnership with the Chelsea Improvement Company.
The market will be a regular fixture in what is called the Chelsea Triangle, on Ninth Avenue from 14th to 15th Streets, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 24. There will be 10 booths under French canopies selling fresh local produce, cheeses including fresh mozzarella, pasta made in upstate New York, organic pizza from Pizza Roma on Bleecker Street, honeys, maple syrups and baked goods. Most of the items on sale will not be particularly French.
Sébastien Bensidoun, a vice president of the company, said that the vendors would rotate, and that he is trying to include some that are notably French. For starters, there will be canelés made by Céline, a local baker who sells online. Mr. Bensidoun’s grandfather, Isidore, and grand-uncle, Marcial, founded the company in 1947 in Algeria, when it was a French territory.
In addition to its markets in Paris, Bensidoun runs more than 50 outlets in other parts of France. It already operates 18 markets in Chicago and has branches in White Plains, N.Y.; Stamford, Conn.; and Niles, Mich.
Read Article online at: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/adding-a-french-accent-to-the-new-york-market-scene/