Somewhere along the way, going to dinner in Manhattan became a competitive sport requiring advance planning, emotional resilience and a working relationship with an app. A woman could assemble an entire evening look in less time than it takes to secure a table. Which makes the proposition of Time Out Market Union Square especially seductive: come hungry, bring whoever amuses you, and allow the night a little room to misbehave.
At 124 East 14th Street, on the ground floor of Zero Irving, the food hall folds communal dining, a bar and an outdoor terrace into a gathering place just off the square. Open since September 2025, it offers a contemporary variation on an old metropolitan pleasure: choosing something delicious for yourself, then taking your place among other people. Suddenly, self-service has a social life.
There is a respectable lineage beneath that cheeky little makeover. Long before a reservation became a social credential, Horn & Hardart’s Automats made self-service dining part of New York’s daily choreography. Their coin-operated compartments offered food with a mechanical flourish; the surrounding dining rooms supplied the human element. Time Out’s version belongs to another economy, certainly, yet the underlying attraction remains recognizable. A city needs places where sitting down to eat can be an ordinary pleasure rather than a minor production.
The appeal becomes particularly persuasive when organizing friends. We all know the cast: the devoted carnivore, the woman who wants something green, the companion whose appetite apparently requires its own passport. Here, individual orders can converge at a shared table. Everybody gets a little autonomy, which is an excellent seasoning for friendship. There is also something deliciously revealing about watching a prospective romance make a dinner decision. Generosity travels well across a tabletop; so does an alarming reluctance to share fries.
Such diplomacy is easier with something compelling to eat. At Jase’s BBQ, Tobago-born Jase Franklyn brings Caribbean influences to barbecue, with jerk wings and sliced-to-order brisket finished with passionfruit barbecue sauce. Mac and cheese, cornbread and coleslaw complete the proposition. Even on paper, that combination encourages abandoning the polite fiction that one came out for “just a bite.”
Kam Rai Thai, meanwhile, carries the story toward Bangkok. Chef Dhanapol “Oak” Marprasert and his partner, Jiraporn “Jina” Tisopa, established their restaurant in Astoria before bringing the concept here. Its offerings include khao soi with confit chicken in coconut curry, Hat Yai fried chicken with sticky rice, and pad see ew. Those dishes give this format its substance: distinct culinary traditions retain their names and particularity within a room designed for easy circulation.
For anyone conducting a more committed affair with a burger, Smashed Express offers the familiar temptations of griddled beef and house-made sauces. Elsewhere, chef Ivy Stark’s BKLYN Wild gives vegetables their due, including a Brussels Sprout Caesar with baby kale and chili-lime dressing. The Rotisserie Haus adds herb-marinated roast chicken and steak frites. A table assembled from such different counters becomes its own small, edible portrait of the company keeping it.
Of course, a night out needs a reason to linger once the plates have been cleared. The published calendar includes Tuesday trivia, Wednesday jazz, Thursday keyboard karaoke with Sid Gold’s Request Room, and Friday salsa programming. There is a pleasing escalation there: establish your intellect, cultivate a little mystery, then discover whether either survives a microphone. A live pianist is an especially elegant accomplice to questionable decisions.
The bar helps ease the transition. The market currently advertises happy-hour selections including $10 cocktails, $9 glasses of wine and $5 beers. Those figures deserve a moment of affectionate consideration in Manhattan. They also suggest a useful approach: meet for a drink, inspect the possibilities, and let dinner develop from there. Check the calendar before setting out, particularly when music or dancing is part of the intended seduction.
A night with that much latitude deserves a decent pair of earrings. Order according to desire. Ask what your neighbor is having, should curiosity strike, and offer a taste to the person whose company you hope to keep. Flirtation has always benefited from a plausible opening. “May I try that?” remains a remarkably efficient one.
