Despite the proliferation of food halls in New York, Chelsea Market (75 9th Avenue, New York NY; 212-243-6005; chelseamarket.com) remains one of the best. Its 1997 debut established the template that Essex Market copied a decade later. But Chelsea Market got one thing right that no other food hall has been able to replicate. It occupies the 1890s factory building where the National Biscuit Company (aka Nabisco) invented and manufactured the Oreo. Chelsea Market founder Irving Cohen didn’t pretty up the industrial architecture. The result is a tunnel of brick walls and massive pipes. Journeying through the complex feels a little like navigating the landscape of a dark-themed video game to find a bunch of gem-filled rooms. The brawny, gritty style of the overall market makes the colorful eating places really stand out.

We probably contributed to the biggest complaint that locals have about Chelsea Market, namely that it’s overrun by tourists. Even worse, we walked to the market on the High Line — the public linear park that follows an old elevated freight rail line roughly paralleling 10th Avenue from 30th Street to the Whitney Museum. We got off at 17th Street.

Honestly, we went the first time to check out the Artists & Fleas Market at street level in the same building. But we couldn’t resist roaming the interior, where eateries and bars cover more than 40,000 square feet. It’s a perfect grazing ground for tacos, French crepes, Berlin-style currywurst, pizza, Chinese noodles, oysters, and a bar with excellent wine flights.

Amplifying the market concept to Pier 57

But wait — there’s more. Just as Essex Market has Market Line in its basement, Chelsea Market has a new little sister a few blocks west on the Hudson River at Pier 57 (25 11th Avenue, New York, NY; pier57nyc.com). This vast space that opened last April is still getting its feet under it.

For many years the home of the Grace Line of cargo vessels, the redeveloped Pier 57 is a public-private collaboration that includes, among others, Google, the Hudson River Park Trust, and the James Beard Foundation.

Google’s piece is obvious — half the building appears to house some of its operations. The Beard Foundation, though, makes the interior of much of the rest truly interesting. A big kitchen (shown above) features classes, visiting chefs, and restaurant industry training. Scattered around it are more than a dozen kiosks featuring women- and minority-owned businesses and pop-ups being trialed by more seasoned operators. One of the more colorful is Mother Shuckers (therealmothershuckers.com), a Black-owned oyster bar that formerly operated as a street cart in Brooklyn.

The Hudson River Park Trust handles the rooftop park on the pier building. It’s open daily 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. and provides spectacular views along the riverfront (below).