Zaab Burger a newish burger joint from the people behind the popular Zaab Zaab restaurant minichain. We had a chance to grab some burgers there this spring.

Trendy Thai restaurant Zaab Zaab serves the cuisine of the northern part of the country, Isan. The Elmhurst location caught the attention of Eater back in 2022, featuring duck and offal, and since has expanded to include locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

But changing perceptions of Thai cuisine wasn’t enough. Originally, owner Bryan Chunton intended the location as another Zaab Zaab, but then decided to change things up. In the spring of 2024, the team launched Zaab Burger, a smash burger stand that combines an American classic with those same flavors of northern Thailand.

The Zaab Burger is located in the new Essex Market, a newly built version of a historic public market.

The first Essex Market opened in 1940, across Delancey Street from where it currently is located. It was part of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s plan to move street vendors peddling fruits and vegetables indoors into cleaner, more permanent markets.

Pushcart vendors were a big part of immigrant history in the early 20th century. They operated on the street, but also in open air markets that were perceived as unsanitary. Mayor LaGuardia, the city’s first Italian American Mayor, rose to power as a champion of the people and worked toward progressive policies at the time, like providing indoor markets with running water.

At Essex Market, Jewish and Italian immigrants became vendors when the it first opened, but eventually many of their customers moved to suburban towns outside the city. The Puerto Rican community began to take hold in the Lower East Side and the vendors in Essex Market began reflecting that change. But by the early 2000s, a new community, millennial hipsters had arrived.

Through the 2000s, while some older Essex Market vendors remained, they were joined by trendier popups. Development began changing the Lower East Side, too. The neighborhood became a destination for high-end restaurants and trend setting foods. The now quaint seeming Blue Condominium sprouted nearby drawing ridicule. Bars opened, hotels opened, sneaker boutiques opened.

South of Delancey Street, the empty lots and surface parking lots that had defined the neighborhood for decades was suddenly ripe for development. The Seward Park Urban Renewal Area was a long time coming. There had been many attempts to redevelop the land over the years. Eventually the city landed on Essex Crossing, a mixed use development that would include housing, retail, “affordable” housing, and commercial space. Part of the development agreement included relocating the LaGuardia-era Essex Market to the ground floor of the new building.

The new Essex Market occupies the ground floor, but when the complex first opened, it included a basement level food hall. These were intended as complimentary, but separate entities. The city helps fund the market, and the 21 original Essex Market vendors were required as part of the development deal. Property managers intended to earn a profit with the food hall, stocking it with upscale, tourist-focused restaurants.

The new market opened in May of 2019, and a few weeks after, the original Essex Market at 120 Essex, officially shuttering of May. The building remains standing, but will eventually be redeveloped. One of the last of the LaGuardia-era public markets that still operates as a community destination is the Moore Street Market in East Williamsburg.

Meanwhile at Essex Crossing, the lower level food hall was set to follow a few months after the market opened, and was pushed to late in 2019. You might see where this is headed.

Branded as the Market Line, the basement food court featured New York institutions like Veselka and the Pickle Guys. The food court opened in November of 2019, with high profile restaurants and shops announced as coming in the future. There were spaces for large format bars and sit down restaurants, as well as a number of smaller stands squeezed into the basement level. Three months later, the city would begin shutting down for COVID.

I happened to visit the Market Line when it first opened. It was trying hard to be an indoor Smorgashburg, the hipstery food festival that operated as an extension of the Brooklyn Flea that has been the launching pad for numerous food trends, restaurants, and chefs. But like Smorgashburg, the food was grossly overpriced. When Market Line first opened, you could still find 4 dumplings for a dollar around the corner at hole-in-the-wall dumpling shops. Bbut in the windowless basement food court, it was hard to eat anything for less than $20 ($25.60, adjusted for inflation). It was a tourist attraction with theme park pricing.

The pandemic hit food halls hard, and even as the city began reopening, the entire business model of upscale food courts had started suffering. Just about every large-format development in the last few decades have attempted to cash in on below grade and low value retail space by turning them into hipster cafeterias filled with expensive, salty or sugary, food fads.

There are probably a lot of reasons why the general trend of food hall concepts collapsed as a business. Many of these were located in midtown or adjacent to other areas dependent on office workers, and the pandemic forever changed the modern workers’ relationship to lunch, whether because they are working from home part time or because inflation has made eating out impossible. The fad of building upscale food courts had in some cases simply begun to fatigue consumers, as Restuarant Business speculated in early 2024.

There are a number of high profile food hall closures in 2024 and early 2025. Market Line officially closed on April 1, 2024, though apparently not all the vendors knew it was going to happen.

On the ground floor, Essex Market continues to function, and while there are grocery staples, there are also prepared food stands. When the new market first opened, there were plenty of high-end food options. Some of these even had counter service right at the their location. The vibe was trying to create the hubbub of busy marketplaces in Europe and Asia. Mixed between these were fish mongers, butchers, and cheese shops, many catering to much high income bracket than the previous market. I did find the gourmet food shops with imported luxurie s– a great place for Christmas shopping, as I have relied on in recent years. But since opening, a good number of these fancier restaurants have closed or vacated.

Deep inside Essex Market though, there are still a handful of food stalls remaining. With Market Line closed, those in the Essex Market have less competition. And it was here that we found Zaab Burger.

We arrived here by accident.

We had come to the Lower East Side to visit the new East River Park, recently renovated and partially opened. The city had prematurely announced the opening of a portion of it, after it had been closed for several years in order to harden it against flooding. The decision had been made hastily at the end of De Blasio’s term and faced opposition from local residents, and with good reason. The Parks department cut down hundreds of mature trees, and soil to elevate the land would end up covering a recently built track and field, and of the park has been closed for years, plagued by delays. And the revised plan will costs twice as much.

I was curious. I wanted to see what the new park – visible from the Williamsburg Bridge – looked like.

The park, it turns out is another boondoggle from a grossly mismanaged city. The mature trees have been replaced with saplings, so there’s no shade. The portion that opened, much to our four-year-old’s disappointment, had no playground. Bike lanes weave dangerously into the park – even with no northern outlet, a handful of careless riders nearly ran us down. The original resilience plan called for leaving the park intact and building a berm to hide the FDR Drive. The TLDR review of this new park is that everyone involved in the project should be banned from public service.

Since there was no playground and no shade, our four-year-old was grumpy and hungry. We found a playground nearby and I started searching for something to eat. That’s when I landed on Zaab Burger.

I hadn’t heard about it before that afternoon. I was simply searching for nearby food options, though in retrospect I recall Zaab Zaab’s Williamsburg location opening not all that long ago, but I didn’t make the connection in the moment.

We walked up to Essex Crossing, entered the market, and wandered around to find the stall. We’ve moved beyond afternoon stroller naps, but luckily Zaab Burger sells one of the four food groups our four-year-old eats: French Fries.

Ordering is from a kiosk rather than a human. Luckily it wasn’t a peak time. After ordering, we headed for the tables to wait for the food. Here’s one of the biggest flaws in the new Essex Market: the seating is terrible.

The seating area in Essex Market seems like they would prefer it if people did not come to eat at the food stalls.

We were at the market at between meal times, around 3pm. There was simply not enough seating. Much of it was high tops, which is not just uncomfortable, but untenable with a four-year-old who can’t reach the stool’s bars.

We finally snagged one of the few tables, and then had to go looking for an extra chair. The cooling system also wasn’t keeping up with the sun baking in the windows, even after a storm cloud filled the sky. In short, its not surprisingly the Market Line food hall failed given the conditions consumers are expected to eat in. It was crowded, uncomfortable, and clearly felt like they didn’t want people around.

One positive thing though is there are public toilets. If you’re in the neighborhood and need a restroom, they are not locked and “easily” accessible by going upstairs to the second floor, heading to the right away from the elevator bank, and down a bridge overlooking Essex Market, and then off to the right.

My wife wanted to browse the other market stalls while waiting for our food, so I stalked a table. Eventually she arrived with our tray of food.

I went with the Ka Pow Burger, which was topped with beef and flavors from the spicy basil. It wasn’t actually that spicy, but it was reminiscent of the flavors of typical take away Thai dishes. I was quite satisfied with this juicy creation.

My wife ordered the Isan Burger with green chilies, cheese, and jalapeno. There was a big spicy kick to the flavors, but it didn’t hit right away. It was a flavor that built over time and then snuck up on you. This burger was more unique, but also maybe less satisfying.

We of course ordered some fries for our four-year-old. We ordered him plain fries, afraid the Zaab fries’ seasoning would be too much. But for us, we shared a seasoned fries. The seasoning isn’t strong at all, and not really anything special about them.

Overall I thought the food at Zaab Burger was delicious and satisfying. It was, like most things in Essex Market, on the pricier side, but not out of line with other specialty burger shops. (Like BK Jani in Williamsburg, for instance). But it’s hard to see myself returning.

I want to go back here for the food, but the experience of eating at Essex Market, especially with a family, was horrendous. Essex Market is designed for the era of the loneliness epidemic, for single people to spend their disposable income on expensive luxury foods to eat alone as quickly as possible.

I’m hoping Zaab Burger expands, and finds a better location because the flavors are interesting and overall the food was far better than the experience.

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