Rosendale Ramblings By Sari Botton

The Chronogram has a piece on Rosendale this month that portrays the town very favorably, but it’s mostly old news, and misses a key new wrinkle: what a serious gastronomic, social and cultural hub the two-year-old Market Market cafe has become. Sure, there’s a photo of the place, and a caption deeming it a “hub,” but not a word about this vital, bustling eatery and popular music venue in the piece.

When Pratt grad Jenifer Constantine and her painter partner Trippy Thompson transplanted themselves here from Williamsburg and opened at the site of the former Springtown Greengrocer, they brought with them a brand of Brooklyn edge that many of us other NYC transplants were missing. You can find it in the variety of foods you can’t otherwise get up here – everything from Pork Vera Cruz tacos and Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwiches, to Korean Bibimbop and tempeh Reubens – and in the crowds that gather each weekend to hear the kinds of bands that appeal to Brooklynites and Rosendalians alike.

Yes, we all loved everything else the town already had to offer, the quaint and quirky cafes and shops. But there was something missing for the transplanted New Yorker soul. Market Market has been filling that void.