METTRA, the food hall at 28-17 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City, reopened Oct. 30 under new management after operating as JACX&CO. The hall brings together close to a dozen dining concepts, an upstairs hand-roll bar and a central cocktail bar in the Court Square area. Its pitch is broad choice at a range of price points, with nearly all dishes listed below $20.
According to Newsday, the refreshed lineup leans heavily into Asian cuisine, pairing Japanese, Thai and Chinese specialties with fried chicken, soft serve and cocktails. The food hall sits at 28-17 Jackson Ave. and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Newsday reports that nearly every dish on the menu runs under $20, a notable pitch in a neighborhood where food hall economics can get pricey fast.
A Few Ways to Eat at METTRA
Siam Thai Express serves noodles, curries, rice dishes and iced tea. Newsday lists Pad Thai at $15 and Thai iced tea at $6.
At Master Spicy Hot Pot, diners choose ingredients from a self-serve bar and pay by weight, selecting either a dry pot or a broth-based hot pot.
Fried Chicken, Soft Serve and Cocktails Round It Out
Bobwhite Counter offers scratch-made fried chicken sandwiches, wraps, bowls and biscuits, according to METTRA’s description. Soft Swerve adds Asian-inspired soft serve, including ube and matcha flavors; its Broadway Special combines ube soft serve with Fruity Pebbles and marshmallows.
Drinks come from Center Bar, which is operated by the hospitality team behind The Attic and Tavern 157 in Flushing and serves craft cocktails, beer, wine and spirits. Its signature La Rosa Negra, a cocktail topped with yuzu pineapple foam, costs $18, per a report from Newsday.
A Hand-Roll Bar Upstairs
The mezzanine level has a 32-seat hand-roll bar led by Chef Mark Garcia, formerly of Kissaki, who developed Japanese dining expertise at Himitsu in Flushing, according to Newsday. Himitsu Handroll Bar describes the offering as a contemporary Japanese hand-roll experience in Long Island City. The Infatuation has also reviewed the Long Island City hand-roll counter. Temaki sets include a signature salad, house-pickled cucumbers, snow crab chawanmushi and hot miso soup alongside the hand rolls.
From JACX&CO to METTRA
The space has a history worth noting. Per Eater NY, the earlier Jacx & Co food hall was a bi-level, 11,000-square-foot space that housed just nine small operators when it opened, with a starting vendor lineup that included Fieldtrip, Taïm and a sushi shop from Kissaki. QNS reported at the time that JACX&CO was planned inside The JACX office tower at 28-07 Jackson Ave. with six restaurants and a café. METTRA's own site now lists Beebe's, Ace's Pizza, Taïm, Fieldtrip by chef JJ Johnson, Ghaya and Kissaki among its former tenants from that earlier era.
How Court Square Changed
The New York City Department of City Planning described the Long Island City rezoning area in its 2001 overview as a compact, transit-oriented precinct with industrial, residential and commercial uses. A later snapshot points to substantial residential construction in Court Square: a 2018 City Planning Commission report said multiple buildings surrounding its project site had been completed or were under construction in the preceding decade, ranging from 12 to 54 stories. Together, the reports suggest that METTRA serves an area where residential towers have joined the earlier mix of uses, though they do not measure the neighborhood’s current population.
METTRA's new operators aren't just filling stalls — the food hall plans weekly live entertainment, cultural programming and community events going forward, per the same Newsday report. The relaunch followed a flight-themed grand opening celebration held Oct. 29 and 30, with DJs, live performances, food, cocktails and raffles, as detailed by QNS.
Prices and the Food-Hall Business
The under-$20 pitch describes METTRA’s listed menu prices, but the planning reports cited above do not track food-away-from-home prices. They therefore cannot show how New York metropolitan area meal costs have changed since 2020 or establish how METTRA’s prices compare with that broader trend. Food halls have also faced a changing business climate: Commercial Observer, citing a Cushman & Wakefield report, said 22 food halls closed from March 2020 through February 2023, while dozens more temporarily closed to find new tenants or reinvent themselves. METTRA’s announced weekly live entertainment, cultural programming and community events are part of its relaunch plan, as reported above.
