A swanky new grocer in downtown Manhattan has been getting death threats over its stratospheric prices – even as the shop was forced to briefly shutter this week after its shelves were emptied by a customer frenzy, The Post has learned.
Meadow Lane, a posh store in Tribeca at 355 Greenwich St., has drawn such massive crowds since it opened last Friday that it was forced to impose quotas on goods. Those include $625 tins of Siberian caviar, $65 bottles of extra virgin olive oil, $74 containers of matcha powder and gluten-free chicken nuggets priced at $15 per half dozen.
“We can’t keep up,” founder Sammy Nussdorf, known online as “Brokeback Contessa,” told Side Dish. “We outperformed all of our projections.”
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old New Yorker said he’s also been receiving death threats and hate – with online loons enraged by his prices as socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly attacked the rich.
“I have death threats. People are threatening to burn down the store and throw rocks through the windows. The hate is out of control. They focus on any imperfection. It’s politically charged,” said Nussdorf, whose parents previously made Forbes’ list of America’s richest families.
Timing may have been an issue, Nussdorf admits. Meadow Lane – named after a street in the Hamptons that’s lined with billionaires’ beach estates – opened around the same time SNAP benefits for struggling New Yorkers were up in the air during the government shutdown.
“Obviously I didn’t open overnight. I didn’t know that SNAP benefits would be revoked. They value the narrative they set over the truth. It opened my eyes to a part of humanity that I never knew existed,” Nussdorf said of his critics.
Now, Meadow Lane is selling out hundreds of pounds of chicken per day and doesn’t “have enough space in the fridge to keep up with demand,” according to the shop’s director of operations.
Customers have been wolfing down the nuggets, which are crispy and delicious, along with a $20 Chinese chicken salad. It is packed with tangy dressing and edamame, cabbage, cucumbers and carrots that lend the dish a mysteriously satisfying crunch.
As for the haters, Nussdorf says, “All it is doing is increasing my engagement and making this more relevant. I have lines around the block and more than 100,000 followers because of the haters. That’s the antithesis of what they want, but it is what’s happening.”
“People are lining up. There is a market for this,” he added. “That doesn’t mean other people aren’t suffering.”
The shop’s new fans include “Shark Tank’s” Barbara Corcoran, who was spotted stocking up on goodies including the celebrated chicken nuggets Tuesday morning.
Meadow Lane was sold out of most of its products by Friday afternoon. The crowds kept coming through the weekend, and by Monday, it had to close to reassess and restock.
On Tuesday, it opened at noon instead of 11 a.m. and has generally been closing around 4 p.m., when they’ve run out of many goods.
“It was supposed to be 9 p.m. but we wanted people to get the full experience,” Nussdorf explained.
In light of the demand, shoppers are now limited to five prepared food items per person. The store is also letting people know when items sell out on social media, to avoid disappointment in person.
“People were waiting in the store for new batches to be made and it was too crowded and then we couldn’t prepare other things,” Nussdorf said.
Other popular menu items include horseradish leek chicken salad, a miso salmon bowl, cacio e pepe mac and cheese, and a dish called grandma’s meatballs.
Even the checkered blue and beige Meadow Lane reusable tote bag, reminiscent of a Louis Vuitton pattern, is in demand.
Nussdorf expects to offer more items over time as new cooking equipment comes in. When the store is running smoothly, it will open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., the owner said.
The striking interiors, from designer Sarah Carpenter, include carved nooks where customers can put their baskets while paying the cashier.
Nussdorf wants Meadow Lane to be for New Yorkers, not just social media mavens who are passing through the city.
“The locals are the ones who keep local businesses afloat,” he said.
Kate Friedman, 24, was waiting in line Tuesday morning while visiting New York from Chicago with her boyfriend, on a work trip.
“I love [Nussdorf] on TikTok and I am also gluten free. I want to try the chicken nuggets and the matcha,” she told Side Dish.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
