Wonder opens first Long Island 'food hall,' in Melville

With a name like Wonder, it’s hard not to "wonder" what sets apart this (mostly) delivery service that recently opened a Melville location. Billing itself as a "new kind of food hall," it’s the ability to order popular menu items from well-known restaurants in one place — a celebrity chef ghost kitchen with no celebrities or chefs, if you will.

That means you can order Marcus Samuelsson’s fried chicken (made famous at Streetbird in Harlem), brisket from the Texas barbecue spot Tejas, or Bobby Flay's steak. There's Hawaiian poke, DiFara pizza and dishes from Yasas, a Mediterranean bowl concept by Michael Symon.

Wonder pays a licensing fee to officially serve dishes from 18 restaurants and chef concepts, with equity in the company as an added benefit. Order from any, all at once. Served from all, at once.

The question: Does the food hold up?

At Wonder, you can order on-site and dine in — locations have the feel of a casual takeout counter — or have food delivered via the Wonder app. On a recent weeknight, I placed a delivery order of dishes I remembered from Jonathan Waxman’s Barbuto, one of my all-time favorite New York City restaurants. I conjured memories of the crispy rosemary and Parmesan potatoes, roasted chicken with salsa verde, heaps of kale with toasted breadcrumbs and delicate, wisps of shaved Parmesan. All of those items were on Wonder's Walnut Lane by Jonathan Waxman menu. Score.

For my daughter, Streetbird chicken tenders and fries felt like a win. I added a spicy chicken sandwich and some cornbread. Could Wonder be a lifeline for my New York City food memories of another lifetime?

The order arrived more than an hour late. There were profuse apologies from the driver. Conciliatory credits were sent — twice — from Wonder to use on future dining. The food was cool to the touch.

OK, but it's Long Island Barbuto, I said to myself. And it's their first week. We unboxed.

To my surprise, I recognized all of Waxman's dishes. The leafy kale salad ($12), the splash of herbaceous salsa verde over nicely cooked chicken ($24), not-so-crispy-crispy potatoes ($9), and long, lean cavatelli with sausage and mushrooms ($19). Was the pasta a little gummy? Yes. The salad dry? Definitely. But it all tasted pretty good. And it felt affordable for a celebrity chef-inspired dinner. It didn't compare to eating on Washington Street on a summer Saturday night with the garage open, but it hit something deep in my food psyche that made me smile. Plus, guess who ate all the pasta with mushrooms and sausage? Hint: She's 7. 

That's because Samuelsson's sandwiches were, sadly, not as forgivable. The fries — wan, cold starchy sticks — accompanied tough chicken between spicy-sauced-smushed and wet buns. But excellent, and I mean excellent, cornbread was topped with maple butter dollops. That's the beauty of Wonder — I could just reorder the Samuelsson cornbread on the side of my next Waxman pasta.

Will I give Wonder another try? Absolutely. The company's expansion has been rapid, and is nearly inescapable. After starting as a meal delivery service in 2020, Wonder opened its first brick-and-mortar kitchen in 2023 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Since then, Wonder has acquired the meal delivery kit brand Blue Apron, the restaurant delivery giant Grubhub and the streaming home cooking service Tastemade — all doing very different things in the food space. Wonder has opened locations in Walmart and Cumberland Farms, while bringing in over $700 million in new investment. With the debut of the Melville location, there are now 47 open Wonder locations with "more locations on Long Island coming this year," said Jason Rusk, the company's executive vice president of restaurant operations.

Wonder, 925 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, 855-818-5755, wonder.com; Open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

By Marie Elena Martinez

marieelena.martinez@newsday.com@mariesworlds

A global freelancer who has checked her suitcase to raise her young daughter on her native Long Island, Marie Elena will always make time for good mezcal, even better tacos and killer conversation. Preferably, in a corner bar seat. She can be found on Instagram at @mariesworldeats.