Category Archives: NYC Markets

What’s to come…

I have lots of pictures, and lots of typing to do — you’ll see everything over the next couple of weeks in a variety of posts. Lets just say this — one month, 3 fabulous cities. That’s right, I am a dedicated New York City lover, but I ventured to new restaurants not only in my favorite city — but I did the same in Boston and San Francisco.

New cities, new restaurants, new adventures. And, my favorite part — exploring different food markets! We all know how much I love The Chelsea Market located in [the best neighborhood] Manhattan, but I was able to explore other gems, like the Quincy Market in Boston and The Ferry Building’s farmers market in San Fran.

In case you can’t wait to see my posts, feel free to follow me on Instagram to get a sneak peek of my pictures! Thanks to the setup of Instagram’s new web feature, you can follow my pictures via mobile or online!!! Plus, almost all of these photos aren’t shared on Twitter!

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Also, be sure to follow me on Pinterest for other great foodie ideas!

The Union Sq. Holiday Market

Every year Union Square sets up a fantastic holiday market — local artists, bakers, you name it come to set up a booth to show both the locals and tourists what they have at their shops. While vendors come and go, some stay year after year and of course I look forward to seeing many of them! I will usually go once or twice in the month of December because it’s a lot of fun to see what everyone is selling, plus it’s a great place to take a friend who is visiting me in NYC. (I plan to take my friend Erica here when she comes on Sunday!!! I can’t wait, I know she’s going to love it.)

Naturally I flock to the food stands because 1. I am always hungry 2. You can’t shop on an empty stomach and 3. everything always smells so delicious! Last year I rushed over to the Waffles and Dinges truck, but this year after reading/browsing through photos of this year’s market on Serious Eats, I knew that there are a few new things I wanted to taste. Like, the Mighty Balls. When I arrived at the stand it was completely empty! And I surprised myself by doing something I never do… I ordered pork. One pork slider with the red sauce and some parmesan cheese. Looked good. Tasted great! What was the best part about it? The sauce! You can actually buy and take home jarred sauces from Might Balls! A perfect gift for a foodie. While buying jars of their sauces at Union Square is possible, when browsing their website you will notice they don’t typically sell online! So you have to be sure to grab some when you’re at the market.
Union Square Holiday Market

Time to describe the actual Might Balls’ pork slider. The bun’s quality was nothing but the best, lightly buttered and cooked to add a simple, not drastic, crunch to the bun. Having one slider was perfect! When I took my first bite, my teeth easily sunk through the warm, crisp bun down into the moist pork meatball covered with a semi-spicy red sauce. The thick slices of parmesan cheese on top of the meatball complimented the sauce but the sauce was so tasty the cheese actually isn’t necessary (I never thought I would see the day where I would tell you cheese isn’t necessary). Inhaled in about 45 seconds (I took my time). I would have happily gone for another one, but I know I’m going back on Sunday so I figured I wouldn’t pig out.

Next came the Sigmund’s Pretzels stand located right across from Mighty Balls. The gigantic pretzel loaded with huge salt crystals was what caught my eye. I love salty foods, and I love it when the salt crystals are so big you get to crunch down on them. But then out of the corner of my eye I saw the word “truffle.” Ohhh they had a Truffle Cheddar pretzel — SOLD! But then a friend of mine pointed out the Feta Olive option and I surprisingly decided to move away from the choice of truffle. I eat so much truffle and I’m afraid I might get sick of it sooner than later. The Feta Olive ended up being the perfect selection — it was nice and warm and the bread was fluffed to perfection. The subtle but at the same time very flavorful feta and olive “pretzel” impressed me. My boyfriend says that he hates olives — and to be honest, I don’t enjoy eating just olives, I love them in things. The olives in this bread could barely be tasted. If anything, the gentle flavors of an olive could be noticed. So even if you aren’t an olive lover I would recommend giving this a try!

Sigmund’s has their own bakery located at 29 Avenue B at 3rd Street and if you are a tourist and don’t plan to go to alphabet city, you can find the Sigmund cart at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd Street and 5th Avenue.

A Chelsea Market Bakery

Barbie CakeInside the Chelsea Market you will find so many amazing surprises… We all know how much I love this market and the thought of it ever shutting down upsets me so much. Over a month ago, an elderly man asked me to sign a petition and I asked him what it was for and he told me “to save the Chelsea Market.” I couldn’t believe what he was telling me, it has been in the works to shut down the Chelsea Market. I have no clue what the current status of all of this is but he told me if I signed the petition and included my email address then I would be updated. I haven’t heard anything yet but I will keep you all posted once I have received any news.

From Australian food, to cheap vegetables to take home to cook, to Italian cookies and cheese — The Chelsea Market has it all. Really, it has it all. If I had the time to cook everything from scratch I could actually do all of my grocery shopping from here. I love it!

There are a few bakeries in the Chelsea Market and there is this one I pass by all the time and see all of the cakes decorated in their store front window. I had to show you all this insanely gorgeous Barbie cake. Any little girl would be lucky to have this as her birthday cake. It’s okay if you can’t go all out with such a massive cake, instead you could get adorable Elmo cupcakes! I have been hearing loads about Elmo lately, probably because Good Morning America did a special on the puppeteer of Elmo. I thought this cupcakes were adorable and everything little boy and girl would love these!

Australian Cuisine At The Chelsea Market

Tuck Shop's Australian Meat Pie filled with beef... check out the fluffy, crispy crust they've got going on!

My new obsession … Tuck Shop at the Chelsea Market.
I actually became interested in this food stand when I could smell it from at least 200 feet away. My nose led the way as I weaved in and out of tourists and I quickly found myself sniffing the air until I wound up at Tuck Shop. This Aussie food stand knows how to cook-up one mean meat pie. I ordered the beef pie and found myself in heaven. It’s obvious how much love goes into creating these pies, the meat and other ingredients are 100% all-natural. The flaky pie crust is hard enough to keep the insides from pouring out but soft enough for you to not have to fight each bite. I also love how I can have it wrapped-up to-go and the pie will stay hot for a couple of hours while I shop.
I found it interesting that the shop prides itself for the freshness of the pies, but they also will take orders to make frozen pies so you can bake these delectable feasts at home.
I allow myself to go once a week — it’s so inexpensive to order one pie that will fill me up just like a meal at a restaurant would. On some days I order the side dish of scalloped potatoes — they’re perfectly seasoned, creamy and an easy way to expand your waistline. Who cares.
Either get to the Chelsea Market or to their East Village location and indulge in the Aussie cuisine. These folks from Down Under really know how to cook!

Who Loves Whole Foods?

My cat, Hudson, climbed into this Whole Foods shopping bag to take a nap!

I love Whole Foods, but to be honest it’s not the only place I go shopping for my groceries. In addition to Whole Foods, I go to Trader Joe’s and the Chelsea Market — I know, it seems crazy that I go to multiple places to get all of the groceries that I need, but I have discovered where to find the good deals and where to find the best products. Trader Joe’s is where I get all of my basics, Whole Foods for specialty fruits or veggies as well as meat for a special holiday, and the Chelsea Market if full of amazing things like local and imported cheeses, fruits and veggies, nutella (yup, nutella is a food group in case you didn’t know), desserts, seafood, and much much more! I do love Whole Foods, but it looks like I’m not the only one who likes the store … My cat, Hudson, loves to crawl into shopping bags — this bag he ended up taking a nap in!

The Lobster Place

lobsters in The Lobster Place, located in the Chelsea Market


Growing up, I was never a huge fan of seafood. That changed this summer when I started eating fruit of the sea prepped different ways with different spices prepared by brilliant chefs that really do know what they are creating. I also realized that it’s not only the professionally trained cooks in the kitchen that know what they’re doing — it’s also those who never got a culinary education and they learned hands on by other great cooks (like moms, grandmothers, or other people they grew up around). I have a theory and I want to prove it by the end of the summer, and that is that if a restaurant has family recipes — the food probably is disgustingly scrumptious.

spicy tuna rolls!


I was told that sushi rolling is formulaic and it’s a feeling. Ever role grape leaves stuffed with rice, meat, and a variety of spices? It takes the perfect amount of stuffing, not too much, not too little, and the rolling has to be done tight enough so the stuffing won’t fall out when it’s cooked but it can’t be rolled too tight (I feel like the meat gets dried out if it’s rolled too tight). Well, when chefs at places like The Lobster Place are creating mass amounts of sushi on a daily basis — they have to have that “formula” and “feeling” down.
At the Lobster Place in the Chelsea Market, there’s a nice selection of seafood that you can buy and prepare yourself in your own kitchen or you can buy already cooked foods such as an assortment of seafood soups and sushi. Out of the soups, I recommend the lobster bisque — it’s the best in New York City (the next closest tasty bisque is at the Chowder Bar in Bay Shore, NY and then at the Penn State Nittany Lion Inn in State College, Pa … really, those are the best soups!). And for the sushi, take a guess at what I bolted for … Yup, you got it — the Spicy Tuna Rolls! I actually decided to give the California rolls a shot too and they were actually pretty good. The freshness of the sushi was extraordinary and even though the shop smelled like an overwhelming stench of seafood, I didn’t feel like I was chowing down on raw food in any way.
The sushi and bisque is a great idea for lunch, especially if your work is in the neighborhood — and on nice days you can bring your lunch outside and enjoy the High Line. The prices range depending on the size of the soup cups and the sushi count — but everything is really affordable. You can also grab already made sushi that’s been made already the same day so if you’re in a rush you can grab and go.

Secret: The men rolling the sushi will happily make you any sushi you’d like. Even though the spicy tuna rolls were already made and located in the refrigerator — they made me fresh sushi for me right there for me to watch!

L’Arte del Gelato

The Chelsea Market is full of fun things to do and eat — there’s sushi, the best lobster bisque I’ve ever had in Manhattan, great sandwiches, tasty bakery desserts, a popsicle stand (made from organic products, yum!), but my favorite part of the market is the to-die-for gelato stand.
L’Arte del Gelato has three locations: the Chelsea Market, Barrow Street and 7th Avenue in the West Village, and in Lincoln Center Plaza. No matter where I decide to go for their gelato — it will always be made fresh daily and be made from natural products with no artificial flavors. So when you get a Nutella flavored gelato, you get real Nutella. Some of the flavors are seasonal and to see a full list of the different types of scoops you can view it on their web site. The flavor I devoured was Biscotti — or cookies. Before I ordered my cone they gave me a sample and right away I knew it was meant to be. It was even difficult for me to take a photo of my order before eating the gelato.

amazing gelato from the Chelsea Market

Not only was I hungry, but it was an insanely hot day — Manhattan reached 104 degrees and swimming in a public pool didn’t interest me in any way, but a rich and creamy biscotti flavored gelato did. It took me about 4.5 minutes to finish off the ice cream and cone (you can pick a sugar cone or a waffle cone — I didn’t have to think about which would be best, obviously the waffle was the best).
I returned in the evening to get another round of biscotti but the flavor was all out. I learned my lesson, I should of bought a pint of the flavor and brought it home with me. L’Arte del Gelato will give you a cone, a bowl, or they will put it in pint containers or 4-quart containers if you decide to have a party (or a simple movie night, I’d eat it all).

Limelight Marketplace

Once a club, and now a market full of a variety of different vendors/stores from clothing and jewelry to furniture to skin care products to food — Limelight Marketplace has kept the church’s stained glass and original exterior architecture and has transformed it into a place to shop at. The food selection doesn’t include sit-down meals but it does have a variety of sweet treats (cupcakes and gelato), coffees, teas, as well as kitchen gear and cooking ingredients from spices to olives as well as cheeses and different pastas and sauces.
I was full from a homemade lunch — but while walking through the marketplace I saw some tasty desserts and thought a snack sounded great. I couldn’t decide on what I wanted but ultimately went with a beverage to quench my thirst. It was the first time I ever heard of the Japanese soda, Ramune and I thought I’d give it a try. It comes in 18 flavors and the one I went with is called Litchi, a tasty berry flavor that was very refreshing.

the marble sits close up to the top of the bottle

The soda wasn’t anything too special but I loved the design of the bottle. To open the bottle, you receive a plastic opener that you use to press down on the top of the bottle to pop a glass marble in towards the liquid. Once the marble is pushed into the bottle you’re able to drink it; but there’s a special way to sip down the cold beverage — there are two indentations in the bottle up by the cap, I originally thought it was to grip the drink but you can hold it with your fingers and tilt the bottle towards you and the marble is stopped and held in the bottle while the liquid drains out. If the marble goes past the indentations then it blocks the soda from coming out of the bottle … pretty cool, I think.
The sweet and refreshing drink was definitely worth the $2.40. More than anything I think the design of the bottle was the coolest part and I enjoyed trying a new soda.

Largest Jar of Nutella

$140 worth of Nutella!!!!



While in the Chelsea Market today (I will have more information and photos of great food I’ve discovered in the market soon in a different post!) I found a massive tub of Nutella. This is what $140 of Nutella looks like. YIKES!
I discovered the chocolate-hazelnut spread last summer! Yes, I went my entire life until a year ago not having a Nutella addiction. Once I discovered it I found myself buying a pound of strawberries and a small jar of Nutella just about every-other day after work. If I didn’t have strawberries then I would find myself with a spoon just licking the chocolate out of the container.
Now, I have the smaller version of the delectable sweet in my kitchen — but for a brief moment at the Chelsea Market I actually considered buying one of the huge industrial-size tubs … and then I realized I’d never be able to fit it in my little cabinets. Maybe it was for the best to put down the jar I could hardly lift.

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