Scenes from Chelsea Market and Todd English Food Hall

May 28, 2014 by 7 Comments

I couldn’t visit New York without stopping by both of these food court meccas, could I? So as I mentioned in my last New York recap post where I basically draw little hearts all over Russ & Daughters, I had one day off from the conference. After eating the best bagel and lox sandwich in my entire life, I needed a little walk… so I walked to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market became my progressive lunch stop. Later that evening, I would visit Todd English Food Hall for dinner. Here is my photo recap of the scenes from Chelsea Market and Todd English Food Hall. Warning, this is a very photo heavy post!

Chelsea Market

I browsed the Chelsea Market looking at all the shops, even bringing back some snacks from The Nut Box and learning about spices at Spices and Tease. If you haven’t heard of Chelsea Market before, it’s a giant building- a whole city block long- which hosts an indoor food hall that includes shop vendors like I just mentioned as well as cheese vendors, bakeries, and imported Italian specialty food.
Chelsea Market, New York

It also is the home to many small booths just like you might expect in any food court mall, but here the vendors include big names like Buddakan, Morimoto, Sarabeth’s or an outpost of the highly ranked sandwich New York chain Num Pang. You can get fine Maine lobsters (Lobster Place) and escargot, Australian meat pies (Tuck Shop), made fresh daily pastas (Rana), conversation cookies (Eleni’s) or crepes (Bar Suzette) and more.
Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York

I walked around a long time, wanting to eat everything but settling for just feasting with my eyes. There was a lot to look at just in terms of the building itself with its stripped down architecture including safe deposit boxes that surround one elevator shaft, glistening starry strings of lights that sparkle as curtains in a hallway with a large clock, a fountain gushing water echoing the richness of the food bounty surrounding its location, and various art, old and new, adoring its halls.
Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York

I ogled all the food in the shops and food booths and on people’s tables also like it was another form of art all around me.

Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York
Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York

For lunch, I followed a recommendation to Dickson’s Farmstand, where I had the rotisserie chicken with brussels sprouts and potatoes. The poultry at Dickson’s is brought into the city every morning from Amish farms in Lancaster Pennsylvania or live poultry market in Queens. Dickson’s calls in their order for their chickens fresh each day. The chickens are cage-free barn raised without hormones or antibiotics and have a vegetarian diet. I couldn’t help but want to support this old fashioned way of sourcing.
Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York

Oh, did I also mention that this building is also the office of Food Network, and they film Iron Chef America and used to film Emeril Live here? During my visit I was still in the midst of reading From Scratch: Inside the Food Network, which I already reviewed in another blog post so I was also letting my imagination fill in the blanks of the tales from the book on how Food Network was formed and grew up as I also people watched during my visit.

Todd English Food Hall

Later that same day, I browsed the Todd English Food Hall, located in the basement of the Plaza Hotel. I walked there from my hotel, which gave me a little time to walk around Central Park at dusk by Columbus Circle as I walked there along W 59th and watch the moon rise.
Some shots from Central Park at dusk by Columbus Circle Some shots from Central Park at dusk

Keep in mind that the Todd English Food Hall is in the Plaza basement floor. So, rather then going up the steps past the doorman to enter the hotel, look for the sign and doorway, which will then lead you to escalators down.
Todd English Food Hall entrance Todd English Food Hall entrance Todd English Food Hall entrance

While Chelsea Market had been an upscale take on a food court, the Todd English Food Hall is a modern take on European specialty markets. There were lots of rows of beautiful goods, and in a few places there were some stools so you can sit at a bar and enjoy a bite to eat at some of the booths that offered food service rather than just food goods. There are nine such food booths, representing nine kinds of food stations (Burger Grill, a Seafood/Oyster Bar, Asian Noodles and Dumplings, Pasta Bar, Flatbread Pizza Bar, Sushi Bar, Taqueria, Cheese & Charcuterie, and a Wine Bar and Patisserie).
Todd English Food Hall, New York listing of occupants

As I was waiting for my friend and her friends to arrive, I browsed with my eyes and camera… Yes, that is S’more made to order. Why is this not a food cart here in Portland.
Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York  Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York

For our dinner we ate at the restaurant within this underground food hall. Here, the menu includes some selections from each of those food stations, but it is brought to you at the table instead of sitting at one of the individual food stations. You don’t get access to the whole menu of each station though – for instance you can’t order the lobster roll, but you can a whole grilled lobster, or you can only have 3 choices of tacos.

There was a lot of wine going on at this dinner, and also I wasn’t exactly starving for a lot of dishes given my visit to Russ & Daughters and Chelsea Market and Momofuku Milk Bar earlier in the day. So, my pictures here are a bit more limited. We started out with a side order of Brussels Sprouts with pancetta, roasted jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and butter. Although I won’t be adding pancetta to my regular roasted brussels sprouts standby recipe, I did like the addition of the roasted jalapenos for a little extra kick!

And we got two orders of those addictive and light Risotto Tater Tots with fontina and truffle aioli
Todd English Food Hall, New York - Brussels Sprouts with pancetta, roasted jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and butter Todd English Food Hall, New York - Risotto Tater Tots with fontina and truffle aioli

Also maybe some Fried Oysters with caviar creme fraiche, lemon, and micro cilantro
Todd English Food Hall, New York - Fried Oysters with caviar creme fraiche, lemon, and micro cilantro Todd English Food Hall, New York - Fried Oysters with caviar creme fraiche, lemon, and micro cilantro

When you dine here, do not miss out on the Rigatoni Bolognese. It uses Todd’s Old School bolognese, veal reduction, and pecorino – here we happened to switch out the rigatoni pasta with gluten free spaghettini for my gluten free friend (you can also substiute Whole wheat for any pasta dish of your choice). That sauce is incredible- I can just eat that sauce by itself with a spoon. 10/10. Would go there and order this pasta dish again, as well as more new things to try, but this is a dish worth repeating. The Veal Agnolotti with veal confit, truffle, and parmesan was good, but that bolognese was even better.
Todd English Food Hall, New York - Rigatoni Bolognese, It uses Todd’s old school bolognese, veal reduction, and pecorino - here we happened to switch out the rigatoni pasta with gluten free spaghettini for my gluten free friend Todd English Food Hall, New York - Veal Agnolotti with veal confit, truffle, parmesan

If you are meeting a group of friends in New York, definitely consider stopping by either Chelsea Market  or Todd English Food Hall for a meal together. By having a good group, you can try a lot of different things at these places, and the possibilities are just amazing that you will want to take advantage of numbers to try as much as you can! If you go to Todd English, make a reservation – otherwise if you are trying to eat at the food stations since it is a bar it is better to be a small party of 1-2. For Chelsea Market, there are some tables but if the weather is nice consider taking your food outside and walking to the High Line park.

I still have two more meals to cover from my time in New York (it sure seems like I ate a lot huh in the 6 days I was there…): Pearl Oyster Bar, and Ivan Ramen!

Other New York highlights from this trip that I have blogged about:

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Midtown Manhattan Lunches – Xian Famous Foods, ‘wichCraft, Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish

April 4, 2014 by 5 Comments

So when I last left off from my New York trip recap, I had mentioned my first lunch was at Bouchon Bakery Rockefeller. That still leaves a few other days of lunches to cover.

Thanks to my hotel refrigerator, I was able to eat dinner leftovers one day for lunch. Another day, I followed a recommendation for Xi’An Famous Foods. Not only was it personally recommended by another foodie (who got it from another foodie in Portland!), but it also made the Serious Eats guide of “Where to Eat Near Rockefeller Center“, among other good press. From reading beforehand I knew they accepted cash only, so I came prepared.

They often have quite a queue to get the food as well- on their website they actually list all their locations and if you click on each specific location, they have a real time store traffic-meter to show how busy it is! That’s awesome. I was lucky enough to get there right in time for a meal turnover- all the seats were full but were finishing up.

This was extremely lucky because there are only maybe a dozen or so little stools by counters in the back, and you can only hope that by the time they call your order # from that back window, a stool has opened up so you can eat. In theory the logic should be until you have food in hand you shouldn’t sit down, rather then letting luck of the draw of you standing by people vacating so you can grab a seat and others are left balancing their tray of food wondering how to eat it. While I was there, I witnessed one angered conversation when 2 girls tried to grab 2 stools and a woman ahead of them pointed out she had ordered before them. They relinquished the seats, others opened up, and 3 more actually opened up so I was able to get one next.

The stools and little bar to eat on are very low, the light is dim, it is definitely a feel of a questionable hole in the wall but that also seems very authentic to what often good Asian places offer- not much atmosphere and full focus on the food and good prices.

Xi'an Famous Foods, Midtown Location on 45th Street

I also knew exactly what to order thanks to my foodie friend- the N1 Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand Ripped Noodles, Lamb sautéed with onions, garlic, and scallions in Xi’an Famous Food’s secret spices, mixed with their original hand-ripped wide biangbiang noodles. I thought it was spicy but not too much (I have a medium-high spice tolerance), and definitely it is a multiple napkin meal from the dripping chili sauce, a mix of Muslim Chinese flavors that you will be hard-pressed to easily find, so I thought it was worth the wait. I didn’t order the Lamb Burger that Anthony Bourdain had so enjoyed on No Reservations, but I needed to save myself for dinner.

Do not wear a white shirt- I almost put on a light colored shirt earlier that day but realizing this would be my probable lunch destination, switched to a black top instead.
N1 Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand Ripped Noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods

When I left, there was a line out the door, and a line all along the wall of those who were taking food out. As I noted, remember it’s cash only, AND don’t be one of those people who doesn’t know what you want. They have a menu of 40 items which have pictures and numbers on the wall. Do everyone a favor and look online and pick out your item # and order by it (aka N1 for me). And if you eat there, do NOT linger over your food talking like 3 people I saw where 2 were done eating and still sitting there talking to the last person- there were lots of people just boring their eyes at them.

Also a few blocks down, by Rockefeller, I tried out ‘wichCraft, a craft sandwich chain of which one of the partners is Tom Colicchio. The location I went to at Rockefeller Center is a little hidden- you have to go downstairs (so it is at the same level of the ice rink) and it is tucked in the back of one side. This one didn’t quite fare so well. The tomato soup I had here with san marzano tomatoes, basil, sherry vinegar & parmesan was a poor comparison to the one you can get on the main street at Bouchon Bakery (as I wrote in my last post). I still clung to the soup to balance out the dry mushyness of the multigrain half sandwich with goat cheese, avocado, celery, walnut pesto & watercress. I’m pretty sure I can make a better version of what sandwich myself at home. So sad to waste money and calories that could have been enjoyed better with this lunch. At least I had great company (I met up with an old coworker- a complete surprise since she is usually in Seattle and we unbelievably ended up meeting in New York!)
'wichCraft, in Rockefeller Center 'wichCraft, in Rockefeller Center
'wichCraft, in Rockefeller Cente, multigrain half sandwich with goat cheese, avocado, celery, walnut pesto and watercress, with tomato soup with basil, sherry vinegar and parmesan 'wichCraft, in Rockefeller Cente, multigrain half sandwich with goat cheese, avocado, celery, walnut pesto and watercress, with tomato soup with basil, sherry vinegar and parmesan

My last recap here is for Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish, which required me take a nice scenic walk that brought me by Grand Central and also the Library and Bryant Park. Is it wrong that I actually knew Bryant Park pretty well thanks to the Lego Super Heroes game, including the detail of Le Carrousel? I was disappointed that most of the park was under construction.
"Grand New York Public Library New York Public Library New York Public Library View of the moon at Bryant Park Le Carrousel Bryant Park Fountain Bryant Park

I was pretty determined to enjoy New York bagels while I was here though, so the brisk walk in order to get to the conference in time was worth it. For a little bit, I got a little taste of what it would be like if I a New York regular as I strided purposefully towards Zuckers among the rest of the downtown commuters. Zucker’s gets their smoked fish from Acme Smoked Fish which sounds like something from Looney Toons but is an establishment that has been in the family business for four generations.

I ordered the Zucker’s Traditional, with Nova Scotia salmon with plain cream cheese, Lucky’s tomatoes, red onions and capers, on a their hand rolled kettle boiled malt sweetened baked daily in their store Everything bagel. The bagel was exactly everything everyone always talks about, incomparably chewy but soft, crackly-crusted with the lightly smoky Acme Nova lox, cool thick generous 1/2″ schmear of cream cheese, crisp beefsteak tomato and red onion, capers providing an extra pop of brine.
Zucker Bagels & Smoked Fish's Traditional, with Nova Scotia salmon with plain cream cheese, Lucky's tomatoes, red onions and capers, on a their hand rolled kettle boiled malt sweetened baked daily in their store Everything bagel

If I lived here I would definitely be a regular here. This location I went to downtown on Lexington doesn’t have the old world atmosphere of their Tribeca flagship location with its pressed tin ceiling and subway-tiled wall, but the bagels are still beyond.

In the next New York trip recap post, I’m going to share the best bagel sandwich I had during my trip- and my progressive eating day, yes a single day that included that bagel sandwich breakfast followed by lunch at Chelsea Market (plus there was a break for dessert at Milk Bar, but I covered that previously in a Momofuku post) and then a dinner at the Todd English Food Hall!

Which of the 3 lunch places I tried out would you have also picked out to try? Or did I miss a Midtown Manhattan lunch spot that you want to tell me about for next time?

Other New York highlights from this trip that I have blogged about:

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Bouchon Bakery Rockefeller

March 26, 2014 by 2 Comments

As I started telling you in my previous post, I was recently in New York for a conference/training for 6 days. The first day, Saturday, was essentially a travel day. Then, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I was at the conference from 9-5, with a 1 hour lunch break from 12:20-1:30. That limited my comfort level of where I would be able to go to lunch and return in time to not miss anything at the session.

So how did I find lunches in Midtown Manhattan?

One way to do this is to first, search your current location on Google Maps. In my example below, my conference was at the Sofitel New  York (I stayed at a separate hotel to save money for my company). Then, when you click on the location, click the link for Search Nearby, which will expand this menu to include a field to use.
First, search for your location (in this case, Sofitel was my conference hotel). Then I clicked on Search Nearby link, which opened a section below for me to use keywords to search around the area

You can use this field to search for what you need- happy hour, lunch, pizza, bagel, tacos, etc.

This usually is what I do when I travel for work, but since I was in Manhattan there are lots of little dots that pop up of places to eat (this isn’t true of many other places I ended up going). So what now?
Searching for restaurant lunch options by Midtown Manhattan from my Sofitel Hotel in New York City

Fortunately, because New York is such a foodie town, I did a search of “Best lunch in Midtown Manhattan” and got several website articles to peruse. Usually, in smaller towns, I might only find a link to some old Chowhound board discussions, but that has also paid off to read and pick something out that sounds appealing. I picked the Serious Eats guide of “Where to Eat Near Rockefeller Center” as a reliable source, and combined this with other things I remember reading or being recommended.

For instance, that Bouchon Bakery has been on several lists for their grilled cheese sandwich- I had once upon a time pinned the list from Food and Wine for Best Grilled Cheese in the US and Bouchon’s was on it, as was it on the Serious Eats New York 17 Great Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. The name Thomas Keller also means something to me- the lunch I had at French Laundry quite a few years ago is still very memorable to me.
Bouchon Bakery in New York City, right by Rockefeller Plaza Bouchon Bakery in New York City, right by Rockefeller Plaza Bouchon Bakery in New York City, right by Rockefeller Plaza

So this was my first lunch for the trip. It was so crowded at Bouchon Bakery Rockefeller that a group of ladies was braving sitting outside on their patio, but the crowd comes and goes. I awkwardly put my bag and coat down by a stool I saw by the corner between 2 groups after putting in my order, but when the order actually came up, there was a huge section of countertop that had opened up with seats. People here tend not to linger long.

Bouchon Bakery in New York City, right by Rockefeller Plaza Bouchon Bakery- example of offerings

The Bouchon Baker Rockefeller menu (which is annoyingly not on their site but you can get a gist at UrbanSpoon or the New York Mag for a menu) are light lunches of sandwiches, salads, cheese plates, soup, and of course their fabulous baked goods of macaroons and cookies as well as others like croissants, scones, etc. Below, the Smoked Salmon with herbed cream cheese, pickled red onion, and peppercress on brioche and the Roasted Sweet Potato on almond focaccia with brown butter aioli sounded tempting too.

Not so much the dog biscuits admittedly, which by the way are enriched with foie gras and chicken stock. One story goes that the dog treats came about because the Bouchon Kitchen in Yountville always had leftover random pieces of fois gras scraps so they used it this way so they wouldn’t go to waste and were still enjoyed.
Bouchon Bakery- example of offerings Bouchon Bakery- example of offerings Bouchon Bakery- example of offerings

I came to Bouchon Bakery twice. The first time was exactly for that grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. It is not just a plain grilled cheese or plain tomato soup, of course- it’s a san marzano tomato soup that is tangy and intensely tomato-y, perfect for a dip here or there with the gooey fontina & gruyère cheese sandwich whose thick pain au lait (milk bread) manages to be both crusty on the outside but soft and doughy buttery richness inside.
Bouchon Bakery San Marzano Tomato Soup, perfect with their pain au lait grilled fontina and gruyere cheese sandwich Bouchon Bakerypain au lait grilled fontina and gruyere cheese sandwich is perfectly crispy on the outside but soft doughy rich butteryness on the inside Bouchon Bakerypain au lait grilled fontina and gruyere cheese sandwich is perfectly crispy on the outside but soft doughy rich butteryness on the inside Bouchon Bakerypain au lait grilled fontina and gruyere cheese sandwich is perfectly crispy on the outside but soft doughy rich butteryness on the inside

On my second visit, I had decided to eat leftovers from previous meals, and brought that from the hotel. However, I still used my lunch stipend to get a few treats to keep me sugared up on the plane (this would pay off since my flight would be delayed and I wouldn’t reach home until 4am NY time or 1am PDX time!). These treats kept me in a good mood, instead of a bad hungry mood. These included a croissant, the Tko Thomas Keller Oreo, the Nutter Butter cookie, and the TLC (The Laura Cunningham) Oatmeal Cookie. She didn’t like dried fruits and picked them out of typical oatmeal raisin cookies, which I totally agree with, so this cookie substitutes pecans for raisins! After the Nutter Butter the TLC was my favorite cookie.

Bouchon Bakery croissant Bouchon Bakery Tko Thomas Keller Oreo Bouchon Bakery Tko Thomas Keller Oreo Bouchon Bakery Pistachio Macaroon Bouchon Bakery Pistachio Macaroon Bouchon Bakery Nutter Butter cookie Bouchon Bakery Nutter Butter cookie Bouchon Bakery Oatmeal cookie

Which treat would you have gotten from Bouchon Bakery Rockefeller?

Other New York highlights from this trip that I have blogged about:

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