Getting By, Dreaming Big

So these past weeks I’ve been saying how I hadn’t done anything fun in NYC for awhile…well…I can’t believe that I totally forgot to blog about the Chelsea Market & Meatpacking District Tour I did back in December with my brother, Tim and his wife, Christine!  This is why I need to write myself notes.  So anyway, way back when Jon and I went to the High Line for the first time, we went to Chelsea Market afterwards and I saw all of these people on tours.  I thought it would be fun, so when I booked the pizza tour I also booked a tour of Chelsea Market.  They were back to back (Saturday and Sunday) so I had to make room in my stomach for a lot of good eats.

Our first stop was….

Eleni’s – don’t all those goodies look yummy!  This is my kind of tour, starting with dessert first.  We enjoyed Eleni’s Everything Cookie her take on her mom’s oatmeal raisin cookies.  They had oats, chocolate, craisins, nuts and all sorts of goodies.  It was delicious (and huge!)  I only ate a part of it to start because I wanted to save room for all of our other eats.  Her cookies are so pretty, perfect for special occasions.  I would definitely recommend them.

Next it was on to Ronnybrook Farm Dairy.

Here we got to sample some chocolate milk.  It was their Chocolate Creamline Milk.  It’s like whole milk (obviously we’re not on this tour for our health folks).  This milk was like drinking a milkshake just not quite as thick.  It could have been my favorite part of the whole tour.  I recently found a single serving at the Whole Foods in Union Square, what a treat!  I would seriously walk to Chelsea Market just to get this chocolate milk. 

Next stop was The Lobster Place.

We were each allowed to enjoy a cup of soup while our tour guide told us more about Chelsea Market and specifically The Lobster Place.  I had the New England Clam Chowder (which might have been the best I’ve ever had, and I lived in New England…it was so yummy!)  My brother had the Lobster Bisque and I believe Christine had the Cajun Crab & Corn Chowder.  Then we were allowed some time to explore The Lobster Place, hit the restroom, etc, while our tour guide set up the next section.

Next on the tour was Buon Italia.  Here we sat and enjoyed some Italian delicacies.  I made myself a sandwich of all the cheeses and meats.  The bread was from Amy’s Bread and was AMAZING!  Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Italian food but usually I’m not really into Antipasta plates which was what this experience reminded me of.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It’s a great little Italian market with a good variety of items.  I actually went back after the tour for some fusili for a future recipe. 

The food whirlwind tour continued with a cheese & jam sampling at Chelsea Market Baskets, followed by biscuits with fruit spread from Sarabeth, followed by a mini gelato at L’arte del gelato.  All very tasty.  While we were tasting all of these yummy treats we learned more about the vendors in Chelsea Market and the history of the market itself.  It used to be the Nabisco factory until they moved out to the burbs.  It was finished the way it is now in 1997 so it’s been open for about 13 years.  It’s a really eclectic fun place to spend sometime inside in NYC. 

After we explored Chelsea Market to it’s fullest we walked around the Meatpacking District for an hour or so.  Our tourguide took us on the High Line, showed us important historical buildings all around that particular area of NYC.  We ended with a little pasta in a wild boar sauce at Macelleria in the meatpacking district.  It was the perfect end to the tour. 

Overall, this was definitely worth the price, all of the food samples you got easily added up to breakfast and lunch!  It was over 3 hours so it was spread out well.  I thought the most interesting part was Chelsea Market, it’s history, and all of it’s fun and yummy vendors.  I thought the part walking through the Meatpacking district was a little long and there wasn’t that much really to talk about.  It was raining when we went as well, so that didn’t help the fact.  I would have been content finishing the tour after 90-120 minutes at Chelsea Market.  I also thought our tour guide was just eh…he spent a lot of time talking about himself, all the volunteering he does at “society & celebrity” type events in NYC and how that has turned into him getting free tickets to things and meeting celebrities etc.  I didn’t really care abou that to be honest!  I wish he had just focused on the tour at hand.  There are a lot of tour guides, so I’d be interested to see others take on this tour. 

A big T.H.A.N.K.S. to Tim and Christine for joining me for a foodie/NYC adventure!  We had so much fun and I am looking forward to enjoying other foodie adventures in NYC!

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Which vendor in Chelsea Market is your favorite?