NYC Food Tour – Chelsea Market

In mid-July I traveled to New York City for the BlogHer15 conference.  The conference schedule is non-stop but I found that I had a few free hours midweek to explore the city. Having lived in NYC for a couple of years, back in the day, I wasn’t interested in merely pounding the pavement and hitting all the tourist spots.  I came up with a fantastic idea –  I went on a food tour of The Chelsea Market and Meatpacking District.  This food tour was by far one of the best I’ve attended.  So I did pound the pavement, but “oh man”, was it worth it!

The outfit I chose is Foods Of New York.  They offer a variety of tours, Greenwich Village, the Heart of the Village, Chinatown, NoHo, the one I took,Chelsea Market and even one in Brooklyn.  I wish I could have taken them all, but that my friends is a good excuse to return to the “Big Apple” soon and do that!  If the ones I didn’t take are anywhere near as much fun as the Chelsea Market tour I would gladly eat my way through the city day by day with Foods Of New York.

I met up with tour guide Curt Upton in front of the Chelsea Wine Vault inside the Chelsea Market.  Okay – let’s just suffice to say we can call Curt a super star.  To describe him as entertaining is an understatement.  A personable guy, he introduced himself to each of us, 16 in all, then gathered us all together to introduce each of us to one another.  He remembered every  name and a little something about everyone of us.  Quite impressive!  I found Curt to be knowledgeable about many things, food of course being one of them, amusing, compassionate and kind.

We began our tour by hearing a bit about the history of the Chelsea Market and Meatpacking District. Housed in one of the original warehouses of the meatpackers, it sidles up to the Hudson River.  8-9 years ago it was a sleazy, druggie, prostitute, neighborhood that you only visited if you had business there.  Today the entire area is full of designer stores, fabulous restaurants, and see and be seen nightclubs. Families, tourists, couples holding hands, business men and women rushing for that last cup of coffee before hitting their desks, young and old alike were enjoying the many vendors at Chelsea Market.

Our first stop was Eleni’s Bakery, an American Bakery, where we were treated to a “Red Velvet Cupcake”.  A Waldorf-Astoria signature dessert in New York City during the 1920s, it was delicate, delicious and topped with a sweet cream cheese frosting.  A perfect little bite to get us in gear.

We made a quick stop at the Chelsea Wine Vault where they do wine tasting on weekends, offer hard to find wines and organic and Kosher wines!  This was not a tasting stop but one of Curt’s many diversions on the food tour, which is partly what it made it so entertaining and enjoyable.

Next we paid a visit to Dickson’s Farmstand Meats. Dickson’s Farmstand is a neighborhood butcher shop in Chelsea Market offering artisanal meats and house-made charcuterie. The concept I loved most is that their beef, pork, lamb, and poultry are sourced from small, family farms in upstate New York and carefully handpicked for their humanely-raised, high-quality animals.  I mean if I’m gonna eat meat it should have a wonderful life before it lands on my dinner plate.  We were treated to “steak tartare” and potato chips.  If you aren’t a fan of tartare, well I understand but if you ever tried the one at Dickson’s you might change your mind.  Fresh and flavorful from the herbs, balsamic and japanese mayo that goes into it.  We all went back for seconds!

As we walked from stop to stop Curt shared an amazing amount of info about the market and the history of this particular area of Manhattan.  We found ourselves perusing the pastas, cheeses and olive oils in our next stop, Buon Italia.  If you are looking for an authentic Italian food product this is the place to visit.  Pastas, sauces, spreads, oils, olives, breads, cheeses, it’s a smorgasbord of Italian delights.  They made a Crostata con Fungi for us to sample at a family table in the back of the shop.

Full of tender, earthy mushrooms, sautéed onion, pecorino, parmigiano all baked in a flaky gentle, crust.  We all wanted to linger a bit and savor the al dente mushrooms and creamy cheeses in this Italian treat.  Did you know that scraps of parmesan cheese in Italy is fed to the pigs which then becomes delicate, rich prosciutto?  No wonder it’s so good!

If you were born before 1980, you might recall back in 1999 restaurateur Keith McNally opened a bistro named, Pastis.  A pioneer in the meatpacking district, the restaurant has recently closed it’s doors, but is purported to be reopening in 2016 around the corner from the original location at Ninth Ave. and Little West 12th.  A celebrity and fashionista hangout in the day, it was said that when Pastis opened it’s doors Martha Stewart commented, “Paris has finally come to New York”.  As other entrepreneurs and investors saw the opportunity to move out the meatpackers and turn the area into a bustling restaurant scene, haunted by the rich and famous, the area slowly turned into what it is today.

Our next stop was Lucy’s Whey where the grilled cheese was unlike any other I’ve had before.  First of all when I heard that it was slathered in fig and honey jam I knew it would be a winner.  A crusty baguette is split and filled with “Prairie Breeze Cheddar” then covered with the fig and honey jam.  The creamy, rich and slightly sweet filling of cheese and jam is enhanced by the crusty baguette.  Easily a meal in itself!  So simple, yet so good!

By now let me tell you we were beginning to feel a bit stuffed.  Thank goodness for the walking involved in a food tour such as this, because next we visited the Tuck Shop , an Australian meat pie shop.  Here they make a dough from scratch daily and fill it with an assortment of meats or vegetarian offerings, no artificial stuff and no trans fats.  We dug into little pies filled with ground beef and served with a delicious kale salad tossed in lemon tahini dressing.  The little pie consisted of a delicate, flaky crust with yummy crunchy edges filled with savory, flavorful and a bit spicy ground meat. And that kale salad was pretty much heaven!  If I hadn’t been reaching my maximum level of “full” I would have ordered another one!

One interesting thing I learned at this stop was that these pies were originally developed before we had refrigeration as we know it today.  The crust of the pie, instrumental in preserving the food inside.  Trivia – it’s always good to learn a bit of trivia!

Finally it was time for something sweet.  Liddabit Sweets provided a small caramel candy but oh my!  What a sophisticated treat it was.  Fresh made caramel with sweet bits of dried fig that have been cooked in a balsamic reduction, it is one of their most popular candies.  Made from pure cane sugar, heavy cream, ricotta, and dried figs. Sweet, soft and easily chewable, I definitely could have eaten a handful of these!

Can you imagine eating anymore?  I can’t and I couldn’t on this day either but we weren’t finished yet.  At Chelsea Market Baskets we had a snack of cool, fresh cucumber bites dipped in Cornwall Salts.  Sea Salts from Cornwall, England.  An extravagance, Lemon and Thyme flavored salt, no nasty stuff involved.  You can read more about these wonderful salts here.  I was glad it was just a refreshing little bite.

On to Sarabeth’s where I was delighted to see Sarabeth herself in the kitchen.  She appeared to be working on recipe development with her staff and she was serious. You’ll notice in the photo below her demeanor is all business and she is focused on perfection.  The little biscuit and jam is what we ate.  Jam being the “thing” that got her started in her very successful business.  Read this tidbit of info taken from her website; “In 1981, Sarabeth began making Orange-Apricot Marmalade from her home kitchen from a 200 year old family recipe and selling it to local food shops. From that humble beginning, Sarabeth with her husband and business partner, Bill Levine, now own and operate a jam factory, a wholesale-retail bakery café and nine restaurants. It is a true American success story.”

Hands of experience -tell a story all their own.

We all enjoyed peeking inside a working kitchen with the chef herself in house!  We tasted orange marmalade and strawberry jam, freshly made in her kitchen.  The jam thick, with delicious sweet chunks of fruit. The consummate topping for a light delicate biscuit.  After everyone had served themselves and were finished I asked Curt if I could just eat a spoonful of the jams and he said, “yes”.  That made my day! Oh and my patience paid off too. Before I walked away from the kitchen window I got this shot of Sarabeth – proudly in her place. Happy to be doing what she clearly loves.  I admit I am a tad envious of her days spent in this kitchen!

Now we walked…..We walked the HighLine, a public landscape that takes you along the river with outstanding views of much of the city and Lady Liberty herself.  Designed from an out-of-use railroad trestle, it took years of planning and  more than two years of construction to complete this lovely area for tourists and New Yorkers alike.

We strolled a portion of the HighLine and then meandered through the cobbled streets of Chelsea peering into designer shops, cafes and bars to find ourselves at The Gansevoort Market, a beautiful landmark building where we would nosh on pulled pork sandwiches from  Pig Guy NYC.  With 4 locations in the city as well as Brooklyn, his offering delivered tender, succulent pulled pork sauced with his signature “Pig Guy Original BBQ Sauce”.  Tangy, tomatoey sauce and a warm tender bun surrounded the mouthwatering pork – what a way to end our day of feasting.

This tour is without a doubt one of the “BEST” I’ve chosen.  If you find yourself with a few free hours in The Big Apple don’t hesitate to contact “Foods Of New York” for a delightful, educational, delicious tour of the city.  I personally, cannot wait to go back and take another tour with them.  I gladly share the experience because I don’t want you to miss out on this!  Food tours have become my favorite activity when I am traveling.  I’ll be headed to Nashville soon for a “girls weekend”.  Will a food tour be on the agenda?  Let’s hope so!