Wednesday, February 29, 2012

FC Nibble: Sometimes the Best Meals are the Ones You Make Yourself

Pin It I ate well in February…real well. Had great meals at:
· Red Cat
· Landmarc (with my Foodies)
· Centro Vinoteca (which by the way no longer has the best pork chop in NYC)
· Route 6 in Philadelphia

However the best foodie day I had this month wasn’t at a fancy Manhattan joint, it was at home with my fiancĂ©. For an early Valentine’s Day celebration we went to Chelsea Market (which somehow I had never been to) to snack and shop.

While not as big as I expected, for the most part, the shops are top notch, the food is super fresh and the people watching is priceless. Note – while Ninth Street Espresso looks like it would have the best coffee, it doesn’t! Plus, it took us 15 minutes to get a very mediocre cappuccino.


The star of my visit was the Lobster Place, where we ate lunch and then brought home food to make a delicious dinner. It’s a mecca of fresh and prepared seafood (including sushi) and I didn’t know what to try first. The chowder is divine! The lobster is steamed to perfection. The sushi is ridiculously fresh. And, the seafood selection is unparalleled.

We choose to bring home crab meat, shrimp and a 2lb lobster (already steamed) for our seafood feast. We then headed to Buon Italia for some homemade, fresh pasta and finished our shopping trip with a sweet stop at Jacques Torres for one of the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve EVER had!

The result, a delish, romantic day and evening capped off by an amazing dinner. Check out the picture of our Frutti de Mare in a white wine and garlic sauce over fresh linguini. I am now dying to go back to try Dickson’s Farmstand Meats and Chelsea Thai! And of course, get more of that sensational chowder…..Oh, and another cookie wouldn’t hurt too :)

Chelsea Market
75 9th Avenue
(Between 15th and 16th Streets)
http://chelseamarket.com/

The Lobster Place
(212) 255-5672
http://chelseamarket.com/thelobsterplace/

Buon Italia
(212) 633-9090
http://chelseamarket.com/buonitalia/

Jacques Torres
212-414-2462
http://chelseamarket.com/jacquestorreschocolates/