Chelsea Market

It's one our favorite spots in all of New York City and, for Waterside Plaza residents, it's just a quick crosstown bus ride away (take the M23 or the M14, depending on whether you want to walk a few blocks down on the east or west side). Chelsea Market, an indoor, beautifully designed arcade of stores and restaurants has been open (and, like everything else in New York, growing and changing) for about a dozen years now, but we never get tired of walking through and browsing and buying and getting a snack or three, and, often, being surprised by a sample sale, or a musical performance, or, on one memorable evening, a free salsa lesson. It's the sort of mall, complete with food court, that you'd find in heaven. Or, same thing, New York City.

There's so much good stuff at Chelsea Market it'd be difficult to single out even five shopping/eating highlights, but here's a small taste of what awaits:

202

Not only one of Chelsea Market's all-stars, but 202, located on your right as enter from Ninth Avenue, is also quite possibly the greatest clothing/housewares/cafe/brasserie, um? store, anywhere on the planet. Seriously. The clothes, for men and women, by Nicole Farhi, are stylish, sophisticated, contemporary, fun. Pricey, sure, but good-looking as all get-out. Farhi's home collection is also elegant and instantly covetable, and the displays blend seamlessly with the lively bar/restaurant area, with its menu of solidly-prepared classics like salads, burgers, and, for brunch, french toast and egg dishes. Don't skip the Sticky Toffee Pudding, by the way. For more info on the clothes, go here; for brunch and dinner menus, take a look here.

Eleni's

There are plenty of better tasting cookies in New York City (City Bakery, Momofuku Milk Bar, and Levian, to name just the big three) but there are no better, more creatively decorated cookies in town that at Eleni's. These "hand-painted" beauties cover all of your special occasion cookie needs--a full range of cute animals, packages, and cake shapes for birthday parties; baby-shower carriages and bottles and the like--and the holiday collections, whether Santas and such for Christmas or dreidels for Hanukkah, are, as always, pretty stunning. Or favorite Eleni's offering? Every year, after the Oscar nominations are announced, they do Best Actor and Actress packages with cookie-portraits of all the nominees, and for Best Picture, some sort of iconic object from each movie. For a complete gallery of all kinds of cookie craziness, see the Eleni's website, here.  

The Lobster Place

Could this be the best seafood store in the city? The variety and freshness of the swimmers here is astonishing. The raw bar, in case you want to shoot a few oysters, is excellent. The sushi is pristine. The prepared food a godsend on a busy night. The staff friendly and knowledgeable. And the incredibly reasonable prices--they sell more than a 1,000,000 pounds of seafood to New York City restaurants and hotels each year, and pass the volume discounts on to you--are a breath of fresh air. So to speak. For lots more info, see the Lobster Place site, here.       

Chelsea Market Baskets

First, we'll reveal that, in both quality and quantity, nothing beats Chelsea Market Baskets for its plates of free food samples. We've had practically lunch here a couple of times, just by tasting everything. (Buon Italia, a few doors down, is pretty good for free feedings, too). Anyway, Chelsea Market Baskets is also great for filling beautiful gift baskets with goodies people actually want (we especially love their "unique New York" food baskets for our expat friends), edible and otherwise. More information and online ordering can be found here.         

T Salon

This newish Chelsea Market tea boutique is appropriately calming if you want to sit with a friend and enjoy an exotic blend, and it's deliciously luxurious in the selection and elegance of its rare, take-home teas and beautifully-designed accessories. With an emphasis on sustainable farming and eco-friendly packaging and production, T Salon is a must-browse if you have a tea-lover in your life. Lots more information here.

All that, and we didn't even mention Ronnybrook Dairy and their first-rate milkshakes; the breathtaking bouquets at the Gramercy Park Flower Shop; the Green Table for a health-infusing sit-down meal; Bowery Kitchen Supply, which hearkens back to those great, insanely chaotic old restaurant supply stores on the Bowery, but without the insane chaos; L'Arte del Gelato, home of, in our opinion, the best scoop of ice cream in town; AND, in the center of it all, the indoor waterfall!

Chelsea Market is located between 15th and 16th Streets, with entrances on both Ninth and Tenth Avenues, and is open on Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and on Sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Chelsea Market website has a complete list of the stores and eateries, as well as a nice piece on the interesting history of the building.      

Posted at 11:57PM Dec 10, 2009 by Scott in 10010  |