The Tuck Shop in Chelsea, NY

While in NY, I was looking for a late breakfast and ended up at the Chelsea Market. I had been here before and tried The Lobster Place. On this visit, I quickly forgot breakfast foods and decided to try an Australian meat pie from a place called The Tuck Shop.

I guess what I ordered was more Australian fusion. I had the Thai Curry Chicken pie. It was filled with chicken, kafir lime leaves, galangal, coconut milk, thai basil and chilis. The crust was nice and flaky, similar to a typical pot pie. The fillings were creamy and tasty, although the chilis were very intense. I normally have a high tolerance for spicy foods, but I was tearing up every time I bit into a piece of pepper. Interesting how I ordered something denoted as spicy at a Thai restaurant the night before and there was hardly any spice, but this Australian-Thai pie with no warning about the heat was one of the spiciest foods I've eaten in recent memory. I really have no clue if pot pies like this are really a prevalent food in Australia, but I'm assuming this is more Australian than Outback Steakhouse is Australian...

The Lobster Place in Chelsea, NY

A recent visit to New York involved a visit to the Chelsea Market. This was my first visit to the Chelsea Market, regardless of all of the foodie press that it receives. I personally found all of the industrial remnants of the old Nabisco factory that once occupied the space as one of the most interesting aspects of the whole market. While there, we ate dinner at The Lobster Place.

The Lobster Place was a large seafood market with all kinds of sea life for sale. Lobsters were included in this selection, of course. The smallest lobsters that they had available while I was there started at about $25, and lobster honestly isn't my favorite marine crustacean, so I passed. Everyone else seemed to be gobbling them up though.

I went with a sandwich from what they called the Shack in the Back.

I ordered the Smoked Salmon Baguette, consisting of vodka dill smoked salmon, scallion cream cheese, and onion on a baguette. When I went back to pick up the food, I received this sandwich. My first thought was that toasted white bread definitely wasn't what I would call a baguette. Second thought after I saw that the salmon was mushed up into a salad and saw bacon on the sandwich was that I wasn't given the correct sandwich. Turned out I was given the Crab Club instead...

 I took it back and the guy behind the counter started arguing that I told him I wanted a Crab Club even though my receipt listed the proper sandwich. Begrudgingly, I eventually was given my proper sandwich which was much more to my liking. The sandwich had very tasty, thinly sliced, lox-style smoked salmon. The bread was nice and crusty and was much better than the Crab Club's bread. Chips, cole slaw, and a pickle were served on the side.

Someone else at the table ordered the Salmon Rillete Roll. This sandwich had a mix of fresh and smoked salmon in salad form. My sandwich was superior...

The Lobster Place was an experience. The huge selection of seafood for sale was very fun to look at, but the food itself was slightly forgettable. My sandwich was good, but any bagel place could serve something up just as good and out of the sandwiches I saw, mine looked like the best option. Plus, the whole sandwich mix-up and the employee arguing that it was my fault didn't exactly seem right...

NYC Street Food #1

Everyone seems to love food trucks, so why not do a post about the trucks in place where they were popular long before other parts of the country? That's right, this post is all about some of the various food trucks that I came across in New York City. Didn't get to try many, but I can only eat so much...

Taco truck in Manhattan's Meatpacking District...


Mister Softee in Flushing Meadows Park ($5 for a cone is kind of pricy).


Lots of food trucks seemed to park near the High Line in Chelsea. Here's an Organic Soft Serve Ice Cream Truck...


Mexican Ice on the High Line...


I had a sour cherry shaved ice from The People's Pops. I liked their hand ice shaving system...

New York has food truck events too. At the north end of the High Line there was something called Rainbow City with lots of inflatables. Moon walks are fun, but not as fun as food trucks. Here's Kelvin Natural Slush Co.

Custom ice cream sandwiches from the Cool Haus...

Totally RAD (Rickshaw's Awesome Dumplings)...

Red Hook Lobster Pound:

Istanbul Grill in Manhattan, NY

To continue my recent New York dining experience, I had dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Istanbul Grill in Chelsea. I ordered the Gyro Doner, consisting of lamb, lettuce, and tomato in a pita. While the gyro wasn't bad, it did lack flavor. The gyro meat was unusually bland and the three sauces that were brought to the table didn't help much either.

Istanbul Grill was okay, but don't think I'd return with their flavorless gyros. Perhaps I caught them on a bad day because they have good reviews on Urbanspoon and Yelp, but I think I would have enjoyed a gyro from the halal cart at the end of the block more than what I had at this restaurant based on smell alone...

Donut Pub in Manhattan, NY

During one of my most recent visits to New York, I stumbled upon a place called Donut Pub. Their classic neon sign quickly pulled me from across the street and the awards hanging in their window pulled me inside. The humungous muffins and cupcakes in the window helped get me in too...

Inside, the wall of Donut Pub was covered in racks of desserty deliciousness. There were several counter seats in the narrow restaurant filled with customers enjoying their late-night donuts and coffee.

I decided to go for a French Cruller. I'm not a donut expert by any means, but this was definitely better than what you get from the donut chains. The cruller was really light and airy inside, almost having a flaky consistency. It was almost too sweet, but this is a donut that we're talking about. It's supposed to be sweet...

An oreo muffin was also purchased. It got less than rave reviews, therefore my conclusion is to stick with donuts at the Donut Pub...

Donut Pub was new to me, but it's definitely worth checking out. Can't go wrong with a 24-hour bakery in a classic diner-like setting serving all sorts of desserts...