One of the big reason we chose to come to NYC on St. Patrick's weekend was because we knew St. Patrick's celebration is a big deal on the East Coast, like in NYC. I never really celebrated St. Patrick's. Sure, I wear green and maybe go out with a few friends to a bar, but that's child's play! We all bought a pub crawl pass that gives us specials at over 40+ bars all over Manhattan, which was nice since we wanted to bar hop throughout the day. Although once we got to the bars, we found out a lot of the bars were just offering their own specials throughout the day, so we didn't really need the wristbands. Still, $1-2 beer specials (small cup) and $3-4 shots of Jameson is a pretty good deal :P
So this post is essentially what I/we ate throughout the day, with a lot of Jameson in between HAHA.
I woke up pretty late thanks to partying so late. By the time I woke up, most of the others already headed out to a bar to get the day started. I didn't really leave the hotel until 12pm-ish and I wanted to eat something before joining the others, so Diana and I headed towards East Village to grab a bite and meet up with others.
Artichoke Basille's Pizza & Bakery
328 E 14th St
Between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave
East Village
New York, NY 10003
First stop, Artichoke for some bomb pizzas! Pretty small place with nowhere to sit really.
Decided to get a slice of the famous Artichoke and a slice of Margherita.
Now... usually I'm not a fan of the white sauce, but holy, this pizza is good. Thicker crust than the others, creamy white sauce with spinach & artichoke pieces.
Sprinkle some red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese!
Artichoke!
Basil + tomato sauce + mozzarella = perfect combination.
Love the thin crust on the margherita.
Sarabeth's Bakery
75 9th Ave
Between 15th St & 16th St
Chelsea, Meatpacking District
New York, NY 10011
Needed a coffee drink to sorta pick myself up since I was still feeling the effects of jet lag a little. On the way to the bar to meet up with others, Diana and I walked into Chelsea Market and we found Sarabeth's Bakery.
I really wanted to get the preserves and jams but they were around $10 for each! In the end I settled for some chocolate cookies ($6 a can).
Cafe Latte. Whatever milk they used... was some damn good milk.
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After eating the pizzas and meeting up with the others at a bar, they wanted a bite so we headed towards Chelsea Market for some more grubbing. Of course, started off my St. Patrick's with a few shots of Jameson and Irish Car Bombs before we left!
The Lobster Place
Chelsea Market
75 9th Ave
Chelsea, Meatpacking District
New York, NY 10011
First stop, The Lobster Place! Jimmy & Vicky were meeting us here.
Had to get something so went to the soup section!
Scallop & Bacon Chowder. Wow, this was good. Smoky thanks to the bacon and creamy. Also I like how there's actual chunks of scallops!
Jimmy, Ben, and I decided to share this monster lobster. A 5-pounder, somewhere around $25-30 (market price).
Huge claws! Fresh steamed!
Glorious tail meat!
Three of us devouring the lobster haha. Yes, we are all wearing matching jackets haha. Saw these jackets on sale for $15!
Jacques Torres Chocolate
Chelsea Market
75 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
Chelsea, Meatpacking District
Next, went to Jacque Torres Chocolate for some dessert. So who is Jacques Torres? Well he is a celebrated pastry chef, as well as numerous appearances on Food Network, in competition or on his own show. Also he's the youngest chef to receive the Meilleur Ouvrier de France award!
Actually it's not just a normal chocolate chip cookie. It's a big chocolate chip cookie that's layered with chocolate! Now... how the hell does that work? Well it looks like a normal chocolate chip cookie from its appearance, and doesn't look like it is anything special except for its size. However, once you take a bite and took a look at the cookie, you actually see that within the cookie there are different layers of chocolate in the chocolate chip cookie. The layers aren't the same size as the cookie itself but more like chocolate chips that's smashed or melted into the dough at strategic points so that every bite you get their smooth and decadent chocolate!
Ninth Street Espresso
75 9th Ave
Between 15th St & 16th St
Chelsea, Meatpacking District
New York, NY 10011
After the cookie... I really needed a coffee and the alcohol I drank earlier was starting to wear off so I wanted to wake myself up! Stopped by Ninth Street Espresso to get an espresso.
Espresso Macchiato. Very good. Ninth Street is actually awarded a 28 by Zagat! 28 is pretty high for any establishment. They use beans sourced from Brazil. Much higher tannin than the espresso I had from Eataly. I love how there's espresso bars sprinkled around NYC!
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After Chelsea Market, people separated into different groups. Some were getting tired from drinking earlier and took a nap while a few went off to meet with a few friends. The rest of us decided to continue this St. Patrick's celebration around the Theater District and met up with others later. When we met up with Ahrhan and Rose, we were grabbing dinner in Hell's Kitchen at this Thai restaurant called Olieng.
Olieng Thai
644 10th Ave
Between 45th St & 46th St
Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West
New York, NY 1003
Ordered the Koong Kabok to start with. It is essentially deep-fried shrimp & ground chicken wrapped with rice papers, then served with sweet & sour sauce. It looked interesting on the menu because of its cone shaped but it's aiite. We didn't care too much for the sauce since it's the typical sweet & sour.
The Pad Kee Mow wasn't spicy enough for me, but you can definitely taste the flavor from the hot wok. What I meant is that sometimes when dishes are wokked, you can taste that the dish is cooked with a burner with high BTU.
Pad Thai wasn't overly sweet like some Thai joints, which is good since sometimes it can taste too artificial with all the "orange" sauce used. (Sorry for the bad picture.. was not sober :P)
Red Ocean Fried Rice. Thai spicy See-Ra-Sha sauce fried rice with shrimp, onion, scallion, tomato & egg. Expected it to be a little saltier.
Thai Iced Tea.
The Thai restaurant can only be called "average" compared to LA but according to Jimmy, it is definitely one of the better ones in NYC. Afterwards, headed out to a few more bars, partied some more, and went back to 53rd & 6th Halal Cart for some more chicken & rice.
How was my first real St. Patrick's celebration? I will say, no more Jameson for me for awhile... way too much this past St. Patrick's :P
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1 comments:
your blog--esp your NYC series--makes me so angry i decided not to go to the east coast for grad school. haha. always love your food adventures though!
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