Day 6 - Free Wine and Caviar in Chelsea!

Have you ever had one of those nights where your brain finally starts firing on all cylinders and the idea begin to flow and next thing you know it 3:30 in the morning???  That’s what I did last night.  It was awesome but it also meant I slept until 11am this morning!  To bad.  It was a gorgeous day today.  By the time I got ready for the day, checked email, returned phone calls and worked on a couple of projects it was 4pm - almost sunset!  Soooo…I decided to do an evening tour of the neighborhood and check out the Cheslea Market.

Almost without fail, when I ask locals what I should do next they include the Chelsea Market in their short list of recommendations.  It’s a short walk to 9th Ave and 16th St but it took me close to an hour to get there!  No I didn’t get lost…not really…just happily distracted.  As I walked along 9th Ave between 30th and 16th I found restaurant after restaurant that could hardly wait to try.  There was the Viet Grill, Chelsea Cottage and Zemi just to name a few that stood out.  The Tipsy Parson - isn’t that a great name?  And everyone seemed to be having a great time inside.  At the corner of 23rd two diners competed across the corners from each other for the 24hour clientele.  And Daniel Anger, the 2008 winner of Iron Chef America has opened a nice little place on 9th called Klee Brasserie.  Then…my dream come true…Wine and Chocolate…just like that.  The name says it all.  That will be an easy one to remember to go back to for an evening.  Who wants to come with me?
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The Chelsea Market was so unimpressive on the outside, I almost walked past it even though I was looking for it.  But inside it was a cozy old building with lots of exposed brick, hard wood floors and unique little shops.
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One of my favorites was the Chelsea Wine Vault.  By far the best selection of wines I’ve seen in New York so far.  And like all good wine stores they had FREE samples to sip on while you shop.  I started with the Pinot then sipped my way over to the Chardonnay.  As I slowly made the rounds I was happily surprised to find a huge selection of great wines for under $10.  In fact there was even a 2008 Montepulciano for 6bucks!  Very cool!  Of course they had a great selection of every type of wine at every price point.  The higher end bottles were locked behind a very impressive wrought iron gate…just out of reach so to speak :-)  The 2002 Del Forno Amarone was “on sale” for $439.  I had a chance to speak to Liz.  She was very warm, welcoming, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about all they have to offer.  I’m definitely going to come back not only to buy wine but also to try out some of their wine tasting classes.  They were just setting up for one when I left.
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Another great find at the market was the T Salon.  The air was infused with subtly fragrant tea that lead me easily by the nose straight to the pastry case.  Imagine my absolute glee when I discovered they were all vegan!  Cheesecakes made with tofu, non-dairy chocolate chip cookies and even creamy frosted pumpkin and carrot cakes.  All that yummmm without the guilt but alas no free samples.  I’ve got to try the Pumpkin Creamy Cheesish cake next time I come back…I’m still wearing off the Creme Carmilata.  Julia was behind the counter and she told me that the T Salon is designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible…bamboo floors, recycled building materials, soy based inks and recycled paper among many other simple touches were found throughout the store.  Nice.  I’ll be back soon Julia....NOTE:  I did go back the next week and I've got to say the tofu cheesecake is soooo delicious.  No kidding you tofu skeptics.  You've just got to taste it to believe it.

The Chelsea Hotel was my next stop.  No point going straight home.  It’s just over at 23rd St and 7th.  Then I can loop around to Whole Foods on the way home and pick up some dinner.  The Chelsea Hotel was built in 1883 and until 1899 it was the tallest building in New York.  It’s now a Nationally Registered Historic Site partly because of its age and architecture and partly because of the famous people that have lived there including Arthur Miller, James Schuyler and Thomas Wolfe just to name a few.  There’s a plaque on the outside of the building that honors Dylan Thomas that read, “…who lived and labored last here at the Chelsea Hotel and from here sailed out to die.”  Inside the bohemian qualities that have made it famous have been preserved along with works of art created by many of the artists that have stayed there.  Definitely worth a few minutes to stop by and take a look.
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Final stop…Whole Foods.  I had my own natural foods store in the 90’s so I really appreciate a great natural market.   Whole Foods has always been one of my favorite stores (Garden of Eden on 23rd gets an honorable mention too).  I was delighted to find out that there’s one right in my neighborhood.  Actually no matter where you are in NYC you’re not to far away from a WF with 6 more dotted throughout Manhattan alone.  I just stopped in to get some whole wheat pasta and fresh arugula and lucked into FREE samples of caviar - salmon and trout - both served on mini buckwheat blini with creme fraiche.  Now you’ve got to admit…my WF is pretty classy eh?  So with the appetizer part of my dinner done, I happily trotted home to finish it off with a nice whole wheat pasta topped with fresh tomato basil sauce (and an inappropriate amount of garlic :-) and a mound of fresh arugula on the side tossed with aged balsamic and buttery olive oil.  Ahhh…now I wish I had picked up that Montepulciano for 6 bucks but I was too lazy to carry it around with me.  Well Liz…you know I’ll be back.