Food Porn: Creating my own New York City Foodie Walking Tour

Last week, I made a pit stop in New York City on my way to visit my brother's family in Connecticut. I only had 5 hours to burn in this city, and besides the desire to get a great everything bagel, I was looking for recommendations on what to do with those five hours. I put out the question on Facebook and just about every person gave me recommendations on where to eat. So eat I did. With some intermittent walking in between. This turned into my own little foodie walking tour. Prepare to salivate.

First stop was Murray's Bagels in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. I received a lot of recommendations for where to get a great bagel, but I've had the same person reference this place every time I look for NYC recommendations, so I finally decided to check it out. How different can bagels be, even in a place like New York? Pretty different. This was an awesome bagel. I ended up picking up some other bagels elsewhere to take up to Connecticut and they paled in comparison. I enjoyed an Everything Bagel, soft and gooey, with cream cheese. Can't be beat.

While enjoying my bagel, someone joined me at my table and I thought that if he had good taste in bagels, perhaps he could point me in the direction of my next food adventure. I lucked out in that he apparently gives foodie tours. As he put it, "I give foodie tours for a living, but this tip is free. Go westward, my child." So I decided to head to the West Village. While en route, I stumbled upon Magnolia Bakery, of Sex and the City fame. There also was a group of Asian tourists crowding the place, but I figured since I'd n ever been there and who doesn't like a good cupcake, I'd check it out. I opted for the "Smores" cupcake, a graham cracker cupcake with toasted marshmallow frosting and a dark chocolate ripple. The flavor combinations were very good, but I admit I've had much better cupcakes. The cake part was a bit dry for my tastes. But at least I got a good laugh out of all tour group who kept shouting the character names while they took photos inside. The place is tiny, so I opted for this photo outside, with my buddies Miranda and Carrie. 

 

The last major stop on my tour was to Chelsea Market, which is truly a food lovers' paradise. I found myself overwhelmed with the options but ultimately decided to settle on a pastrami sandwich, because this girl likes her protein. I opted for the Farmstead Meats' Pastrami Sandwich with White Cheddar and an Apricot-Celery Chutney. I'll let the photo speak for itself.

All in all I was happy with my choice to wing it for my own little foodie tour. Taking the train to Connecticut definitely affords me this opportunity and I think next time I may opt to do a several-hour stay in Philadelphia.


Thanks to you all for the recommendations. I'll file some of them away in my memory for the next trip.