If I could be a building, I would be this building. This building is me.
–Michael’s former roommate E on the Chelsea Market
We love having our friends come visit us here–not only does it give us an excuse to look for new restaurants, but it also shakes us out of our normal routine a bit. One of Michael’s former roommates (E) came down Saturday morning and we headed to Chelsea for brunch and to take him to the Chelsea Market, and it turned into a tour of some of our favorite New York food haunts.
There are few things more fun than showing a good friend a new place that they’d get a kick out of, and we were able to do that in spades with E: not only did we take him to Chelsea Market to check out the food selection, he was stoked because he was at the headquarters of the Food Network and also MLB.com–two of his favorite things–and we were able to take him to the Union Square Greenmarket and a Whole Foods for the first time.
It was a very exciting afternoon!
Michael was in the mood for a salsa at dinner similar to the one I made prior to Easter which was what prompted our trip to the greenmarket, but what awaited us was far more exciting than spring garlic or spring onions as it was the taste of both combined: ramps! These are fetishized by those in New York who care about these things because they are only available for a few weeks a year, but by the same token, their flavor is such that the hype is, I have to say, warranted.
As for Whole Foods and E never being in one, I must say that Connecticut is shockingly lacking in locations–especially outside of Fairfield County–and with great local options nearby like Edge of the Woods, it’s really not that surprising that he was never in one. I could say the same about Kroger until this past week–and that fact would be shocking to pretty much everyone outside of the Northeast who has stumbled across this little blog.
Store visits aside, it was a really great weekend–it was so much fun to take a friend along with us on our weekend food foraging adventures, plus we were able to have some awesome meals at some great spots in the city: Venezuelan delights were found at El Cocotero in Chelsea, and we ended the festivities with Sunday lunch at Dinosaur Barbecue, right across the street from our Fairway and good times were had by all.
The Manhattan [food] Project 
I’m forever jealous of that greenmarket!