NYC is filled with pop-up street fairs, bazaars, and markets.  During the holiday season, each of these adorable mini-villages of food and handmade goods takes on a little festive ~flair.~ Lemonade stands turn into cider and hot chocolate booths, handmade jewelry is replaced by crocheted hats and scarves, and all of the little huts housing these goodies begin to resemble the North Pole cottages in Elf: it's holiday market season. 

Among these pop-ups, three reign all-powerful: Columbus Circle Holiday Market, Union Square Holiday Market, and the Winter Village at Bryant Park. These markets, curated by Urbanspace, are like Rudolph, and all other markets are the rest of the reindeer: you might know their names, but do they even really matter?

We hit up all three holiday markets, and we've got your eating itinerary all figured out—you're welcome.

Our adventure began at Columbus Circle, at The Baking Bean.

The Baking Bean

cake, chocolate, tea, coffee
Alexandra Tringali

Former model Clarice, the pastry chef at The Baking Bean, knew she always wanted to be a chef.  She thought she would focus on savory dishes—however, while touring around Europe, she definitively decided that the sweet pastry route was the way to go.

cappuccino, candy, hot chocolate, sweet, milk, coffee, cream, chocolate
Alexandra Tringali

Clarice makes all of her marshmallows from scratch, and hot chocolate the European way. The marshmallows melt inside the hot chocolate, infusing the drink with whatever flavors you choose.

tea, cheese
Jaime Wilson

However, the most impressive and delicious item from The Baking Bean was definitely the massive s'more.

cookie, sandwich, butter, peanut, chocolate, peanut butter
Jaime Wilson

Gooey, warm, and super-chocolately, with a satisfying crunch from the graham cracker, The Baking Bean definitely makes the best s'more we have ever tasted.

cookie, ice, ice cream, marshmallow, cream, butter, peanut, sandwich, chocolate, peanut butter
Alexandra Tringali

Kaya NYC

Next, we checked out Kaya NYC, which features Taiwanese street food.

coffee, cake, beer
Alexandra Tringali
sushi
Alexandra Tringali

We tried their combo platter, which featured popcorn chicken, and two bao of our choice.

chicken, teriyaki, rice
Jaime Wilson

The bottom bao is braised flank steak with five-spice powder, star anise and sichuan pepper, and the top is pork belly bao with cucumber and scallions, served with hoisin sauce.

teriyaki, pork, rice
Alexandra Tringali

Honorable Mentions

Three Tarts Bakery

cake, pizza, coffee, tea, beer
Alexandra Tringali

Jolie's Sweet Creations

candy, cake, doughnut, chocolate, pastry, sweet, cookie
Jaime Wilson

Next, we headed over to Union Square.

Brookie's Cookies NYC

At Brookie's Cookies NYC, we got the whole down-low on their most popular flavors and their top selling items.

cake, tea, chocolate
Alexandra Tringali

Of course, in this day and age of technological takeover, emoji cookies are the best sellers, as well as flavors like birthday cake, cinnamon, and chocolate.

cake
Alexandra Tringali

Next up was a personal favorite, Sigmund's Pretzels.

Sigmund's Pretzels

cookie, pastry, cake, sausage, sweet, candy, chocolate
Alexandra Tringali

Named the best pretzel in the United States by Martha Stewart, the guys at Sigmund's had a hard time telling us just which of their flavors is most popular – basically, they all are.

chocolate
Alexandra Tringali

We had the opportunity to try their truffle cheddar pretzel, the gruyere and paprika pretzel, and, of course, the churro pretzel.

honey, pretzel, chicken
Jaime Wilson

Honorable Mentions

Dulcinea Churros

espresso, coffee
Alexandra Tringali

No Chewing Allowed Chocolate

tea, beer
Jaime Wilson

... And finally, we rounded out our Urbanspace market tour at the biggest one, the Winter Village at Bryant Park.

Baked Cheese Haus

What's more #foodporn than raclette?  Wisconsin-based Baked Cheese Haus brought the Swiss-style cheese to NYC, and we had the opportunity to experience the melty goodness for ourselves.

Step 1: The cheese is melted until bubbly under traditional raclette warmers. Yes, those are a thing!

cream, pie, lemon
Alexandra Tringali

Step 2: toast the ciabatta and top with cured ham.

sausage, bread, pork, meat, bacon, ham
Alexandra Tringali

Step 3 (the best step): Scrape off the cheese!

And finally, of course, Step 4 is topping the sandwich with spring onions, baby gherkins, and dijon mustard.

bun, tomato, bacon, ham, toast, cheese, sandwich, bread
Alexandra Tringali

Next, we hit up Chick'nCone.

Chick'nCone

ice cream, chocolate ice cream, milk, sweet, waffle, coffee, ice, cream, chocolate
Alexandra Tringali

Founded in the Poconos in 2013, culinary team and general managers Jonathan and Josh loved comfort food, but wanted to make it more convenient and less messy.

sauce, beef, vegetable, meat
Alexandra Tringali

And so, Chick'nCone was born. It's exactly what it sounds like, and it's amazing.

ice, cream, waffle, sweet, chocolate
Alexandra Tringali

The final stop on the UrbanSpace tour was at Coney Shack.

Coney Shack

vodka, beer
Alexandra Tringali

Dishing up tacos, hotdogs, burritos, and bowls, Coney Shack is an incredibly popular food truck, Mexican-American street food with a Southeast Asian twist.

salad, chicken, slaw
Alexandra Tringali

Above is the beer battered fish taco. It was by far the best fish taco I have ever tasted. Ever.

rice, chicken, vegetable
Alexandra Tringali

All of UrbanSpace's markets are open from now until December 24th—take a day trip, go on a date, go ice skating (at the Bryant Park location), eat some damn good food, and let us know which vendor was your favorite!