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What to Eat at NYC's Best Holiday Markets
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
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.
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.
However, the most impressive and delicious item from The Baking Bean was definitely the massive s'more.
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.
Kaya NYC
Next, we checked out Kaya NYC, which features Taiwanese street food.
We tried their combo platter, which featured popcorn chicken, and two bao of our choice.
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.
Honorable Mentions
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.
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.
Next up was a personal favorite, Sigmund's Pretzels.
Sigmund's Pretzels
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.
We had the opportunity to try their truffle cheddar pretzel, the gruyere and paprika pretzel, and, of course, the churro pretzel.
Honorable Mentions
... 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!
Step 2: toast the ciabatta and top with cured ham.
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.
Next, we hit up Chick'nCone.
Chick'nCone
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.
And so, Chick'nCone was born. It's exactly what it sounds like, and it's amazing.
The final stop on the UrbanSpace tour was at Coney Shack.
Coney Shack
Dishing up tacos, hotdogs, burritos, and bowls, Coney Shack is an incredibly popular food truck, Mexican-American street food with a Southeast Asian twist.
Above is the beer battered fish taco. It was by far the best fish taco I have ever tasted. Ever.
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!