How is it Sunday already? The weekends really go by way too fast especially this one since we had to “spring ahead” and set the clocks forward. I can’t wait for the warmer weather and the longer days, but having to wake up for work in the dark is just miserable. Anywayyyy, I was able to participate in a yummy food festival this weekend in NYC! I was originally planning to go into the city this weekend to celebrate my best friend Brittany’s birthday, but she changed the day of her celebration from Saturday to today…wahhhh!!!! I had to be in the St.Patrick’s Day parade today with the dance/kickline/cheer team I coach, so I wasn’t going to be able to attend. (fail) So, I decided that I would still go in on Saturday to celebrate! Now, Brittany knows that whenever I plan a visit to the city I always have a food place in mind that I want to check out, and even though it was technically her birthday weekend and she should be deciding where we go, she still let me pick!!! wahoo!! My originally plan was to get a delicious bowl of ramen, but while scrolling through my twitter feed  a few days ago, I noticed that a food festival was happening this weekend…sooo change in plans, ramen will have to wait…

The Food Festival was appropriately named “A Taste of 7th” since all the restaurants that were participating were located on 7th street in the East Village, they included: Luke’s Lobster, Caracas Arepa Bar, Porchetta, Wechsler’s, Oaxaca Taqueria, Big Gay Ice Cream and Butter Lane. What I love about these types of events is that you are able to sample lots of delicious food all at once. This crawl consisted of a few places that I had been wanting to try so I was really excited! Lucky for us, it was a beautiful, sunny, and cool day in the city so we walked from Britt’s apartment, besides, we knew we would need the walk after all the food!

Our first stop was Luke’s Lobster. There was a long line, but it moved rather quick. Once we got to the front of the line, we had to give our name and present the ticket confirmation I printed out which I frantically thought I miss placed like 100 times throughout the day haha.

We were given the cutest little lobster roll I have EVER seen! Side Note: I have never had a lobster roll, and can’t even remember the last time I’ve actually had lobster, too much work, I know, sorry…

All I can say is WOW! They piled it  high with A LOT of lobster. It was so fresh tasting and just simply seasoned, but what brought it all together was the toasted bun with butter! No one flavor over powered the other, keeping the lobster the star ingredient. I could really get used to eating lobster like this!!! I didn’t have a chance to read through their menu, but they offer many different lobster roll varieties.

Stop number 2 was Caracas Arepa Bar which was just next door. We gave our name at took a seat at the bar and we were presented with this masterpiece!

I had heard about Caracas on various food shows and was happy to finally check it off my list. An arepa is native to Venezuela and it has a very mellow but sweet flavor with a soft pillowy interior and a crisp exterior, so good! Being that it was a food crawl, most places do not allow you pick from the menu, but that’s usually fine because they most likely are giving you their signature or most popular item from the menu. This was the “La Mamasita Arepa” with grilled mushrooms, roasted corn, sweet plantains and the works. Most of the food on this food crawl was meat so it was nice to see a vegetarian option. The filling was A-MAZ-ING!! I loved the plantains and anything with avocado cream is good in my book. I was actually a little full at this point, but we had only just begun…Stop 3: Porchetta

Porchetta was serving up their Italian roast pork sandwich with crispy skin which was featured in Time Out New York’s 100 best dishes and now I know why! The pork had sooooo much flavor and was super tender. My brother would totally flip over this sandwich. I need to take him here. On to the next stop…we headed up the block to Wechsler’s. Britt is heading to Austria next week so this was a good way to get her prepared for the food she would be eating while there.

They were serving their pork bratwurst with curry ketchup and fries. Not what I would usually go out and order, but that’s another great thing about a food crawl, trying new things. I obviously went right for the french fries and polished those off in no time. I took a few pieces of the bratwurst to try and I liked it!! I enjoyed the combination with the curry ketchup. My belly was definitely full at this point but we still had tacos and dessert left!! (oyyy)

The last food stop was Oaxaca Taqueria. We were given the option of either having a taco or mini burrito. I decided on a chicken taco and Britt went with mini chicken burrito. Both yummy…the taco had all the great flavors that I look for, but sadly we only took a few bites…we had dessert on the brain…

Next to cookies, Ice Cream is my second favorite dessert. Big Gay Ice Cream is well known by all New Yorkers as having awesome  soft serve ice cream combinations with fun and silly names. This was the stop I was waiting for allll day ! They were serving the Apple Gobbler, a vanilla sundae with grahams, bourbon butterscotch, apple butter and whipped cream. It was like the most delicious apple pie swirled into creamy vanilla soft serve. YUM! but we still had one more dessert stop left…

…Butter Lane. We decided to take our cupcakes to go since I had entered into a serious food coma! They let us have our choice of their 6 most popular cupcake flavors. Britt and I both went with the Salted Caramel. So, with full bellies…we made the walk back to Britt’s.

7th Street is one tasty block. I highly recommend heading over there if you have a chance!

We did eventually have those cupcakes. They had a classic, homemade taste and had just the right amount of frosting to cake. very important.  It was a perfect “taste” to end a day of eating. Happy Birthday, BB!!!

With love and sugar, Kristen xo.