Tag Archives: Market Cafe

Market Cafe- Bumped Up

14 Oct

I wrote about Market Cafe previously, however, I have to update the review because I found a dish that is SO good that it makes me need to bump up the Nom Nom points.

To start, however, I must mention that while they say they open at noon, we literally stood outside the empty restaurant staring at them until about 5 after when they finally seated us.

So onto the food… The Seared Sea Scallops are SO. DAMN. GOOD. that I could make a whole meal out of it.  Unfortunately, I have now sung their praises so much when I’m there with others that I always wind up splitting it. 

The scallops are cooked so well to begin with… but then they’re on a bed of potato puree with brown butter that is TO. DIE. FOR.  Holy potatoes batman!  I am salivating just looking at that picture.  Just because it’s so good… here is another picture.

The rest of the items on the menu are just pretty much average.  Good but not great.

On this adventure, Lori and I got both the pork loin sandwich.  It comes with smoke mozzarella, arugula, and butter pickles on homemade bread.  I couldn’t have the pickles due to my allergy, and Lori thought they were way too sweet (since I love sweet with pork… I probably would have liked it).  I also noticed that Lori could not handle the fat on the meat, however, in my humble opinion, that’s the best part!  To each their own.

We were there with my Aunt Linda and she got the omelet of the day.

It was something along the lines of swiss and mushrooms (I think) and she said she enjoyed it.

HOWEVER… there was a salad problem.  The lettuce was VERY old, brown, wilted, and tasted funny.  It should never have left the kitchen.

To be fare, the waiter was very apologetic about it and brought us french fries.  Unfortunately, they didn’t make it to the table before I had to leave for a meeting.  Though I remember them being tasty.

So while the 6.5 stands on most of the food… and the service was lacking… the scallops get a solid 8!  I’m therefore changing my ranking…

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10

Market Cafe

26 Jun

Right around the corner is a brightly lit place called Market Cafe (9th Ave between 37th and 38th) that looks slightly out of place below the Port Authority area.  Hopefully, for those of us in the neighborhood, places like this will continue to pop up and take over some of the abandoned and not-so-desirable store fronts in the neighborhood.  Don’t get me wrong, I love authentic, old New York, however, this area is still a bit more run down and loaded with the homeless population to be counted as a “desirable neighborhood” to live in.  I have never exactly been one to flock to the hot neighborhoods, however, and much prefer these “up and commers.” 

Anyway… Market has been a place we have been meaning to try since moving in, but it took us about 6 months to get there with dad and Maggie.  I started with sangria… which wasn’t great, but thirst quenching at least.

Maggie went with the salad… which I cannot remember.

Mike went with… shocker… the burger.  He was a good boy and got veggies instead of fries. Bravo Mike!  He liked it.

Dad chose the grilled shrimp with stewed lentils and and parsley oil.  The shrimp were delicious.  Mmmm char.

I chose the (“crisped”) roast garlic chicken with creamed potatoes, spinach, and roast garlic sauce.  It was nice and juicy, but I expected it to be crispier since it did say it was crispy in the description.  The garlic sauce was perfectly sweet.  Quite enjoyable.

Overall, Market is a nice part of the neighborhood and while not outstanding, it seems like an easy, reliable place to grab a meal.  Entrees are a little on the pricey side for a place that is a bit off the grid, but it matches the effort that the place is trying to make by being modern in the neighborhood.  All entrees were less than $20, but even the burger was $14.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10