Delicatessen & Mac Bar, Nolita

In late August, Wen made one last NYC trip before moving back to Singapore. We made plans for a late lunch at Cafe Habana, but we got there too late. Even though their website lists 11am – 5pm for lunch, they stop seating people as early as 3:30pm. No tacos for us, but it was fun wandering around Nolita. We really haven’t explored that area much. We ended up at Delicatessen. MacBar dishes at a real sit down restaurant. Win-win! Trendy looking place with seating that’s perfect for people watching! Places like this make me worry that I’ll leave hungry due to tasty, but overpriced food. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. All three of us left very satisfied and happy!

John ordered The Bird, which was a ground turkey burger with a generous blend of herbs, whole wheat bun, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle and fries. All of the burger toppings were served on the side. John doesn’t like raw tomatoes, so that worked out well. It looks relatively small, but that was quite the impressive burger. Very dense. After assembling, you have to press down to get it to be a reasonable size to eat. There’s no way I would be able to eat that in a dignified manner in public. I would have made such a mess! John versus burger… he won, just barely. Wen got the Mayan Chipotle ($14) with chicken diablo, chihuahua cheese, green onions. This was very tasty, and the chicken makes it even more filling. Wen isn’t a fan of green onions, which means more for me! Next time I make mac and cheese, I’m going to add sliced green onions as garnish. I ordered the Mac ‘Shroom ($13) with roasted mushrooms, fontina, mascarpon, truffle essence. Amazing. The skillet doesn’t look all that big, but it’s packed with plenty of mac and cheese. Serious mushroom overload. The cheese was so creamy and ooey-gooey. The truffle essence was the icing on the cake. So rich and indulgent. I’m not sure I could handle their duck confit or lobster mac. They sound great, but are probably too intense!