Ronnybrook Milk Bar:Soups, Shakes, Salads and More at the Market

There are so many reasons to love the Chelsea Market - among them Amy's Bread, Sarabeth's and the Chelsea Wine Vault - and now there's one more:  Ronnybrook Milk Bar.

Those of you who know the Market may remember the tiny milk bar, where you could get ice cream cones, fresh-from-Ronnybrook-Farm milk and butter churned from Ronnybrook cream.  Well, just a few months ago, the bar was transformed into a modern-day soda shop/luncheonette, a place with enough charm to make us nostalgic for a time most of us know only from books and movies, and enough edge to make you think it would be cool as a club.  (I bet the pumpkin-pie milkshake would be great with a shot of rum.)  Actually, it's already been vetted as cool:  I.D. magazine featured it in a recent issue.

But unless you're a designer and want to see what Mark Sarosi (above), who spent four years with David Rockwell (aka, Mr. Restaurant Design), has done with the space - okay, even if you're not a designer, you should see it:  look at the way the milk crates lining the walls pull out for extra seating:

you need to go for the soda-fountain treats - the shakes and ice cream cones, the lavender-infused milk (yum), the floats - and the food.  The menu is so appealing and the ingredients so terrific - as much as possible, Mark is trying to source his products from other local farms - that it's just not easy to figure out what you want.

Cast-iron eggs with roasted mushrooms, Ronnybrook's farmer cheese (I love good farmer cheese) and herbs?

Country-style turkey meatballs over buttered egg noodles with sweet cream gravy?

Roasted herbed Berkshire pork sandwich with avocade aioli (a great idea) and watercress on 7-grain bread?

If the world were a perfect place, we'd have a Ronnybrook Milk Bar near us no matter where we lived and the adorable Mark to whip up shakes for us at the first sign of an urge to slurp.

Comments

[Dorie]

The whole place is pretty great, isn't it? As Robyn said, it's too bad it's not open late ... who wouldn't want a thick, cold, frothy milkshake as a nightcap?

[Robyn]

OH MAN, I so want to go there! I wish it were open later so I could visit for a post-dinner treat. :[ Nothing's quite as good for the digestion like a late night milkshake!...

[Casey]

That pork sandwich sounds sublime.
And I love the creative extra seating.

[brilynn]

Adorable indeed! The whole experience sounds wonderful!