Notes from a Food Diva: Holiday Shops at Bryant Park

I had a friend who would pack his bags and head for the Christmas marts in Europe each year after Thanksgiving dinner. Now, New York’s Holiday Shops (modeled after Christkindlmarkts) at Bryant Park, located at Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street, rival it.

Citi Pond, a good-sized ice rink that attracts the largest number of skaters in the city, is in the center of it all. You can bring your own skates or rent them. It’s free.

The shops surrounding the rink on all sides and the goodies they hold add up to Fifth Avenue-class shopping from countries all over the globe - jewelry (rings are in), beauty (bath salts and such), art, crafts, nouveau Christmas tree ornaments, fashion for men and women and a charming carousel with kid-sized chairs and tables for snacking.

You can have brunch, lunch, dinner or dessert haute at the Park Grill or in its adjoining holiday decorated, heated, tent. You can go casual in the Park Café. Both are located directly behind the library.

Then, there’s the two-story Celsius, erected each winter season, which overlooks the skating rink. Dine cozily on the deck with a heater overhead, eat indoors or have drinks in the lounge.

I was mesmerized by the variety, number, trendiness and quality of the food and drink offerings at the Holiday Shops. If you're a hot chocolate fan, it’s dreamland. Every flavor imaginable you’ll find at some shop circling Citi Pond, including thick Italian chocolate. Be sure to give the chocolate at Aroma Espresso Bar a vigorous stir to blend in the flavors on the bottom of the cup. You can sample a tidbit of bar chocolate at No Chewing Allowed.

Corn is popped in huge, tall metal kettles at Kettle Corn. At Top Arepa, you can sample the flat, pancake shaped Latin/South American corn bread. Split and sandwiched with mozzarella, it’s served with a score of different toppings, from guacamole to mushrooms crowned with a fried egg sunny side up. The same goes for grits and if you're up to it, grits, chips and soda at Daisy’s Grits.

You’ve had Chinese bubble tea iced, but have you had it hot? It's there at Yumi Chen.

To warm up at the Southwestern Grill, you can sit around a fire pit in a cushioned Adirondack chair under a Logia or in a porch swing for two. In 2009, South West Airlines was looking for a snazzy way to introduce itself to New Yorkers, so the grill came into being in the southwest corner of the park. Have a porch burger or grilled cheese - provolone, garlic, roasted green chilies (doesn’t that sound great) or beef short rib and pinto bean chili with avocado and cheddar. On the Southwestern Grill’s porch, sip a beer, wine, soda, cocktail, hot chocolate, apple cider or coffee.

Mmm…Enfes is a shop with a strong Turkish accent. Everything looks terrific, including boreks, a tubular pastry filled with meat and then curled up, and golzeme, which is made up of two pieces of dough put together with meat and onion, potato or cheese filling and then pressed in a grill, Panini-style. There’s lush-looking cheese rose borek under a drift of sesame seeds. You can have lentil balls or soup, Turkish coffee and baklava, too.