Yesterday, Brownie and I happened upon this free hot chocolate tasting in the Rock Center concourse, in front of the ice skating rink. All the Rock Center chocolatiers are represented: Jacques Torres, Bouchon, La Maison du Chocolat, and Godiva. Each is handing out little samples of their hot chocolate, gratis of course.

La Maison is the only one handing out two versions, their “Dark and Robust” and “Silky and Smooth.” Apparently, it’s one sample per person, so we each got one and Brownie gave me hers. If you find yourself in need of making a decision between the two, go for “Silky and Smooth” as “Dark and Robust” is thinner than Angelina. The tasting’s only going on until 5pm today, so run on down during your lunch break (or now.)

When I first heard about Schweddy Balls, Ben & Jerry’s latest Limited Edition flavor named for the classic Alec Baldwin SNL sketch, I had to go check the Rock Center shop to see if they had scoops. And come on, Schweddy Balls are tailor made for amusing interactions.

Me: “hi, I’d like a cup of Schweddy Balls.”
Woman in business suit next to me: “Getting some Schweddy Balls today?”
Me: “Yup.”
Woman in business suit next to me: “Me, too. Those are some good Schweddy Balls.”

Described as “Fair Trade vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and loaded with fudge covered rum and milk chocolate malt balls.” I didn’t taste much rum in the actual ice cream base–tasted more than a rich vanilla to me–but the chewy mini rum balls delivered some boozy flavor. Not sure what the rum to malt ball ratio was supposed to be, but it seemed like in the cup that I had the there were way more rum balls than malt balls. If you look forward to the holidays for chocolate rum balls then you’ll be a fan.

Ben & Jerry’s, Rock Center Concourse, 212-218-7843

When I passed by Harry’s Italian in the concourse at 30 Rock on Monday, I took a few other photos of the new shop. Get a closer look, including a menu shot, after the jump.

Pizza By The Slice:
Cheese – $2.75
Sausage – $3.25
Pepperoni – $3.25
White – $3
Mushroom – $3.25
Special – $4

Sandwiches:
Mozzarella & Tomato – $6.50
Prosciutto, Peppers & Mozzarella – $7.50
Italian Tuna – $7.50
Grilled Chicken, Peppers & Mozzarella – $7.50
Harry’s Italian Hero – $8.50

Salads:
Mixed Greens – $5.50
Ceasar – $6.50
Arugula – $6.50
Anti Pasto – $6.50
(Add chicken to salads for $2.50)

And early reports in the comments seem pretty positive.  Have you been yet?  What’s the good word…

Taste of Summer has returned for the next couple of days, giving us another chance to sample some of the best Rock Center has to offer. Last year, Chris stopped by and got an early taste of Bill’s Bar & Burgers. This year, you can get a taste of the new Rock Center concourse pizza place Harry’s, which is scheduled to open in the beginning of August. All of the Rock Center lunch spots are there: ‘wichcraft, Cucina & Co, AJ Maxwell’s, ML favorite Tri Tip, and even Manchu Wok with a $4.99 special. I would have loved if they were offering a nice little buffet, but logistics probably got in the way.

Harry’s was there offering slices of their regular and pepperoni pizzas, but something about eating a pizza that’s been sitting in the hot sun and the smoke from Brasserie Ruhlmann’s badly placed grill turned me off. The slices looked good, but I’ll take my chances and wait until the actual shop opens up.

If you want something cooked fresh, your best bet is going for one of the hamburgers. Brasserie Ruhlmann is offering the same hamburger as last year when more than a few people sang its praises. Though it sounds delicious and I’m sure it is, my aversion to blue cheese, it’s $9 price tag, a bit of a line, and their very smoky grill prompted me to move on.

This year, Bill’s upped the price of their burger by $1, which is still cheaper than Brasserie Ruhlmann’s fancy-pants one. There is also a special of a burger with three chocolate chip cookies ($3) and a bottle of water ($2) for $10. I had my eyes on another dessert so I went with just a cheeseburger, fresh off the grill.

Does a hot summer lunch get much better than that? My burger was cooked to medium, had a nice grill char, and luckily still juicy-I was more than content with this in the 90 degree sun. This was my first time trying Bill’s, and I did think that the meat could have used a bit more seasoning, but it’s above average in the classic All-American burger category. Just don’t forget to stop for some condiments at the table, the burger comes with only pickles on top.

My passing up on their chocolate chip cookies was rewarded with a bit of Ben & Jerry’s AmeriCone Dream (they did have Late Night Snack). They brought up coolers filled with ice cream and at $1/scoop, the tourists and office workers kept a constant line going. They only had about 10 flavors from the shop, and the line moved pretty quickly. A major difference is the shorted amount of time to get food. Last year Chris didn’t get there until 2:30, towards the end of the lunch time show-this year, he would have been out of luck. The food’s only available from 11:30 to 2pm, so you late-lunchers are S.O.L. The Taste of Summer should be going on today and tomorrow.

Every day, the Chef’s Table at Cucina & Co. in the Rock Center Concourse offers a different lunch for $9.50 from 11:30 to 12:30. The lunches change each week (Brownie enjoyed their pork tenderloin medallions with pasta), but Fridays are always the same. Chef Juan anchors each week with his cheeseburger sliders, and they’re popular enough to have gotten the attention of Concourse neighbor Tri Tip. We’ve never had the sliders though, so I decided to head out for an early lunch last Friday (the Chef’s Table is known to run out of food). See what I found after the jump.

There was a short line at the Chef’s Table the entire time I was there. The line moved quickly, but it was obvious that many people came downstairs solely for the sliders. I even picked up a few things by watching those before me (i.e. grabbing a little salad dressing cup from the nearby salad bar for Chef Juan to scoop some extra chipotle aioli into).

The sliders are pretty simple. A bun, a small patty, a slice of cheese, a single slice of tomato and a dollop of spicy chipotle aioli. Each order comes with three sliders and a mound of thin French fries. Chef Juan personally constructs all of the sliders in front of the customers cooked to order.

I ordered my sliders medium rare, and I was pretty disappointed with their level of “doneness.” My burgers were clearly much closer to rare, with only the outer shell being cooked, and they were pretty cold just a few minutes after I walked away from the cooking station. I’m not sure if this was a mistake of if they typically err on the side of undercooking, but I think ordering the sliders medium would be a much safer bet.

Regardless of the temperature of my burgers, I didn’t find a whole lot to love here. The bun was a little too thick for such a small burger, and it had a crumbly texture I wasn’t too fond of. Between the bun and the firm, not-quite-ripe tomato slice, the meat and cheese were pretty much completely overwhelmed.

The chipotle aioli was smoky, a little spicy and just all around delicious though. It made a great dip for the fries, which were also quite good. Sides being the upside of a meal isn’t a very good sign, but I felt much better about my lunch as I polished off the serving of hot, crisp fries.

I can’t help but be a little disappointed by my slider experience at Cucina & Co. The ingredients and preparation left something to be desired, but from everything I saw, the enthusiasm and effort is there. I’d consider trying them again (ordered medium of course), even though at $9.50 it’s hard to imagine three sliders seeming like a great deal. I’m actually much more interested in the other Chef’s Table offerings though. The sliders may have built a following largely because they’re one of the only items available each week.

Cucina & Co, 30 Rockefeller Center, Concourse Level, (212) 332-7630

In addition to an espresso bar they serve both Classic and Wicked Hot Chocolate $3.50 plus tax for a small or $4.90 for a large. The hot chocolate here is rich and satisfying and the wicked one comes with a chili infused kick. Thicker than your standard hot cocoa, this is really more of a drinking chocolate. I’ve made it from the mix at home and instead of a powder, it’s made with melted bits of very good chocolate with steamed milk. A small is more than enough of a decadent treat.

I admired the by the piece candy but settled on one of their chocolate chip cookies. These cookies are intensely buttery and equally chocolatey. And they make for a fantastic ice cream sandwich. The DUMBO and TriBeCa shops offer these ice cream sandwiches in the summer so I couldn’t resist asking if they might make an appearance in Rock Center when the warmer weather finally arrived. Chef Torres said that thought the shop isn’t set up for a freezer, they’d see what they could do about getting a small one in. Fingers crossed!

Jacques Torres, 30 Rockefeller Center Plaza, concourse level

As I type this the finishing touches are being put on Rock Center’s brand new Jacques Torres!!! I made a quick stop by at lunch today and the place is looking great. Peeking in from the window I could see an espresso bar and a few tables for eating in.  And I’m pretty sure I spied Mr. Chocolate himself, doing some hands on lifting and set up. They are officially opening tomorrow and JT will be there from 10 until noon. So excited to see the Godiva space taken over by superior chocolate.  Dessert win for Rock Center! 

Today is the first day of the annual summer Rock Center Farmer’s Market. As in years past you can find them set up at the North Plaza, Rockefeller Place at 50th Street every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from now through September 3rd. The vendors vary each day so I’ve put together a little guide to some of my favorites.

Millport Dairy is one of the vendors you can look forward to seeing today (they also come to the market on Thursdays and Fridays). They hail from Lancaster, PA and serve up some delicious whoopie pies, Shoo-Fly pie quarters and halves, as well as cheese.

In the past they’ve been pretty good about the cheese samples–the garlic chive and hot pepper jack are especially good.

Valley Shepherd Creamery is another vendor to look forward to tomorrow (and Friday for that matter). They sell a variety of dairy products including sheep and cow’s milk cheeses, yogurt, and a rotating menu of gelato cups.

Katchkie Farm will be back Fridays with sandwiches, beet chips, chilled beet soup, 100 Mile Lasagna, Katchkie coleslaw, chilled cucumber soup, chilled zucchini-tomato Soup, and basil-spearmint iced tea. Their featured sandwiches will be: a DiPaola Turkey Sandwich with Hawthorne Valley Cheddar Cheese, Katchkie Farm Microgreens and Mayo and for the vegetarians a Katchkie Farm Eggplant, Zucchini, Radishes, Lettuce, Sandwich with Katchkie Pesto and Hawthorne Valley Cheddar. We hope that they’ll be bringing back their $8 lunch special from last summer, their turkey sandwich stuffed with beet chips was awesome.

Rockefeller Center Greenmarket, North Plaza at 50th Street every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from now through September 3rd.

Related:
A Look at the Rock Center Greenmarket from Years Past

I wasn’t immediately excited when I read about the $10 lunch special at the bar of McCormick & Schmick’s. I like cheap lunch specials at a fancy restaurant just as much as the next guy (i’m looking at you burger from Wolfgang’s, but schlepping up to Rockefeller Center didn’t really seem worth it in this heat. Then I saw that a half po’ boy and lobster bisque was among the options – I reconsidered. I love a po’ boy and haven’t had a one since our ML Team excursion to the Grand Central Oyster Bar. Clearly I was past due.

See what ten bucks gets you after the jump.

The special also offers four other options, including a linguini with clams in either a red or white sauce that looked pretty good when I saw the remnants on my neighbor’s plate down the bar. The rest of it, a cobb salad, tuna nicoise and a chicken and brie sandwich all sound fine, but aren’t anything I’d make a special trip for.

The po’ boy turned out to be four plump, crispy fried shrimp with lettuce, tomato and mayo squeezed into a wedge of buttered hero roll. I’d say it was more like a third of a po’ boy rather than a half, since I walked away wishing I’d had three times as much of it.

Instead of more po’ boy, there was a cup of lobster bisque and fries. Both might have been enough to make up for the rest of the sandwich, if they’d been a little better.

The fries were fine, not bad, not great. It’s the bisque that was disappointing. The intense lobster flavor was great and usually I’d be all over something so creamy, but it was just too salty to really enjoy. On the plus side, the deal offers a glass of wine on the side for just $5 more, which goes great with a leisurely lunch in a fancy place. You know, hypothetically.

If I worked close to Rockefeller Center, I’d take this as a win and definitely return (if nothing else for the happy hour) but from where I work, I’d just as soon head to Grand Central next time I want great seafood.

The + (What somebody who likes this would say)

• I like to get a cheap meal at a fancy restaurant.
• I work near Rockefeller Center, so it’s really easy to get to.
• The po’ boy is so good, you wish you had three times more of it.
• A $5 glass of wine eases the pain of not getting enough shrimp.

The – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• That’s not nearly enough sandwich.
• The bisque is too salty.
• If I’m going to take a train for seafood, I’ll go to Grand Central, or better yet, to Pearl Oyster Bar.

McCormick & Schmick, 1285 Avenue of the Americas (btw. 51+52nd)