On the first night of the ninth-annual  New York City Wine & Food Festival, it seemed only fitting to ring in the festivities just below Food Network’s home base at Chelsea Market, one of the premier indoor food halls in the world. The sprawling food mecca went all-out for Chelsea Market Live, an after-hours feast celebrating the best walk-around bites the culinary destination has to offer, hosted by Cooking Channel stars Haylie Duff, Tia Mowry and Tiffani Thiessen. Food Network's offices are located just a few floors above, so it's safe to say we know our way around the place like the back of our hands (which we use to carry lunch from Chelsea Market daily). That said, these were the bites we couldn't get enough of.

If you're going to swirl a mound of cheesy, prosciutto-filled tortellini in a melty wheel of Parmesan cheese right in front of us, we're going to say yes — we're just wired that way. The pasta experts at Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina did just that and, if we had it our way, we'd feast on the tortellini straight out of the wheel.

Listen, we've fork-twirled our fair share of pasta doused in Bolognese, but the team at Mokbar served up a little something different. The Korean ramen bar gave the Italian mainstay a decidedly Asian spin by serving up a hearty helping of Kimchi Bolognese Ramen, finished off with a little bone broth, caramelized onions and scallions.

Getting our hands on lunch at Los Tacos No. 1 during the Chelsea Market lunch rush is a feat, so we raced to the counter with the promise of made-to-order adobada tacos, a saucy assembly of pork and pineapple on a homemade soft taco, with our names on them.

Though Dizengoff, the Philly-bred market newcomer, is known for cranking out the silkiest hummus that pita could ever meet on a daily basis, this special night called for something a little different. Instead, their offering was a surprisingly bright helping of stuffed cabbage, filled with chickpeas, braised tomato, amba (a tangy mango-based condiment) and a drizzle of tehina.

Knowing exactly what would give people the purest happiness, the folks at The Lobster Place kept things simple, setting out tray after tray of super-fresh Copps Island oysters, pulled straight from the Long Island Sound. Large and juicy, the oysters made it hard for us to pull ourselves away from this all-you-can-eat spread, but feasting in such a large market necessitated saving room.

Keeping in mind that seasoned food-festival patrons are expert grazers, the crew at Tuck Shop shrunk its dinner-sized Australian meat pies into mini versions that hit the spot. The little steak and Stilton pies featured the usual buttery-as-ever pie crust, and they vanished after just two bites (unless you asked for another).

Sure, a Ferris wheel could never begin to fit inside Chelsea Market, but one bite of Creamline's deep-fried, powdered sugar-dusted Oreo had us feeling like we were at the fairgrounds.

Get more insider coverage of the 2016 New York City Wine & Food Festival all weekend long.