Exploring a New York City restaurant may go something like this – first, you peruse some menus online. Next, you make a reservation. Then, you go to the restaurant at the time of your reservation, check your coat, and are seated at a table for an evening of wine, dinner, and great conversation. Or your exploration may involve walking down the street, ducking into the first place where you can order from a counter, selecting your meal, and taking it to go. In New York City, there are several ways to procure your next meal. Instead of settling for a traditional sit down meal, why not pick a weekend to do something more adventurous?
City Food Tours is one of a few companies that offer tours to explore the great eats of New York City with a guide. This is not just for out-of-towners looking to try food in a few neighborhoods in a short period of time. These food tours are also for people who call New York City home. Even if you have discovered delicious eats in this city several times, you are certain to be surprised by interesting restaurants and shops you have never known of before, even though you have passed them time and time again.
City Food Tours offers a variety of daily tours, each with a different theme. For example, you can go on the Lower East Side Artisan Food Highlights Tour and learn a modern way to roast coffee, sample delicious donuts, and take a taste of chocolate chili ice cream, all below Houston Street and East of Bowery. This tour is offered Wednesday-Sunday, so if you have a day off during the week, you can check out this two hour tour (for $43.50) or you can wait until the weekend when the living is easy.
I had the pleasure of enjoying the Saturday “In the Steps of a Top Chef” tour, which was a three hour stroll to explore restaurants and shops related to Bravo television hit Top Chef. The tour started in Chinatown, continued to Soho, and ended in Greenwich Village. When embarking on this tour, the guests hoped to consume enough samples of food to add up to the equivalent of lunch. At the end of the tour everyone felt full and satisfied that they had the best lunch imaginable – a lunch filled with a little bit of everything!
One such savory stop on this tour was 24 Prince, restaurant home of Head Chef and former Top Chef contestant Nikki Cascone. 24 Prince is an American Bistro that takes simple foods and transforms them into haute cuisine. When you enter this quaint restaurant filled with Saturday morning smiles, the tour guide seats you at the bar, where you are greeted by a friendly bartender serving up drinks. Soon after, you and another tour guest will enjoy splitting the Trio of Spreads, a menu item at 24 Prince. The plate has a lovely combination of guacamole, white bean dip, and a tomato marmalade risotto, with a heaping portion of artisanal bread for dipping. The crunchiness of the bread and the smoothness of the dip make for a relaxing and delectable tour stop. You will taste just enough to think about making a reservation to enjoy more of 24 Prince’s comforting and classy cuisine.
Another stop on the tour is the infamous Wichcraft Sandwich, part of Tom Colicchio’s Craft restaurants. You may know Tom Colicchio as the Head Judge of Top Chef, but he is also well known for the fabulous eats he brings to New York City at Craftbar, Craft, Colicchio & Sons, and Wichcraft. Wichcraft has several locations in the city, including Bryant Park, Herald Square, and Union Square. The guests on the tour had the opportunity to sample almost half-sized portions of two different kinds of sandwiches. The guide brought out the Slow Roasted Pork Sandwich, with red cabbage, jalapenos, mustard on a ciabatta roll. This sandwich, usually $8.95, was really solid in form and sweet and hearty with each bite. The guide also brought the group the Grilled Gruyere sandwich with caramelized onions on rye bread. This sandwich, which is only $5.95, is very gooey, cheesy, and simply mouth-watering. Tom Colicchio takes ingredients that may be unfamiliar or not your favorite of the bunch and harmonizes them with other ingredients to create the most incredible sandwich you have ever had. If you walk into a Wichcraft Sandwich, you can just order the first thing your eye catches, and you are bound to enjoy it.
For three hours, and $44.95, you and 11 others, as well as your knowledgeable guide who is most likely an alumni of the French Culinary Institute, can see the city in a different light, with so much more fun and flavor than if you had spent the day in a local coffee shop. In addition to restaurant stops, you will sample cheeses at a famous gourmet shop and learn how to sharpen your knife skills. And this tour is just one of many interesting tours that City Food Tours has to offer!
City Food Tours is not the only way to explore New York City restaurants and food shops on foot. There is also Foods of New York Tours, which provides tours by city neighborhood. You can explore the west side on the Chelsea Market/Meatpacking District Food and Culture Wine Tour, which is a three hour, $44 per person tour, which includes 7 tastings, one of which is done while seated at a restaurant. Or you can go on a tour of Central Village and Soho, where you will have the opportunity to sample foods at several restaurants, including Camaje, Monte’s Trattoria, and Cuba Restaurant.
These tour companies are just two reputable examples of ways to try NYC restaurants on foot. No one said you had to go to a restaurant and eat a full meal of food to fulfill your lunch and dinner desires! Take the opportunity to learn while you dine, sample some of the city’s finest and most unique treats and mingle with others over cheese bites and wine tastings. It promises to be a great way to spend your day.
