Bucktown/Wicker Park Food Tasting & Cultural Tour

Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Lots of good food, interesting information and great sights to see in Wicker Park and Bucktown. Our guide Kerry (Carrie?) was super and all the tastings were yummy. TOO full afterwards! Highly recommend this tour!

This tour was the best tour I've ever been on. This is not an exaggeration. Kent, our tour guide, was absolutely great. Very personable and funny - and not in the cheesy way that most tour guides are - he kept us entertained and interested the whole time. As for the tour itself, it was a great mix - 6 different food stops (all of which were really delicious, and Kent provided us with the interesting history of each place) plus a nice walking tour of the neighborhood. Kent also pointed out different types of Victorian architecture in the area, which I really enjoyed. He gave the history and interesting facts about Bucktown and Wicker Park in a way that kept me interested and not bored the whole time. And even the order of the food samples was well-thought out - heavier, more filling stops were spread out throughout the tour, and there was about an hour or so of walking after the most filling stop - which was perfect, because after that hour we were ready, and not too full, for our next food sample! I can't say enough good things about this tour. My friend and I loved it. On my next trip to Chicago, I definitely plan to do one of the other food tours offered. I would recommend this to anyone!!! A great way to sample Chicago food, learn some Chicago neighborhood history, and see some architecture. You can't go wrong!

Our guide, Kent, had the perfect mix of humor, insider tips, and knowledge of local history. He was a big part of making the tour so enjoyable. The generous portions for each tasting were surprising and made the tour a good value. (Either eat breakfast well before the tour or eat a small breakfast; you will definitely get enough to make a filling lunch.) The pace and the itinerary of the tour have been well thought-out; just when you think you can't eat another bite, there's a pause on the tour to walk and learn more about the neighborhood and architecture. The tour would be equally enjoyable for visitors and locals who want to learn more about a neighborhood that they don't often visit. We were impressed such that we'd consider another of the tours when we return to Chicago or look for similar tours in other towns. Well done!

We have done two walking tours this summer. The first one was the Greenwich village tour in New York. It was a wonderful tour and prompted us to try the Bucktown/Wicker park tour in Chicago. None of us were disappointed. Both tours were absolutely fabulous. It is a great way to try new foods as well as learning history of each location. We really can't wait to go back and eventually do all of the tours available.

This was one of my favorite activites in Chicago BY FAR! (And I did so many fun things there). This is a MUST DO when you're in Chicago if you enjoy food and learning about history and architecture while strolling around. Carrie was our guide for the Bucktown/Wicker Park tour and was key to the success of our trip. She was friendly, knowledgable, and has an incredible memory for names, dates and factual tid bits. It really was amazing when she called each of us in the group (~15 people) by name. Wow. Impressed. I don't want to give it all away, but you will be full with good eats after the first few stops and beaming from ear to ear about the things you will hear and learn. You will pass by a speakeasy that was voted one of the nations best cocktails, nosh down the best WHOLE Chicago dog (so save your 1st dog tasting til you get here), have iced hot chocolate from a national top pastry chef (the best part of this was the killer homemade... yes... homemade marshmallow WHAT!?), take a stroll through Wicker Park (yes.. like Josh Hartnett in the movie), have pizza and beer from yet another nationally awarded restaurant, see where the American Leginnaires met/drank during prohibition, eat space age liquid nitrogen ice cream, devour a delish falafel sandwich (if you still have room), and take in house after house of fabulous architecture. There had to be something in that last paragraph that appealed to you and this is why this food tour is so great. There IS something for everyone to enjoy. There are bounds of more details that I've left out and I wish I had gone on the other tours that were offered. You get a map and coupons at the start of the tour so leave yourself some time to go back and pick up the goodies you want to take home! Don't miss this tour if you're in Chi-town. You won't regret it. I'm a fan!

Colleen provided an entertaining and interesting introduction to bucktown and wicker park. We enjoyed each food tasting for it's good flavor and history. We enjoyed meetin g the other folks on the tour as well. I've shared our experience w Chicaho residents. They remarked the places we visited were excellent and were very interested in the tour idea. No one had heard of it before.

This tour was a good blend of food sampling and walking tour. The tastings were more than adequate amounts....you should pace yourself! We thought the featured restaurants were interesting and varied; in fact we returned to one for dinner the next day. We enjoyed the historical and architectural information provided about the neighborhood. The pace of the tour was just about right and the guide was very knowledgeable. Would recommend this activity...it was a lot of fun.

The Wicker Park/Bucktown tour - including pace, duration and diversity of food stops - was very well designed. Tour guide Kent did an outstanding job and mixed his knowledge of neighborhood development and history with rich detail on the well-chosen food stops. A great way to spend 3 hours - and my wife and I will be back to several of the stops when we're back in Chicago.

Thoroughly enjoyed the history of Bucktown/Wicker pk. The food selections Depict the flavors of Chgo. Our group is still remenicing the day.

This was a wonderful tour and worth every penny. Kent, our guide, was knowledgeable and a consummate leader - it was an extremely hot day and he watched for shade for the stops, kept us hydrated and the pacing and everything else was excellent. He was also extremely interesting and definitely added his great enthusiasm for the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood. The food was simply amazing - much more plentiful than I had anticipated, and virtually every stop was terrific. There was also a good balance of types of food. Everyone's favorite was the cold "medium" chocolate at the restaurant Hot Chocolate, but the hot dogs were also a huge hit and the ice cream at Icream at the end was not only delicious, but great fun to learn about. While the food was great, it was also terrific to have a nice break after our fourth stop, and we were able to walk things off and listen to Kent's stories about Wicker Park history as we walked through beautiful streets and stopped to admire a variety of area houses with unique features. This tour really delivers on both a historical and delicious level. Definitely a tour that I'd recommend to anyone who loves walking, food and history!