Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

I took the Near North food tasting walking tour last Thursday. Jess was an excellent guide. I learned so much about the neighborhoods and the places we stopped were really interesting. I went back the next day to 3 of the locations and used my coupons to buy items that I brought or had shipped home to NC. I would highly recommend taking the tour to anyone. I had a great time and met very nice people.

Great walkiing tour that combines history, architecture and wonderful food. I appreciated the diversity of the foods we were tasting, and that this isn't about 'pigging out' - the tour included the right amount of food, and it was all not only delicious but lighter that I would have thought possible since it includes things like stuffed-crust pizza and meat sandwiches!

Loved this tour - combined the three Es: Exercise (moderate walking) Education (learned about different foods, architecture and history of Chicago) Eating What more could you ask? Look forward to other food tours in Chicago and other cities.

Wow! What a great way to spend 3 hours in Chicago - eating and sampling your way through the charming neighborhoods of Chicago. It was fun to sample a unique variety of foods including pastrami sandwiches, specialty teas, spices, high-grade balsamic vinegars and olive oils, handmade yummy candy, pastries and the best deep-dish Chicago pizza. Our tour guide was Hillary and I highly recommend her if she's available. Not only did Hillary provide detailed information about each establishment, she kindly pointed out several buildings we walked past, giving detailed information about each building as well as historical information about the city of Chicago.

Our tour guide, Hillary was great!!! She made the tour very interesting and fun!! The tour it self was something I think everyone that comes to Chicago should do because it show show another part of the city, a down to earth kind of place. I loved all the stores we stop at. The tasting of all the foods was also great! I would do it again whenever I get back to Chicago! I just LOVED EVERYTHING!!!!! Thank you Hillary!!

It's a very good tour. I like it.

The tour was well organized and extremely educational.

Our guide was quite friendly and did her best, but this food tour is too superficial and NOT for real foodies. I've been on several food tours in other cities (Boston, New York, New Orleans) which were better organized: more in-depth information about the city and the neighbourhoods, better choices of businesses to visit. Chicago has a lot more to offer than most of the places we visited on this tour.

I really love the places the tour took us. For a foodie like me, it was perfect. A great learning experience too.

I met Shane randomly (too randomly to explain) at a pizza place where I was frantically sifting through a guidebook trying to figure out my plan for the following day. When I overheard him telling someone about the Food Tours I interrupted because I wanted to know then and there how I could get in on the tour. My travel motto is to get "the total experience." My goal is to soak in as much local flavor as possible but unfortunately, as I learned on the tour, guidebooks don't always tell you where the best Chicago Style pizza is but rather the most popular (read chain restaurants). I arrived on to the food tour 5 minutes early and felt late, no one said anything negative to me about my "tardiness" but I felt a bit guilty regardless. Just know when they say arrive 15 minutes early they mean it! We started the tour at a place that I would NEVER have stopped in which excited me cause I knew it was a local secret. Our first tasting was a Reuben, something I have never ordered because the thought of it repulsed me. I eat with my eyes and a Reuben is seriously lacking in color, and I thought color meant flavor. Following my motto however, I bit down into the two-toned sandwich expecting two-toned flavor and boy was I wrong. The flavors, the freshness of ingredients, the bread, it was all out of this world. I went back to the deli the next day to order the sandwich again! I'm craving another right now, but I'm afraid to order a Reuben from somewhere else as it may taint my amazing experience. The next stop was iced tea. Trying to keep an open mind I suppressed thoughts like, "I'm from the South, we made iced tea!" Once again I was amazed and once again I returned to the store on another occasion to buy freshly prepared loose leaf tea as opposed to flavorless tea from a bag. I was also able to use my coupon that I got on the tour to get a nifty tea pot that they demo on the tour. I've been home for two days and have probably used it 10 times! I don't want to spoil all the surprises of the tour but let me just say everywhere we stopped was an flavorful & new experience. I learned on the tour that using fresh ingredients makes food come to life, not to mention more healthy! There is no shopping on the tour but before heading home I went back to each of the venues on the tour, even dragging friends so they could experience it too! Not only did I live like a local I introduced a few locals to these Chicago delicacies! I showed a friend a picture of my pizza and she asked me for the location and went to get a pie the following day. In addition to all that I learned about food I also learned a lot about Chicago. The tour wound it's way through several neighborhoods and our amazing guide told us about the history of the area, the buildings, and of course the food. The tour was fun as an individual and would be a fun date or group activity. Can't wait to return to do the Wicker Park tour!