Original Greenwich Village Food and Culture Tour

Our tour host was Ed Caraballo, an incredibly energetic, knowledgeable, and entertaining guy who has his own website if you want to check out his colorful past. First of all, this tour was an excellent value just for the food samples alone. For $44 the 16 participants enjoyed slices of two different kinds of pizza (from Joe's and Bleecker St.. Pizza), a rice ball from Faicco's, several cheese samples from Murray's, olive oil and vinegar from O & Co. (served on excellent peasant sourdough from Amy's Bread), a chocolate chip cookie from Milk and Cookies Bakery, cannoli from Rocco's, a small chicken dumpling from the Thai restaurant Lime . . . where does it end? There was even a coupon for a L'Arte Del Gelato cone, although I don't think anyone was hungry enough to turn it in. But the great thing was Ed and the amazing amount of NYC history and culture he conveyed while leading us around perhaps six square city blocks. (There isn't a lot of walking involved.) Besides Lime, he took us inside three other restaurants including Palma with its charming garden and 19th century farmhouse in back, the legendary Cornelia St. Cafe, and the neighborhood bistro Pesce Pasta. He showed us the Cherry Lane Theater along with many historic structures such as the now-crumbled Chumley's speakeasy, an old brewery plus the residence of the people who worked there, and the buildings that became triangular to make access to the Holland Tunnel possible. He was particularly good on architecture (old styles of bricklaying, clinker brick, archways where horses once entered when the area held tobacco fields, etc.). Finally, he traced the evolution of the West Village as British, Irish, German, Italian (and the current yuppie) folks progressively settled there over the past 200 years. All in all, a very worthwhile visit to a still fairly untouristy area and a great value. As a cultural anthropologist, I found it fascinating and I plan to take more tours arranged by this vendor when I go back to the city.

nice review of the history of the area West Greenwich Villlage . Good variety and selection of food types. Very organized and well done. Tour guide very knowledgeable.

My wife and I had a great time. Our guide did a great job of sharing information and keeping everyone comfortable. The tastes were interesting and well paced. I especially enjoyed the information about the neighborhood, houses, etc.

Overall we all enjoyed the tour. Lot's of information and good food. Food more than I thought it would be. Tour guide was excellent. She had a good knowledge of the area and foods.

Michael was a knowledgeable, funny and sincere tour guide who loves the village (it showed). In addition to food tour, we got a historical and cultural tour. We have already recommended the tour to other friends visiting NYC and they booked.

My husband & I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Our guide was great & we loved all the eateries that we went to. We thought the whole tour was very well presented & we were made very welcome at all the places we attended. Learning about the history of Greenwich village was fabulous too. Would thoroughly reccommend the tour.

The pace was leisurely, The guide informative and entertaining. The food was delicious and good variety. The tour of the neighborhood provided a great glimpse of New York life. Thanks so much.

In busy Manhattan, a quiet neighborhood with culture, history, and a pace all its own. Our Greenwich Village tour was very well organized and conducted. Our guide was clearly expert in the area and loved what he was doing, making for an interesting and fun time for all in the group. About half-way through the tour was an opportunity to sit down and enjoy a cool drink with our tasting. It hit the spot and insured that we would finish without being tired. While this is billed as a "Food Tour", it is that and so much more. With the food tasting stops, we learned about the history of the stores, restaurants, cafes, buildings, and residents of the area, past and present. The foods were excellent, freshly made, and obviously a source of pride by the providing establishment. The accompanying stories and historical notes about these and many other establishments, gave us perspective of the history and diversity of the area. Nothing serves history like being there, seeing where people lived, dined, and performed, where the city had its roots. The quiet streets past Bleecker St were fascinating, clean, and a joy to walk. What we found incredible were the many small shops and stores dispersed throughout the area, stores that you will miss if you drive and know little about if you just walk past. This was quite an "experience". This is a tour we will take again in the future, after we explore some of the other activities provided by Food Tours. If you are visiting New York City, this is a three hour investment in time that you will never regret. It may well be the highlight of your visit.

We were told about this tour by a co-worker of my daughter and have already e-mailed her with our thanks. We had a great time and the food was wonderful. I usually, actually never, try new things but the steamed dumplings and the rice balls were my favorites, oh yea, the chocolate chip cookie was wonderful. We learned many interesting facts we would have never had the opportunity to find out from our guide. He was very knowledgable and considerate of our safety crossing roads. This is our 8th annual trip to NY and we have taken the bus tour and walked around Greenwich by ourselves but never noticed all the restaurants and especially the farm house behind one. We will recommend this tour to anyone going to NY. Thanks for a great time.

I've been to NYC many times, but the Village neighborhoods always seemed too complicated. In addition my wife and I don't know one eatery from another. So this tour was just right for us. Barri was a great guide; the places we stopped were interesting; I'm now confident that we can just "show up" in the West Village and figure out something interesting to do. There are many places on the tour that we will revisit.