There are not too many major destinations in New York City that Kathy and I haven’t already explored in our many visits there over the last fifteen years. We have yet to step inside the United Nations (we’ve been outside of it) or in MOMA – the Museum of Modern Art (we’ve only explored its amazing gift shop) – or the Museum of Natural History. And my wife has visited some things that I have missed, for one reason or another, like the Statue of Liberty (which I’ve only seen from afar) or Ellis Island. But mostly, we have managed to take in just about all of the important attractions that most people would regard as Must-See Destinations: Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero, the Staten Island Ferry, Grand Central Station, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the New York Public Library, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Empire State Building, the Strand Book Store, Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street, the Guggenheim Museum, much of Central Park, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, and my favorite destination of them all ….. the Museum of Television of Radio! (I listed that last one just to get under my loving wife’s skin. The place just does not have the hold over her that it does over me, to say the least!)
Of course, most if not all of these places are worth revisiting, but we were hungry for some sort of new adventure- and Kathy found it courtesy of her good friend Dawn Hoffman Price. Dawn and her mother had gone on a Food Tour of Greenwich Village and absolutely loved it, and we decided to give it a try, especially because Greenwich Village is one place in Manhattan that we have not explored very much. And of course, I’m going to enjoy just about anything that has the word “food” in its title! So Kathy signed us up for what we hoped would be three hours of fun and deliciousness. Dawn’s enthusiastic endorsement was enough for us to be all but certain that we would enjoy it, but I remember feeling twinges of doubt as we first entered Greenwich Village – on our way to where we were supposed to meet our tour guide – and passing The Hummus Place as well as a sushi bar and an oyster bar. I’m not the most hesitant of eaters but I also feel like I have enough excitement in my life without consuming Sea Urchin or a Lima Bean Smoothie. Just how weird was this food going to be?
I felt reassured as soon as we got to our meeting place and met Cindy, our tour guide. Cindy was an exuberant and hilarious woman, with a hearty down-to-earth sense of humor as well as a genuine warmth. She just didn’t seem like the kind of snooty foodie who would feed us something that might crawl off of our plate or appear to have come from a science fiction movie. She would take care of us and show us a good time- which she did. Moreover, she was a Walking Encyclopedia of All Things Related to New York City, who also had a good knack for what sort of information would be of interest to us. In short, we fell in love with her- as did the rest of our group, judging from everyone’s smiles and laughter- and the fact that all of us rushed to tip her generously at the end of our 3 hours and 20 minutes together.
One thing I really liked about the tour is that she took the time right off the bat to have each of us introduce ourselves and say where we were from- and she seemed genuinely interested in knowing who we were and remembered our respective points-of-origin at various points along the way. (For instance, whenever the topic of “cheese” would come up, she would invariably say “hey, Wisconsin, this should be of special interest to you….”) Our group had people from Chelsea and “Jersey” and even a young woman (and her mother) who had just moved to Greenwich Village and who wanted to get to know the neighborhood. But there was also a couple from Toronto as well as a young man born and raised in New Zealand who now lives in Dubai. So we were quite an assortment- and we seemed comfortable with one another, which made for an even more enjoyable tour. And we were blessed with an absolutely gorgeous day!
Our tour took us to about seven different restaurants around Greenwich Village, and we also learned about some others that we passed along the way but couldn’t actually visit. First stop was something of a local institution called Joe’s Pizza, and we got to enjoy what amounted to half a slice of their famous cheese pizza. It turns out that there was no meat on this food tour at all save for one bit of prosciutto; otherwise it was a vegetarian experience all the way- which normally for a carnivore like me would have been a source of great frustration. But in fact it didn’t even dawn on me until long after the tour had ended that there had been scarcely any meat- and I didn’t miss it one bit. So maybe there’s hope for me yet. Anyway, Joe’s Pizza was a fun way to begin.
From there we stopped in at a place called O & Company, which sells the very best olive oil (along with other things.) While there, we were told all about how so much of what is marketed as quality olive oil in this company is nothing of the sort. (I’d recently learned this while interviewing the author of a great new book called Real Food-Fake Food.) We were then treated to a sampling of some basil-infused olive oil that was absolutely sensational- or at least as sensational as olive oil can be. I don’t know that Kathy and I will ever take the time or the money to buy this kind of olive oil for ourselves, but it sure was a fun treat to taste it and realize what the good stuff tastes like.
Our next food came from one of the best Italian places in the neighborhood, but Cindy brought the food out to us to a shady spot on the sidewalk across the street. This is where we sampled their delicious prosciutto as well as a some sort of deep-fried rice ball that was maybe the yummiest thing on the whole tour. (I wish I had stopped to write down exactly what it was. But whatever it was, it was wonderful. This place is #1 on my list of places on the tour to which I want to return.)
After that, we made our way to a very ritzy restaurant called Palma’s – which just happened to be right across the street from where Taylor Swift lives! (Nope, we didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of her getting her mail.) We had our own place at the back of the restaurant, just behind a lovely courtyard- where we sampled a quinoa salad that was really great.
Then it was off to a wonderful little place called Milk & Cookies where we indulged in the first of our two desserts on the tour – perhaps the most delicious chocolate chip cookie I have ever had in my whole life. (A photo of it adorned the cover of our brochure, as though to taunt us- so it was great to finally get to eat this and find out what all the fuss was about.)
By the way, this place was not far from the now-famous apartment building that served as the primary exterior shot for the television series Friends.
Our one stop on the tour where we actually sat, relaxed, and ate as though we were regular paying customers was at the beautiful Rafele Ristorante – and after all of our walking, I’m glad that the tour included this. We were served delicious eggplant parmigiana – and it was also here that we were invited to order a drink (at our own expense) if we so chose. Kathy and I so chose to split one house sangria, and the best compliment I can offer is that it was easily worth the twelve dollars. Really.
After this stop, we spent almost half an hour of food-less exploration of the neighborhood, but the time flew by as Cindy talked with us about real estate prices (as you can imagine, even small apartments and townhouses have staggering price tags), architecture, and the good old days of Prohibition and the many speakeasies that once dotted these streets. I’m glad she pointed out the tiny townhouse that was once the abode of the great poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (or we surely would have missed it altogether) …..
…. as well as the interesting brickwork that one noticed in most of the oldest buildings in the village.
As we walked these beautiful streets, it was interesting to see how many people Cindy knew – and many hearty greetings and hugs were exchanged when she would cross paths friends and acquaintances.
And there was time to be shown certain things that had absolutely nothing to do with food, such as a locksmith storefront that upon close examination turned out to have the most amazing facade fashioned out of hundreds if not thousands of keys!
All too soon we reached our final destination – which also happened to be where the tour began: Murray’s Cheese Shop, an extraordinary place that sells 300 different types of cheese from both here and abroad- as well as all kinds of other amazing foods.
We were led to a small classroom upstairs and presented with a sampling of several different cheeses- and here came the moment when I had to really step out of my comfort zone. No, it wasn’t sushi or oysters or anything else I find utterly repugnant … but I really don’t care for room temperature cheese- at all. I love cheese if it’s melted; I’ll eat macaroni & cheese or pizza or nachos or beer cheese soup all day long, but a piece of room temperature cheese seems like/looks like/smells like/tastes like Solid Sour Milk. I know that my Wisconsin Citizenship should probably be revoked for saying such a thing, but it’s true. But sitting around that table with the rest of our group, I just couldn’t bring myself to bypass the experience- so I tried them, and liked them! Fortunately, the tour didn’t end with cheese but with cannoli that Cindy brought to us from a famous place down the block called Rocco’s. These cannoli were just what you want them to be- with a really crispy wafer and cool, soft filling. Eating that was nothing short of a Religious Experience- incredibly delicious. And as I finished it, I realized that I was perfectly full. We had not consumed all that much food but it was completely satisfying (in more ways than one.) And as we said our goodbyes and walked away, both Kathy and I realized that we had enjoyed one of the most thoroughly delightful experiences we had ever had in this amazing city. Yet it also reminded us that there is literally no end to the delights that NYC has to offer.
So we will be back.
