Food Tour of Greenwich Village

Getting Started

It was our first morning in New York City, and when we looked out the window it was snowing!!! Our youngest daughter had never seen the snow before, so this was a pretty exciting way to start our holiday.

Our first stop was breakfast, and I'd planned the walk to Johny's Luncheonette (124 W 25th St, NYC), which I'd read great reviews of. This will give you a sense of the preparation that went into our trip. With 5 of us to feed, and a long trip planned, we were not going to eat the hotel breakfast buffet every day and spend $100 or more before we walked out the door. At the same time, a big part of the fun of a holiday is exploring - so we nearly always had options and we were quite happy to deviate from our plan as we stumbled upon something that looked or smelled good.

In this case, my planning fell badly short - Johny's might be good, but its only got 6 seats and 2 were already taken! So, we stepped into the nearby Milanes (168 W 25th St, NYC). As we sat down and read the menu, we noticed the "Dominican Breakfast". In an almost unbelievable co-incidence in a city the size of New York, this was exact place our Dominican driver had recommended to us during our airport transfer last night. Not looking to get too adventurous on our first morning, we went for a more traditional breakfast (orange juice, bagels with cream cheese, pancakes, and coffee) which was both good and cheap. But we promised ourselves that we'd come back one evening and try some of their specialties, particularly the beans and rice, and some of the more exotic dishes on the menu. Unfortunately we never did return - and based on the glowing reviews I think we missed out.

The Subway

Our next stop was the 23rd St station on 6th Ave - I had studied the subway system before we left Sydney, and had all the key routes for our week mapped out. We purchased our 7 Day Unlimited Ride Metrocards for 4 of us (US$30 each) - our youngest daughter was under 44 inches and therefore free. We had a slight challenge buying 4 metrocards, because the vending machines made us purchase one metrocard at a time, and they did not want to let us purchase more than 2 tickets on the one credit card (lesson: start at a larger station with manned ticket booths).

To get to Greenwich Village, we took the F line from 23rd St to W 4th St (4 stops). You will quickly learn that the subway system is fantastic - and you absolutely must embrace it if you really want to see and experience New York.

Greenwich Village

Rather than joining the many tour companies, we decided we would spend our money elsewhere and walk around Greenwich Village on our own. I put together my own walking route, based loosely on this map, but incorporating various popular and well reviewed food stops. While I'm sure my commentary was not as good as a commercial tour, we could set our own pace, and we had a lot of fun trying to pick out the exteriors of the Cosby House and the Friends Apartment.

To get our stomachs lined for the food tour, we picked up a punnet of Blueberries from a street vendor, which was at least 4 or 5 times the size of the punnets we get in Sydney, and cost $6. We were still snacking on these the next day.

Faicco's Italian Specialties

This is the first stop on just about every food tour of Greenwich Village, and our's was no exception. Faicco's is an old-school Italian style deli', selling meats, cheeses, sandwiches, and specialty foods. But everyone goes there for one thing: the fried rice balls, so we went straight to the counter and ordered three ($1 each). Having no idea what a rice ball was, the kids bit in tentatively, but once they broke the bread-crumb crust and tasted the creamy centers, the bites and the smiles got larger.

As we left, one of the commercial tours arrived and the guide left the 10 guests outside in the cold as he got the orders for them, and they ate on the sidewalk. They certainly missed out by not going inside.

If you want to see more of Faicco's, you can find many a good write up - for example, see this one on Shared Appetite.

Pizza

There are many good pizza places in New York, but not too many with the history of John's of Bleecker St, which opened in 1929. John's is on the itinerary of many a food tour of the Village, but not on our's, as they have a "No Slices" sign on the door and we're not ready to sit down just yet. Instead we continued up Bleecker St and explored the mixture of local and tourist shops.

We couldn't resist stopping in Bantam Bagels, which sells "Bagel Balls" - small spherical bagels filled with toppings. We tried the Classic (stuffed with cream cheese), the Bleeker Street (topped with pepperoni), and something Chocolate. Not surprisingly, the Classic tasted just like a bagel, and the others ... I'd skip. Anyway, it was a fun stop, and something we have not seen elsewhere.

Continuing just a block or so further, we stopped next at Pasticceria Rocco's, as our youngest was distracted by some of the largest cookies we'd ever seen.

All this snacking was making the girls seriously hungry, so we got back to the hunt for a large slice of New York pizza. Joes Pizza, the self proclaimed "Greenwich Village Institution", was just the thing. While we were certainly in tourist central, with the "Best Pizza in New York" and "As Seen on Spiderman" signs over our heads - we couldn't complain as the pizza was great!

Washington Square Park

Re-charged, we continued on and walked down McDougle Street, which is lined with dozens of restaurants and bars, and into Washington Square Park. Here we saw hundreds of squirrels and a few pathetic snowmen, and we stopped briefly to read some of the history.

We carried on past New York University, all the way down W 4th St to Broadway, and down to Houston St.

Melvyn's Juice Box / Miss Lily's

Our next stop - Melvin's Juice Box - was on the itinerary just for my wife, who is a huge fan of freshly squeezed juice. She especially loves anything that is green and overloaded with ginger, and a quick look at the menu uncovered the "Garden of Vegan" and the "Jamaican Green" which looked promising. Melvyn's did not disappoint - the juice was spectacular (but at $10, there was only one to share!).

Just as interesting was the connected store Miss Lily's (you can enter through an internal door from Melvin's as well as directly from Houston St), which describes itself intriguingly as a "West Indian record store-themed gallery and boutique". You can read more about the store on their Web Site, and I'd highly recommend a browse.

Masala Times

We made our way back to the other end of Bleecker St, and stopped at a small Indian restaurant called Masala Times. We ordered some Chicken Tikka and a Veg Box, along with a couple of Paratha. It was all mouth watering, and my wife said the Paratha (made from scratch on premises) was the best she had ever eaten. As we ate, the jet lag had caught up with our youngest and she caught a quick nap.

There are 2 or 3 tables and a huge sign on one wall contrasting "In Hollywood ....." and "in Bollywood.....". Despite failing miserably at the humour, Masala Times excelled where it counted, and is well worth a visit.

Once Upon a Tart

To end on a sweet note, we walked down the pretty Sullivan St and stopped at Once Upon a Tart. After first entering the take-away shop front, we were quickly redirected next door to the cafe entrance. There are about a dozen tables, but each is only big enough for 2. There is a sign to limit your stay to 30 mins, to ward off the NYU crowd with their laptops.

We scanned the seasonal offerings, and chose the "Chocolate Pear" and "Lemon" 5 inch tarts ($6.15 each), and a coffee to share. The tarts were every bit as good as you would find in the best cafes of Sydney and Melbourne, and definitely hit the spot.

But if you're from Down Under like us, you will miss two things:

1. A great coffee. It was that time of day, but it wasn't to be had. The good news is there finally are some great "artisan" coffee shops springing up in NYC (led by some familiar Australian names such as Little Collins and Toby's Estate), but this is not one of them.
2. Double thick cream. While the tarts are decadent on their own, they desperately needed some King Island or even Dollop cream to send them into the stratosphere.

These two additions would have made this place perfect.

Back to Midtown

We're now done with our food tour, but the day was not over. It was probably only a 25 min walk back to our destination, but we wanted to build our confidence on the subway. We entered at the nearby Spring St station, took the C or E line North to W 4th St, and changed to the F line to return to midtown. We stopped short of our departure point and got off at 14th St, as we had a couple of planned stops on 6th Avenue:

Firstly, we had to visit a Bank of America branch to withdraw some funds. Here we witnessed a customer abusing the teller, and then kicking and smashing the glass door on the way out, before being grabbed by a security guard. 

Secondly, my wife wanted to inspect some of her favorite shops from our time in Boston: Burlington Coat Factory, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls, which are clustered together. If, like my wife and two oldest daughters, you think shopping is a sport, you should visit Burlington Coat Factory. Its one of those large clothing warehouses which is only semi-organised, so you really have to hunt to find what you want, but the range and prices are great. 

This was all too much for both me and our youngest daughter, so we headed back to the hotel, via Trader Joe's to pick up a salad for dinner, while the shopping party continued on. Not too surprisingly, when they finally did return they were sporting new coats and worse still they vowed to go back again tomorrow. It was only day one, and I was already worried about how we'd close our suitcases!