Monday, April 30, 2012

Ahoy New York Tours and Tasting: Little Italy


On a gorgeous day in April, my assistant and I had the pleasure of joining a New York City Food Tour of Little Italy and Chinatown. We could not have ordered a more perfect weather day. Sunny, no humidity and no jacket required. I have taken a few walking tours, and I must say, I highly recommend them. The owner of Ahoy New York Food Tours, Alana, told me locals have been known to take her food tour. It is a great way to spend your time while in the city.  

This was my first food tour, so I was very eager to check it out. I have visited Little Italy before, Chinatown was a place I had not explored that much on my own. There was so much to see in this tour, I am breaking it into 2 posts, one showing the Little Italy section and another showing the Chinatown section. Please click HERE for the Chinatown post of the tour.

A few words to describe this tour to me would be: fun, informative, organized, classy, unique, and of course, tasty!! Here we go, make sure you have some comfy shoes on, this is a good 3 hour walking tour: 

We begin at the infamous, Mulberry Street 

There is our group with Alana across the street learning some history about how the Italians came to New York. I love the light pole in Italy colors, Red - White - Green !! 

I loved this little smart car parked in front of one of the restaurants in Little Italy. The best type of car to have if you live in New York City for parking alone. 

Our first stop was Alleva Dairy which has been in business for over 100 years. 

A true italian superstore, the smells alone will drive you insane! We have a few of these types in my hometown and my mom has quite a field day when we visit!! 

Everything you find in here is homemade which makes it about as authentic as you can get. Our sample here below was the Fresh UnSalted Mozzarella and Prosciutto. You will never buy any cheese from a plastic enclosure again once you try this. It was pure heaven. Everyone on the tour was just so amazed at the flavor of the fresh mozzarella. 


If the NYPD stops in here for a bite, you know it has to be good!! 

Our next stop was DiPalo's, similar to Alleva, a true italian superstore. As you are being shown these wonderful places, Alana gives you a fabulous history of the foods you are sampling. She tells you the background stories behind neighborhoods that are over 100 years old.


The inside of this shop, well you can just imagine. We sampled 2 kinds of italian cheeses here. I apologize but they did not make it for me to photograph them. Plus it is kind of hard to photograph cheese. There is nothing like fresh, homemade cheese. Period. If you use cheese in a green canister, any italian will say, Shame on You! Grate your own when you are going to use it, you will notice such a difference.

My assistant, Jean, found this wonderful jar of Nutella. It was huge and cost $65.99, size was 5 kil or 4.4 pounds. Would be great if you baked with it, as well as right off a spoon, like many people do. Hail to Nutella!! 

The next stop is Ferrara. Started in 1892. Cannoli. Lobster Tail. Biscotti. I hope you are not reading this on an empty stomach. Just remember, I warned you!! 

There is seating available here as it is a full cafe. You can order panini for lunch but I would highly suggest some type of pastry. Baba Rum with cannoli filling would make you a very happy person.



Alana is here with the pastry of all pastries.....mini cannoli. We were treated to one of Ferrara's most famous desserts. The filling is amazing, thick and not too sweet. The shell is crisp and has a crunch when you bite into it. It is the ultimate decadence. Ahoy New York Tours and Tasting knows how to run a food tour.


We will now take a bit of a break and a new post will be coming up with the rest of the tour of Chinatown. This tour was enough food for your breakfast and lunch for the day. Bringing a bottle of water is a good idea and is suggested on their website. You are also given a map of the area, a list of the places you visited if you wish to go back on your own, and coupons as well. You are not allowed to purchase items in any of the shops while on the tour, as it may slow down the tour time. Having your map makes it easy to walk back to the places you really enjoyed and make some purchases. 

I want to thank Alana at Ahoy New York Tours and Tasting for the 2 complimentary tickets for this tour. It was a pure pleasure of 3 hours and you will be so thrilled at the end of the day. What I also really liked about this tour is the maximum people on the tour is about 12. It is nice to have a smaller group with you, easier to keep everyone moving on a timely basis. You can also ask the tour guide questions much easier than when you have a bus load of 45 people. Ahoy New York Tours and Tasting can also put together a tour for your group, which I think is fun, whether is a group that works together or family on vacation in NYC. A really fun way to experience New York City in a very unique way. 

You can order tickets HERE for your tour. 

Don't forget to enter the Ultimate Mad Men Cookbook Giveaway HERE 


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4 comments

Daryl said...

so hungry now .. when my BFF's son was little he called that shop the place where you get Downtown Cheese

erica said...

Oh my goodness so much fun!!! xo

nycstylelittlecannoli said...

Yeah it was a great time! And just enough food, not too much or too little. The walking was great too!!

The Single Nester said...

Sounds like a great time! I was in Williamsburg this weekend and there was a food market happening and I was quite impressed with the food choices. I took photos and may blog about it although my photos did not come out as sweet as yours.

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