New York Food Tour: What to Eat in Greenwich Village

Hello everyone, so people come to New York from all over the world. I think one of the reasons people come here is to eat. Yes, today we will be in Greenwich Village, which is my favorite

food

neighborhood. So, Lori and I do

food

tour

s in Greenwich Village regularly. Some of the places we will show you are on our regular food

tour

s. Some of them are just places we like, and just so you know we'll be. focusing on places that are takeout only places there are a ton of great sit down places in Greenwich Village that's not

what

we're focusing on today but let's go ahead and get some food so one of the places we go to come on.

First stop is McDougall Street If in doubt, if you're looking for food in New York City, you can't go wrong with McDougall Street. I think almost this entire stretch is just food, this is a great place to get, especially cheap takeout options, one of the reason there are so many options on this street is that we are close to NYU, so this is definitely a place that a lot of college students in the area go to, some really great places to spend the night and a lot of the places on this street are open until four or five in the morning, so first stop It's here at Ma Moon's Falafel on Mcdougall Street.

It's one of our favorite stops. Now that Moons came to the United States in 1971, it's the first falafel restaurant in New York and one of the first Middle Eastern restaurants in the United States and we have a side dish of falafel, two sides of falafel in two sizes, never been can eat too much falafel, obviously, so this place has been here since 1971. I always get falafel is my go-to, I think it's

what

a lot of people buy, I mean the place is called the falafel of my moon, um, but you can get more than just falafel here they have shawarma, they have kebab, you can get hummus, you can get grape. leaves so there are a lot of options here, you can get falafel not just as a side but it's just the falafel themselves but you can get them in pita with lettuce and tomato sauce so you can get them on a plate, same with their shawarma . and their kebabs and things like that, so in case anyone doesn't know exactly what's in falafel, these chickpeas, which are actually mainly chickpeas, garlic and parsley, have a lot of parsley in them, you'll see it when you open it.

It's super green on the inside that's the parsley that's the parsley that's mainly what it is so um and this is made into a little ball that looks like this and then they're fried now many cultures have falafel well we get a lot of Israelis on our tours and they say yeah, we have falafel there too, it actually started in Egypt, yeah, with fava beans, but they use chickpeas in this place, so you can find falafel all over New York City and you can find falafel everywhere. In different parts of the Middle East, this is my favorite falafel.

I definitely bought 10 sides of falafel just for myself, brought them home and ate them. They have a this is their first store, but they have one in the East Village. I have one in Hoboken, New Jersey, I have it, don't you have one, yeah, oh we have to tell them the sauce, though it's okay, okay, so while she's eating, this is her hot sauce, it's pretty hot, they sell it. per bottle, um Elijah. I bought one from my nephew in town I think it was six bucks for a bottle yeah yeah it's good it's spicy but it tastes really good it's not just like directing your mouth or spicy now this is the tahini sauce , this is one of the I think most of the frequent things are served with falafel um so the tahini is just sesame seed paste as a base so it's super super smooth.

One of the best things to do is take a tahini bath and then a hot bath. a little bit of that cream and then heat and you'll have the best falafel ever oh something else that's great about them they're cash only there's an ATM next door but their drinks are super cheap they are yeah they're like a dollar off the best deals actually, oh and the important thing to know is that if you're a night owl, you're going to be working late into the night, especially here in this neighborhood, my moons are open until five in the morning.

I have had many. Happy Nights in Memories and they open at 11am. m., yeah, so you should definitely try it if you're here in New York and you're heading to Greenwich Village, so this beautiful thing that I have in my hand is the artichoke pizza that we're on. artichoke pizza here also on mcdougall street the same street as ma moons artichoke pizza actually has several locations throughout the city this is where we come and bring guests on our

greenwich

village

food tour so this is it so they are known for their artichoke slice. As you can see, it is absolutely gigantic.

We have this one cut into thirds and it's still a lot of pizza, so it's like the least traditional New York pizza you could eat. New York pizza usually has a very thin crust. a mozzarella with a red sauce, so first of all, you can see on the side a very, very thick crust and instead of a tomato-based sauce, this is a cream-based sauce, it has artichokes, spinach and In fact, beyond that, I don't know what it is. in it this is a family recipe this place was started by two cousins ​​um this is a secret family recipe so I have no idea what's in it lori has no idea what's in it we just know that it's absolutely delicious so we've split up this in three, which is still a good part, it's a third, uh, our cameraman goes, there are two of us, we're playing it on the pizza, no, actually, this is a great place to share, especially if you're going to be giving turns. the town is trying a lot of things, I highly recommend sharing here um we're about to dive into this magic um it's pretty, oh my gosh, oh yeah, that's pretty fantastic, it's almost like eating a quiche, yeah, in a way like that, yes o Honestly, if you've ever had spinach artichoke dip, yes, as an appetizer, if you think about it that way on top of a very thick piece of flatbread, more like that than a regular pizza or probably like any pizza that you have tried before. um, the crust is very crispy, it's very crispy on the bottom and a little bit buttery, it has a buttery flavor, it definitely has and I'm always up for any buttery flavor and anything, um, and the sauce, um, it's great. family recipe has a really amazing flavor, very well developed, we really don't know what's in it.

I've heard it has over 20 ingredients and that makes absolutely sense to me, you can taste it as a really nice deep flavor like Attention, this is not vegetarian, no it's not vegetarian, there's some kind of chicken broth or something, just I ruined it for you, didn't I, um a little bit, so yeah, if you are, there are a couple of places on this tour. where if you are strictly vegetarian you won't want to partake, however it is totally vegetarian, actually vegan, yes they have other pizzas inside pepperoni, margherita, crab meat, Sicilian vodka, I love that moody one with lobster sauce, they have others, This, of course, is the most. people really get into artichoke pizza and like my moons on the street they are also open until four in the morning so another very good late night spot, it's very quiet at this time of day, a bit later at The night is not so quiet Hello, we are at Palm Priests, Belgium's prize place, right across the moon falafel on McDougall Street.

Yeah, so this isn't his original house. Actually, I used to be in the East Village. It was the original location. unfortunately it was next to a building that had a massive gas explosion the place was destroyed but they moved here and we were happy to have them back so this is what you can get at Palm Breath so this is a shop specialized which is really what they do here um this doesn't have an extensive menu this is what you can get this is, believe it or not, a normal size at Palm Freeze, so when you walk in don't be fooled, they show you the size of flattened paper cones. and they look very small, they are not really small despite what you may think, you don't need an extra large one.

I'm telling you from experience, so these are Belgian fries, they use American potatoes for these and you can see how they are cut and thick, they fry them twice, so the first fry is to cook it through the second fries so that the exterior is crispy. They use vegetable oil which is not the traditional Belgian frying oil. They use animal fat in Belgium. These vegetable oils. here, so if you're a vegetarian or a vegan, this is great because they're actually vegetarian, okay, unlike artichoke pizza, apparently, so I don't know if you can, yeah, you can't see it, but you can't see it, but there is um.

We said there isn't an extensive menu and that's true for actual foods but that's not true for sauces, yes they have a huge list of sauces so they were nice enough here to give us, they have a sample platter of sauces there. There are about 40 different sauces that you can try, although they gave us this delicious sampler dish, so what we have here is the mango and this is the Vietnamese pineapple, this is the parmesan, this is the peppercorn parmesan, this is the rosemary and then the roasted garlic and That's the black truffle, which is amazing, and although they were very kind and gave us this delicious plate of sauces, I couldn't resist and had my favorite to go with it, this is Bordeaux wine, fig and sage, and it's surprising that they have any uh. dipping sauces that are not mayonnaise based, but this is European mayonnaise, not American, which tastes a little sweeter, tastes different than American mayonnaise, they have ketchup, they have mustard, they have malt vinegar, so if you're, I don't really want to make mayonnaise, they have other apples and sauces that are not mayonnaise based, so most of the special sauces you pay for, yes, at Palm Freights, but you can, there are some sauces that you can. get it for free and again if they're feeling generous they could give you a little sampler plate like this okay so let's dig in here okay so I'm going to go with black truffle because it sounds amazing and I'll do Vietnamese. pineapple because I love this dog it's crazy it really has a very intense black truffle flavor so if you love truffles go for it if you don't love truffles don't buy this because it's very strong you can try the pineapple that you can try. interesting cilantro What is Vietnamese pineapple?

I love it. Okay, I have to find another one. What should I do? I think I'm going to use rosemary. I'm curious. Oh yes, very rosemary. It has a very strong rosemary flavor. It is really nice. Knows. really fresh, um, that's actually very tasty, so again, if you love rosemary, go for it, it's not, so I'm under the impression that any of the single flavor sauces, if it's black forever with rosemary , they are really strong flavors, so make sure it is. a flavor that you really enjoy um, I know that here too, if you've never tried a dip before, they're very kind to let you try a little bit first before you commit to ordering, you know, a tub of this size and they'll also let you try the fries What they will do, so they are very good at it, so don't be shy if you come, make sure to ask if you're really not sure and want to try something.

This is your only place, so you have to do it. come to

greenwich

village

to mcdougall to try them here I'm going to go for the garlic and garlic okay let's finish this up yeah okay so if you're enjoying the tour so far go ahead and hit the like button and help others discover the video if you want to see more videos like this subscribe to our channel we have crossed the brooklyn bridge through harlem central park and more we also have virtual tours and channels that focus on washington dc new orleans london and more look for free walking tours wherever you travel now come back to the tour ok so we've moved to the shadier street we're no longer on mcdougall we have plenty of places to do on bleecker street it's another really great food street , so.

This is a favorite spot on our grunge village food tour and is fijicos of eco's italian specialties or as we call it, fi ecos pork shop opened in 1900, it has been family operated, it is a shop of local meat, so if you live in the neighborhood, this is where people buy their meat but they have other things that are very delicious like this, they are called arancini eracini in Italian means little orange, right, but they are rice balls, so What if you are going to buy rice balls, if you say, do you have a rice ball?

They'll know what they don't know, they don't know what you mean, yeah, or if you call him Aaron Cheney, they'll know, hey, these are a dollar, yeah, best dollar deal, honestly, you're looking at it quickly. snack if you're walking through this neighborhood you can come in this is not something special that we got on the tour you can come in and get one of these if you want they're absolutely delicious they're hot um and if you have I haven't eaten this before it's risotto inside there's risotto there's cheese there's herbs and then it has kind of a thin layer of breadcrumbs on the outside, sowhich is not gluten free even though the base is risotto there is some gluten in it they are absolutely fantastic yeah one of my favorite things in the neighborhood so go ahead and open one up so you can see it yeah look all the cheese, this is what it looks like on the inside, you can see it's very cheesy.

I can see the little bits of green in there and that's from the herbs, but these are really wonderful, I definitely always think they're a favorite on the guest trail, so even though arancini comes from the little orange, there's no orange involved, yeah , now.Growing up here I've eaten a lot of arancini, I mean I grew up Italian, there was everywhere you can get Italian food anywhere, these are definitely cheesier than arancini. I've eaten, they tend to be a little bit drier and maybe have like a piece of meat or peas in the middle and then you pour a red sauce on top.

They'll give you red sauce here if you want, but it doesn't really need it, I think it takes away something from the cheese that I don't use. I don't think I need it at all, yeah, usually when I have these other places I want sauce, yeah, um, yeah, I don't think this needs it at all if you're more into meats and stuff like that, something else you should know about the stools They also have a sandwich counter in the back, you can get all kinds of great Italian specialty sandwiches and I honestly think it's a little hidden gem in the neighborhood as far as a place to get a sandwich because you go in and it seems It's a retail market and it's mostly meats and they have some canned goods and some things like that, but they have amazing sandwiches here and you can also get a lot of different sodas, like Italian specialties, yeah, this here is called the Manhattan special. a coffee soda isn't my thing, but people love it.

I did the diet. I think the diet tastes pretty good, like it doesn't really have that aspartame flavor or anything like that. It tastes pretty close to the original, so I went diet, but this is it. coffee flavored soda well, I've been sitting here eating this, but glory, dig deeper, yeah, okay, we're on the corner of 7th avenue and bleecker street, we're on bleecker street pizza, so, Greenwich Village is kind of a pizza neighborhood. There are a lot of really famous pizza places in this area, there's John's on Bleecker, Joe's, but of all the pizza places in Greenwich Village, I have to say this is my favorite, it's my favorite in the whole city, in fact, I dream about this pizza.

Constantly so gloomy street pizza has many different pies but if you come here this is what you must try so this is pizza nona maria it is the original owner's grandmother's pizza recipe which she brought from Italy and could make it every week for the family. for the kids and the owner was actually a police officer in New York City when he retired he opened a pizzeria so he could sell his grandmother's recipe and everything went well. They have been voted the best pizza in New York several times in a row. In fact, I can see right behind Laurie's head here, it's ranked as the number two pizzeria, um, so this is a really very popular place, so the non-Maria pizza, which makes it special, What makes it unique, um, I think the best thing is the sauce. yeah, this is a fantastic sauce, this is not your usual pizza sauce that comes out of the jar, um, you can actually see that it has big chunks of tomato in it, it has a great bright, fresh tomato flavor, um, all of that in there.

A lot of people think it's spinach, it's not spinach, it's actually basil, so it's like a base with a lot of fresh basil in the bottom as well. Yes, they use breadcrumbs instead of semolina, yes, and that gives it this really great crunchy texture on the bottom. and the parmesan is parmigiano reggiano, so yes, they order it from Italy and send it in giant wheels. It costs like over a thousand dollars for a wheel of this cheese and it is grated all the way. In fact, I think about all the pizzas here, no. just this one everyone has a little bit of this so they're top quality ingredients and they're absolutely fantastic yeah so I think it's time I think it's time so we cut this into three a because today we're feeding our cameraman.

I'm paying him for pizza every time I eat it and I'm like, yeah, it's just as good as last time, it's so delicious. I think what I really like about it is one of the things I really like besides how crispy the bottom is. um, the sauce is actually very tasty, it's not a super sweet tomato sauce, I think some pizza sauces tend to be a little sweet, this is not just tasting the freshness of the tomato, yes, and this is like a real marinara what they say, it's grandma's. marinara is so good yes that's just this is what you should try, I think my suggestion is to come here on the first day of your trip so that this way you can come on day 2, day 3, day 4.

Don't find this out on your last day because I hear that all the time and I will say we bring people here on food tours. This is always a favorite stop. It's always one I hear from people like text me later or email me later. Oh, we're back. We went back and got a slice or a whole pie, so this is definitely a favorite. You'll know exactly what we mean as soon as you take a bite. Okay, we've moved on to the good stuff, let's move on to the desserts. my favorite part um so now we're on West 4th Street a small place but absolutely a must see I think if you're here in this neighborhood this is Varsanos and they make chocolates they make them handmade here in the store can you? get that in there oh yeah so we have quite a few to try yeah yeah thanks yeah we went a little crazy so one of the best things here my absolute favorite the thing I can't leave the store without buy is a Caramel with sea salt, they have milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

I'm a dark chocolate girl. But today I was particularly interested because I walked in and he said I just made these, so there aren't many places left that still make chocolates by hand. In the store there aren't many places where you can walk in and buy a freshly made sea salt caramel, oh yeah that's the good thing there, yeah yeah that's perfect. They have a display case full of truffles, this is the raspberry truffle. dark chocolate they also have milk chocolate versions of their truffles I can't separate them I'm going to have to bite into them oh it's amazing it's perfect isn't it so good?

You honestly can't go wrong here, I think so. Really the point is to walk in, everything is beautiful, everything looks amazing, it smells crazy when you walk in, you like walking in, you just get hit with the smell of chocolate, um, and whatever you see there is going to be delicious, it's going to be handmade. To be absolutely fantastic, they also deliver nationwide, yes, so you can order once you get home and say, oh, that chocolate place in New York City, they actually make most of their money with deliveries during the holidays, well that's really Nice gift for someone mm-hmm yes, my mother's birthday is next week.

I feel like she should go back and buy him some chocolates. So if you are a chocolate lover, as I think most people are, you definitely have to try this place while you are there. we're here we're still with the desserts we're on the shadiest street um we're at rocco's right now um so rocco's is an italian bakery, they have a lot of really delicious things there, but here are the best cannoli in new

york

city, i know it's a really bold statement because there are so many great places to buy cannoli in new

york

city, this really is the best, although you can tell i have done extensive research, so why does catherine say this? there are a lot of great cannoli, yes absolutely, they make them right in front of you, so these shells are empty, you choose, you can get a chocolate shell, you can get a plain shell, um, these are actually minis, they have full size cannolis normal, we're just We're getting really full, we've actually been eating everything you've been seeing, so these are simple mini shells that you can get.

In the minis, you can also get chocolate sauce, same in the large, plain and chocolate size, and then they are fresh. filling the cannoli cream is absolutely fantastic and for anyone who is gluten free because I have made this for guests at home before they actually sell you a takeaway cup of espresso with just cannoli cream so it sounds. Well also, it's the best thing in the world and I'm not gluten free, but I bought one. They will also do the extremes. They'll ask if you want pistachios, crushed pistachios, or chocolate chips, so Lori's has chocolate chips.

I bought crushed pistachio, you can't go wrong in any way if you're not sure I asked them to make a side of each and they will do that too. Another thing you should know about Rocco's is that they use traditional Italian pricing, so if you eat in, the cost of this cannoli to eat at the restaurant is different than the cost of the cannoli to take away, we carry it out so it's less expensive to go, you're paying for the service within the price when you eat inside but it's really nice inside so if you're looking for a school of games like sitting and having a coffee and eating a cake it's a really nice place to do that so don't You can't go wrong in any way.

I think it's time, oh god, I'm going to make a mess now while she eats. I'll explain what's going on in her mouth. Because just because they just filled the shell, the shell is crispy, right, in a lot of places they will. They fill the shell in the morning or you know, every time they run out, they film it and put them in the refrigerated display case, but they stay there until they are sold, so the shell starts to get soggy over time and that is not possible because these were these were empty shelves until about three minutes it's like a crazy combination of textures because you have this amazing filling and it's super super soft and the shell is actually really crunchy yeah so it gets messy when you eat it in a way that If one has been sitting there all day in a pastry case, maybe it wouldn't be as messy because it's all put together, but it's worth it, so this is one that you would eat and want to eat right now because it needs to be refrigerated. if not, but they have cookies, they have others, they have cakes that you could take to go with these fantastic, very, very pretty cookies and other cakes, they're actually right behind us in the case there, they have these absolutely gigantic cookies.

We've had one for dinner before, okay, sweets, so we're going to enjoy our cannoli, so we're on our last stop. Three desserts is the right amount of desserts. Molly's Cupcakes, started in Chicago. It was on the tv show Cupcake Wars and it's in our neighborhood the best they are amazing honestly sometimes I have people on the tour we hang out like I don't know I'm not a cupcake person I think we really you have to try these, these are very special cupcakes, um, when it comes in, you can customize your own list of cake flavors, frosting flavors, different toppings, but they already have some in the case that are already put together and filled inside. , those are my favorites, I love it, I love cooking with stuffing, so I bought this. one is a pistachio rose this one is chocolate and raspberry so the filling inside will be raspberry jam and this one is a peach cobbler I think they won the cupcake war with the peach boy I think that's the one which, yes, is fine.

Another favorite to get here is the sea salt caramel chocolate. I don't know if you're noticing a theme. I really like anything that involves salted caramel and chocolate, but if you're gluten-free, they have flourless chocolate, so that's it. it's very very yummy yes it's very good and they also have vegan cupcakes inside your own they have a vegan yes you can get vegan cupcakes vegan vegan buttercream um I'm not vegan but I've had them and they're absolutely delicious so this It's a good place for vegans, yes, and as you can see, we'll take them because we've had enough in the store today, but this is one of those stops where you can grab the cupcake and take it back to your hotel, but also It's really nice inside, if you're ever looking for a really nice place to sit and relax, have a coffee for a while, it's really fun inside, they have chairs that look like play swings that you can sit on. and they actually have board games and books and stuff like that, so if you really want a fun, quirky place to sit, it's all a school theme, yeah, Molly was the owner's second or third grade seeker, yeah, and for all. birthday, she made cupcakes, so they named the store after her, so the inside is all school themed, yeah, and the front is actually painted to look like a yellow school bus, so which is very striking when you pass by. you're in this part of the neighborhood you won't miss it so definitely stop by and grab a pastry so we're actually here on mcdougall street at cafe reggio one of the things that people ask me a lot if they're in this area is a good place tosit and have a coffee.

Yes, if you just need to relax a little, Greenwich Village has many great places to get coffee. Café Reggio is just one of our favorites. I've been here since 1927. And they brought the first cappuccino machine to at least New York. The machine is on display inside the first cappuccino machine. This was a very Italian neighborhood, so it made sense to invest in it. So I bought one. black iced coffee because I like it, I'm sure it can't go wrong. New Yorkers love iced coffee but they are known for being the first cappuccino in New York so if you want to get something that they are known for definitely go sit down and have a cappuccino and for me this is a place to go. go if you want to sit and have table service and have a quiet experience if you are looking for something to go there are plenty of other places in the neighborhood you could go for a quick coffee and there is a lot of history here with the beatniks who hung out here too and the intellectuals and although this has also been a very popular place within the art itself it is incredible, yes, because they have a very large collection of old pieces that are worth a lot of money, yes, so even if you just want to go in and have a quick look to See what there is to see, see the old machine and see some of the artwork, it's definitely worth it, I can't believe I'm going to say this, there's actually more to life than food so make sure you check out some of our other walking tour contents, remember to click subscribe and click the notification bell to get that notification when a new video comes out and watching them is totally free, but if you want, you can leave a tip for your tour guides.

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