Pace your eating, is our guide Bert James' advice, but from the twinkle in his eye he doesn't really mean it. We've come to the west side of Lower Manhattan to do a "walking picnic" – otherwise known as the Greenwich Village gourmet food and culture tour. There will be food.
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It is true that the distance is short – a mere 1.5 kilometres through the West Village's charming old Italian neighbourhood – and the food intake substantial – about 3700 calories by James' reckoning, more than three times the daily recommended consumption. But no regrets.
For the next three hours we trail our culinary Pied Piper through the neighbourhood's tree-lined, meandering streets, enjoying our moveable feast. We're savouring not just the fare from artisanal food shops but also James' treasure chest of gastronomic, cultural and historical anecdotes.
Among other things, we see where Carole King used to sing, where Lady Gaga once waitressed, where Lily Tomlin and Sam Shepard got their acting breaks, where Barbra Streisand once swept the stage, where scenes from Friends, Glee and Superman II were filmed.
It's a little insight into what James calls "the coolest neighbourhood in New York", enriched by some pretty delicious delicacies.
The tour meets at Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleecker Street. Murray's will be our last stop with a sit-down cheese tasting and homage to fromage, but it proves irresistible to some, who take an early plunge into its fragrant interior.
Doubtless they are drawn to the cheese caves with their charming names – Washed Rind Cave is The Stink Tank, Bloomy Rind Cave is The Bloomies, Natural Rind Cave is The Expressionists and Alpine Cave is simply The Gentle Giants. James extricates them and we go in search of the "mom and pop" shops that are the soul of the area.
First stop is a village institution, Joe's Pizza, for a generous slice of his New York-style Neapolitan thin-crust pizza. Joe Pozzuoli, 80, came from Naples and started his "classic New York slice joint" in 1975. He's still going strong. The walking pace through this urban bohemia is easy and there's time to admire the hidden gardens, 19th-century row houses, rambling along the oddly curved and narrow streets, so different from the high-rise landscape of downtown Manhattan.
O&Co. Olive Oil is our next stop, a boutique olive oil shop that began in Provence. Olive oil aficionado Tasha offers us macerated garlic olive oil with fleur de sel on fresh Amy's sourdough, then a comparative tasting of a remarkable eight-year aged mellow, syrupy balsamic vinegar that kills the 25-year-aged supermarket offering.
Home is next, New York's original farm-to-table seasonal American restaurant, established in 1993 and still supporting local New York and New Jersey farms. We sit down to an heirloom tomato salad with rocket and pine nuts, feta and a lemon vinaigrette while executive chef Scott Brown explains his approach to food: "Fall on a plate." (It's autumn).
James advises us to "make the most of the light salad – next up is fried cheese".
Before that, we pop into the Cornelia Street Cafe. This artists' haunt hails from 1977 and hosts everything from Russian poetry to Latin jazz, theatre and cabaret. It's where Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues premiered and where Suzanne Vega began her career. Pulitzer prizewinners and Nobel laureates still turn up to read their literature, and the food ain't half bad either.
Nearby is Po, whose spinach gnocchi and white bean gazpacho inspire long queues. Faicco's Italian Specialities, another landmark, is where we scoff that fried cheese – actually their heavenly specialty, arancini, an explode-in-your mouth (and onto your hips) conglomeration of deep-fried rice and cheese.
James waxes lyrical about Faicco's "Sunday sandwich". His mother, "a Southern Alabama lady", who believes "if you can't find it at Wal-Mart, you don't need it" was so impressed she pronounced, "Oh my lord, that's better than Subway". Founder Edward Faicco's grandson now runs the family business.
Ristorante Rafele is our sit-down tasting, with unctuous eggplant rollatini on offer. Filling up. We amble across Seventh Avenue into the historic Greenwich Village (signs are brown on white rather than green on white), stopping at Milk and Cookies Bakery. "An adult after-school shop," says James.
Here we indulge in a gigantic choc-chip cookie, still warm from the oven and gooey before rolling off again into the neighbourhood. There's the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theatre, Cherry Lane, New York's skinniest house, the Little Owl Restaurant, which was Friends' "Central Perk" and more.
Back at Murray's we attack an array of their aged cheeses and finally, just in case we aren't already bursting at the seams, James arrives with Rocco's Italian Pastry Shop's airy cannoli, just filled for our delectation. Still on a diet.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
WALKING THERE
Foods of New York Tours' original Greenwich Village food and culture tour operates daily from 11am. It includes six on-the-go tastings, one seated restaurant tasting, neighbourhood guide and bottle of water. Maximum 16 people. Booking mandatory, $65 or $69 plus tip. See foodsofny.com.
Alison Stewart toured at her own expense.
