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Meet Raffaele Ronca, Executive Chef and owner of Ristorante Rafele the newest restaurant on our Original Greenwich Village Tour!      Whenever a new restaurant is added to the tour, the tour guides get together for some “research,” i.e. we go out for dinner as a group and try as much of the menu as possible….

Meet Tom, owner of Rabbits (RBBTS) on our Central Village/ Soho Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: Tom eats a hamburger from the shop every day. To him, it is the perfect “feel good” food. Made with marinated premium ground beef from Pino’s Prime Meat Market up the street on a brioche bun from Grandaisy Bakery in TriBeCa with…

Meet Nathan, manager of Lucy’s Whey on our Chelsea Market/ Meatpacking District Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: Nathan is obsessed with the grilled cheddar and fig sandwich, which we taste on the Chelsea Market Tour! Made with Cabot Vermont Cheddar and Mitica Fig Jam (the jam is sold at Lucy’s Whey) it’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty…

Recipe courtesy of Original Greenwich Village Tour Guide Sephrah! Yield: 2-3 side dish servings Ingredients: 2 large cucumbers diced ¼ red onion chopped 1 tsp. dill chopped 3 Tb. O&CO. MINT OLIVE OIL 2 Tb. O&CO. WHITE BALSAMIC ½ lemon juiced Dash of black pepper 1/2 clove minced garlic Pinch cinnamon ¼ cup golden raisins…

Meet John Cordova, Chef of Home Restaurant on our Original Greenwich Village Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: You MUST try John’s signature savory cheesecake with artichoke hearts and Benton’s Country Ham topped with tomato caper salad.  Of course, cheesecake is a must have on any trip to NYC, but John’s savory version brings the experience to a whole new and more…

Meet Paul, Sous Chef at Emporio on our Nolita/ Noho Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: Paul confesses he is “boring” when choosing what to eat before Emporio gets busy with the dinner crowd. He could eat pasta every day and his favorite is the Pappardelle Ragu, hand cut spinach pasta with traditional Bolognese “sugo” (aka sauce)….

Meet Rahul, Manager of Masala Times on our Central Village/ Soho Food Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: Is an Indian food menu overwhelming to you? Take a tip from Masala Times manager Rahul who rotates between Chicken Achari (pickled chicken kebab, pictured), Keema Pav (minced lamb cooked with spices) and the baby lamb chops marinated in…

Meet Aylon, General Manager of Ronnybrook Milk Bar on our Chelsea Market/ Meatpacking District Tour and his friend and co-worker Carlos. MUST EAT ITEM: Ice cream and milkshakes!!! Aylon has favorite ice cream flavors AND favorite milkshake flavors but never the twain shall meet. He feels pretty strongly that each flavor works best in its…

Meet Luigi, one of the 4 cousins behind Little Cupcake Bakeshop on our Nolita/ Noho Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: Luigi’s current favorite is his newest creation, the hummingbird cake (banana, pineapple and walnut) usually served with the cream cheese frosting, but Luigi improves on perfection by topping it with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Combining…

Meet Justin, manager of O & Co. on our Original Greenwich Village Tour! MUST EAT ITEM: Justin really does love the white truffle salt as much as he says he does (when presenting to the tours) and puts it on everything. Another daily ritual is vegetables cooked with the Salt& Herbs mix. In the winter,…

We’ve been getting a lot of love in the blogosphere lately. And while I know that all of you follow our every word on Twitter and therefore know all about these write-ups, I thought I’d share them again for you here just in case. It always makes me so happy to see the reviews we…

Meet Mario (owner of Caffe Dante on our Central Village/ Soho Tour) and his son Anthony. MUST EAT ITEM: The first thing out of Mario’s mouth when asked what he would choose if he could only have one item from his shop for the rest of his life, was their homemade tiramisu! Praise also goes…