Why Foods of NY Tours is the best food tour company in NYC!
Part 1: Before Todd Lefkovic (owner) knew anything about NYC
It all began in 1976 when I watched the movie “Next Stop Greenwich Village.” From that moment on, I was determined to experience Greenwich Village firsthand. The film was set in the 1950s, but now it was the late 1970s. Back then, I lived in Cranford, NJ, which was a 35-minute bus or train ride to New York City. It took me about a year to get the courage to take a trip to New York City with a few friends. After school on a Friday in September 1977, I asked three friends if they were interested in going to NYC on Saturday. They all said, “NYC! How are we going to get there, and what are we going to do when we get there, and how much money do we need?” The great news was that I had a plan. Having visited NYC a few times a year with my parents, I knew that a round-trip bus ticket cost about $1.50. I then felt that all we needed was $5.00 cover lunch in New York.
Growing up in Cranford, all the news on TV that we watched came from New York City, so we got to see the best and worst of the city. As a 15-year-old kid in 1977, the darker side of New York was more interesting to me. After getting off the bus at Port Authority, we stepped onto the streets and immediately knew we were on 42nd Street. Wow, the 42nd Street of 1977 was completely different from what we see today (2026). It was packed with adult movies, prostitution, pimps, shady characters, drugs, and just plain filth. The initial thrill of 42nd Street lasted for about an hour. After being lured into a peep show and seeing what was happening inside, we decided to head to Greenwich Village.
I was trying to figure out how to get to Greenwich Village, and everyone I asked had no clue. Then, I spotted a woman who looked pretty cool, so I asked her. She asked, “What are you kids doing on 42nd Street?” I explained that we were from NJ and wanted to explore Greenwich Village. She said, “Let’s head out of here, and I’ll show you the easiest way to get to the Village.” She walked us over to 5th Ave and said, “Walk down 5th Ave for about 30 minutes, and once you see a big white arch, that’s where you want to be.” She mentioned it was the entrance to Washington Square Park. I told her that I’d seen the park in a movie and wanted to go there. She then said, “Be careful and have fun!”
As we finally stepped into the park, I knew this was exactly what I needed. There were so many friendly people around. The first person to approach us was the Glue Man, offering a sniff of his “dirty” towel for a buck. Turns out, the towel was soaked in airplane glue, a smell I recognized from building model cars. None of us wanted to take a sniff and decided to start exploring the park. We saw kids our age, a bunch 3-4 years older, and lots of people in their 20s to 50s. Some were playing music, juggling, singing, smoking pot, and what looked like preaching. We hung out in the park for about an hour having a blast and decided to get something to eat.
We asked a few people if they knew of a great spot for pizza, they pointed us to MacDougal Street. It was just a short walk from the park, packed with small ethnic eateries and restaurants. Since we were looking for pizza we headed straight to the first pizzeria we spotted. We each grabbed a slice and a soda, which was about $1.50. We had $2.00 each left, so after our pizza, we strolled up and down MacDougal Street, hoping to find something else to eat. I come from a family of food lovers. My one grandmother was from Austria, and she always cooked a lot of different types of foods for us. We would go to her house (also in NJ) every other Sunday for a giant feast. If I spent the weekend at my grandparents’ house, I would spend a lot of time in the kitchen helping my grandmother cook. She taught me a lot about cooking techniques and food, and got me interested in many different types.
A few doors from the pizzeria was a tiny eatery that had a massive piece of meat roasting on a spit right in their open window. People would just walk up and ask for whatever it was. We then watched a staff person slice the meat with what looked like a long sword. He then stuffed the meat into a round bread with a pocket, adding lettuce, tomato, onions, and some kind of sauce. The sandwich was then wrapped in wax paper and all set to go. We were there for about 20 minutes, watching people grab that sandwich and another sandwich that had three crispy-looking balls, followed by the lettuce, tomato, onions, and sauce.
Since none of my friends were interested, we didn’t give it a try. But we did stumble upon a place that served amazing Jamaican meat pies! We were kind of forced to buy one each from the shopkeeper, who insisted, “If you look, you must buy.” We spent too much time looking at the patties, so we had no choice but to buy one each. The were three types of fillings and only $0.50 each. We all went with beef, plus we grabbed a Jamaican soda. Both were fantastic! And we still had some money left from the $5.00.
We explored a bit more of the neighborhood, and then decided to head back to the bus station. We hopped on the bus (we all had tickets for the return trip), and before we knew it, we were all sleeping. Just as we were about to reach the Cranford stop, someone woke us up so we wouldn’t miss it. We had such a blast, and we were already looking forward to our next adventure! We now knew that Washington Square Park was the perfect place to start the next time we came into NYC.
Oh, and guess what? Our parents had absolutely no idea we went to NYC! Back then, when you went out with friends on a Saturday, there was no way for your parents to reach you. We were usually out at 10am riding our bikes around town or playing baseball or basketball at one of the parks in Cranford. When we did go to New York City, we made sure to be home in time for dinner at 6pm, and no one had any idea what we were up to.