Why Foods of NY Tours Is the Best Food Tour Company in NYC
Part 3:
My first solo trip to NYC!
As I started planning our next trip to New York, I began thinking about all the great places we had already discovered. I realized that I was the one most excited about these places. While my friends enjoyed the adventure of going into the city, their idea of a great time didn’t include spending a good amount of time exploring each specialty food shop and eatery that we found. They liked finding cool places and trying certain foods but not necessarily learning the history or details behind them.
I decided the best approach was to go into New York by myself with a notebook and do some real research for future trips with my friends. That way, I could explore at my own pace, learn more about the places that interested me, and then bring my friends back once I had more spots and more food to share.
Before I did that I needed to make sure I was comfortable taking the train into New York and walking through the city streets by myself. After thinking about it for about ten minutes, I knew I was ready for the adventure. Two weeks later, I decided that I was ready to go. It was a Saturday morning, and I was tired because I didn’t sleep much the night before. I kept thinking about the trip and was a little nervous about going into the city alone. I knew I wanted to catch the 10 a.m. train, so I got ready quickly and headed out.
Before I knew it, I was standing on 5th Avenue and 33rd Street, alone in New York City and extremely happy about it. I knew I had plenty of time to explore and begin my research. I walked directly to Washington Square Park and made my way to Bleecker Street, which I found with ease. That alone felt like a good sign. I was ready to explore and eat!
The first place I stopped was the tiny pizzeria on the corner; Joe’s Pizza. I started with a cheese slice, which was just as good as the slice I had there a few weeks earlier. I asked the guy behind the counter how long Joe’s had been around, and he told me a few years, since 1975. That was about all the information I could get out of him.
After the slice I stopped at the first pastry shop on the street, Rocco’s Pastry Shop. As I walked in and looked at all of the pastries, I was overwhelmed., I then tried to casually see what the people sitting at the tables were eating. Without staring too much, I noticed most of them had ordered cannolis. I sat down and ordered one myself. When the waiter brought it over, he made a point of saying, “Here’s your fresh-filled cannoli.” I wasn’t sure why he emphasized “fresh-filled,” but it clearly mattered.
At that point in time, I knew what a cannoli was, but I had never tried one before, so I didn’t know a good one from a bad one. What I did know after the first bite was that the cream was light and not overly sweet, and the shell was crisp. Before leaving, I asked the waiter how long Rocco’s had been there. He told me about three years, since 1974, and explained that Rocco, the owner, had worked in the pastry shop that previously occupied this space before buying it and changing the name.
Since I had just eaten a large cannoli, I didn’t want another pastry from the shop next door. Instead, I went into Bleecker Street Pastry Shop just to look around and ask a few questions. The woman behind the counter explained that they served Northern Italian pastries. I also found out a few months later that Rocco’s focused on Southern Italian pastries, I thought that was interesting and knew I had to do more research.
I spent about 15 minutes in Rocco’s and another 10 minutes in the Bleecker Street Pastry Shop. By then, I had a good sense of what each place offered. I wrote down the names of about ten pastries from both shops in my notebook. Without realizing it at the time, this was the beginning of my own Greenwich Village Food Shop Guide, and it would be incredibly helpful when I returned with my friends.
My next stop was a tiny cheese shop called Murray’s. As soon as I walked in, I was hit with a strong aroma of cheese, but in a good way. The shop was narrow and packed with people, making it hard to do anything other than glance at the cheese counter. The customers seemed confident and knowledgeable, which made the place feel intimidating. I didn’t try anything or ask any questions, but I knew I would be back another time.
As I walked out of Murray’s, I noticed people carrying loaves of bread from a shop a couple of doors away called Zito’s Bread Shop. My friends and I had stopped there on a previous trip. The shop was even smaller than Murray’s, with a simple counter displaying large and small loaves, rolls, and something that looked like Sicilian pizza.
While I was in the shop, a basket of bread came up from the basement, and the woman behind the counter announced, “Hot loaves of bread.” Almost everyone in the store, including me, bought one. I chose a large Italian loaf with sesame seeds. The aroma was incredible, and the price was just 45 cents.
I walked down a side street and stood next to Murray’s eating the warm bread. I couldn’t believe how good it was by itself. As I was eating, an older guy walked by and asked how I liked the bread. I told him it was the best bread I had ever had. He stopped to talk to me and introduced himself as Charlie Zito, one of the owners.
Charlie was incredibly friendly and asked how I ended up there. When I told him I came from New Jersey, he was shocked. He asked how old I was, and when I told him I was 15, he asked if I had time to come back into the shop. He wanted to introduce me to his brothers and show me the bakery.
I was shy back then, and suddenly being back in the shop made me nervous. One of Charlie’s brothers blew a big puff of smoke in my face while he was talking to me, which caused Charlie to yell at him. It was loud, chaotic, and a little overwhelming. I think one of their wives came out from the back room after hearing the commotion.
Charlie then took me down a steep stairwell into the basement to see the ovens (I know this sounds sketchy, but back then I didn’t think anything of it). The first thing I saw was piles of coal on the floor and three bakers at work. Charlie then showed me a massive oven built directly into the foundation of the building, extending under the backyard. When he opened the oven door, there had to be about 50 loaves of bread baking inside. Next to it was another door where the coal was burning. I had never seen anything like it.
After that experience, I was exhausted from the food I ate, the walking, and being overly excited. I headed back to Washington Square Park, wrote down everything I could remember about Zito’s in my notebook, and sat on a bench for about an hour listening to people play guitar and sing. I was super happy with how the day had gone and needed to take it all in before leaving for the day.
Before I left the park I needed to find a restroom. I asked a cop nearby, and he pointed me toward a building. He said it’s not the best. As I walked through the men’s room door, I quickly understood what he meant and turned right around.
As I was on the train heading back home, I couldn’t believe how well the day went. I was already looking forward to getting back to the city with my friends and sharing all the cool things I’d seen and tried. But the best part was that I was really excited to take them back to meet Charlie and his brothers from Zito’s Bread Shop!