Food Adventuring Around NYC
Brian Hoffman is a classically trained actor who is now a full-time tour guide, blogger, and food obsessive. He leads food and drink tours around New York City, which not only introduce tour-goers to delicious food, but gives them a historical context. He has written food articles for Gothamist and Midtown Lunch in addition to overseeing this blog and a few food video series, including Eat This, Locals Know, and Around the World in One City. His latest series is an international cooking show with his son which can be found on this site.
Thanks to inflation and the crazy prices at high-end sushi restaurants, my omakase days are mostly behind me. Which is so sad because it is by far my favorite food experience. High quality sushi made by a master and with surprises just can’t be beat. But since most non-gimmicky omakase meals are hundreds of dollars …
What do you think of when you hear about an ice cream shop called Marvel? At first, I assumed this was a shop where you “marvel” at the amazing soft serve ice cream. Or maybe it’s a cheap ploy to get comic book fans here. But then it dawned on me, when pronounced with the …
As the weather has slowly started to get a bit chilly, it’s finally officially ramen season. I say officially because, of course, ramen is in season all year long. It’s sort of funny that now that the weather has cooled and I finally found my way to the Chelsea favorite Jun-Men, I ordered a noodle …
Somehow along the way, mushrooms became my absolute favorite food. Their earthy woodsy umami flavors won me over and at this point, if a restaurant has fungi on the menu, I’m ordering it. But it becomes much more difficult for me when everything on the menu is a mushroom. That is both the curse and …
Leave it to a kid on the verge of a meltdown to work their magic. I brought my nieces to check out the weird and wild cakes at AnnTremet, which is an adorable little bakery on a crooked street between Chelsea and the West Village. I thought they would be happy with any one of …
Have I just gotten old or was Thyme Bar just weird? Opened in 2020, this is one of the newer speakeasies (opened shortly before COVID) that became very popular in the city since the pandemic. It sits below a pastry shop on 23rd Street in an historic cellar. Thyme Bar is a little less hidden …
It’s not uncommon to ask yourself: Is this a deli, coffee shop, or bagel joint? In many cases in New York, the answer is all three. Bagels & Schmear certainly is, however the name it proclaims out front indicates that bagels should be the thing taken most seriously here. That’s why I was here. In …
A few months ago I got a quick slice from Vito’s Slices & Ices and was not overly impressed. It was fine, but nothing more than typical New York pizza. Great if you’re from elsewhere, but if you’re from here, you know there are better options. I didn’t get to try the other side of …
Not only is Mama’s Too in the West Village the second location of this highly praised pizzeria (the first is far up on the Upper West Side), but it’s also the second over-hyped pizzeria to open its second location right here in the West Village. That’s a lot of seconds! And it only took a …
When I visit an ice cream shop, I want to try all the flavors. I expect that. But when I stop at a taco joint, I don’t expect to want to try all the cuts of pork. But Carnitas Ramirez is not your typical taco joint. The owners of Taqueria Ramirez opened this small house …
My wife who is gluten free, almost gave up gluten free bagels for good after breaking a tooth on one of them. This was during the early days of COVID and the possibility of seeing a dentist was terrifying. Don’t worry, it all turned out ok with her and her tooth. But she has been …
I hope Ras Plant Based succeeds on Bleecker Street, but I am cynical. It seems to me that this block of Bleecker between Sixth Avenue and LaGuardia is one of the most difficult streets to keep a small food business going. I can’t tell you how much turnover I have seen in the years that …
Orwashers is an institution in upper Manhattan. The bakery was opened on the Upper East Side back in 1916 by a Hungarian family. That was just a few years after Glaser’s opened in the same neighborhood and the black and white cookie was supposedly invented. So while Orwashers has changed ownership and probably wasn’t selling …
I’ve been trying to eat at Sofreh for years now. Every time we have plans to go to Barclays Center or BAM, it’s the first place I try to score a reservation. Somehow it’s nearly impossible to get into this hot Persian restaurant – even after it’s been open for 5 years. Thankfully, it got …
There are endless number of hidden gems and secrets in New York. Case in point: it took me 20 years of exploring Chinatown, a pandemic, and an abandoned shopping mall to discover this secret subterranean dumpling shop with a very long name. Fu Zhou Wei Zhong Wei Jia Xiang Feng Wei(or booth B45) has been …
When we spent a few days on the Istrian Peninsula, I knew I would have to get my fill of truffles. This fascinating bit of mountainous, waterfront land has changed hands between Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia over the years. Since the fall of Yugoslavia, this has been mostly Croatia. And lucky Croatians, they ended up …
We brought our son to Coney Island for the first time this summer and I knew ice cream had to be part of the experience. You can’t be on the boardwalk in the summer without a cone in your hand. The last time I was out here, the ice cream options were not great. I …
My new favorite European city is Ljubljana. Of course, dating back to the 13th century, it’s not new at all. Yet it somehow is still considered “undiscovered” or even “unheard of” by most Americans. I urge you to check out this beautiful European capital and spend a few days here. And while here, of course, …
The city is constantly changing. It’s one of the most exciting and also heartbreaking things about it. Long Island City is one of the neighborhoods that is always in flux. And it’s very obvious in the local beer scene. I used to give beer tours in this Queens community before COVID and it’s very different …
After exploring the absolutely breathtaking (and crowded) Lake Bled, I knew there was one more thing to do before heading back to Ljubljana. We needed to try some cakes. Given Slovenia’s proximity to Austria, it’s no surprise that just about each town has their own cake. We had to seek out Zima (which means “the …