Tour Info
Duration: 3 Hours
Tour Includes: 6 tastings! Professional tour guide. Drinks not included.
Dietary restrictions: Vegetarian friendly. Vegan and gluten-free currently unavailable on this tour.
Walking Distance: 1.5 miles / 2.4 km
Tour Capacity: 4 people minimum / 14 people maximum
Tour Reviews (text at bottom of page):
Embark on a unique culinary expedition through Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood famed not just for its tumultuous history but also for its vibrant dessert scene. This tour isn’t just about indulgence; it’s about exploring the social fabric of this iconic area through its sweetest offerings. With our expert guides, every step of your journey will unveil the flavors and stories that make Hell’s Kitchen a treasure trove of culinary delights.
Tour Highlights:
Hell’s Kitchen History: Begin your sweet adventure in the historic streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Once known for its gritty reputation, this neighborhood has transformed into a culinary haven. As you stroll, our guides will share tales of the area’s past, illustrating how it evolved from a tough locale to a vibrant community, enriched by its diverse population and innovative culinary ventures.
9th Avenue Culinary Mecca: As you walk along 9th Avenue, witness the diversity of New York City’s food scene unfold. This street is not just a thoroughfare but a living museum of gastronomic evolution, showcasing how food can bring people together and foster community growth.
Sweet Stops: Prepare for a dessert extravaganza with stops at some of the finest sweet shops in the city, each offering a unique glimpse into the neighborhood’s social and cultural fabric:
- Little Pie Company: Enjoy a slice of classic American pie that’s baked perfection, symbolizing the traditional comforts that have nurtured the community spirit in Hell’s Kitchen.
- Poseidon’s: Experience a taste of Greece with authentic baklava. This shop not only delights with its offerings but also shares the rich history of Greek immigrants in New York.
- Schmackary’s: Savor innovative cookies that push culinary boundaries, reflecting the neighborhood’s transformation and its embrace of creativity.
- Bird & Branch: Enjoy a unique latte from this local favorite, where each cup brewed supports community initiatives and promotes social good.
- Amy’s Bread: Discover why the chocolate sourdough twist is a local favorite, and learn about Amy’s commitment to using high-quality ingredients and supporting local suppliers.
- Lady Wong: Explore the Singaporean food market Urban Hawker that houses bakery Lady Wong, where worldly flavors explode together in traditional patisserie
Please note Monday’s tour do not visit Poseidon’s.
Join us on this Hell’s Kitchen Dessert Expedition to explore the delicious complexities of this neighborhood. Let us guide you through a sensory journey that celebrates both the history and the culinary innovation of Hell’s Kitchen. Discover your sweetest moments in this iconic New York City neighborhood, and take away not just memories but a deeper appreciation for the community’s resilience and diversity.
Our tour guides, some of NYC’s best, bring destinations to life through engaging storytelling, ensuring your experience is not only enjoyable but deeply informative.
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“As good citizens of our community, we feel a responsibility to contribute to its health! Every day we donate our extra bread to 2 local food pantries and City Harvest (3000 lbs per month gathered from our locations!). We’ve participated in countless local school fund-raisers, hunger-related charities, and community events.” – The team behind Amy’s Bread
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On your tour you will hear the term “social impact”, but what does that really mean? For us, social impact is making sure that we have a positive impact on the communities we live and work in, as well as the amazing places we explore with our tours. We believe that truly experiencing a place “like a local” means having meaningful engagement that supports local, community-based organizations and learning about their causes and the people making them happen. Just as we carefully select the places you’ll visit and the food you’ll try, we have also carefully selected our social impact partners to showcase the amazing work being done in our communities. Your patronage on our tours is a small act to help these initiatives flourish. We want to help our visitors explore NYC on an authentic level and make sure that we are all having a positive impact while doing it.
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Hell’s Kitchen
- Hell’s Kitchen refers to the area between 34th and 57th streets, and 8th avenue and the Hudson River. This was a popular neighborhood for the Irish in the mid 19th century who were escaping the great famine in Ireland. It was an attractive place to live for them because nearby 11th avenue was home to slaughterhouses, gas plants, and glue and soap factories where many of the Irish worked. This was a very rough neighborhood. Local gangs with names like the Hudson Dusters, the Gopher Gang, and the Gorillas, ran the neighborhood and terrorized it, so that even the police would only venture here in daylight and in groups of 3 or more.
- There are varying ideas about how Hell’s Kitchen got its name. The oldest idea comes from Davy Crockett. Davy Crockett said that the Irish he met in the neighborhood of 5 Points were “savages” who were “too mean to swab the Hell’s Kitchen.” Other explanations of the name “Hell’s Kitchen” refer to specific tenement buildings; one on 54th street and another on 39th street. Eventually, people started calling the whole neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen, instead of just a single building. The most popular legend says that two policemen were watching a riot on a summer night and one said-“this neighborhood is hell itself.” The other: “Hell is cool- this here is Hell’s Kitchen.”
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Plans sometimes change. We get it; it happens to us too. So we’re happy to provide a hassle-free, 100% refund if you give us 24 hours’ notice.
Inside of 24 hours, we’ve already started preparing for your visit, and can’t easily fill your slot, so we sadly can’t provide you a refund in that case. -
We get it, some of us are details people and some of us are just along for the samples. We’ve got you covered either way on tour, but this tab is for our detail oriented planners. You’ll also receive this information in your confirmation email:
Meeting Point: Little Pie Company, 424 West 43rd Street
Ending Point: Lady Wong at Urban Hawker, 135 West 50th Street
