NYC Bites- Lower East Side

Living on Long Island gives me the opportunity to be a quick train ride into the hustle and bustle of New York City or just a ten minute drive to great beaches.  Lately with the help of some great deals on Livingsocial I have been taking little, hmmm, let's call them food excursions into the city.  This all starting with a food tour of the Lower East Side given by the Sidewalks of New York.  All I have to say about the tour is yum!  We had six tastings from different small eateries.  Some not even big enough for our group to fit into, leaving us tasting our scrumptious treats on the sidewalks.  After a great tour which not only had great food but also included the history of the area, a friend and I decided to take the West Village tour and later the food truck tour.  All fantastic, all with great guides.  If you are visiting NYC or even a local looking for something to do I highly recommend this company. Listed here is the company's website: http://www.sidewalksofny.com/

The Lower East Side tour gave us a glimpse into the rich Jewish heritage of the area.  Some historical places pointed out were the old tenements.  The starting point of this tour was at Yonah Schimmel home of fantastic knishes.

The Knish was one of the best I have ever eaten the picture above shows a quarter of the actual knish they were big. Below at the store is the dumb waiter that they still use to carry the freshly baked knishes upstairs from the kitchen.

Another stop on this tour was to Katz's Deli.  This happens to be the deli in which that famous scene from When Harry Met Sally was filmed.  If you go in there is a sign pointing out where they sat.

Pastrami on Rye at Katz's.  This was by far the best Pastrami I have ever eaten. Go there. Try it.

 At Russ and Daughters we sampled the Rugelach.  They were delicious.

Also on this tour was a stop at the Pickle Guys.....Fantastic pickles that are made in a tiny place by a man with big personality.

This is the interior of the Pickle Guys just barrels of pickles to select.

Kossar's Bialys was also included in this tour.  Bialys always remind me of holidays of my childhood.  If you are unfamiliar with a bialy they are similar to a bagel with the hole in the middle and with some onion on top.

 Three other places we stopped at on this day were: 

 Prosperity Dumplings-  Another hole in the wall take out place that we enjoyed the food at.

 Goodfellas Les - we loved the sausage and smoked mozzarella pizza.

 Doughnut Plant- sadly I do not have a picture from here, but my husband keeps talking about this        place and when and how we can get more.  We sampled the Dulce and chocolate donut. And then we purchased a peanut butter and banana cream donut.  Which without a doubt is the best donut I have ever eaten.

  A happy camper with a pickle and part of a bialy with a smear of cream cheese.  Happy Tasting Everyone!