Cityfood's Lower East Side Artisan Food Highlights Tour Review

Foodies visiting New York City will be surprised to discover all the artisan foods being made throughout the Lower East Side. The small tour group enables participants to have culinary questions easily answered and interact with some of the store owners and operators while sampling many delicious, handmade foods. The tour guide's culinary training and knowledge further enhances the tour experience.

Photos from Cityfood's Lower East Side Artisan Food Highlights Tour

We met our tour guide, Laura, just outside the Essex Street Market. She introduced herself and told us a bit of her training at the French Culinary Institute and her culinary experience. She talked briefly about the rich history of the Lower East Side before we headed to our first stop -- The Doughnut Plant.

At The Doughnut Plant, Laura told us about the history of the business and we peeked in the back at folks making the doughnuts. Outside, we sampled both a raspberry yeast doughnut and a tres leches cake doughnut while she talked more about the ingredients and success of the business.

Nothing goes better with doughnuts than coffee, so next we were off to The Roasting Plant for a sample of their signature brew. We got to see the high-tech Roasting Plant Javabot™ in action as the freshly roasted beans were sucked up into a grinder and brewed into a delicious cup of coffee.

Just up the block, we stopped at il Laboratorio del Gelato to sample some of the delicious gelati they offer. Laura was truly prepared for all our tastings with plenty of napkins and extra cutlery to keep things easy and sanitary.

After learning that the Essex Street Market was created in 1940 to get pushcarts off the streets, we visited two shops inside. While we sampled cheeses and cured meats, we talked to Ayse Gurdal of Formaggio Essex, the Essex Market outpost of her family's Cambridge shop that offers a hand-selected array of artisan food products. At Roni-Sue's, we met Rhonda Kave(aka Roni-Sue), who's butter-crunch has been getting rave reviews for over 20 years.

^{As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary tour access for the purpose of reviewing those services. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.}