Chelsea Market / Meatpacking District Food and Culture Walking Tour

While my favorite Foods of NY walking tour is still the Original Greenwich Village Food and Culture Walking Tour, the Chelsea Market/Meatpacking District tour is a great choice if you want to try another one of their tours or if you're expecting cold or wet weather, because a good portion of this tour is held indoors.

Chelsea Market / Meatpacking District Food and Culture Walking Tour Pictures

We met our tour guide, Curt, outside of Chelsea Wine Vault and gathered with our group of 17 tour participants. I could immediately tell Curt would be a fun tour guide -- he already knew everyone's name and began the tour by introducing everyone to one another before telling us about the history of Chelsea Market.

The first two hours of the tour were spent exploring Chelsea Market. Kurt pointed out lots of architectural details throughout the market, and we tasted delicious food from many of Chelsea Market's best shops. Kurt knew a lot about the history of each store -- many of which hold original leases from when the building was first converted into a wholesale/retail market (which means they pay a small fraction of the rent that new tenants pay).

After filling up on tastes from throughout the market, we ventured out to see the Meatpacking District. Kurt talked about the transformation of the neighborhood from being an undesirable one to being the hip, happening 'hood it is today. We went inside two of the neighborhood's great restaurants Del Posto and Morimoto. We got to visit a current bed and breakfast to see some of the neighborhood's historic architecture, and we also went to the penthouse lounge of the Hotel Gansevoort to get a great view of the neighborhood before the tour ended.

Samples on Tour: (enough for lunch)

• everything cookie
• chocolate milk
• Italian appetizers w/bread
• lobster bisque
• biscuits w/jam
• cheese & crackers
• tea
• gelato