History, Culture and Cuisine with 6 Food Tastings
Our Lower East Side Food Tour invites food enthusiasts and culture explorers alike to experience the vibrant tapestry of one of New York City’s most iconic neighborhoods.
With 6 food stops, YOU choose what you want to eat! Let your stomach and budget decide!
Click here to see our full schedule of walking tours in NYC. This is one of our most popular food tours for a reason!
Discover a neighborhood where an historic Synagogue-turned arts center sits across from luxury high-rise condos. Pass trendy boutiques that sit comfortably next to decades-old "Mom and Pop" shops.
Wander through streets that echo the stories of immigrants who shaped this neighborhood, from Eastern European Jews to Puerto Ricans, and now Hipsters!
Food Stops
We will sample from some of the best food stores shops on the Lower East Side. Vegan and gluten-free options are available at some locations.
- Yonah Schimmel Knishery, a Lower East Side institution since 1910, serves traditional knishes (Old-World Eastern European hearty snack filled with savory ingredients like mashed potatoes, spinach, and kasha wrapped up in a thin pastry dough). Their time-honored recipes showcase the rich flavors of Jewish cuisine.
- Economy Candy opened in 1937. Carrying your hard-to-find favorites like Squirrel Nut Zippers and Charleston Chews. Load up on candies and chocolates by the pound. Choose from 40 flavors of Ritter Sport bars. And so much more!
- The Pickle Guys offer pickles crafted the old-fashioned way, using an authentic Eastern European recipe dating back to 1910. Try their brine-soaked specialties, from classic sour pickles to unique delights like pickled pineapple.
- Kossar's Bialy and Bagels, the oldest bialy bakery in the United States, is renowned for its freshly baked bialys and bagels. Eat them plain or with a schmear of cream cheese.
- Choice of dessert from either the famous Russ & Daughters, where you can get Jewish treats like chocolate Babka or Rugelach or wait until the end of the tour for freshly-made delectables from the Doughnut Plant. Try flavors like Crème Brûlée, Chocolate Hazelnut or Vanilla Bean & Blackberry Jam.
The tour ends at Essex Street and Grand Street. But if you are still hungry, our guide will bring you to North China Dumpling for savory fried dumplings and scallion pancakes served up at unbeatable prices.
*We stop at Katz's Delicatessen to hear some funny anecdotes, but due to the long waits, we do not stop for food.
What to Expect
We begin your 2.5-hour food tour at the famous Yonah Schimmel Knishery, then set off into this bustling neighborhood. Along the way, we nosh (Yiddish for snack) on foods with recipes dating back decades.
As we stroll past significant locales, learn about 200 years of history, especially the era of mass immigration, when the Lower East Side was the most crowded neighborhood on earth. Discover the neighborhood's evolution, from Eastern European Jews to Puerto Ricans to today’s Hipsters.
We end at the intersection of Essex Street and Grand Street near multiple subway stations.
Join Us!
Refine your palate, expand your mind, and immerse yourself in the flavors and tales of the Lower East Side. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or a curious cultural explorer, this tour is an unforgettable experience.
Book your spot now and walk the streets of history with Tours by Foot!
The tour meets outside Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery, 137 E. Houston St. (map).
The tour ends at the intersection of Grand Street and Essex Street (map) near the Delancey Street subway stop.
Duration: Approximately 2.5 hours. Tour distance is approximately 1 mile (1.6K)
On rare occasions when a shop is closed (typically for Jewish Holidays), we cannot guarantee that all shops will be visited on each tour.
What will you see on the Lower East Side Food Tour?
We see so much on the tour, and not just food shops! Here are just a few of the sites on our tour:
Yonah Schimmel’s Knishery
Since 1910, this shop has been baking some of the best knishes in New York City. What is a knish, you may ask?
It's an Old-World Eastern European hearty snack filled with savory ingredients like mashed potatoes, spinach, and kasha wrapped up in a thin pastry dough
Along with the traditional classics like potato and kasha, there’s sweet potato, spinach, mushroom, and even jalapeno!
The dumbwaiter is one of the oldest in the city. The tin on the ceiling is original.
This iconic Jewish New York eatery also has egg creams, latkes, kugel, and many more delights.
The former Ansche Chesed Synagogue
This landmarked Gothic Revival gem dates back to 1849. It was built to house the Ansche Chesed congregation, the largest congregation in America by 1850.
By the 1970s, membership dwindled to a handful of congregants as most of the neighborhood's massive Jewish population had moved on. Eventually, the building was abandoned.
In 1986, it was rescued by a Jewish-Spanish sculptor, Angel Orensanz, who created the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts.
Among the famous events that took place here was the wedding of Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw) in 1997.
In 2011, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Haus Party Tour made a stop here!
Russ and Daughters
This landmark 'appetizing' shop opened in 1914. The most common definition of appetizing (in this case is a noun, not an adjective) is "food that goes on bagels", like smoked and cured salmon, herring, whitefish salad and cream cheese spreads.
This shop is the epitome of the American Dream. Joel Russ, a Polish immigrant at the turn of the 20th Century, came to the New World in search of opportunity.
He went from selling dried mushrooms on a string to opening this wildly successful store.
Proof of just how good the food is at Russ and Daughters is the fact that, after 100 years, it is still open!
Economy Candy
In 1937, Economy Candy opened, and now, nearly a century later, this candy shop is still going strong with what is likely the most extensive selection of candy in the city, if not the country!
From old hard-to-find favorites like Squirrel Nut Zippers and Charleston Chews to modern sweets like Pop Rocks, Pez dispensers, and Big League Chew, Economy Candy has thousands of types of sweet treats.
Katz's Delicatessen
When it comes to Jewish delicatessens, Katz’s is the undisputed champion.
This iconic eatery has been serving up some of the best pastrami and corned beef sandwiches in the world, not to mention great hot dogs, knishes, and knockwurst, since 1888.
It's also where Harry met Sally. Read more about this NYC phenomenon here.
While it IS tempting to go in for a snack, the lines are just too long for our tour. But come back afterwards!
Read about other sites in our Lower East Side self-guided tour.
See photos of the tour on our Facebook page.