Culinary Tourism: First Field Trip

[Michael Krondl]

Please post your comments here on the food locations we’ve visited. Be specific.

[L. Bascom]

The locations that we visited this past Friday 09/12/14 were all quite interesting. My favorites were Eataly and Beecher’s. At Eataly I wanted to stay and explore longer, there was so much to see. I promised myself that I will return at a later date along with my husband and explore. At Beecher’s there was quite a few things that I enjoyed. Least of which was not the Mac and Cheese that they are apparently known for, it was delicious! Also the cheese that they provided samples of was another enjoyable aspect for me. The most interesting thing for me though at Beecher’s was the cheese making facility that we were able to view. The other locations on the tour: Shake Shack, Maison Kayser, and the bit of the Union Square Market that I got to see were also enjoyable for me. If this were made into an actual tour for local New Yorkers as well as for tourists from neighboring cities and tourists from afar, I feel that it would be a great hit, especially for foodies.

[tiff]

The trip was pretty cool, i wish more classes were as interactive. Eataly was quite interesting, it opened my eyes to other chains throughout the city. i teamed up with jessica hernandez and we took a walk around the whole inside area.what i liked more about Eataly was the name rather than what they offered. To me personally, the place was pretty ok from my perspective. Of course the audience this would have adhered to would be someone with a little more money to spend or someone who is obsessed to higher end italian food. i am not a fan of italian food, so it didnt interest me. shake shack is pretty good, i recently had tried there “shroom burger”, which was pretty delicious . The french bakery had some delicious pastries and baked goods. we ended getting a apple tart, which was nice and sweet. Beechers, we had the mac and cheese which was ok, i wouldn’t say the best.I think besides the fact that it was no amazing mac and cheese, you should never put something on your menu as ” the best” or hype it up that way because naturally people will find a way to prove you wrong. the market was cool as well.

[Sarah]

I usually try to avoid long lines and large crowds. I have heard of the lines that form outside Shake Shacks around the city, but the line for the Madison Square Park location still surprised me. While I have had Shake Shack before (I happened to be third in line and didn’t have to wait) I don’t know that I would stand on a line for an hour or more to place an order. This has always been the same reason I have never taken the time to explore Eately, I have passed the store hundreds of times but this tour was the first time that I actually perused the entire store. I loved the separate and scattered dining areas as well as the amazing selection of foods. While I thought some items to be over priced, I found other prices to be fairly reasonable. The croissants at Maison Kayser were very good and the cheese at Beecher’s was delicious. I loved that they had people making cheese in the front of the store. Union Square Market was the perfect end to a great tour, the market continues to be my favorite green market in the city. If this were to be a real tour, I think it would best be marketed to tourists. This would be a great opportunity to have visitors explore the Flatiron District sampling some of the interesting culinary experiences the neighborhood has to offer.

[jenniferm]

I really did enjoy our walking tour on 9/12 . What I really did enjoy was the fact that I didn’t know the Flatiron district consisted of so many different food locations. Our first stop was Shake Shack, to be honest with you I never knew Shake Shack could have such a long line in which practically wrapped around. I have had their burgers before , and I really do like them especially the Shack sauce on them!
I totally fell in love in Eatly , I loved the fact that there was so much to pick from and so many different varieties of foods within that one location. I actually did purchase a Foccacia bread which had sausage and bell peppers on it. I did enjoy it, but I would of had preferred the Foccacia to have been warmed up .
I never knew Beechers was actually a cheese making store , It was interesting watching them make the cheese and see how it was being processed. Maison Kayser consisted of really good french pastries and breads .The green market in Union Square was a pretty unique experience . It is amazing how you can see your local farmers be proud of their products and how fresh and delicious they appeal to the eye.
It is incredible how many locations we can have right around the corner of our house and not know the amazing foods that are being made everyday.

[Michael Krondl]

It’s great to see the reactions so far. Everyone comes with a different background and experience. Since I live in the neighborhood, I sometimes take it for granted that others don’t know it. Which is exactly the challenge when creating a tour for others. You need to research your audience, not only what will sell but what they’ll find of interest.

[Enid-Eva]

Eataly & Union Square Walking tour was very interesting. I have been you the Union Square area countless times and I have walked past many of the sites that we visited but I would have never went in due to the outside appearances. Eataly looks like a high end market from the outside looking in but when I actually went inside I saw that there were a lot of moderately priced items available especially in their bread area I was able to obtain a very large piece of focaccia bread for only $2.40. Another location that I have walked past on several occasions would be Maison Kayser. I loved this place because they had samples and I really got to experience the exceptional taste of their cookies before I purchased them. Overall I felt that the trip was very fun and informative.