NYC Fat Tour Recap Part V: chinatown and celebrations

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part I, the PLANNING
NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part II, friday fun & festivities
NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part III, saturday brunch, culture and indulgence
NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part IV, east village & nolita


Part V, aka unforeseen obstacle, unexpected taste/value BONUS, an epic eating fail, dessert-y things and DRINK!

NEIGHBORHOOD: Chinatown
to continue on with the next few stops on the fat tour, we made our way a few blocks east and south to chinatown. we had all been to chinatown before, many times and for many asian delicacies, but our tour included several places that were new to us.

FAT TOUR STOP #7
:: banh mi saigon bakery ::
address: 138 mott st, nyc
what we ate: NOTHING! 
yes, you read that correctly. NOTHING! because of the delayed start to our fat tour, by the time we arrived at this place, it had already been closed for 20 minutes! of all the stops on the list, banh mi saigon was expected to be the highlight for many of us. consider its potential awesomeness: a) it's a BAKERY in the front, banh mi purveyor in the back (it's like the mullet of vietnamese cuisine), b) we really really really like banh mi, but it's really really really hard to find a place that makes decent ones, and c) both andrew and kahee had endorsed the banh mi sandwiches from here as legitimately delicious (btw, banh mi is a vietnamese hoagie that includes pickled daikon, carrots, cucumber, cilantro, mayo and various meat fillings or tofu on a baguette). so hello, disappointment! no banh mi today. ah, well - but we were not defeated! we moved on to the next stop.

FAT TOUR STOP #7, Take 2
:: prosperity dumpling ::
address: 46 eldridge st, nyc
what we ate: chive and pork fried dumplings, sesame pancake with beef
by far the most economically efficient destination on our food tour, we managed to spend $4.50 in total at prosperity dumpling. each order of chive and pork dumpling comes with 5 pieces and costs $1 (!!!!!) so we ordered 15 and paid $3.00. ridiculous. they were pretty decently sized dumplings as well, considering.

i was afraid these would taste too game-y or too fatty/piggy (heh), but they didn't. i guess the chive really helped to balance it out. these were so delicious and i definitely could have eaten more had we not been towards the end of our fat tour.

unexpectedly, the star of the tasting menu here was the sesame pancake with beef. it was essentially a sesame pancake sandwich, with strips of beef, cilantro and pickled carrots stuffed inside. the ingredients/flavor profiles are similar to what is on a banh mi sandwich, but the sesame pancake obviously adds a very different feel. the pancake itself was very crispy on the outside, as though it had been toasted, but soft on the inside. this only cost $1.50! HOW??? i have no idea. but FYI, the sesame pancake only is $.50. AND yes, the pancake with beef is light on the meat, but seriously... SERIOUSLY?! it's only $1.50.

we scarfed these down. special shout-out to julie since we would not have ordered this sandwich had it not been for her. (andrew said it was the highlight of the fat tour, for him).

since we had missed out on one of our fat tour destinations, we felt it only right to add another impromptu stop. because how could we be in chinatown and not get SOUP DUMPLINGS! and conveniently, shanghai cafe was only a couple of blocks away. so we made our way there, praising the gloriousness of prosperity dumpling the whole way.

FAT TOUR STOP #8
:: shanghai cafe ::
address: 100 mott st, nyc
what we ate: steamed pork dumplings
SOUP DUMPLINGS are steamed dumplings that have an extra big pouch where you have a pocket of soupy liquidy deliciousness, along with the pork or with seafood or other types of meats. i found out recently that the way they get that soup into the dumpling is by using a meat gelatin and wrapping that up with the pork filling, so when you steam the buns, the gelatin melts into a soup. kind of gross, but TASTES AMAZING. the two places in nyc that usually battle it out for best soup dumplings are joe's shanghai and shanghai cafe. i am ambivalent since to me, they are both supertasty, but shanghai cafe won this night because of its proximity.

we got one take-out order of pork dumplings. i'm not sure why the cabbage, which is included here to help keep the buns from sticking to each other (which would cause a tear and then cause the disastrous leakage of the liquid heaven), looks radioactive. i tell you, it wasn't radioactive in person.

jenny, who joined us later in the tour, had never tried soup dumplings. so we asked joey to show her how to properly eat one (varies depending on who you ask, but you can pinch a tiny hole on top, suck out the soup, bite dumpling) and so he did. he stood right in front of her, grabbed one of the dumplings with 2 spoons... and then....

* SPLAT * ultimate FAIL. fail fail fail.... DROPPED! wasted dumpling laying sadly on the dirty chinatown street. all of us looking forlornly and thinking about the awesomeness that could have been. saddest day.

after this 8th stop, we were feeling comfortably full. we still had NY Hotdog and Coffee left on our list, but decided that it was much too late and inconveniently located across town to be worth visiting this time. plus, we do need to save some for our FAT TOUR, Round 2, right?

then there was the question of dessert. i mean, how can a meal feel complete without something sweet and satisfying? luckily, according to our banker, we had about $6 left in our communal pot of fat tour funds. we debated: a walk through little italy in pursuit of cannolis or a trip to the chinatown ice cream factory.... and the winner was....  

FAT TOUR STOP #9
:: chinatown ice cream factory ::
address: 65 bayard st, nyc
what we ate: black sesame, green tea, almond cookie, ginger, lychee, coffee ice creams
since the chinatown ice cream factory has a bajillion different flavors of ice cream, we agreed our indecisive selves would have the best chance for an awesome dessert experience there. chinatown ice cream factory offers traditional flavors of ice cream, as well as more unique ones like red bean, lychee or pineapple. they also have a wide range of sugar-free ice creams and sorbets. what is even more awesome is that they let you sample as many flavors as you'd like before you order!

one cup would give us 2 scoops of ice cream - and we found we could order 2 different flavors. so we got a black sesame, with a green tea scoop under it...

as you can see.... **  nom nom nom **

we had also ordered an almond cookie, with lychee under it, but found there was a surprising treat for us, since we scooped down towards the bottom of the cup to take a bite of the lychee and found... hmm... wait what is this... GINGER! they had accidentally given us the wrong ice cream flavor! the ginger ice cream had a really subtle flavor with just enough gingery taste to be recognizable. we still wanted to try to lychee as well, so jeanni went back in to ask for a scoop of the missing lychee.

almond cookie tasted exactly like almond extract on an almond cookie. really tasty, but almost cloyingly sweet. the lychee tasted fresh and bright and had tiny pieces of lychee riddled throughout, so you'd get a nice bite of fruit with each spoonful. the black sesame was one of the group faves. it reminded us of cookies and cream, but without the heavy creamy vanilla taste. jenny ended up ordering a cup of the coffee ice cream so we got to sample that as well.

THUS CONCLUDES THE FIRST EDITION OF OUR NYC FAT TOUR.
clearly this meant we had to go celebrate with a few beers. so, back to st. mark's ale house! CHEERS!

NYC Fat Tour Recap Part IV: East Village and Nolita

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part I, the PLANNING

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part II, friday fun & festivities

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part III, saturday brunch, culture and indulgence

Part IV, aka arepas, impromptu stops and the taste of tongues.

after the ultimate hot roast beef sandwich, it was time for one of the longer walks to the next stop on our fat tour. destination, east village.

NEIGHBORHOOD: East Village 

the east village has innumerable options for cheap and wonderful dining. it was hard to narrow down just one place, but with the recommendation of kahee and others who have tried this place, we knew caracas was an absolute MUST.

FAT TOUR STOP #3

:: caracas arepas :: 

address: 93 1/2 E. 7th St (1st Ave & 7th St) also 91 E. 7th, nyc

what we ate: de pabellón, la sureña, los muchachos arepas

caracas serves homemade venezuelan cuisine and the specialty they proffer is their arepas. an arepa is a sandwich that has a variety of fillings between 2 flat unleavened cornmeal patties. in the spirit of fat tour portability and to save money on gratuity, we opted for the take-out side of caracas.

de pabellón: shredded beef + black beans + white salty cheese + sweet plantains

this shredded beef arepa was my single favorite item that i got to try on the fat tour. a few of the members of the group had tried this before, but for me arepas were a wholly new experience. the beef and cheese were a perfect blend of savory and salty, with the plantain slices providing a hint of sweetness. when i was younger, and had a less sophisticated palate (HA. HA.), i really disliked sweetness with meat ("i hate sweet meats!") but i have really come to enjoy that hint of sweetness in a heavily savory or salty dish. anyway, the de pabellón is perfect and i could eat this every day. or at least once a week!

la sureña: grilled chicken + chorizo + avocado slices + spicy chimi-churri sauce

surprise! this arepa was ALSO delicious. chicken, good. chorizo, GOOD, chimi-churri sauce GOOOOD. i even thought the avocado slices added the necessary creaminess (since it didn't have cheese to balance it out). 

los muchachos: grilled chorizo + spicy white cheese + jalapeños + sauteed peppers

the jalapenos really provided a nice kick to this arepa. the combination of grilled chorizo and cheese almost always works, and obvs here it was no exception. the only thing that i disliked about this arepa is that it tasted completely like PEPPERS. bell peppers. ahhhhhh. sauteed peppers. okay, sorry. i know i'm in the minority, but i really loathe bell peppers; my body basically rejects them. * gag * still, the arepa was very tasty, i promise! 

while we were waiting for the "from scratch" preparation of our arepas, our group sat outside on 7th street. as we chatted, we noticed a small place next door called luke's that had lobster paraphernalia hanging all about.

FAT TOUR STOP #4

:: luke's lobster ::

address: 93 E. 7th st., nyc

what we ate: lobster roll

upon closer investigation, we realized that it was indeed the place that has, in recent times, been hailed as the "best lobster roll in nyc." supposedly the lobster meat that is used in the sandwiches come straight from maine, directly to luke's shop, no middle men in between. AND interestingly, it apparently takes 5-6 lobsters to get enough meat for one sandwich - which would explain the relatively hefty price tag ($14 for a regular 6-inch, $8 for a snack-size which is half of the regular roll). BUT, after a short group meeting, we reached the consensus that we MUST try this roll. hello IMPROMPTU addition to our tour. 

luke's roll had huge chunks of fresh lobster. the lobster meat was so tender! drizzled with lemon juice, salt and pepper and a hint of mayo so faint you completely forgot it was there to help bind it together. the roll was lightly buttered and toasted so the outside has a crunch but the part that the lobster was nestled on was soft and flavorful. they are woefully small and $14 plus tax can't be considered cheap, but it's so worth the try.

hahaha. we had them cut this baby into thirds so we could easily share with the group. we partnered up to take one of the 3 pieces (with three of us sharing the larger piece on the end). i asked the guy if he could cut it into quarters and he just gave me a look. haha the sandwich WAS quite small, it would have been impossible to cut into four pieces. but you can't say i didn't try!

next stop, Nolita!

NEIGHBORHOOD: Nolita

fashionable. trendy. hip. full of beautiful model-type people. 

FAT TOUR STOP #5

:: cafe habana ::

address: 17 prince st, nyc

what we ate: grilled corn mexican style

the fat tour item at cafe habana was their grilled corn. as per the mexican style preparation, the corn is grilled then spread with mayonnaise and sprinkled with grated cotija cheese. the ones at cafe habana also had lime juice and paprika on top. YUM. i was apprehensive because the topping is mayo-based, but there was a lot more cheese than mayo so that made me happy. 

FAT TOUR STOP #6

:: la esquina :: 

address: 106 kenmare st, nyc

what we ate: various tacos - beef, veal tongue, roast pork, chorizo, pulled pork

we really wanted to try the fish tacos, but they were OUT due to some necessary kitchen repairs. still, because of their smallish size, we managed to try most of the tacos they had available.

beef, veal tongue, roast pork tacos

the veal tongue (center) was ordered by andrew. he is definitely the most adventurous of the bunch. we all kind of shuddered at thought. however, in consideration of the fat tour day, i decided to take a bite. the flavors were good, but honestly, the texture totally freaked me out. it FELT like a tongue, a real TONGUE. ack.definitely don't need to try that again. the roast pork with onions, cilantro and salsa tasted fresh and savory. 

the chorizo taco had shredded cabbage and salsa verde. how is it that shredded cabbage makes meaty tacos taste so much better?

the pulled pork taco also had shredded cabbage (yay). it also had habanero pickeld onions + jalapeno. so with that strong pork flavor, there was also a lot of tartness from the pickled onions and peppers.  

i don't know when i'll be back in nyc, but la esquina deserves return visits. i already know i'll want fish tacos and more roast pork. these tacos are very reasonably priced as well at around $3-4 each. 

and later: Part V, chinatown! 

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part III, saturday brunch, culture and indulgence

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part I, the PLANNING

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part II, friday fun & festivities

Part III, aka, brunch, tim burton is twisted, live NUDE art, and the kick-off of the FAT TOUR.

Saturday Brunch: Virage
even though we stayed out til 4am, we managed to get up bright and early to eat brunch at virage. it was close to the apt, tasty and i had been there before and knew about their brunch special.

:: virage ::
address: 118 2nd ave, nyc
what we ate: grilled chorizo and scrambled eggs, goat cheese tomato and asparagus omelette, steak and eggs over easy.
the menu at virage has schizophrenia and describes its menu as a mix of "French/Italian/Middle Eastern" fare. the weekend brunch special is a $14.25 pre-fixe menu that includes: a basket of homemade bread & muffins, w/choice of coffee or tea, Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Bellini, Screwdriver or fresh-squeezed Orange Juice with each item. awesome deal, reliably tasty food and good service.

i ordered: grilled chorizo + scrambled eggs with cheddar and scallions + potato hash + salsa

julia ate: goat cheese + asparagus + tomato omelette + potatoes

soopah got: steak + 3 eggs over easy + potatoes

Tim Burton Exhibit
if i may, i'll take a brief break from the recounting of all the food, and make a quick note about our adventure to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in new york. we had been trying to go for weeks in order to catch the tim burton exhibit before it closes on april 26. this exhibit was, in fact, the catalyst for the planning of this fat tour.

much to our dismay, we found that tickets for the burton exhibit had been consistently selling out every day (including weekdays) in these last few weeks of its showing, including for the friday and saturday we'd be in nyc. chiho was the hero of the day - his resourcefulness and interwebs skills managed to find us a loophole:

"if you buy a MoMA membership ($75), you can get guaranteed free entry into the museum at any time for one year, including special exhibits. you can also bring up to 4 guests and they will only  need to pay $5 each for entry. this loophole works for special exhibits AND it means you don't have to wait even for the "timed"/scheduled exhibits like the tim burton one."

SCORE. so this is exactly what we did. PLUS, membership is tax-deductible.

Note: there is some additional benefit if you're someone who lives 150+ miles away, you get 5 guest tickets and the cost of membership is only $60.

tim burton is one twisted man and his art certainly reflects that. i LOVED the collection - the blue woman whose eyeballs had popped out of her head and were lounging on a table nearby drinking a soda and listening to the stereo, animations of the adventures of stainboy, original sketches from his youth, etc.

 while entertaining, it did get a bit frustrating because of the number of people in each section of the gallery. it was too hot and unmanageably crowded. definitely took away from the experience.

on the 6th floor, we found nude people (!) - i mean PERFORMANCE ART installations by Marina Abramovic. she is a serbian/yugoslavian artist whose "work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind." there was a NOTICE sign at the entrance of the exhibit, but we definitely weren't prepared for everything showing in the gallery.

let's just say there were videos with nekkid people, live nekkid people, pictures of performances of nekkid people (there is a reason why all of her art involves nudity, but as with most art, YOU can interpret why that is for yourself). it IS quite shocking though, and we did continue to talk about it all day (all the while, giggling, of course teeheeheehee) ... so mission accomplished... sort of.

kick-off of the FAT TOUR 


NEIGHBORHOOD: Flatiron/Gramercy
after several hours at the MoMA, we finally made our way down to the first stop on the fat tour: SHAKE SHACK. our tour kicked off 2 hours late, we were starving and we misread the subway signs and waited unforgivably long for the right train, but thankfully, kahee had made it down to madison square park before us and grabbed us a spot in the very long line.

FAT TOUR STOP #1
:: shake shack ::
address: southeast corner of madison square park, madison ave and east 23rd
what we ate: 'shroom burger, shake stack burger
remember how i said we were starving and there was a long line? yea, by the time we got the burgers (which i think was after about an hour wait), we DEVOURED them. no photo. sad day.

'shroom burger: crisp-fried portobello filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese + lettuce + tomato + shack sauce.
gooey cheese oozes with every bite of this mushroom burger. it's mostly cheese; i'd put the ratio at 6 parts cheese, 1 part mushroom - that is what makes it so delicious! oh, plus it's FRIED. this is the kind of non-meat sandwich i can be happy with.

shake stack burger: cheeseburger + 'shroom burger + lettuce + tomato + shack sauce
all of the delicious meatiness of a burger plus the rich fried awesomeness of the 'shroom burger... cannot go wrong here. shake shack burgers are truly so different than any other burger you'll try and the fried mushroom is a big part of that. the burger meat itself, while juicy and flavorful, isn't really THAT memorable IMO, but the mushroom i can go on and on about.

it really is tragic that we had no pics of the burgers. so, here:

or click HERE.

FAT TOUR STOP #2
:: defonte's of brooklyn :: 
address: 261 third ave, nyc
what we ate: hot roast beef sandwich + fried eggplant slices
soopah and kahee had always raved about this sandwich. we found that the sandwich was delicious and so was the customer service! we only ordered one sandwich for the 7 of us to share, but the owner came to chat with us and thank us for enjoying his food.

hot roast beef: roast beef + fresh mozzarella + fried eggplant + natural jus
the meat was juicy and flavorful with just enough jus to make the bread soft and moist. the thin layers of fried eggplant and mozzarella provided subtle flavors that didn't overpower the roast beef, but definitely added another dimension to this sandwich. the bread was surprisingly good and when i asked the owner about who his bread supplier was, he said if he told me, he'd have to kill me. sigh.

he DID however give us a plate of fried eggplant after we exclaimed about how WONDERFUL it was. i think it was restitution for his threat to off me, but whatever the reason, it was DELICIOUS.

the fried eggplant has a very thin batter around it and the slice of eggplant itself is incredibly thin. if you've ever had korean fried zucchini (or other veggie) slices, this tastes very similar. i don't think these are offered standalone off of the menu, but they are in many of the defonte's sandwiches. GET THEM. so good.

next up: Part IV, the fat tour continues in the East Village and Nolita. 

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part II, friday fun & festivites

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part I, the PLANNING

PART II, the arrival, the snack, the beer, the DINNER, the fun, the hanging out until 4pm in an attempt to cling to the idea that we're not too old and boring.

Friday Pre-Dinner Snack: Artichoke Basilles Pizzeria
Friday Dinner: Ippudo

we knew the wait at ippudo would be atrocious. for a group our size (a horrendously large count of 8), we were anticipating a 1-2 hour wait since a) this is still considered the best ramen spot in nyc, b) it was a friday night, and c) we'd be arriving at the prime dinner time hour - between 8 and 9pm.

the plan, therefore, was to order a few slices from artichoke pizza, and eat them outside while we waited for a table to become available. WIN: having 2 slices of artichoke pizza and 1 slice of crab pizza waiting for us when we walked up to ippudo to meet up with the CT/MD contingent of this fat tour weekend. NOT-SO-WIN: finding out that the wait for our table would be 3 hours!

it was easy to take it in stride with each bite of delicious artichoke pizza, though! PLUS, central bar was right around the corner and ippudo's hostess promised to call us when our table was ready and would give us 10-20 minutes to arrive at the door once we had been notified.


:: artichoke basilles pizzeria :: 
address: 328 east 14th street, nyc
what we ate: artichoke pizza, crab pizza
i had heard mixed reviews about the artichoke pizza, and how the deliciousness is inconsistent depending upon hour of night or day of week, but on this night, it was unbelievable. it tasted like really rich warm artichoke dip spread over a 1/4 inch thick soft crust. each slice was huge; it would be more than enough for a meal for a normal sized person with a normal sized appetite (notice the qualifiers there? it's because i have normal sized friends with abnormally sized appetites. they'd need 2 slices. at least).

the crab pizza was also good, but i was so blown away by the artichoke that i don't really recall what is on there. i think it was crab and ricotta, but i am not 100% certain. isn't that terrible?

we made our way over to central bar while munching on the last few bites of gloriousness. after a few pitchers of brooklyn lager, we received THE CALL. ippudo was ready for us and  it ended up being less than a 1.5 hour wait. WIN.

:: ippudo ::
address: 65 4th ave, nyc
what we ate: ramen, pork buns 
dinner at ippudo was great. i had been there before and wasn't really expecting to be wowed again, since, c'mon - it's RAMEN. but i was very pleasantly surprised. both the ramen noodles and the stocks are freshly made on site.

we started with the hirata pork buns, which were the highlight of the meal for me. the plush half moons of bread that enveloped the bbq pork belly slices, drizzled with a mayo/creme of some kind, and a small leaf of lettuce for texture... YUMMMMMM.each order comes with 4 so everyone had one to themselves, then joey and soopah had an all out battle for the last one (who wants HALFSIES?!).

since we had indulged in a cream topped pizza as an "appetizer," several of us ordered ramen to share. the nice thing about ippudo (though the wait staff will hate me for saying this) is that you can order a ramen for $14, then pay an additional $2 for extra noodles. if you need to share for some reason, this helps quite a bit. or it leaves you with some extra money to order more PORK BELLY. which is what we did.

the RAMEN. according to the website:

 "Ramen is cosmos in a bowl. The basic broth is derived from the essence of pork, chicken, beef, or seafood, and seasoned with soy sauce, salt, miso, and other important ingredients.... Flour, eggs, kansui (an alkaline water), and other ingredients are used to make noodles.... Soup, noodles, and topping - the trinity brings forth the cosmos."  

ooOOooooo COSMOS. i don't know about all that, but the ramen was pretty damn good.

soopah ordered the akamaru modern-  'the original tonkotsu' soup noodles with ippudo's special sauce, miso paste and fragrant garlic oil, slices of simmered berkshire pork, cabbage, onions, kikurage & scallions.

he ordered it with extra pork belly too! the picture doesn't really look that appetizing, but in actuality, this ramen is delicious. the akamaru modern is extra garlic-y tasting. so don't order this if you're on a date with someone that dislikes garlic (but really, if you're on a date with someone who dislikes garlic, will you really go on another date with them? i think not).

the rest of us got the spicy ramen that was the special for the evening. unfortunately, i don't have a description of the dish, but it had less garlic and a strong spicy kick. it was spicy enough you didn't need to add siracha to the dish, but you certainly can. of COURSE, we all ordered the extra pork belly.

how was it you ask? oh, we totally HATED it. so much that we basically licked our bowls clean.

btw, we have decided we each need a GIANT soup spoon like the ones they give you at ippudo (the white spoon that looks like a plate in the lower left corner of this picture). think of how wonderful eating pho would be with said utensil?

post-meal FESTIVITIES
the CT crew pretended they were going to hang out and, to their credit, trooped over to a bar near st. mark's with us. but after 15 min or so of lounging around, they excused themselves. after all, we had a big day planned for saturday.

the remaining 4 of us discussed what we should do next - go home, go to another bar, meet up with another friend? our tired bodies wanted us to go home, but the rebellious spirit of our youth managed to get us to st. mark's ale house to meet our friends andrew and jeremy.

st. mark's ale house is a dive-y sports bar in the east village. this is one of my favorite bars in new york - unpretentious, small but spacious, friendly and helpful bar staff, and offers surprisingly delicious food. that's all i'm going to say about that. go there, if you must, but please please please don't ruin it by telling your friends about it.

we had several rounds of drinks... and when we finally felt that we had sufficiently proved our young/hipness to ourselves, we called it a night around 3:45am.

coming soon - part III: saturday brunch, culture and indulgence. 

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part I, PLANNING!

philadelphia, we have returned! this weekend marked the completion of our first official new york city FAT TOUR. all told, our group sampled food from 12 different locations over 1.5 days. to compile our final list of FAT TOUR stops, we relied heavily upon the recommendations of our resident ny foodie, kahee (yay, kahee) and various contributions from the group.

our original list had over 10 destinations and while that felt a bit aggressive, we were determined to taste as many of the delicious specialties that new york had to offer. to ensure we could sample each fat tour item, we PLANNED. we were efficient, organized, HUNGRY, and flexible and that made all the difference. before the full recap, here are some helpful hints/suggestions when putting together your own fat tours.

1. make a list - prioritize the long list of foods/locations your group wants to try
2. plot the stops and plan the best route - google maps is invaluable for this. also, in the case of an nyc fat tour, the nyc subway map
3. have a group BANKER - since you'll be sharing all of the food, it's easiest to have everyone contribute money at the beginning of the day and then "reload" once it looks like you'll need more funds. we started with $10 each, but reloaded another $10 towards the middle of the day. 
4. bring your own beverages - this can be alcoholic or water/soda. we stuck to non-alcoholic drinks all day. having a bottle of water or soda with you on the tour is beneficial for many reasons. it lets everyone have their own favorite drink with them, the water kept us hydrated as we walked the many blocks to the next stop, and generally speaking, will be cheaper to purchase in bulk beforehand than separately at each location.  
5. designate a NAVIGATOR - self-explanatory, really. it's always easier to have a shepherd leading the flock of sheep. :) 
6. be flexible - even though we had a few hiccups (some of the restaurants were closed by the time we arrived and we were several hours late starting the tour because the MoMA kept us distracted for longer than anticipated), we went with the flow of things at each stop. so although we had to drop the last place on our list and the one restaurant was closed, we added a couple of impromptu stops to our tour and they were fantastic!
7. don't over-order - mind the portion size. this is extremely important, especially depending on how many destinations you have on your list. pay particular attention towards the beginning of the day because filling up at places at the top of your list will definitely take away from your experience as you move further down the list. 
8. FB or twitter your progress - haha this helps other friends know where you are along your tour list AND makes them feel regret for not joining you like they should have done! 
9. enjooooooooooooooooooooooooyyyy

one additional note about group size: we ended up having a base group of 7, but had several friends join us at different stops on the fat tour. 7 was a great number, but 6 or 8 would be ideal. it makes the group large enough to justify ordering several items at certain locations, and the even number helps you pair off to share/take bites of items that aren't easily "cut up."

this is how we make it official.

FAT TOUR LIST

•  Ippudo  www.ippudo.com/ny 
• Artichoke Pizza  www.artichokepizza.com  
• Shake Shack   www.shakeshacknyc.com 
• Defonte's of Brooklyn  www.defontesofbrooklyn.com 
• Caracas  www.caracasarepabar.com  
• Cafe Habana  www.cafehabana.com 
• La Esquina  www.esquinanyc.com 
• Banh Mi Saigon Bakery
• Prosperity Dumpling
• NY Hotdog & Coffee www.nyhotdogcoffee.com

To be continued.... Part II, friday fun & festivites.