Famous Fat Dave’s Food Tours

We were very impressed by the entire experience. Dave is knowledgeable not only about the food, but about the history of the establishments, the specific food industries, and the overall city geography and history. The variety of appetizers, side dishes, entrees, and desserts he shared with us were all delicious. It is obvious that he invests time and effort into building relationships with the various restaurants we visited. He was also able to engage our entire party, consisting of a parent, teenage son, and learning/​intellectually delayed young adult. His vehicle is so comfortable and gets plenty of attention. Would love to do the trip again with a focus on a different borough.

My wife and I did our second tour with Dave in april of this year. We toured Harlem and the Bronx and had a great time. Highlight for me was the Murder Burger. I can not recommend this tour enough. We are looking forward to doing another tour next time we are in NYC.

Cannot say enough wonderful things about Dave and his tour. This is much much more than a food tour. I had been living in New York City for 8 months before I went on Dave’s tour with my family (6 of us), and learned more about the makeup and history of the city in 3 hours with Dave than I had in all of my time here. Dave’s energy is infectious; he encouraged us to experience the culture of the food, the people who make it and the people who eat it. His friendly and outgoing demeanor will inevitable lead you to strike up conversations with restaurant owners and chefs throughout the journey. This is not just a food tour, it’s full on entertainment, with Dave serving as comedian, historian and gastronomy expert.
I must not forget about the food itself. Dave took us around Brooklyn, pretty far south to areas we never would have seen. Ant the food was UNBEATABLE. Not only was every dish we tried mouthwatering, but also totally unique (except for our finale at Nathans in Coney Island, which does have an unbeatable hot dog). We tried everything from tortas to spumoni. Dave kept our cuisine varied so each stop was a completely different surprise. Dave know how to portion everything out perfectly so that you leave feeling stuffed but still maintain the ability to walk. He was very accommodating letting us pick and choose the places that we want to stop based on our personal tastes. We began with blintz’s from Teresa’s looking out over Manhatta and made our was south, through Park Slope, Sunset Park and Sheepshead Bay trying Mexican mozzarella, Chinese Thai fusion dumpling soup, gargiulos burgers (a must try, only in Brooklyn), pastrami sandwiches and more.
We had a blast! Dave knows the city inside and out. I cannot wait for my next tour with him!

Incredible food tour. Highly recommend. Nice to see some of the spots you may never explore as a tourist.

Dave’s food tour was amazing! My wife and I did a 4 hour tour through Brooklyn with two of our friends. Besides the delicious food we had, Dave was a wealth of knowledge. All of the different history facts and stories Dave knew made the day fly by. We will definitely be booking another one next time we are in NYC.

Famous Fat Dave’s Food Tour is SO much more than an eating tour! Which is how it should be, because great food is always made greater with convival company! And that’s where Famous Fat Dave (FFD) shines!
Sometimes you see lists of perfect guests at a dinner party! After going on his tour, FFD would make the top of everybody’s perfect dinner party guest list!
His knowledge of the areas of New York on his tour is way beyond extensive He has a great sense of humour and a wonderful comic timing! No topic is off limits for FFD, he’ll even have a shot at religion and politics!
He has a great rapport and understanding of the people who serve the food, and the locals who eat it! He has extensive knowledge of all the food served, and throws in neat bits of gossip to make you feel even more intimate with the experience! He’s also a brilliant safe driver! His skill at finding parking spots is breathtaking!
Now to the food… and I really think for me, writing about food is like what Elvis Costello said about writing about music! Elvis said its like dancing about architecture! I’m not sure I can do it, because i don’t want to use cliches or phrases like «to die for» or words like «yummy» or «delish» and NOBODY wants to see me dancing!
So i will content myself with describing what we had and where we went with a one word review. a roast beef sandwich in Defonte’s (Red Hook) BRILLIANT! a double dipped roast beef burger at Brennan and Carr (Sheepshead Bay) ASTONISHING, hot pastrami, a hotdog, various pickles and rye at Jay and Lloyd’s in (Sheepshead Bay) (WONDERFUL)!
Whew…as if that’s not enough… then…(jerk chicken and ribs at Goodys’s BBQ (Rockaway Beach) (SPICY), regular slices at New Park Pizza in (Howard Beach) CLASSIC, real new york cheese cake and (the first decent coffee we’d had in NYC) at Villabate (Bensonhurst) DELECTABLE, chocolate dipped key lime pies on sticks at Steve’s in Red Hook (A LITTLE BIT TART but A LITTLE BIT SWEET)
All the food was fresh and created before our very eyes! I will vote the double dipped beef burger as the food that sounds the grossest but really is genius, and I’ll vote the jerk chicken as the most «yummy» and «to die for» and «delish» because it WAS yummy and to die for and delish (cliches are only cliches because they are true!)
This is the quintessential New York experience! To this day, back in sunny Melbourne, i find myself saying «Dave said this» and Dave said that «to my exasperated girlfriend when something about New York comes up.
FFD has now become my GURU
FFD and his tour REALLY was that good!

Did this with my boyfriend and we had an absolute ball! Dave is super knowledgeable and friendly. We did the «chunky but funky money» package and had essentially 5 hours of eating and touring all over the city (mainly queens, and brooklyn) with him, and another couple of people. We went to at least 6 – 7 eateries that were all delicious and so friendly. Dave knows the city well, avoided traffic, and entertained us with folk tales and common NYC history throughout. He was not on a time crunch and was so genuine and great. It’s not like he was some over-​worked tour guide, counting down the hours and cutting us off right when the time was up. He was more than generous and took us to the best places and it honestly just felt like we were exploring new parts of the city with an old friend. He makes sure everyone is comfortable and satisfied. I thought I would feel gluttonous all day, but we spaced out all stops and really just had tastes of the food (but were welcome to seconds and thirds everywhere) so it was a pleasantly full feeling all day long, rather than feeling disgusting or like you had gorged yourself all day. He was awesome and I would love to do this again! As a resident New Yorker, I was so happy with the experience and would glowingly recommend this to tourists and locals alike! Great experience for any age, at any time :-)

This was the second time my wife and i have taken a food tour with Dave and yet again it was a brilliant experience. If you love sampling great foods and want a fun filled afternoon exploring new places in the back of an old checkered taxi cab then this is a must do.
We journeyed through the Bronx enjoying everything that Dave put our way, from Jerk Shrimp in South Bronx to Clams in City Island to Calzone and Sausage Pizza in Pelham Bay.
We ended our tour in Arthur Avenue experiencing some of the freshest oysters and the best cannoli and bocconcini we have ever eaten.
Dave will customize the tour to suit what foods you want to try, and what areas you want yo visit.
We saw a completely different side to New York that we would not have found on our own, and Dave’s enthusiasm and knowledge made this the perfect day out for us.
Thanks again Dave, hopefully we will meet again…

If you’ve heard about him, or seen him on one of his several appearances on Anthony Bourdain’s show — what you’ve heard and seen is correct and 100% true. But there’s more to it than that, he’s still got some surprises up his sleeve. Go for the food, go for the exploring, go because you’ll have a damn good time with one of the nicest and most accommodating blokes in NYC. Absolutely worth every last penny — as you’ll probably walk away with a whole list of places you’ll be able to explore after the tour. We did!

Incredible combination of humour, history, ghost busters facts, good banter and of course … awesome food! Dave is an awesome dude to hang out with, and he pretty much tailored the tour around what we felt like eating. Took us to some great places that the average tourist probably wouldn’t head to, little mom and pop stores in the middle of suburbia far away from any subway stations that have been there since the 1920’s. The highlight for us was probably the Double Dipped Gargiullo Burger With Cheese, Onions, And Hot Beef And Extra Beef Broth, amazing.

I highly recommend the tour!!! I gave it to my girlfriend as a birthday gift. We had an amazing time with Dave. We did a 4 hour tour. He was an excellent guide and made sure we were well fed. He even let her have the last bite! We intend on doing another tour and tasting soon.

I moved to New York a few months ago and this tour is the best thing I’ve done here so far. Dave only took us to places in Brooklyn, which I had not expected at first but as he said he wanted to take us places we otherwise wouldn’t go. I probably won’t go back to most of the places since they’re far away from where I live and not really sit-​down restaurants but that makes me even happier I got to try them out at least once. I like all kinds of food so we pretty much told Dave to take us wherever he wanted to. We went to 8 different places in 4 hours and it was only at the last stop I felt I’d had too much to fully enjoy. That said, all the places we went to were great. And Dave is a wonderful person. Loved this tour!

Wildly over priced for a rambling unplanned inefficient driving tour of Brooklyn … Dave was charming and somewhat historically knowledgeable but otherwise was ‘winging i’t from one disappointing food experience to another… Fat Dave doesn’t read Unilocal because if he did we would not have eaten the mediocre pizza or pathetic brisket sandwich we tried to choke back … I will give him credit for a key lime pie but I am otherwise at a loss to explain the good reviews we relied upon … So be warned this is a total waste of time, money and caloric intake.

My family had one of our best experiences ever during our recent trip to NYC. The food and historical insights provided by Dave were AWESOME! Yummy. Funny. Intriguing. Can you combine all of these things? We even met interesting people along the way who approached us when they saw the checker cap, including a retired NYC police detective who told us where to go if we want to rub elbows with the «tougher» element of the city… and if we want some delicious Italian food. Next time… :P

Fat Dave is an enthusiastic and inspirational explorer of New York’s overlooked culinary treasures. I went on an all-​day tour with Fat Dave covering 4 of 5 boroughs, and he introduced us to the types of burger joints and fried chicken haunts you’d walk past 100 times without realizing they are the best at their greasy specialties. If you love gut-​busting comfort food, Fat Dave will show you the best that NYC produces.

We took my mother-​in-​law on a tour for her birthday and it was the best! We deferred to Dave’s suggestions and were thrilled with the results.
This is expensive. But who else is doing it? And Dave is so nice, funny, and knowledgeable about the restaurants and neighborhoods. Dave took us to super secret spots that we would have never found on our own. It was worth every penny.
We’re so doing this for my dad’s birthday. And that cab is damn roomy: 4 adults in complete comfort. Why don’t they make those anymore?

Was visiting NY to vacation and to check spots to live before moving here, decided that I needed to start finding out about the city that was going to be home for the next few and what better way to do than exploring my food options!
I contacted Dave about a vegetarian midnight munchies tour of Brooklyn and from the get go the experience was awesome. When I emailed Dave he responded quickly and answered all my questions about the tour effieciently, he was helpful with his suggestions and accommedating in setting up an appointment for the tour.
Every place that he took us to was freaking AMAZING, from deep fried pickles to blintzes made with real blueberries, from pizza to tortas (which could rival the food mexican food I get California) (the pulled pork tortas are also he reason why the tour was «almost» vegetarian, but when Dave mentioned them we couldn’t resist). And though the tour was mainly about us stuffing our faces, we also got the benefit of Dave’s wisdom, knowledge, and humor. This man knows just about everything about the five bouroghs on NYC: history, cultural significance, underground markets, etc. And he gives it all to you with plenty of entertainment thrown in. And his checkered taxi, Sweetness, lets you experience all this in style.

I surprised my boyfriend with an eating tour for his birthday. All I can say is it was an amazingly spectacular experience that I would do again in a heartbeat. Dave is super knowledgeable, down to earth and a plain old foodie for foodie’s sake.
We are both New Yorkers and were shocked at the diversity and breadth of the tour. We sampled rice balls in Carroll Gardens, Jamaican jerk shrimp in the Bronx (yep, the same one from the No Reservations episode) and THE BEST friend chicken we have ever had in Harlem. Other stops on our tour included a slice of sausage pizza in the Bronx, key lime pie in Red Hook and the crème de la crème: a lobster roll, Maine style also in Red Hook.
Dave’s excitement about the places you visit and it is evident he has honed his relationships with all of the eateries we visited. It’s pretty amazing driving around in one of the last remaining checker cabs in NY.
At the end of the day, Dave is a nice guy who is doing all of NY a big favor. Get out there and eat with him!

My wife and I took a Famous Fat Dave Food tour for my birthday and I can tell you it was one of the best presents I have ever received.
Dave took us all around Brooklyn from Red Hook to Coney Island to Sunset Park to Bensonhurst and we sampled a wide variety of (all delicious) culinary delights. Our gracious host and his wheels of steel were a blast.
What I found most impressive about the tour was Dave’s detailed knowledge about all of the areas visited and random historical facts about sights and points of interest in between. I find that some tour guides have a tour script planned, but Dave was able to answer any of our questions and adapt his tour to our likes/​dislikes.
Highlights included:
–Fried Pickles
–Bahn Mi
–Nathan’s Hot Dogs
–Sicilian Pizza
–Key Lime Pie
–Durian Shake
–Pork Leg Torta
–Polpo Salad
We were quite full at the end of our journey, but loved every moment.
We will definitely take another Famous Fat Dave tour in the near future and also plan on treating any visiting family members to a tour as well! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who is in the area from out-​of-​town and enjoys food. For the personal level of service offered, Dave’s prices are very reasonable.

Was surprised to find Dave was not reviewed here, but excited that I could be the first!
We went on a checker cab food tour to the Bronx with Dave as a birthday present for me, and it was well worth it. Dave worked with me over email (check his website for contact details) to come up with a schedule I wanted, visiting places that would serve the food we were interested in. None of these places we’d have visited if he hadn’t taken us, and we want to go back to all of them — everywhere and everything was delicious!
Dave is also very knowledgeable and funny and had lots of information and stories to keep us interested between our points of eating. Did I mention the old checker cab he drives you around in is awesome?
In the four hours we were with him, we must have eaten food from 10 different places and even got some food to take home with us, as souvenirs from the day. He also sent us a list of all the places we went to visit, so we have no excuse not to visit them again!
Would highly recommend this for native New Yorkers and tourists alike.