Coffee Crawl RSVP Form

Correction: Coffee Crawl is on SATURDAY

That is totally my bad, folks. And should be taken as evidence as to how little bandwidth I have any more for the Crawl... :-/ Life has been CRAAAAAZY. So! Coffee crawl SATURDAY, April 14 at 1 p.m., location TBA

April Coffee and some administrative changes

Halfway through writing this post, I realized it is April Fool's Day, and given that I am announcing major changes to the format and administration of the Crawl, I don't want to give anyone the impression that this is a joke. After the April 2012 crawl, I am not going to be running the event any longer. However, I am currently working with a friend who has expressed interest in taking the event over, so if all goes well in April there should still be many more crawls to come (so be nice to her!) ;)

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Greetings, friends in food. I've missed you! Things have been busy in Amandaland in recent weeks, hence the abrupt pause in crawls. Sorry about the lack of warning on that one, but I have been busily interviewing for and starting a new job as of late, and that's been taking most of my focus.

I am, however, pleased to announce the April event with some major changes. By popular demand, we are crawling for coffee in April. Enjoyable hot or cold, we're thinking that however the weather decides to behave on April 15, it will be all good!

We did learn a major lesson from the Hot Chocolate crawl, though. When crawling on a particularly popular theme, we really, truly cannot manage too large a group without RSVPs. The Chocolate Crawl saw such a large turnout that I couldn't get an accurate head count (which we try to get when we can). Folks were arriving steadily throughout a half hour period straddling the meetup time, and I found myself sending forth foodies in several waves. This was terribly exciting for me personally as someone who's put a lot of effort into this event and who derives much satisfaction in seeing so many folks happily discover new foods and new friends.

But it really didn't work well. I got complaints from a location about the large group that wasn't leaving at their request so they could close, and the crowds at several of the locations were really not safe. At the first location I was at, my internal monologue was something along the lines of "crap, this would be so not good if the fire warden showed up." Consequently, I'm going to be instituting a couple of rules:

1. RSVP only - About a week before the event, I'm going to post a form right here on the blog for you to submit an email address and number of attendees. The evening before the event, I will send an email with the meeting location to the first 60 respondents. This counts +1s, so if the first 60 all RSVP with a +1, only the first 30 email addresses will be sent the location.

2. Punctuality is mandatory - If the posted meeting time is 1 p.m., please plan on arriving at noon-forty-five. Generally, I understand that merde happens from time to time, and in the past I always try to stick around for folks who are waiting on their crawl companions to meet them at a starting point. But this impedes my ability to be a good hostess to other crawlers and speak to any hosting establishments who have a question, concern or complaint with our event. Plus I spent half an hour after the scheduled meeting time in January setting Hot Chocolate crawl teams up. Half an hour. On one of the only properly cold days this winter. So if you do not arrive on time, I will not be onsite any longer to shepherd you on to the route.

3. Common courtesy to staff of hosting establishments - When crawlers do things like refuse to leave after they've been repeatedly asked to do so, it places me in a position which makes it tough to visit that hosting location again on future crawls. Be considerate of staff or you will be asked to leave the event.

With that in mind, I truly look forward to hosting my final crawl with the event. I hope to enjoy future crawls under new management, but for now, this is the last one I will be running.

Details on the Chocolate

We've confirmed our locations for January's Crawl! Please meet us this weekend, on Sunday, January 15 at 3 p.m. Look for folks at the NE corner of Prince and MacDougal Streets. I'll be there with maps, can't wait to see everyone!

Hot Chocolate: inappropriate given it's 60F out?

Well, we're going to do it anyway! I received no less than 3 requests for hot chocolate during the macaron crawl, so here it is. The afternoon of Sunday, January 15th we'll crawl through SoHo to seek out the city's best cocoa. This is a crawl I've been doing a bit of personal market research on, so I can assure you it would be worth braving cold weather for, if, miraculously, Mother Nature remembers that it's January and should be freezing.

We are currently firming up details, so check back later this week for the meeting place and time. Or use the handy widget on the right sidebar of the blog to subscribe to the blog via email; each time I make a new post, it will go straight to your inbox.

Now I am off to enjoy some of this insanely gorgeous, if unseasonable, weather.

Macarons on November 30

...NOT the macaroon crawl!* Rather than the small, firm coconut things, we are seeking out the finest light, nutty, crispy yet moist cookie that can be had this side of the Atlantic.** Though they also come in such amazing flavors as lavender, Earl Grey, and classic chocolate.

To allow maximum macaron enjoyment, I'd like to announce a meeting time that is a little earlier than usual. Some of our selected hosting establishments tend to close on the earlier side, so I'd like to get rolling earlier to give us all time to see them all. (One proprietor has kindly offered to stay open a little later for us! I will let you know, please be sure to thank him, and -as always- tip well.)

After many popular sweet events, such as the chocolate truffle and brownie crawls, I hope to see many of you fine folks yet again.

The Deets:

We're meeting up at 6 on the SW corner of Washington Square Park the evening of Wednesday, November 30. I promise we have some lovely locations scouted, and I would like to again stress that one of our proprietors has offered to stay open later to accommodate us. Please be kind, polite and tip well!


*Though if you're curious about the differences between macarons and macaroons and why it matters, this is a fascinating read: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2011/11/macarons_macaroons_and_macaroni_the_curious_history.html

**Well, ALMOST the finest since Laduree's lines are too long for the crawl. But they fly their macarons in straight from Paris so I don't quite think they count as "this side of the Atlantic."

Slices at 7

We're meeting at the SW corner of Stuyvesant Sq. at 7 pm. See you then!

Back in action: The October Slice Crawl!

On October 25, we're out and about looking for some of the best pizza slices in Manhattan! This was a tough one to research since the locations which are generally agreed to be NYC's best are not exactly within crawling distance of one another. (Seriously, Grimaldi's at one end of Brooklyn and Spumoni Gardens on the other? Yikes.) Another obstacle we encountered in mapping a route was trying to find locations which wouldn't have such long lines that your experience would be limited to too few locations.

Consequently, this month's crawl will have a location list that's a little shorter than you're used to seeing. As slices tend to be pretty filling, I daresay we'll still have a bit of a challenge ahead of us even with a shorter route. We're looking at a route in the vicinity of Gramercy, so check back the week of the crawl for the meetup point!

Alternatively, we now have a nifty subscription feature on the blog, so you can add your email address and get notified as soon as info hits the blog!

Back to your regularly scheduled programming in October

Greetings, friends. Please allow me to apologize for being incommunicado. I recently returned from a certain large party in the desert which you may or may not have heard of, and am excited to get back in the swing of my most favorite, more intimate event.

I am sorry to say, however, that owing to work obligations, Tiffany, my dear culinary cohort has stepped down. We'll definitely miss her awesome ideas, energy and good help in researching themes and locations. In order to get my ducks in a row, I'm afraid we'll be taking a brief hiatus in the month of September and will be back in action the last week of October. I need to confirm some scheduling details before I can release a firm date, so please bear with me!

Looking forward to seeing you all next month.

Details on Ice Cream TOMORROW

Thanks for your patience, all. We will be meeting at 7 tomorrow at the NE corner of Carroll Park, which is at the intersection of Smith and President Streets.

And a note to our friends who don't do dairy, we DO have Italian Ice locations on the crawl as well! We'd love to see you all!

The Second Annual July Ice Cream Crawl!

Friends and fellow foodies! I am happy to share that we are again crawling for ice cream this month! We had so much fun last year that we felt it would be an excellent annual tradition to establish. So we hope you can crawl with us on Thursday, July 28th.

We're ironing out details yet, but it looks like we'll be crawling in Brooklyn again. Hope to see you there!

Holy Guacamole, we crawl on Thursday

Sorry for the late notice, boys and girls. Between FIGMENT for some of us and lots of stuff at the day job for others, the early weeks of June when we usually put this together got kind of eaten up.

But! On June 30, the crawl will go on in search of Guacamole! I've heard a couple of folks express an interest in guac over time, and I must agree with them. Guacamole is a fantastic crawl treat. A popular party snack, guacamole is a delightfully straightforward puree of fresh avocado, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and lime, yet it allows much room for experimentation and offers the potential for variety. We hope you can make it to the East Village this Thursday to try some!

Meet the Northeast corner of Tompkins Square Park at 7 pm on Thursday, June 30.
(East 10th Street and Avenue B, Manhattan)

May 25: Crawling pour les crêpes!

Greetings, lovers of mobile munchies. I'm happy to share the theme for May's Food Crawl...crêpes!

On Wednesday, May 25, we go in search of one of the more versatile street foods we've yet attempted. Crêpe, meaning "tissue" in French, is a simple, thin pancake made of flour, egg and milk that is used to wrap up virtually any filling for easy eating on the hoof. Nutella is among the more ubiquitous and popular crêpe toppings, however they can also be enjoyed with more savory fillings as well. Any film buffs who may be following us will perhaps also recall the adorable scene in Amelie when she imagines vinyl LPs being made on a crêpe griddle. Happily, crêpes are also to enjoy in vegetarian forms if that's how you roll.

Meet at 7 p.m. at the northeast corner of Sara D. Roosevelt Park (Intersection of Forsyth and E. Houston). We will again be using more than one crawl route, and route maps will be distributed to teams before we set out. And as always...fast food take patience. Be nice and give good tips to the kind folks who are being asked to make a ton of food in short order.

Correction: minutes after posting this, I realized that I gave the meeting point as Chrystie and Forsyth, which of course does not exist. At least in this timestream...

I also said it was a Thursday crawl, which is incorrect. May 25 is a Wednesday.

Hot Wings will be on the UES

Hope you're stoked for some spicy goodness, because we are crawling this Thursday rain or shine. Hot wings fans should assemble at the southeast corner of 77th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. We're meeting at 7, but you can always follow @nycfoodcrawl to see where we're at.


Also, I got a humorous comment on my post announcing this month's theme in Google Buzz. Since those comments don't post to Blogger, I would like to share with the class. For context, my friend hails from western New York in the vicinity of Buffalo:

There are those of us who would shake our heads in sadness at the thought of the line "Hot wings, also known as Buffalo wings..."

Buffalo wings come from Western New York. If they are not in or from Buffalo, they are merely hot wings or, perhaps at their best, "Buffalo-style wings." Certainly, nothing found in the Five Boroughs is a Buffalo Wing, unless the establishment owner is prepared to furnish proof of multiple decades worked in a county like Erie or Cattaraugus.

The Anchor Bar claims to have invented them, but as you point out, that claim is contested.

Indeed! Hence the "Hot Wing Crawl." ;) Sadly, Mr. Curator will not be able to crawl with us, but for those who enjoy lighthearted beer and wing snobs, check out his blog: The Pour Curator

The April Hot Wing Crawl: April 28!

We here at the Crawl are excited to announce our April event: The April Hot Wing Crawl!

Hot wings, also known as Buffalo wings, are one of the more distinctly American food themes we've taken on since we started schlepping for food in 2009. Although it's uncertain who the maker of the first hot wings was, we can confidently say that they did actually originate in Buffalo. Small and snackable, the hot wing is traditionally a bar munchie. Hot wings can be enjoyed with varying levels of spiciness, and are generally served with ranch salad dressing, which balances out the heat of the wings.

A note on venues for our upcoming crawl: historically we have attempted to maintain affordability and family-friendliness on the crawls by avoiding alcoholic or other bar crawls. In response to crawler requests for a culminating point at the end in order to hang out and swap notes on all the evening's awesomeness, we've been picking a bar to hang out at following everyone's completion of the route.

The April Hot Wing Crawl is kind of breaking precedent in that it is, really, a bar crawl that's focused on the food. As such, we would respectfully ask all our foodie friends to pace themselves and to know their limits if they are indulging in the traditional accompanying beverage for hot wings. By avoiding overindulgence and maintaining a polite demeanor, other hosting venues will be happy to see us on future crawls!

Crawl meeting point to be announced shortly. Can't wait to see you there!

More savory crawling April 28

Hello food lovers! We're busily working on the April 2011 edition of the NYC Food Crawl! Details are still being confirmed, but we are certainly crawling for more savory stuff this time around. See you soon!

Pierogi map

I'm going to make the March Pierogi Crawl map public on Google maps in advance so that you can use the map to follow the route easily on your phone. Enjoy!


View March Pierogi Crawl in a larger map

Pierogi this THURSDAY

Thanks for your patience, folks! You asked for it, and we are excited to present the March Pierogi Crawl this Thursday, March 31. Truly, this has been the most commonly requested food theme in my years on the crawl, and this one will be so worth a week's postponement due to illness, new jobs, and essentially the perfect storm of schedule suckiness from these quarters.

So look for me in blue at the north corner of McCarren Park, at the intersection of Bedford, Nassau and Lorimer. We are meeting at 6:30 pm, and I will be handing out maps and if necessary, team assignments.

A quick note on the hosting venues for this crawl. Usually we make a point of choosing food which is easily eaten on the fly, like dumplings. Pierogi is a bit tough to eat standing, so most of our venues will be more of a sit-down affair. Enjoy the slower pace of this route, and tip well. Even though we focus on affordable snacks here at the crawl, it still costs our hosts money when we occupy their tables.

So! Thursday, 6:30, McCarren Park. Be there or be square!

rain + sick organizers = POSTPONED PIEROGI

I'm sorry to say, we are postponing the pierogi adventure for one week.

On March 31, we will explore the exciting pierogi offerings to be found in Greenpoint, not this coming Thursday the 24th. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but sadly your fearless foodie leaders have both fallen ill with a cold, and it's supposed to rain that day anyway. Ordinarily we would crawl rain or shine (and in fact have done so!), but that combined with icky maladies (and new jobs...congratulations, Tiffany!) make postponement a more necessary call.

We all hope to see you in Greenpoint on March 31st!

The Crawl Takes it to the Boroughs

You asked, we listened! It's pierogi in March, boys and girls. And in order to bring you that most amazing appetizer, we're going to bring the Crawl to Brooklyn. Oh yeah.

We're also bringin' it back to our roots a bit; the original crawl was for dumplings in Chinatown. This is dumplings gone to Poland (or for the purposes of our ambulatory exploration...Greenpoint). Pierogi are a traditional dish throughout Eastern Europe, with variants in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They come in meat and cheese varieties in addition to the basic potato filling, and are often served with sauerkraut as well. A hint - sour cream is also pretty awesome on either boiled or fried pierogi.

So whichever your preference, we want you to come share the Crawl's first out-of-Manhattan experience on March 24. Meeting point will be announced shortly.