Food Tours · Tour

Dinner at John's of 12th Street, Told by a Detective

Three and a half hours, starting at either 4:30 or 5:15 in the afternoon, meeting inside John's of 12th Street at Second Avenue in the East Village. The restaurant opened in 1908, has appeared as a mafia table on screen more than once, and three men associated with organised crime ate their last meal in it. The guides are the reason to book this rather than any other version of the same subject. They are active and retired NYPD officers, some of them from the Organized Crime Unit, and some grew up in Little Italy among the families they now describe. They have consulted on crime television and feature films. What you get is first-hand recollection rather than a rehearsal of dates, and the corrections are part of it: they will tell you, for instance, that the widely repeated story linking the Ravenite Social Club's name to Edgar Allan Poe is simply false. The walk goes from the East Village down into Little Italy, stopping at the addresses where things happened, and the guides greet the shop and restaurant owners along the way because they know them. The food is a full dinner rather than tastings: a full portion of old-school spaghetti and meatballs, and a full-sized Sicilian cannoli at the end. Drinks are extra and can be bought on the day. It ends at the corner of Mulberry and Canal. Up to fifteen travellers, in English. Wheelchair accessible, though it is a long walk and not recommended for anyone with leg or walking difficulties. Vegetarian options with advance notice.