New York Pizza and Rats Tour

We’ll make our way through Little Italy and SoHo, exploring the history, food, and character that make this part of New York City so iconic. Along the way, we’ll stop at standout pizzerias like Lucia’s Pizza of SoHo and L’Industrie, sampling some of the city’s best slices while talking about the history of New York pizza, the neighborhood’s Italian roots, and how the area has changed over time. It’s more than just a pizza crawl—we’ll mix great food with New York history, neighborhood stories, and some of the hidden details you might normally walk right past.

As we make our way through Chinatown, we’ll explore one of New York City’s busiest and most densely packed food neighborhoods while looking at the conditions that can contribute to rat activity. We’ll walk through restaurant corridors, side streets, alleys, trash collection areas, and other locations where food waste and heavy foot traffic can create ideal conditions for rodents. Along the route, we’ll also look at the letter grades posted outside restaurants and talk about what those grades mean, what health inspectors look for, and how issues such as food storage, sanitation, garbage handling, and evidence of pests can affect a restaurant’s inspection results. The goal isn’t to single out individual businesses, but to show how food, infrastructure, sanitation, and city life all come together in a neighborhood where restaurants operate almost around the clock.

We’ll walk through the Lower East Side, one of New York City’s most historic and food-filled neighborhoods, while exploring the mix of old-school businesses, nightlife, street food, and changing city life. Along the way, we may stop for a slice at Scarr’s Pizza or visit one of the neighborhood’s well-known dumpling spots. As we eat our way through the area, we’ll also talk about the Lower East Side’s immigrant history, its famous food culture, and how restaurants, nightlife, trash, and dense city living all connect to the neighborhood’s rat activity. It gives guests a chance to experience the Lower East Side through both its food and its streets, combining classic New York stops with the unusual side of the city that most tours never cover.