3 hours. 7 courses. 2 miles. Rum & Blackbird Tasting Tours will guide your palate (and feet) through the Hell’s Kitchen of yesterday and today. Once home to speakeasies and mobsters, this West side neighborhood enjoys a rich and gritty past. Throughout history it has provided New York with a pot for melting cultures (sometimes to a boil). More of a tasty simmer these days, the neighborhood manages to honor its seedy heritage, embrace its more reputable future, and still maintain its own complex identity.

From the hood’s colorful backdrop emerge the varied culinary options available in The Kitchen: a little Latin, a little Greek, a little Italian, a little American… a lot of flavor.  With chain restaurants increasing their presence in New York, this tasting tour recognizes the value of patronizing the smaller eateries of Hell’s Kitchen.  From empanadas to phyllo-dough pastries, you will sample handmade food unique to the neighborhood.

Rum & Blackbird was created by Moira Campbell to fuse her favorite past times: food and travel.  And Moira knows food.  Her training includes the Culinary Institute of America and the Graduate Food Studies program at New York University.

So take a walk on the West side and see what’s cookin’ in Hell’s Kitchen.