We believe in supporting the small, local business that make NYC unique.
Let our local guides show you their New York. With beer tours and food tours, we focus on the small (usually hole-in-the-wall) shops you might not have noticed. You'll meet local shop owners, bakers, bar owners and brewers as we introduce you to the places New Yorkers like to hang out!
Meet our awesome guides:
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Guide Profiles
We followed our guides around their favorite neighborhoods to see where they like to eat, drink & hang out. Learn more about our guides & see some spots that are definitely not going to be in your guidebook. |
 (WeWork/Lauren Kallen)
David Naczycz, Founder David is a dedicated urbanist and amateur historian who loves cities and their histories. He has traveled to and lived in a number of cities all over the world and, everywhere he goes, he immerses himself in the history of that place. A resident of New York City for over ten years, David has a special interest in the world's greatest city and its history. One of his favorite activities when he's not leading a tour of the city is to explore greater New York by bike and his mission is to have cycled through every neighborhood in the city. He's also an entrepreneur who values sustainability, urban neighborhoods, and the people that live there. He has built a consulting practice working with the leaders of cities to help them create viable communities and while living in Detroit he founded Detroit Synergy, a grassroots non-profit that empowers every day citizens to get involved in improving their city. Now, through Urban Oyster, David has found a way to combine all the things that he loves: cities, history, sustainability, and food and he can't wait to share it with you. |
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Alex
Alex is an American army brat who grew up in Germany. And European drinking ages being what they are, he developed a love for beer at an early age. Here in the US he became an actor, and had the good fortune of being on tour in the late nineties just as the Craftbrew movement was taking off. He moved to New York about fifteen years ago, and working as a bartender between acting gigs, he was immersed in the culture of food and drink that is such a great part of this city’s history. Why He Loves Being a Tour Guide: It combines 3 things he loves; history, beer, and performance. Favorite Slice. Wheated in Ditmars Park, Brooklyn. Special Skills. Plays the african thumb piano & makes a really good Glühwein (German mulled wine). |
Brian
Brian is a trained actor (and waiter by default) who in the 10 years he's lived in New York has developed a passion for the city, its culture, and its food. There's nothing he loves more than walking through the streets as the neighborhoods, people, and architecture change. In addition to giving tours, Brian has a food blog (Eat This NY) and web series where he searches for the most authentic and delicious food adventures in the city. Why He Loves Being a Tour Guide: He loves meeting people from all over the world and getting to see New York through fresh eyes. It's always exciting to share their discoveries. Special Skills: He can clap with one hand. You sort of have to see it to believe it... What He Does on Days Off: He's constantly on the search for iconic NY food & drink experiences. Giving the walking tours is the only way he keeps from weighing 500lbs. |
Astrid Hailing from Brooklyn, Astrid loves hanging out at the city's various taprooms and exploring beer culture around the world. An award-winning beer journalist, she also helps (wo)man the phones at NYC Urban Adventures. A proud member of the North American Guild of Beer Writers, she also is aficionado of artisan whiskey and Mezcal. Why She Loves Being a Tour Guide: Meeting new people from near and far, plus sharing her extensive beer knowledge. Why NYC Is So Great: The fact that people who are so different from each other co-exist in relative peace and harmony. Plus Prospect Park! Favorite UA Tour: The Craft Beer Crawl (which is really a beer-101-type tour), but after that the Tales, Tenements & Tastes food tour of the Lower East Side. |
Allison
Always game to sample a local specialty, Allison’s passions for travel, writing and discovering the taste of a place have steered her around the globe and then some. These edible quests have found her gnawing happily on a hacked off stick of sugarcane in a Kenyan outdoor market, crunching on crispy chickpea fritters at a lively Palermo intersection and observing tofu being made in a dimly-lit Kyoto alley kitchen. With a career that spans work with the International Slow Food Movement, a degree from the Italian University of Gastronomic Sciences and various published magazine articles, she is thrilled to guide visitors through the global deliciousness of Manhattan’s midtown lunch possibilities. |
Josh
Favorite Slice: Best Pizza in Williamsburg, Brooklyn Favorite Bar: Black Tree on the Lower East Side Why He Loves Being a Tour Guide: He loves showing both visitors and native New Yorkers areas of the city they have never seen before. Walking along the city's neighborhood streets is the only way to truly experience New York. |
Joe
After years of being the “overly-expressive-really-into-history-OOHH-AAHHH-guy” on any tour he went on, Joe decided he would love to be the one leading the tours. A Maryland native and Seton Hall University alum, Joe has been a New York resident for five years. With years of experience in the culinary industry, he’s served at an upscale Chinese Dim Sum restaurant in NOHO, a rustic Italian farm-to-table restaurant in Meatpacking, and an authentic Costa Rican joint in Chicago. If he hasn't served it, he’s eaten it. Apart from the food service industry, Joe works as an actor and voiceover guy, and regularly performs in NYC at the People’s Improv Theater. |
Jessie
Jessie is New York native who loves showing people her home. Despite regular travel for her travel blog, Jessie on a Journey, NYC is her favorite place in the world. You'll often find her wandering various neighborhoods with her camera, taking hip hop and Indian dance classes, sipping spicy cocktails at Mayahuel and trying to get her cat to walk on a leash (unsuccessfully). As a recent Upper East Side local - via artsy Bushwick, Brooklyn - she's pumped for regular picnics and yoga in Central Park. Why She Loves Being a Tour Guide: Getting the opportuntity to show people NYC beyond the typical sites. Why NYC Is So Great: Because nothing is impossible or far-fetched here. Because you can travel the world without leaving the city walls. Because you can be your crazy yourself and find your tribe. Favorite UA Tour: The Craft Cocktail Tour because we go to some of my favorite spots in the city. Plus, I love seeing the look on guests' faces when they try mezcal for the first time, or visit a speakeasy Al Capone drank at during Prohibition. |
Nikki
As a 4th generation New Yorker, Nikki feels a great responsibility to dispel the "grumpy & jaded New Yorker" reputation by sharing the incredible, fun & friendly city she's always loved (unless you catch her, for some reason, anywhere near Rockefeller Center during Christmas time...). Living in Queens, she's incredibly grateful for the insane variety of food just steps from her apartment from Australian to Czechoslovakian to Greek to Venezuelen (seriously, all within two blocks) and will try anything once. Nikki is constantly reading memoirs and history accounts to find new stories about the experiences of the people that have made up the greatest city in the world. Special Skills: She can eat almost any meal with chopsticks. What She Does on Her Days Off: Loves to take her dog to the park to play with all of the other dogs. Why NYC Is So Great: It's just so incredibly diverse. You can be anybody with any random hobby or interest and there will be other people just like you. Everyone's super unique, but at the same time, everyone's a New Yorker. |
The #ShopSmall Effect
- Purchasing a tour supports us, a small, local NYC business, which employs local New Yorkers.
- On our tours, we bring customers to small, local NYC shops, restaurants, and bars(many of which buy produce and supplies from other NYC businesses) directly supporting them.
- By supporting local, you're contributing trifold to the local neighborhoods instead of extracting from the city by frequenting chains.