Crains New York - November 26, 2012 - (Page 30)

Eat and run (OK, walk) Continued from Page 29 SOURCE LUNCH: DOUG STEINER by Amamda Fung SUGARTOOTH TOURS www.sugartoothtours.com Runs: Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. Cost: $50 Calorie count: 700 Sarah Rolleston and Allyson Tolbert founded Sugartooth Tours in October as a way to make money on the side of their acting jobs and fill a hole in the market. Though the city offers plenty of cuisine- and neighborhood-specific food tours, they could not find an option specializing in dessert—which both women find irresistible. The Hell’s Kitchen-based sweets tour covers two miles over the course of two hours and includes tastings at New York institutions like the Poseidon Greek Bakery, on Ninth Avenue since 1923, as well as at newcomers like Smush, which brands itself as the New York deli of desserts and offers a panini-pressed sandwich of cookies, fudge, marshmallow and popcorn crumble. In December, Ms. Rolleston is adding a holiday treats tour based around the Union Square Holiday Market. “We wanted to create a company that would be dedicated solely to desserts,” said Ms. Rolleston. “And there are some amazing hidden spots in Hell’s Kitchen that are overlooked.” More NYC movies to be made in Brooklyn ACT LOCALLY: The Tastes of the World Tour covers several Queens neighborhoods. O that you have to physically be there to come up with the answers,” said Mr. Watson. “You can’t Google it.” TASTES OF THE WORLD TOUR www.iwantmorefood.com/tours Runs: Contact Jeff Orlick to schedule Cost: $59 Calorie count: 800 to 1,200 By day, Jeff Orlick is in TV production. By night, he is an expert in the cuisine of the Woodside/ Elmhurst/Jackson Heights area of Queens. The key to his tour is flexibility—he always makes eight or 10 stops but varies the visits among different restaurants, many of which specialize in Tibetan and Nepalese or Bangladeshi and Pakistani food. Some tours even include pizza along with the more exotic rice flour doughnuts or purple yam pastries. “The area just sells itself as long as you know where to go,” said Mr. Orlick, who started running the tours last year.“We walk around and it’s more of a conversation, not a stuffy lecture at all. I do it for fun.” SOUL FOOD TOUR www.tasteharlem.com Runs: Fridays and Saturdays in December at 11 a.m. Cost: $55 Calorie count: 500 to 900 Fried chicken and waffles, collard greens and mac ’n’ cheese, oh my! This three-stop tour through Harlem often includes neighborhood favorites like Amy Ruth’s, Jacob Soul Food Restaurant, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and Choco- MUNCH AROUND CHINATOWN shannon skilling www.watsonadventures.com Runs: Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. Cost: $24.50 (participants pay separately for tastings) Calorie count: 1,100 Though 13-year-old events company Watson Adventures offers various scavenger hunts in several U.S. cities, this is the only one here that involves food. Feast on Vietnamese bahn minh, fried dumplings, beef jerky and cheesecake while answering clues about Chinatown and Little Italy. The 2.5-hour hunt includes 20 questions along with a dozen possible food visits,from which participants choose six. There can be as many as six people per team, but book early—this tour can attract up to 60 people, according to Watson founder Bret Watson, who started this hunt three years ago. And no cheating allowed:“We write the questions so HUNGER GAMES: Munch Around Chinatown includes a scavenger hunt. FOOD-CART TOUR, MIDTOWN www.turnstiletours.com Runs: Fridays at 2 p.m. Cost: $48 Calorie count: 600 to 1,500 Check out midtown at lunchtime during the week and find a food cart on almost every block. This tour visits at least six of them, ranging from Korean barbecue to falafel and vegetables. Belgian waffles from the Wafels and Dinges truck or cupcakes from Cupcake Crew NYC round out the tastings, which are overseen by Cindy VandenBosch. She started Turnstile Tours last summer, after co-founding Urban Oyster walking tours four years ago. All of Turnstile’s nine tours include a nonprofit partnership— for example, 5% of ticket sales from the food-cart tour go to the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project, which supports vendors’ rights. The midtown event hosts up to 14 participants. Ms. VandenBosch also offers a tour of financial district carts on Wednesdays. “Food carts are an important part of the culture here and are iconic in terms of New York City,” said Ms. VandenBosch. “We want to raise awareness about what it’s like to run one of these businesses.” lat Restaurant Lounge. Harlem resident Jacqueline Orange started the business about four years ago, after getting laid off from JPMorgan Chase,in order to showcase her neighborhood. She also offers a general food tour for $95 that covers four to six stops,and can arrange a bus for both tours if there is enough demand. Otherwise, walking groups range from two to 20. Above all, though, she suggests participants bring their appetites. “Other places you just get a bite,” she said. “Here it’s tastings, not full meals—but they’re plentiful.” ver the next decade, How much time do you spend on your Doug Steiner plans to production-studio business versus real more than double the estate? size of his movie and It totally depends on the day. Some television production days it’s the studio and some days it facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. is real estate.The studio runs well on When the roughly $400 million ex- a day-to-day basis. Real estate is a pansion is completed, Steiner Stu- full-time job. dios will span 50 acres. It will also be home to Brooklyn College’s new How is the Steiner Studio expansion going? film school in two years. Mr. Steiner, who recently turned In March, we opened five sound52, has also been expanding the fam- stages, and we are well underway ily’s portfolio of residential proper- with the next phase: a 235,000square-foot building gut ties in Brooklyn. He built renovation at the Navy two condo developments Yard, right at our entrance, in Williamsburg, 58 Metwhich will be additional ropolitan Ave. and 80 support space as well as Metropolitan Ave., and space for the Brooklyn has been on somewhat of a DINER 85 Broadway, College graduate film buying spree. In the past Brooklyn school—the only public six months, Mr. Steiner (718) 486-3077 film school in the country, has purchased two rental www.dinernyc.com if not the world. buildings with a total of AMBIENCE: 104 units. Most recently, Casual dining in a Why are you expanding? the New Jersey native acretrofitted 1920s To relieve pressure on quired the family busirailroad dining car. Don’t expect to neighborhoods that are ness’s first Manhattan get a menu—it getting filmed in too ofbuilding: 181 Ave. A, for a changes daily. ten. The film industry reported $41 million. prefers Hollywood-style Mr. Steiner followed WHAT THEY ATE: Mixed greens with lots over streets. Lots prohis father, David, into real radishes and vide security, power and estate. The Steiner family creamy roasted the right acoustics. owns several million garlic dressing square feet of retail and inGrilled flatbread What new shows are filming dustrial space in the subwith ricotta, at the studios now? urbs of New Jersey. Mr. roasted pears, caramelized The Following with Kevin Steiner has instead set his onions, radicchio Bacon, The Carrie Diaries sights on residential real and balsamic and the fourth season of estate in the city. Next vinaigrette Boardwalk Empire. year, the Stanford UniverGrilled duck sity alumnus will break hearts with sunnyside eggs and Are you a television fanatic ground on a 740-unit radicchio/celery or movie buff? rental property called The rook salad with I don’t watch a lot of TV Hub, right across the Madeira and don’t get out to the street from the Brooklyn vinaigrette movies enough. Academy of Music. Iced tea jeffrey tastes WHERE THEY DINED Why have you transitioned to acquiring and building rentals instead of condos? Pellegrino sparkling water TAB: $54.90, including tip The condo market at the time seemed hot, but it causes a lot of brain damage. I prefer to hold onto properties forever. Rentals can ride out downturns, whereas with a condo, when you deliver them you have to sell them. Are you still looking for more deals? What happened with your plans to help bring Carnegie Mellon University to the Navy Yard? We are still talking to the city to make it happen. The school is unique and the best in software, hardware, arts and sciences. Their animation studio is the best in the world. We want to bring that to New York City and create a digital media lab on the lot. What don’t you like about your job? I am looking at some stuff, but I am very selective because I have a full plate between the studio expansion, a gut renovation property in Bushwick,The Hub and the East Village. I have the best job in the world, but I am always stressed out. I don’t like to be disappointed by people who are unethical. jennifer strader VENDOR BENDER: Turnstile Tours hits up at least six midtown food carts and trucks. A portion of the ticket proceeds go to the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project. INSIDE TIP: Diner owner Andrew Tarlow is also behind the hot Billyburg eateries Marlow & Sons and Reynard. 30 | Crain’s New York Business | November 26, 2012 http://www.sugartoothtours.com http://www.iwantmorefood.com/tours http://www.tasteharlem.com http://www.dinernyc.com http://www.watsonadventures.com http://www.turnstiletours.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - November 26, 2012

Crains New York - November 26, 2012
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
ALAIR TOWNSEND
GREG DAVID
SMALL BUSINESS
REPORT: REAL ESTATE
THE LIST
REAL ESTATE DEALS
CLASSIFIEDS
FOR THE RECORD
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - November 26, 2012