A Look at Jersey Girls Food Tours

*Full Disclosure - my ticket was complimentary, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not asked to post a review in exchange for coming on the tour*

Recently, I was invited to join Jersey Girls Food Tours on a downtown Jersey City tour. If you're not familiar with Jersey Girls Food Tours, it's a Jersey City-based company that organizes food tasting tours in Jersey City and throughout New Jersey. I'd been on a tour a few years ago when they first started up, but over time they've grown and modified the structure of the tours, so it felt like a brand new experience. The concept behind the tours is to offer attendees a chance to try a bite or two at every spot while learning a little more about that particular restaurant, the chefs, and to give everyone chance to get to know more about the story behind the restaurant and the food.

We started with an introduction and some time at Wurstbar where Alessia, one of the JGFT owners and our tour guide for the day, guided us through a few get to know each other exercises and ran us through the agenda. From there, the chef at Wurstbar came out and gave us some details on the dishes we were about to sample (the Samurai Snack and the New Delhi Curry Wurst), the stories behind the names of our bites, and more information on Wurstbar and how it came to be.

From there, we proceeded on the rest of the tour, enjoying dishes like fresh housemade mozzarella at Porta, ice cream at Torico, spinach ricotta ravioli at Pasta Dal Cuore, and buffalo cauliflower and mushroom meatballs at Pet Shop.

Each stop included a drink pairing if it was a spot with a liquor license, the chance to try at least two dishes, and some time interacting with the chef/owner or a dedicated server who would provide some insight into the eatery's specialties and history. We got to learn about Porta's ovens which are imported from Italy and hand-constructed on site to allow them to cook a pizza in approximately 90 seconds, the long family history at Torico which has been around since the 60s, Pasta Dal Cuore owner Elena Cartegena's travels around Italy that inspired the dream of her own pasta shop, the unique natural wine program at Pet Shop, why they serve vegetarian/vegan food, and more.

The food was delicious, but what really made the tour feel unique and special was the one-on-one attention we received at every stop. Hearing and seeing the passion of the people behind the food was wonderful and really made me feel like I would want to come back to hear more. Even though I live in Jersey City and have been to all these spots, it still felt like I was getting to see a whole new side to what I already knew. On top of that, the JGFT guides are very interactive with the guests and with the restaurants, keeping things fun. The close relationships that JGFT has built with these restaurants is readily apparent and translates into a close and specialized experience for the tour guests.

JGFT has also recently launched a few new tours outside of Jersey City including a Princeton Farmer's Food Tour that focus on farm-to-table and sustainable-sourced restaurants and a Red Bank tour that focus on the mix of Jersey Shore and urban feel that Red Bank is known for. While tours typically go on hiatus over the winter, they'll pick back up in February 2018 and gift cards are available. Prices and restaurants included do vary, but typically you can count on stopping at at least 5 places over the course of approximately 3 hours  - and yes, you will leave full. They also never send anyone away without a final treat.