Urban Oyster Tours Local Mom-and-Pop Shops

Spend five minutes with David Naczycz and it's easy to see that he wears his Carroll Gardens pride on his sleeve.

"One of my favorite things about living on my block is that, depending upon what time of day it is, or it smells like baked cookies," he said, beaming last week.

Naczycz moved to the neighborhood four years ago, he told me, having fallen in love with the surrounding architecture and rich history. He also quickly developed a passion for the local bakeries, restaurants and cafes.

Good thing, then, that he operates his own food-tourism business, Urban Oyster, which he co-founded with his partner Cindy VandenBosch.

For the past six years, the Oyster staff have been leading packs of tourists and locals alike through Brooklyn’s breweries, Midtown’s food carts and the industrial park of Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. It was only a matter of time before Carroll Gardens became the next stop on his calendar of walking tours.

This year, Naczycz is relauncing his "" tour as "Neighborhood Eats," a walkabout that visits seven local establishments and discusses a handful of others as well as neighborhood history.

"It's not just something for people from out of town," Naczycz said over coffee recently. "Families who are new to the area could benefit from coming along too."

The tour will forge a path to businesses both new and old, including such favorites as , , , , , , and ending at .

Naczycz said that he chose these businesses in particular because they all source locally, all support one another, and all operate under a mom-and-pop model—although in some cases the owners may actually be a brother and sister or a boyfriend and girlfriend.

His hope is that the interactions throughout the day will teach those on the tour how to consume in a way that supports small, local businesses.

"One of the best parts of the tour is that you get to meet the owners of the businesses and sometimes even get kitchen tours," said Naczycz. "These days, people don’t always come from a culture of interacting with the merchant. In addition, we are programmed as humans to crave the familiar, which is why so many cities feature the same chain experiences over and over. But the beauty of this neighborhood is that you don’t have to go to Trader Joe’s or Five Guys.

In fact, one of Naczycz's favorite places in the to eat isn't even included on the new tour, but he couldn't resist giving it a plug anyway.

" is a hidden gem in the neighborhood," he said. "It’s never full. They haven’t touched the décor in 60 years. People go in there and they don't know what to do. But it's terrific." 

Neighborhood Eats public tours will begin in May and operate on Saturday afternoons from 1-4pm. Tickets are available at www.urbanoyster.com and must be booked in advance.