LA Food Tour: Exploring America’s Culinary Frontier

Ulysses was a terrific guide. We got to see downtown LA and various adjacent neighbourhoods and learned a lot about the history of the city while enjoying some culinary treats.

This tour is a rare experience in LA. I highly recommend it to those who like to experience a city on foot with a local guide

Ulysses was a terrific guide. The relationships he has built with the folks at the food shops and stalls we visited made the tour different than most--we felt like special guests at many of these establishments. There was lots of walking and not much time to deviate from the planned tour, but we're very glad we had this introduction to LA's culinary diversity (we'll go back to spend more time at some spots).

Although it is expensive, this tour was amazing! Our guide, Ulysses, had extensive knowledge of the history, culture, and food in the downtown Los Angeles area. He spent approximately five hours with us. From start to finish, we walked a total of about 6 miles. The food itself was sourced from local mom and pop businesses with an interest in supporting small local businesses that have had a presence in downtown Los Angeles For many years. We hit all the highlights and more. Although I am a Los Angeles native, I learned so much about my beloved city. It was also great to be amongst and learn from all the diverse communities that exist in downtown Los Angeles. We went through Chinatown, Aloe Vera St., Little Tokyo, Grand Central market, the oldest house and the oldest fire station in Los Angeles.The tour ended in Grand Central market with us having the best tacos I’ve ever had from Villa Tacos, which has one best taco at the taco madness contest many years in a row. Love and highly recommend it!

This is a deep dive into some of the tastiest and deepest-rooted institutions of LA’s Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and Olvera Street. Our guide Ulysses was deeply knowledgeable about the history and culture of the establishments and neighborhoods. It’s like getting to do a food tour and an accessible post-graduate course all at once. We appreciated getting to visit a few museums along the way to break up the eating and learn even more.

We were already familiar with many of the Asian foods sampled, but the versions presented on this tour were all outstanding. Some were either the best or at the same level as the best examples we have encountered in the past.

The overall quantity of food was manageable, especially if you don’t eat every bit of all the foods presented. Some people could probably eat it all. Ulysses was good about setting the expectations about pacing, and also made sure hydration and bathroom opportunities were more than adequate.

For those concerned about safety, I would say the route was pretty benign. One needs to be aware of their surroundings in any big city, but I didn’t have any special concerns.

Overall, it is an easy recommendation to anyone who wants more out of a food tour.

Ulysses took us on a delightful adventure through old Los Angeles. We snacked our way through Chinatown, Olvera, Little Tokyo and more. Great history and nice conversations. Plus got in more than 10k steps! We highly recommend!

We spent a great day (5 hours) with Janine today. She has spent a lot of time in DTLA and was able to help us picture DTLA as it evolved over the years and welcomed a variety of immigrant populations. Every place we stopped was special in some way - we had coffee made by a biochemist, a simple tea ceremony, bahn mi (that sandwich shop was a hoot!) and so much other food that we're still not hungry. She explained what made specific shops special and how "back home" food evolved when the cooks came to LA. She was also really accommodating - when we got full, she helped us get food to take back for dinner, if we ever get hungry again. We topped it off by taking Angel's Flight up to Grand Ave and lyfting back to our hotel. We've done a lot of food tours on international trips and this ranks up with the best of our experiences. We will look for Culinary Backstreets tours in the future.

Enjoyed the combination of walking through LA, stopping at local eateries for a bite and hearing about the various culture and history of the communities we visited. I would have like to have been able to select a few items myself to try and pick up one or two souvenirs.

Great tour. Ulysses was kind, knowledgeable and very attentive. One of the best food tours I’ve been on. Very informative and the food was excellent.

Very fun tour! Awesome tour guider with a lot of food and LA history. Best taco in LA at the end. Highly recommended. A quick way to understand LA.

My husband and I loved this tour! Jannine was a phenomenal guide - very polite, personable and knowledgeable about all things LA, not just the food scene. I think we lucked out, as we were the only two on the tour but I know she would do equally as well with a group, maybe even better with more questions to feed off of. Food tour included Chinatown, Olvera Street (Mexican marketplace and location of the birthplace of LA), Little Tokyo, and Historic Downtown (including Grand Central Market). There were so many other unique highlights like a traditional tea service, the oldest house in LA, the restaurant from the movie Rush Hour, the establishment where the French Dip was invented and the gorgeous and historic Bradbury Building. These were all bonuses to us because we ate a ton of delicious and diverse food.

Jannine was great. Really nice experience. She was flexible with stops the group wanted to make (precision espresso!) and was really knowledgeable of the area. I'd certainly do another trip with Culinary Backstreets and another with Jannine as well

This was a great tour - as much history as delicious food and both were quite good. Ulysses, our guide, kept it interesting and paid attention to the three of us on the tour to make sure we were comfortable and well cared for. I’ve visited LA many times but I’ve never spent time Downtown and I am so glad this tour gave me the opportunity. We loved it.

Enjoyable way to sample many different foods and learn about the different cultures that mix to create delicious foods

All the ethnic and diverse food we got to eat was wonderful! The day was beautiful and we learned a lot of the historical facts about different cultures from our guide. I would highly recommend this tour especially if you LOVE food!

Highly recommend for couples or groups. It was an Incredible tour! Jannine was amazing. She wove a tapestry of interesting stories mixed with the history of the area. Plus, she took us to some of the coolest places to nosh in LA. We’d do it again.

A unique experience where delicious food is used to tell the story of a diverse neighbourhood and fascinating history.