My first day as a yellow cabbie. Boldly flashing a new wad of cash at the camera on the mean streets. This is how I learned my way around the city, AND how I learned my way around the city's food.
Quckly learning to chow down and drive a cab at the same time. Multitasking like this is not as easy as it looks.
A relic.
As a customer at Guss' Pickles in the 90s.
Working on the other side of the pickle barrels in the 00s.
Pride in the name of the pickles.
The frenetic energy is palpable here as I vended hot dogs at the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league park in Coney Island.
Cheese mongering at Murray's Cheese Shop.
The first shoot with Anthony Bourdain. Doing a Taxi Driver reference.
We drank that whole boot.
Jerk shrimp on the table. Ginger beers in our hands.
The Checker won't roll in the snow because the salt on the street will rust her out. But . . . Bourdain.
The Nathan's dogs at the original location in Coney Island are different than all the others.
Eric "Badlands" Booker can eat more than 30 Nathan's Famous hot dogs in ten minutes. I ate 3 and a half when we competed. But it was an honor just to be nominated.
It smells of victory.
Badlands is a sprinter. I'm a marathon eater.
And I wore that shirt while buying the Checker from Ben Merkel who literally wrote the book on Checkers.
Posing with food since 1981.
So proud of . . . ice cream.
How do you BECOME Famous Fat Dave aside from naming yourself? EAT!
Sometimes I don't know what I'm supposed to eat and what's a prop.
In the New York Times! Getting the word out.
In the London Independent, letting them hear it across the pond!
My kind of paper, the Chicago Sun Times is.
Getting the word out about FFD at 30,000 feet.
Al Roker enjoyed being on the tour!
FFD, Rachael Ray, Daym Drops, and Lee's Tavern Pizza too!
We got along.
We got along swimmingly.
Daym Drops is THE MAN!
Brazilians love Famous Fat Dave. Erika Mader came on a tour!
I'm on the road to everywhere.
Blue Steel behind a dirty wind shield.
The Travis Bickle shot in the rear view.
When the pandemic was on and I wasn't running tours, I worked for Pino's Prime Meats which always was and always will be a favorite stop on the food tour.
But it was hard work lifting boxes of meat!
Off duty! Trading the Checker cab for the citibike and the deli for the farmer's market.
Young Famous Fat Dave serving up spumoni in the early days of the Famous Fat Dave Five Borough Eating Tour.
Times have changed, but I'm still out here feeding you great food until you pop!
