New Yorker Food Writer Calvin Trillin Talks, Walks, Chews Food at Same Time

The Times tagged along with the New Yorker's Calvin Trillin for his "gastronomic walking tour" through Chinatown and Little Italy on Sunday, as part of the magazine's eponymous festival. The $100 tickets sell out instantly every year because the event is limited to just 35 nerds—er, gourmands—with money to burn. Trillin led participants on an erudite eating tour of his favorite little haunts on the two mile stroll. Among other revelations, he said he likes to eat standing up. And he doesn't care about restaurant reviewing: "If I couldn’t eat in a four-star restaurant again, it would mean nothing to me. But if someone said I couldn’t eat any more cilantro, I would be very upset." Also, the greatest development in American cuisine according to Trillin? No, not the Turducken; it's the Immigration Act of 1965, which allowed more third world immigrants.