New York Food

An Overview

Now that I've been in New York for a little over a month and experienced a lot of food, I've come to a few conclusions about food and drink in the city:

Drinks are expensive here. At least if you go to a bar, they are. I never thought I'd see a sign for $3 PBR or Tecate and think, "Wow, that's a pretty good deal." But that happened just last night. A cheap pint (PBR, Bud, etc.) seems to hover around $5 a drink. If you go for something nicer, it's more like $7 or $8. Well drinks are even worse (tiny well whiskey and coke for $7?!) so I've generally been avoiding those. Occasionally you'll run into a shot + can of beer deal that runs $5-6, which is probably the best deal I've encountered.


Food, in general, is expensive here. Not that I was really surprised by this, but most places are more expensive. Even the cheap crap like McDonalds is more expensive. No dollar sandwiches here. If anything should be dirt cheap it should be that. Instead it's just an abbreviated version of the regular menu. If you go to any sit-down restaurant you are going to pay quite a bit more for your food. And don't forget sales tax!


There are pizza places EVERYWHERE. I never thought I'd get tired of pizza. And I haven't, yet. But there are more places to get pizza here than any other place I've ever been. Most places are cheese and pepperoni only but there are others with more variety. The biggest advantage to having so many places serving pizza is there are many that are very cheap. The cheapest I found was $0.99 per slice (or $2.75 for two slices and a drink) for cheese. But I found another joint with $1 slices and it was worth the extra penny for these slices (and I don't have to go all the way to Midtown to get them, either.

There is also a lot of falafel. Falafel is another great choice for when you don't have much money. It's also damn good. The worst falafel I've had here was still pretty good. It's just that the best was amazing.

Pretzels are different here. I've not been a huge fan of large pretzels, but the kind you get from carts around here are a whole other animal. They're more like very large versions of the small, bagged pretzels. That is to say that the outside actually has a bit of crunch and some flavor instead of just salt. I found myself reluctant to try one because I didn't really like other pretzels I'd had. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Five Guys Burgers is a new favorite. This is the closest thing I've found to Fuddruckers in New York. You don't have as many options on meat (amount, types, etc.) but the other toppings make it all worth it. All toppings (aside from bacon and cheese) are free. This includes (but is not limited to) lettuce, tomato, bell peppers, grilled onions, raw onions, jalapenos, mushrooms and about a dozen sauces. It pretty much goes without saying that the burger was stacked. Also, they only have a "single" on the menu, but it's really the eqivelent of a double (one large patty sliced in half with the cheese melted in the middle). Awesome.


You can get almost anything from a cart. Sandwiches, soup, salads, hotdogs, falafel, kebabs, pretzels, pizza, chicken dinners, steak, fries, onion rings, chips, the list goes on. Though I did say almost anything. I must admit that I am a bit disappointed (though not entirely surprised) by the lack of taco and burrito stands around here.


Wings are great. And in great abundance. Now, I know the Buffalo wings came from upstate, but you'll find more than your fair share of wings around town. There's even one place that does a deal on Fridays at 5PM of all you can eat wings with the purchase of a beer. Sound like heartburn? A little beer will put out that fire. Also, thanks to my friend Chris, there is a method of de-boning your wings without making too huge a mess that makes eating them that much better.

So that's it for the moment. I should get some more posts out this week, so keep watching for them!