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!

The beginning

So, I moved to New York yesterday. The flight there had moments of misery considering that I was sick, had to make two stops on the way and cannot, for the life of me, sleep on a plane. When I arrived at LaGuardia airport I had been up for 26 hours and felt more than a little bit funky. But when I saw the famous skyline just beyond the airport, I knew I had arrived. This was the beginning of a new adventure...

Now, the reason I came to New York was to find work. I'm a journalism guy from University of Oregon, so what better place to go than New York? That and my focus is in design (specifically magazine) and this is really one of the best places for it. I've also wanted to come to New York pretty much since I saw Ghostbusters for the first time.

But I'm also a big food guy, and what better place for restaurants than New York? A city this big has to have some amazing food, and I'm out to find it. Sure, it'll have to be cheap for a while, but that doesn't mean that it won't be good. In fact, I've already tried out a few places. Here's what I've found (with abbreviated reviews):

Boyd Thai - This was the first place I went. I got their spicy noodles, extra spicy and it was pretty darn good. It had a nice amount of veggies (baby corn, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, green onions, carrots) in addition to the chilis, mint and wide rice noodles. But the stars of the night were actually in the appetizers. First, they served some of those fried shrimp crackers with a hot sauce that was very nice (think an Asian version of chips and salsa). And the spring rolls, while good (but sort of ordinary) didn't compare to the little lettuce and carrot salad served on the side with a spicy, creamy dressing. I could eat that stuff all day. Overall, I'm going to this place again. Kudos to Chris for bringing me to this one.

Mamoun's - This was my first falafel place, and it was just what I needed. I got a falafel sandwich with hotsauce, lettuce, tomato and whatever that sauce is they usually put in. Even though I had a cold, this thing was packed with flavor and filled me up but didn't make me stuffed. It was just perfect. And it was only $2.50. I think I'll be having more of this while I'm in The East Village.

Two Boots - My first New York stlye pizza in the city. This place had the advantage of having several different pies available by the slice with great combinations of ingredients and great names. (The Dude, Mr. Pink, Bayou Beast, etc.) The name (as indicated on the front doors) came from the restaurant's cross influence of Lousiana cajun and Italian food. With that description, I thought that it would be spicier. As it was, there was good flavor, but it did lack the spice. But there were so many varieties of pizza there I'm going to check it again. And I'll probably get some hot sauce for my pizza, too.

So that's it so far. There is bound to be a lot more reviews (and perhaps pictures) in the future, as well as updates on what the heck I'm up to out here. Stay tuned!