10 Great Cheap Eats Destinations in NYC
A quick trip around the globe without leaving the city
This column features some of my favorite cheap eats places, worth a trip from any corner of the city. Note that seating may be rudimentary or almost non-existent.
Streecha
33 East Seventh Street, East Village
This semi-subterranean eatery with connections to the St. George Catholic Church down the block offers a thumbnail of Ukrainian food at bargain prices. Kielbasa with kraut, stuffed cabbage, and vareniki (pierogi) are good choices. Most dishes are $6 to $16.
Happy Star Bakery
160 East Broadway, Lower East Side
Go through the door on the right and find yourself in a typical Chinatown bakery, but go through the door on the left and find yourself in a four-seat micro-cafe famous for its rice noodles rolls, made to order right before your eyes. Also offered are Hong Kong breakfasts, sandwiches, congees, and noodles dishes at rock bottom prices. Most dishes are $1.75 to $6.
Culpepper’s
1082 Nostrand Avenue, Flatbush
Opened in 1998, Culpepper’s is one of NYC’s few restaurants hailing from Barbados. The national dish is flying fish with cou cou, a okra-laced cornmeal porridge, but there are also sandwiches on homemade flatbread called cutters, and such pan-Caribbean fare as jerk chicken and curried goat. Many mains are available in small and large sizes. Most dishes are $6 to $18.
Golden Krust
Multiple locations
I don’t usually recommend franchise operations, but this one, with 44 locations around Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx is an exception. Drop in for a spicy beef patty in coco bread or a plate of oxtails or jerk chicken — all displayed on a steam table, which allows you to pick what looks good that day. Small sizes are available; those are the best deals since sympathetic counter-people will often load up your plate. Most dishes are $4 to $17.
Hamburger America
155 West Houston Street, Soho
Soho is not exactly the spot you’d look to find cheap eats, but Hamburger America totally fills the bill, with its budget smash burgers — many evoking historic hamburgers that originated in other states — along with egg creams, decent fries, mayo salads, and sandwiches — even a PBJ. Most dishes are $5 to $12.
Restaurant Relax
68A Newell Street, Greenpoint
And relax you will at this rustic cottage of a place that peddles homestyle Polish cooking in massive quantities. Try the tripe soup, pierogis in several flavors, blintzes, stuffed cabbage, and crisp schnitzels, washed down with humongous Polish beers. Most dishes are $5.50 to $17.
Mona’s Cuisine
360 Targee Street, Staten Island
This restaurant represents the substantial Liberian population of Staten Island’s Fox Hills neighborhood, a lively walk from the Clifton station on the island’s rail line. The food represents a melding of West African and Caribbean, including lots of greens, rice and sometimes fufu, oxtails, and mac and cheese. Check the chalkboard for the day’s menu. Most dishes are $14 to $20 for massive servings.
Bigoi Venezia
1415 Second Avenue, Upper East Side
This truly marvelous spot concentrates on only one type of freshly made pasta: bigos, long thick strands associated with Venice. Twelve sauces are available, and what could be simpler or more perfect than that. Dishes are $14.70 or $15.60.
Hello! Bangladesh
30-05 36th Avenue, Long Island City
Hello! Bangladesh is a place with one of the city’s most beautiful and pristine steam tables, and lots of convivial seating. Not afraid to deploy lots of mustard oil, the restaurant offers a handful of bhortas — colorful dishes that each showcase a single vegetable — which can be treated as side dishes or as a main course. There are plenty of curry choices, an excellent goat soup, and a freshwater fish of the day imported from the home country. Most dishes are $3 to $15.
Queen Sheeba
317 West 141st Street, Harlem
This 31 year old Yemeni restaurant has nestled in an obscure corner of Harlem, peddling simple-but-good fare consisting of boiled meats, kebabs, nourishing soups, vegetable dishes, and such Middle Eastern fare as baba ganoush, and foul — a stew of galicky fava beans that makes an excellent breakfast (the place opens at 10 a.m.) or lunch. Most dishes are $7 to $15.
If you didn’t get hungry reading this… I’d get my head/stomach checked.
Why have you never told me about Queen Sheeba, a few blocks from my apartment!