New York Mag Pushes the Boundaries of “Cheap Eats” Again…

Cheap Eats is a relative term, and nowhere is that more apparent than in New York Magazine’s Cheap Eats issue.  It’s almost as if they want to piss people off by putting things on the list that, while resonably priced for what you are getting, would never be described as cheap.  They indemnify themselves by putting “Under $25” on the cover, but who are they kidding.  Cheap, to most people, is a $5 lunch- not a $15 dessert tasting menu. 

That being said, they did write about some good Midtown Lunch’ing.  Here are the Midtown Lunches that made the list…

  • Boi to Go (2nd Ave. btw. 42+43rd) – I don’t understand how you put the most expensive Banh Mi in the city on a Cheap Eats list, but it is a good sandwich- and the closest we’re going to get to Vietnamese food in Midtown. 
  • Go Go Curry (38th btw. 7+8th) – Now that’s cheap eats!  I love this place… and will be writing about the Grand Slam platter very, very soon.
  • 99 Cent Fresh Pizza (43rd btw. Lex+3rd) – Now we’re talking.  It doesn’t get much better than a 99 Cent slice!
  • Olympic Pita (38th btw. 5+6th) – I wanted to write about this famous Brooklyn spot that recently opened a branch in Midtown, but it’s tough to get a meal there for under $10.  I’ll probably end up sucking it up though, because it’s clearly a great spot.
  • Piece of Chicken (45th btw. 8+9th) – This place is just outside Midtown Lunch boundaries, so I haven’t given it a write up yet, but I’m starting to think it might be worthy of an Out of Bounds post.  Great soul food, served out of the kitchen door of Jezebel- and the best part, everything on the menu is $1 and $2.  My kind of place.

Adam Platt also makes a list of the best Cheap “Expensive” food, and 3 of the 5 are in Midtown.  That list, after the jump..

 

  • The $28 Prix Fixe Lunch at Jean Georges (Central Park West btw. 60+61st)
  • The $20 Lamb Burger at Anthos (52nd btw. 5+6th)
  • The $19 Smorgasborg Lunch at the Aquavit Cafe (55th btw. Park+Madison)

For all the stuff outside of Midtown, check out the entire Cheap List.

2 Comments

  • Man $19 Smogasbord lunch at Aquavit thats pretty good, I paid $48 for a Smorgasbord brunch a couple of weeks ago. Mid-week lunchtime is the time to go i guess.

    Other cheap eats…in the Rockefeller underground the 2 all-beef-hotdog special at Mendy’s for $5 is pretty damn good.

  • I finally tried Boi to Go’s bahn mi yesterday, and while expensive for a bahn mi, I was impressed by the freshness of the ingredients, especially the Vietnamese ham which they must make themselves as you can see rolls of it wrapped up in banana leaves. I agree, for midtown you could do worse at that price.

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