Steal

No matter what your budget, a visit to New York wouldn’t be complete without sampling some cheap eats. The seeker of inexpensive, exoticfoods will be richly rewarded if he or she travels a bit outside the centre of Manhattan, especially to Queens; in Flushing for Asian food; in Astoria for Greek; or in Jackson Heights for Indian and Thai food.

I personally could spend the whole day downtown in Chinatown eating—and have. Begin with dim sum for breakfast at Golden Unicorn, but expect to wait in line among the crowds of families vying for a huge round table—you may have to share a table. Start with the excellent steamed pork buns filled with sweet syrupy barbecued pork that come by on
the rotating carts, but make a point of asking for steamed custard-filled buns. Sweet and eggy,
they are the perfect end to a morning meal.
18E. Broadway, at Catherine St., 212-941-0911.

For the absolutely best deal for lunch, I head to the Dumpling House. In addition to the best fried pork dumplings in the city for just a US$1 per order, they also make an amazing fried sesame pancake, a doughy round bread, served hot out of the pan, sliced in half and filled with beef, marinated carrots and other vegetables for about US$3. 11
8 Eldridge Street near Broome St., 212-625-8008.

The Dumpling House is always crowded and there’s barely anywhere to sit. But for an off-the beaten-path special experience, try Nam Zhou Handmade Noodles and Dumplings, where the melt-in-your-mouth noodles, used in soups with
hot broth and braised meats, are pulled and stretched before your eyes.
144 E. Broadway.

Even in midtown Manhattan some amazing deals can be found. Daisy May’s BBQ cart at 50th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue serves chunky beef chili that is outrageously delicious and comes with sour cream or grated
cheese on the side for US$7. 50th St. between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, or the restaurant located at 623 Eleventh Avenue at 46th St., 212-977-1500.

In the West Village, there are some quirky holdovers from another time, where you can not only get dinner that’s priced as if it were still the 1950s, but also experience New York from an earlier era. Try Fedora for dinner, though the food—low quality steak, gloppy chicken—isn’t the best, you can get a lovely martini there and soak up the history of
all the famous artists who used to eat there.
239 West 4th St., 212-242-9691.

Splurge

For the most decadent and delicious breakfast of your life, Norma’s is the place. Home to the US$1,000 omelette (eggs, lobster, and caviar), you’ll also find plates piled high with sweet lemon pancakes and eggs scrambled with cream.Le
Parker Meridien,118 W. 57th Street near Sixth Ave., 212-708-7460

For dinner, the two most notoriously expensive dining destinations are Per Se and Masa, both located in the fanciest food court in North America. If you are going to eat at Per Se be prepared for a nine-course extravaganza of a tasting menu with each painstakingly small course explained in excruciating detail by a phalanx of waiters.
The idea is to have one perfect taste that leaves you wanting more. The vegetable tasting menu, I have to say, is a work of genius, and might even be worth the US$275 per person price tag, not including wine or other beverages.
Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, 4th floor at 60th Street, near Eighth Ave., 212-823-9335

No one who has eaten at Masa, the Japanese domain of Chef Masa, has ever failed to mention that the meal costs over US$400 per person and that they left hungry. Undoubtedly, Masa is a talented sushi chef, but for my US$400, I’d rather sit at the bar at Sushi Yasuda (204 E. 43rd St., near Third Ave., 212-972-1001) or Sushi of Gari (402 E. 78th St., near First Ave., 212-517-5340) and tell the chef to keep bringing it on until I couldn’t take anymore.
Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, 4th floor at 60th Street, near Eighth Ave., 212-823-9800

However, one really worthwhile splurge, is Chef Tournondel’s BLT Prime. There the meat is dry aged to perfection—and the sides are much more than an afterthought. For the ultimate splurge, the chef recommends dry aged Kobe for US$36 per ounce with a minimum of 5 ounces (you do the math), as well as also dry aged American wagyu in 40 ounce porter house steaks for US$165.
111 E. 22nd St., near Park Ave. South, 212-995-8500

If you’ve never tried a Joël Robuchon restaurant, make a point to dine at L’Atelier (Four Seasons Hotel, 57 E. 57th Street, near Park Ave., 212-350-6658). It’s meant to be relatively casual while still being chic, a bar with seats where you can
watch the chefs at work. If you want to play it safe, there’s only one place to go: Le Bernardin for seafood, the one restaurant in New York that has consistently been awarded three Michelin stars and the highest ratings in Zagat.
155 West 51st St., near Seventh Ave., 212-554-1515


— nancy davidson