Eating on the cheap in NYC next week?

[JadeIguana]

So my friend and I will be coming up mid-week next week, and we're on a bit of a budget. Other complications are that I'm a vegetarian and my doctor has ordered a low-fat diet. My friend will eat just about anything. Any tips? Thanks!

[cheesecake17]

Sacred Chow.. it's a tiny vegan place in the village that has sandwiches, salads, soups, and 'tapas.' They don't fry anything, and they're really good about picky eaters.. so if you tell them no oil... you're not getting any oil.

[Virchis]

chinatown, delicous filling lunches for $4

[cimui]

what parts of town do you plan on being in?

in the west village:

around macdougal street, you'll find plenty of lunch options: kati roll, the israeli hummus place -- mostly for takeout; meskerem for passable sit-down ethiopian (veggie and otherwise). if it's a nice day, look on the south side of washington square park for thiru's sri lankan dosa cart (you'll spot it by the long line). you can skip the line and go to the front window for vegetable rotis and (non-low fat) samosas. often thiru has iddly immersed in sambar, which is very low fat, relatively high protein, filling and delicious. you can't skip the line for that tho. also passable utthapam.

for dinner in the $10 range, moustache (a middle eastern sit down place) on bedford in the w. village has inexpensive vegetarian dinner options. risotteria on bleeker has lots of vegetarian risottos.

some people swear by VP2 for faux Chinese, faux meat, which I personally find rather dreadful, but it seems to have a decent sized fan base.

in the east 20s:

you'll find a lot of excellent south indian vegetarian places. two of my favorites are chennai garden and saravannas. if you want nicer decor, there's pongol.

in Chinatown:

check out the vegetarian dim sum house (avoid the fried items, of course). saigon bakery has a "Buddhist" bahn mi sandwich that's pretty good.

in hell's kitchen:

if you find yourself in the w. 40s or 50s, check out kyotofu for inexpensive set lunches.

in the east village:

moby has a cute tea shop in the east village called TeaNY that serves lots of vegan desserts and snacks (possibly sandwiches? i forget.) it's overpriced, but still on the inexpensive side, and lots of people find it interesting for the glamor factor (in a low-key moby sort of glam way). when it first opened, moby used to hang out there sometimes, though i don't know if he still does.

most if not all of the knish at yonah schimmels are vegetarian (even vegan). very filling, low fat if not low cal.

there are probably hundreds of places in the city that meet your criteria, many of them in the east village, which i don't know well. if these suggestions don't quite suit, don't hesitate to give more specific geographic and cuisine preferences.

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Saravanaas
81 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016

Chennai Garden
129 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016

Hummus Place
99 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012

Pongal
1154 1st Ave, New York, NY 10021

Vegetarian Dim Sum House
24 Pell St, New York, NY 10013

Moustache
90 Bedford St, New York, NY 10014

Kati Roll Co.
99 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012

Vegetarian's Paradise 2
144 W 4th St, New York, NY 10012

[cimui]

a few links i left off:

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Kyotofu
705 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

Banh Mi Saigon
198 Grand St, New York, NY 10013

New York Dosas
Washington Sq S and Sullivan St, New York, NY 10012

Teany
90 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002

[kcijones001]

otto
http://www.ottopizzeria.com/

cafe habana
www.ecoeatery.com

i would suggest Pio Pio but they're known for their chicken...if your friend feels like some, try
www.piopionyc.com

[RGR]

I would suggest Uncle Nick's -- either the original location on 9th Av., b/t 50th & 51st Sts., or the new satellite location on the corner of 8th Av. & 29th St. There are lots of vegetarian-friendly dishes on the menu, including an excellent grilled vegetable kebob. Menu on menupages.com.