Any hot new cheap food recommends?

[sabrina m.]

hi all,

I am going to stay in NYC for about 3 Weeks. For the fact that I have a "rather" limited budget I would be really pleased to get some cheap food recommends from you.
Here are the hard facts:
- I am staying in a place near queensborough plaza in Long Island City
-I am planning to cruise many many places so I don't really care about the adress of recommendations
-I am mostly interested in take out places - something to get quick during an very intensive day of sightseeing and so one
-My food favourites are classic burger stuff, sweets and japanese.

Above all: It has to be cheap!!!! So please mention whatever comes to your mind when you think about cheap food around NYC.

I would be really greatfull to get some information from you!

best wishes,
sabrina

[coasts]

i'm sure you'll find these listed in some of the links that Kathryn provided, but pay special attention to Caracas, This Little Piggy, Vanessa's Dumplings, Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwich, and Hyo Dong Gak.

Caracas is a favorite, regardless of the cost. They could double the charge and i'd still line up. absolutely love it. these aren't your street fair arepas. gotta try it.

This Little Piggy has its fans and haters. I'm the former. It's big, messy, salty and wouldn't please your mother to know you're eating it.

Vanessa's Dumplings on Eldridge is one of the 5/$1 dumpling spots. the dumplings are serviceable, at best, but the scallion pancake can warm your belly for $1 on even the coldest day.

Nicky's...just go. no questions asked. bring $10...order the pork sandwich and go home with $5 still in your pocket (or have another).

Hyo Dong Gak - don't know if it's ever mentioned on the board, but they do a decent Chinese-Korean menu. black noodle dishes are priced somewhere around $7. ask for uni jah jahn and extra napkins.

i'm also gonna include East, the sushi place on 3rd Ave and 25th (or so). it's far from the best sushi in New York, but it's fairly priced. it's very americanized (do they serve Mexican rolls in Japan?), but i enjoy sitting at the conveyor belt bar and watching as my tuna avocado turns the corner.

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Hyo Dong Gak
51 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001

[sabrina m.]

Thanks all for that amazing amount of information!!!! I have just started looking through it and already found a lot of great places I didn't knew yet. I posted my question on the Manhattan Board because I couldn't decide where to post it. Sorry for that.

[AubWah]

cheap food? manhattan? i wouldnt leave chinatown except for the 96th and broadway taco truck

[coasts]

Aw, Aub, you know that's not true. We have so many great options for $10 or less.

[loratliff]

Falafel from Taïm. Super cheap, totally delicious.

[kathryn]

For Long Island City you need to post to the Outer Boroughs boards. Since this is the Manhattan board, we'll need to limit our recommendations to Manhattan.

Any particular destinations on your sightseeing itinerary?

Since you'll be here for three weeks, can you squeeze some sit down restaurants in? For ones especially in Chinatown, you can be in and out rather quickly. If you can spare an hour, there's a wealth of possibilities: Old Sichuan, Famous Sichuan, Shanghai Cafe, Noodle Village, Great NY Noodletown.

Check out also the Midtown Lunch (midtownlunch.com) site.

I can't really think of that many great burger places aside from Shake Shack that are good on the go.

For Japanese, you could always try some of the noodles shops like Ippudo or Soba Ya, a Japanese bakery like Cafe Zaiya, or go to Otafuku? OMS/B ?

Here's an awesome cheap eats report from someone who visited a few months ago:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/733896

Don't leave NY without eating these foods -- most of these are cheap to begin with
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/610739

Pizza in NYC -- the classic NY slice (gas oven) is typically cheap, however the Naples inspired sit down restaurants are the ones really flourishing these days, but they're not super expensive either
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/692820#5454962

Street food is typically pretty cheap as well and fits your "on the go" request:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/701278

BTW, I highly recommend RGR's self guided Lower East Side Gustatory tour but sub in Pickle Guys for Guss' Pickles:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/493333

Time Out has a great cheap eats guide:
http://newyork.timeout.com/restaurants-bars/restaurants/80798/cheap-eats-in-new-york-city-2010

Snacks in the City
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/717769

Here are some self-guided walking tour discussions -- most of the options mentioned are inexpensive.

Dessert Tour of the West Side
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/725316

How about RGR's self-guided Lower East Side Gustatory Tour? But note that Guss' has moved, do Pickle Guys instead:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/493333

Loved RGR's LES food tour - now what?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/754497

East 7th Street Tour: Porchetta, Butter Lane, Luke's Lobster, Caracas Arepa Bar
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/realestate/05block.html

Cold weather LES/EV food tour tips
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/750143

Create your own walking tour
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/728356

MMRuth's list isn't a tour - but it hits some of the good spots in the Village/Soho:
http://www.chow.com/lists/edit/33

Looking for RGR-type LES "Tour" with Asian Emphasis
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/711661

NYC Food Gluttony Tour
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/684275

Chocolate Obsession Tour recomendations please
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/716167

Looking for best places for breakfast pastries and strong coffee
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/722330

sweets tour of manhattan
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/699809

your favorite desserts that make you fly like scooby doo
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/699649

Sweet Tooth Heaven
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/640733

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Pickle Guys
49 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

Noodle Village
13 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Caracas Arepa Bar
93 1/2 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009

Cafe Zaiya
18 E 41st St, New York, NY 10017

Otafuku
236 E 9th St, New York, NY 10003

Ippudo
65 4th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Famous Sichuan
10 Pell St, New York, NY 10013

Porchetta
110 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009

Butter Lane
123 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009

Luke's Lobster
93 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009

Old Sichuan
65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

[Quine]

Extremely excellent post kathryn!!!! Kudo to you!

[bigmackdaddy]

Gray's Papaya has always been a very good quick fix for me. Really good grilled Sabrette's. There's one on W.72nd & Bwy, W. 37th & 8th Ave, and Avenue of the Americas (aka 6th Ave.) & W. 8th Street. New Wonton Garden on 56 Mott St. in Chinatown has some of the best beef stew and curry beef stew in the City. Being that staying in LIC, you're practically sitting next to the Three Roads to Great Food: Northern Blvd going into Chinatown & Koreatown/Flushing, 21st Street (north bound) going into Astoria for Greek and the Pulaski Bridge/McGuiness Blvd going into Greenpoint & Williamsburg for Polish, Spanish and a ton of "Hipster" joints. All along those roads there will be a very generous mix of inexpensive places which do take-out as a habit. New York is your oyster, buddy.

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Gray's Papaya
539 8th Ave, New York, NY 10018

[BROOKLYNDINER]

Hummus Place--handful of them around the city. LIke $8 for a combo.