NYC 4 day trip report - cheap eats

Hi all, my wife and I visited from the UK for 4 days at the beginning of Oct. It was our long overdue first trip to New York so lots of walking about and typical sightseeing stuff but managed to fit in a bit of food. We mostly went for cheap(ish) eats and smaller dishes/snacks rather than sit down meals in order to fit more in (and keep the credit card bill manageable)! Here are my thoughts and some pics. Apologies for some of the crap photos of half eaten stuff…

Pecking House (Flatbush Ave) - I had high hopes for this place, but was a bit disappointed. Chilli chicken sando with added foie gras was an appealing proposition, having drooled over some photos pre-trip. The execution was fine but ultimately I found the Sichuan pepper in the chicken crust was totally overpowering and very bitter. I’m a big fan of mala in Sichuan dishes but here it didn’t work to my liking unfortunately.


Bonnie’s grill (5th Ave , Park Slope) - This place was recommended for buffalo wings. Went for the ‘hot’ sauce option. I found the wings a bit underwhelming - the skin wasn’t as crisped up as much as I would like. Still, not too bad. Nice atmosphere though and friendly staff.

Ye Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe (Vandebilt Ave) - A few mins walk from where we were staying, I was up at 5am on our first morning due to time difference so headed here for opening at 6am. The place itself was really impressive and incredibly enticing with it’s huge array of options from floor to ceiling. I went for plain bagel with lox and scallion cream cheese and a bacon, egg and cheese . The lox bagel blew me away, I didn’t have a quality frame of reference but it was just worked beautifully with every element spot on and in harmony. The breakfast bagel was fine, but not a patch on the lox. I went back the next morning for another of the lox bagels, this time on an everything bagel which was again excellent, though had more salmon in and for me was a bit better balanced with a bit of the lox removed (apologies if this is sacrilegious)!



Katz’s Deli (E Houston St) - would be rude not to, right? The wait wasn’t too bad (maybe 25 mins from back of queue to seated with food?). We went for a half pastrami on rye and matzo ball soup. The pastrami sandwich was sensational, wildly good. I had high fairly expectations and it exceeded them. A fun and novelty experience all round and whilst it’s €25 or so for a sandwich I feel that’s a fair price for what you get. Half a sandwich was ample for us to share at lunch. I don’t think I’ll feel the need to order Matzo ball soup again though.


Hamburger America (W Houston St) - A decent smash cheeseburger: simple, tasty, very good. I didn’t get quite as much hit of flavour from the beef patties as I thought I might have and the patties didn’t have quite as much of a crust as in some photos I had seen. Perhaps I should have tried the fried onion one rather than the cheeseburger? A very enjoyable burger but I’ve had better.

Grays Papaya (Broadway) - sauerkraut, ketchup and mustard on one and a chilli and cheese on the other, conveniently placed on the way to Dana Barrett’s apartment building. Great flavour and texture, thoroughly satisfying and left me wanting more.


Shu Jiao Fu Zhou (Grand St) - Superb handmade pork and chive jiaozi with a really great chilli and soybean oil, superb value at 6 for $3.50



Fuqi (Flushing) - We headed out to Flushing for this and it was well worth the trip. Flushing was awesome, I would have loved to have come back to explore more the next day but our schedule didn’t really allow it this time. The duck was prepared and cooked perfectly. I haven’t had duck like this since living in Beijing almost 20 years ago. The squares of crisp skin with caviar was a nice touch (though discarded some of the white bread they were sitting atop), with the creaminess and saltiness of the caviar adding extra depth to the flavour.
Once the duck is cut there is a choice of how you would like the remaining duck served. We went for soup and were very happy with that choice as it was absolutely banging.
The main cuts of duck are served in typical style with pancake, scallions, cucumber, sugar, sauce.
The overall price was very fair indeed for the quality of the duck (less than $150 for whole duck and tea for 2 including tip). The pics don’t begin to do it justice!







Street hole in the wall in Flushing (around 135-145 Roosevelt Ave?) - a superb pork and leek fried xian bing, with the juices from the pork pooled in the dough like a xiao long bao. Again took me straight back to one of my favourite street foods in China. Worth a trip to Flushing just for these!! Sign said $3.99 but she gave us two for $5 :man_shrugging:


Tarim Uygher Cuisine (New world mall, Flushing) - Xinjiang Samsa (or kao baozi). This was not overly similar to the many I’ve had in Urumqi or Kashgar as the dough wasn’t quite right (pretty dry) and the filling was more ground than the finely diced pieces of lamb/mutton and fat that I’ve had in Xinjiang. I guess it was baked in a ‘normal’ oven rather than a tandoor too. Still pleasant enough.


Uygher Cuisine (stall at food market near WTC memorial) - Another Samsa. Very tasty. Better dough and cooked in tandoor. Very authentic in appearance, though slightly under seasoned in taste and again meat filling felt slightly more ground than I’m used to. Felt pretty expensive at $9 a pop.



Trinidad Golden place (Nostrand Ave) - Beef roti. Came here for goat roti but they guy in front of me in the (long) queue got the last portion of goat :sob:. Still, the beef roti was excellent, particularly the daal puri roti itself. Portion was absolutely huge.

Sanmiwago (Mott St Eatery) - Jiaozi with pork and yellow chive, guotie with pork and chive. Top notch dumplings game here.





Authentic Xian flavour (Mott St Eatery) - Beef Biang Biang Mian. This place had just been open a matter of days. The noodles were very good, with a well seasoned broth. Flavourful and satisfying bowl of noodles.


Los Tacos No1 (Park Ave) - Adobada pork tacos (al pastor?). These were decent. The tacos, sauces/moles were excellent and a level above anything I’ve had before. Unfortunately I felt the pork itself was slightly lacking in seasoning which held it back from top marks. Had it have been to hand on the table I would have added salt. I loved the selection of sauces and garnishes you could add on yourself, I may have got a bit carried away.



L’industrie pizzeria (South 2nd Street) - Queued for 20 mins for opening on a Sunday morning. A slick operation they’ve got here. We went for a slice of margarita, pepperoni and an anchovy with burrata. The pizzas were well made and nice enough but I wasn’t wowed. I’m not sure whether NYC pizza is just not my favourite (Give me a decent neapolitan pizza over this any day) or perhaps there were NY slice offerings elsewhere that would be more to my taste. The muffuletta-ish sandwich special ( on home baked baguette) was solid. Pretty expensive for what you get IMO.


Titis empanadas (Havemeyer St) - decent beef empanadas (deep fried corn rather than baked wheat variety), definitely worth grabbing a couple if passing but I wouldn’t make a special trip. The corn casing was on the thick side but the flavour was good.

Xinjiang skewers cart (Grand Central St) - Lamb chuanr and mantou pianr. These were terrible. I actually chucked them away after one bite as the meat tasted funky. They didn’t have enough fat on them anyway.

Bahn mi place (Washington St) - Forgettable bahn mi. Loads of grated carrot (not pickled) and no mooli. Can’t remember much else about it.

BK bagel and deli (Washington St) - Pleasant enough lox and BEC bagels but I preferred Ye Olde a few blocks away.

Zaabzaab nyc (Pier 57 by Chelsea Market) A brilliantly balanced som tam in terms of sweet, salty, sour and spicy, and very enjoyable, though some tomato and long beans would have been welcome.

A and A bake and doubles (Fulton St) - Absolutely incredible doubles. A bit more sloppy and less whole channa than other places I’ve had but not in a bad way- these were far and away the best I’ve tried. The flavours were just next level. I’m not entirely sure what I asked for but was delighted with what I got!
Bake and Salt fish with pepper sauce was sensational. The bake was light, fluffy with a crisp exterior and generously filled with perfectly seasoned salt fish and a dash of warming hot pepper sauce. A definite highlight



A fantastic trip overall and there is so much more food that we need to return for another time!

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Impressive! You really got around.

I have visited NYC around 3 dozen times, and I lived there for a while many years ago. I still haven’t tried Katz’s. :joy: I’m turned off by lines/cues and pastrami/corned beef/ tongue sandwiches are not one of my priorities. :joy:

I am a smoked salmon person, so Russ & Daughters and Barney Greengrass are often on my shortlist . :fish:

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You ate very well for a first trip! I’m now starving for biang biang mian, lamb skewers, and that duck oh, my!

Is ZaabZaab at all related to Zaab Elee? I had some very good laab and som tam there.

Also totally agree with you about NY pizza vs. Neapolitan. I think you have to have grown up in the city to be a fiend about it.

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You made a nice dent in 4 days!

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That was more than a bit especially considering the trip was four days. You ate enough for a week. Bravo!

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I defo need to try Russ and Daughters next trip!

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I like that place too. She always pushes 4 for 10 on me, now I know I can take just 2 :joy:. The spicy beef ones are my favorite.

Impressed that you had room for xian bing and samsa before the feast at Juqi!

Your description makes me want to like doubles! Sadly, soggy puris are not my thing, but the channa sounds lovely.

Gotta hate that :triumph::joy:
Dalpuri is a tricky and special thing. I’ve mostly eaten it plain (with butter or ghee), and plain roti with curry.

Next time get a plain slice at an ordinary place. Comparing Neapolitan to New York is like comparing a bagel to dalpuri.

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Whenever I finally revisit NYC, I will probably try a few NYC slices from a few pizza places that are often recommended a little more than others.

I had one trip around 15 years ago, where I ended up having pizza twice, and both were Neapolitan style (Don Antonio which is within walking distance from the Broadway theaters, and Motorino further south), none were NYC -style. I was pizza-ed out, and I didn’t really seek out any pizza on subsequent trips.

I lived near a Famous Original Rays in the 90s, and I liked their spinach mushroom slice back then. Around 10 years ago, I went for a visit down memory lane, getting a slice at a Famous Original Rays or some sort of Rays, on the West Side, and it didn’t hit the spot. LOL. So I haven’t been back to any Rays, Famous Original or Not.

Scarr’s on the Lower East Side is the Pizzeria my cousin, who lived in Manhattan for 20 years, loved around the time she left NYC. She moved to Jersey City in 2020.

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Don’t get us started on all the Rays.

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Great report, now I am starving!!!

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Right? I wanna hop on the train RN and get some! :drooling_face:

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Like DiRayfara’s? Raycali’s?

The Real Original DiRayfara’s is probably the best of them all.

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No, that’s Ray’s Papaya.

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wow! that matzo ball looks like it was on steroids.

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Y’all did some might fine eating in just 4 days! :pinched_fingers: :clap:

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