I would go to Wechsler’s every day. It’s one of those quintessential East Village finds that’s tiny, cozy, and cheap, yet unlike most of the East Village, it’s somewhere you can actually take a date.

Not, like, a snobby date.

A date like me.

Basically, I just want to go back to Wechsler’s, and I want you to go with me.

Anyway, here’s a picture of some meat covered in some sauce:

That’s what currywurst is: sausage, sliced and covered in a saucy blend of tomato and curry powder. It’s traditionally a German street food, but when I recommended Wechsler’s to my friend Steve, he reported back the next day that it’s waaaaaaaaaay more bland in Germany. Wechsler’s is spicy and sweet, like the base of a really good chili.

It is a meal at $6, and they serve it with crunchy fries and this tiny little fork that will make you feel like a curry-lovin’ giant.

Wechsler’s Currywurst
120 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10009
(map)

The curry puff is common to Thai, Malaysian, and Singaporean cuisine, but none of those cuisines is common to me, so the first time I tried one, I was in heaven. Sort of like an empanada, sort of like a samosa, it’s pastry stuffed with a thick curry, chicken, potatoes, and onion and deep-fried.

Since that original curry puff, I’ve tried as many as I can find in NYC, but I always go back to the one at Lemongrass Grill.

It’s the flakiest, the curry-est, and the most way-too-delicious-to-last-more-than-two-bites. The puff isn’t hard like a samosa’s, so the filling gets to mingle with it.

But really, it wouldn’t be anything without the dipping sauce it comes with. It’s vinegar-based with chunks of cucumber that taste a little bit pickled and a little bit sweet. I didn’t even like cucumbers a couple of years ago, but I would still dig those things out of the little cup with my fingers when my boyfriend wasn’t looking.

And I always follow my curry puff up with their chicken pad thai (which is also my favourite in NYC), or the Gai Tom Kha soup.

Lemongrass Grill
84 William Street
New York, NY 10038 (map)

138 East 34th Street
New York, NY 10016 (map)

2534 Broadway
New York, NY 10025 (map)

61A 7th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217 (map)

156 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201 (map)

This is the entire point of eating at Dim Sum Go Go, a sleek little dim sum joint on the edge of Chinatown that won’t make your head spin with gaudy gold decorations like the famed Jing Fong:

It’s listed on the menu as “pumpkin cake“, and I didn’t even bother trying to get more information about it from the waiter before I ordered. If it’s pumpkin-flavored, I’m there.

It’s pretty clearly not cake, though. It’s more like a firm custard with a little bit of gelatin thrown in, thick enough that you can slice it but wiggly enough that it’ll fall onto your neighbor’s lap if you get distracted while forking it toward your mouth. It’s the lighter version of pumpkin pie, perfect for summer. And it’s savory enough to eat with your pork buns but sweet enough that you can save a hunk for your dessert.

Aside from the pumpkin cake (and turnip cake!) and pork buns, we didn’t think much else on the menu was worth the trip, and here are some half-happy photos of my friends to prove it:

Steve’s smiling weird here.

I’ve never seen Ash look this angry before.

This is actually pretty normal for Tim.

Dinner wasn’t nearly as boring as this would have you think, thanks to pumpkin cake.

(mine)
(my friends’–so order what I did and nothing else, evidently)

Dim Sum Go Go
5 East Broadway
New York, NY 10038 (map)

Mark is cheap, delicious, and comfortable. The menu is tiny: sliders, fries, chili, pie, milkshakes, beer. Hidden away under a staircase on St. Mark’s between 2nd and 3rd Aves., it’s a long, skinny place that looks like a bar but feels like a café, with an open front wall, little ottomans to sit on, and no crowd at all when I was there with my friends Meredith and Jordan.

Our waitress described these as “like White Castle but better”, which is an understatement. They do taste a bit like White Castle’s, but they’re at least twice the size, meaning you don’t need a sack of 10 to get full, and they don’t leave you feeling bad about yourself after you eat them.

The sliders come “regular”, covered with cheese and onions, or “bacon”, which means bacon is chopped and mixed into the ground beef. Meredith and I both agreed that the regular one was actually better, surprisingly. I don’t even generally love grilled onions so much (I prefer raw), but these perfectly blended with the juicy beef and soft bread.

The tables come equipped with four different fry-dipping sauces: chipotle ketchup, jalapeno, barbeque, and regular ketchup. The chipotle just hinted at chili flavor, but it was my favourite. Our fries were saturated with oil but still managed to be crispy on the outside with potato-y centers.

Don’t let the looks on these ladies’ faces confuse you–we all agreed that Mark is one of our best finds for NYC cheap eats.

Mark
33 Saint Marks Place
New York, NY 10003 (map)