• cafe,  cheap eats,  jeans-appropriate,  nomad,  restaurant reviews,  sandwiches,  vegetarian-friendly

    Duran Sandwiches Brings Europe to NYC

    Last week, I was surprised by a visit from to Tom Szebeni, the CEO of Duran Sandwiches with a huge box of his handmade European-style open-faced slices of wonder. I knew I was getting a complimentary taste of his creations, but I never expected that the President himself would walk over from their first U.S. location in NoMad to deliver them. But after talking to him for ten minutes, it made perfect sense. The guy just oozes passion for what he’s doing. He explained to me that he worked on the Budapest version of the reality TV show “Big Brother” for years and used to leave the dark studio (and…

  • american (southern),  cheap eats,  fast food,  food events,  good for groups,  meat sweats,  sandwiches,  west village

    Chef Dave Santos’s Nashville Hot Chicken Pop-Up

    Chef Dave Santos may be a free agent since closing his West Village restaurant, Louro, this summer, but he’s not taking any time off. I was lucky enough to get a reservation at his Nashville hot chicken pop-up in the Manhattan location of Bark Hot Dogs last week, where he was serving whole fried chickens using his special recipe that even the Tennesseeans in the room said was better than what they’ve had back home. My friends and I got two whole chickens with pickles, cole slaw, baked beans, and potato salad, but we also couldn’t resist Dave’s fried chicken sandwiches and Bark’s super cheap pitchers of beer. The people…

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  • 4.5,  american,  cheap eats,  east village,  jeans-appropriate,  meat sweats,  restaurant reviews,  sandwiches,  weekend brunch

    Bobwhite Lunch and Supper Counter is Frying Up Chicken Right

    Despite being a hick from the heartland, I’ve never cared a lick for fried chicken. We didn’t eat it when I was growing up on the farm, because we were too busy enjoying the beef and pork we raised, and then I became a princess who liked all of her meat already off the bone. But after visiting California a few years ago and forcing myself to order the eponymous dish at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, I realized that maybe it was worth a little bone to have a juicier, more flavorful chicken. And then I became blogfriends with Han of Handi-Eats, whose every other blog post is…

  • 4,  american,  cheap eats,  east village,  fast food,  japanese,  meat sweats,  restaurant reviews,  sandwiches,  vegetarian-friendly

    Japadog – Japanese/Fast Food – East Village

    My friend Erin online-introduced me to her friend Lizzie back in 2008, and we quickly became Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogfriends. And by that I mean that we never actually met, despite living mere miles from each other. (Although one mile in Manhattan is like ten miles anywhere else.) But after four years, we finally forced a dinner a couple of weeks ago at Japadog in the East Village. And I’m not saying that eating a metric ton of wasabi mayo together makes people get along better, but it sure can’t hurt. Tonkatsu dog: deep-fried pork cutlet marinated in tonkatsu sauce with fresh cabbage Like a sweet and sour pork…

  • 4.5,  cheap eats,  murray hill,  restaurant reviews,  sandwiches,  union square,  vegetarian-friendly

    Num Pang is the New Banh Mi

    When you look up “banh mi” in the Midtown East MenuPages listings, you find Num Pang, a tiny Cambodian sandwich shop started by two friends that’s distinctly not-banh-mi yet nonetheless satisfies every spicy sandwich desire I have. The menu is about fifteen sandwiches long and four side dishes deep (plus a bunch of soups and salads that I barely notice the existence of due to their health benefits), and my boyfriend and I haven’t tried anything yet that hasn’t left us wishing for one more sandwich to eat and one more side to hold onto like a little family pet that we bathe and take on a walk from time…

  • 4,  chain restaurant,  cheap eats,  chelsea,  healthy,  meat sweats,  restaurant reviews,  sandwiches,  tribeca,  vegetarian-friendly

    Muscle Maker Grill – Healthy/Sandwiches – Tribeca

    I know it’s awful to talk about dieting on a gluttonous food blog, but the truth is that when I’m not shoveling sweets into my piehole at fancy restaurants, I’m trying to avoid carbs at home. Not being much of a cook, it can be rough trying to find anything for lunch, so I was pumped to randomly type “low-carb” into Seamless.com‘s search function and find Muscle Maker Grill. With a menu full of items made from lean meats and low-fat cheeses and served on low-carb and whole wheat wraps, this is the kind of place that makes me feel guilty about the food I’m eating until I remember that…

  • meat sweats,  ohhhhh nyc,  sandwiches

    The Great Hot Dog Cookoff 2011

    After our 1 hour, 42 minute wait for a souvlaki earlier this year at a similar event, I was understandably a little hesitant about last weekend’s Great Hot Dog Cookoff. Not only do New Yorkers notoriously flock to food happenings like that, but it was also supposed to be the second-hottest day of the year. Luckily, there were a few factors working in my favor: 1) Only 600 tickets were being sold. 2) There were 23 different hot dog concoctions to choose from. 3) It was the best-organized food function I’ve ever been to in NYC. After showing our IDs to a first line of volunteers, we were then shown…

  • 4.5,  cheap eats,  pure carbs,  restaurant reviews,  sandwiches,  vegetarian-friendly,  williamsburg

    Saltie – Sandwiches – Williamsburg

    My friend Meredith and I live mere blocks from each other in Brooklyn, but since my dining is done almost exclusively in Manhattan, I rely on her to tell me what’s good in the neighborhood. She recently recommended the sandwich shop Saltie, saying, “I had their Scuttlebutt sandwich 2 weeks ago and CAN’T stop thinking about it.” I don’t do olives, so instead I tried the Clean Slate, and OMG, you guys, I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. It’s hummus, quinoa, pickles, and yogurt on naan, and the memories of its craveable sourness just keeps invading my brain. $8 seemed a little steep to me until I got the thing…