Your Neighborhood Cheap Eats

Matt Katz: Now, we'll wrap up today's show with calls from you, listeners. We want to know about your favorite spots to get a cheap meal around the city. The number to call, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. When I say cheap, I mean pre-COVID inflation days cheap. We're talking $10 or less, cheaper the better, but it has to be delicious. 212-433-WNYC.

Why are we celebrating cheap meals at this moment? Well, maybe you've noticed the quiet disappearance of a New York City staple, the dollar pizza slice. It wasn't necessarily the most elegant slice of pizza, but if you've ever counted quarters between paychecks or needed a quick bite after a few rounds of the bar, you know the value of a trusty dollar slice.

There is one spot in New York City that realized how much our city needs cheap pizza. According to the news site, Hell Gate, BD Star Pizza on Avenue A has brought their prices back down from $1.50 to $0.99. Owner Sana Ullah acknowledged that those $0.50 make a difference for his customers, so despite the inflated cost of flour, cheese, plates, and napkins, he's said he's returning prices to pre-pandemic levels.

Listeners, are there other dollar pizza places that we should know about that are really just exactly $1 or $0.99? Any other spots in your neighborhood that offer cheap and delicious food? Help your fellow WNYC community out and get us a cheap lunch, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

In preparation for this call-in, I put a message on our internal Slack here at New York Public Radio asking some of our colleagues for their ideas of favorite places to get very cheap meals and I've got a few to offer you. Morning Edition Senior Producer Alec Hamilton recommends you check out Radhuni Sweets & Restaurant in Kensington, R-A-D-H-U-N-I, particularly their shingara and samosas. That's what Alec says. Rose Buban, our receptionist and contributor to Gothamist's arts and entertainment section loves the pork and rice plates at Wah Fung on Chrystie in Chinatown, they're $6.50. That's pretty good for a whole meal, probably lasts you quite a while with the pork and the rice. $6.50, that's excellent.

Also in Chinatown, Jin Mei Dumpling has a noodle wonton soup for $5. We know about that courtesy of Pat Walters from Radiolab. I've got a couple more for you. Assistant Program Director Jason Saul loves to pick up a "blazing hot $3 meat pie" on his walk home from the train at Jamaican Flavors, Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn. Okay, that's it for our WNYC New York Public Radio employees. We're going to take a quick break and then we're going to go to all of these callers. If you have a cheap neighborhood spot, let us know. We'll be right back after this.

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It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Matt Katz, reporter in the newsroom and I'm filling in for Brian today. As promised, we have a whole slew of recommendations for you for cheap eats from our listeners. Okay, let's go right to the phone lines. Lucy in Crown Heights. Hi Lucy, where should we be eating?

Lucy: Hi, yes. I would love to recommend Trinidad Golden Place in Crown Heights on Nostrand and St. John's. They have $2 doubles, which are sort of fried bread filled with chickpeas and tamarind sauce, and yes. They're $2. It's cash only. They're delicious. It's a great neighborhood spot.

Matt Katz: You need how many to fill you up, two, $4, that'll do the trick?

Lucy: I think you could do one, but yes, two would be a great meal.

Matt Katz: Wow. Awesome, thank you Lucy, appreciate it. Ernie on the Upper West Side, hi Ernie.

Ernie: Hey, how are you?

Matt Katz: Great, thanks for calling.

Ernie: I am calling in, I love WNYC, but I have a spot. Well, actually it's like six spots between 95th and 98th and West End and Broadway. They're Venezuelan women that cook for the construction workers there. Basically, they make rice and beans and a soup and a lemonade or a Coke for $10 and it's really good. It fills me up and I have it for lunch and dinner.

Matt Katz: Awesome. Are they in a truck, are they in a cart?

Ernie: No, they're actually outside with a little table and they cook, I guess, in the morning time. Come there like 11:30 and stay there until like 1:00 or 2:00. It's really good food. It's rice and beans and a soup and a drink for $10.

Matt Katz: Awesome.

Ernie: It's really filling and really good.

Matt Katz: Thank you. Thank you very much Ernie, appreciate it. Veda in Hillsboro, hi Veda.

Veda: Hi, how are you?

Matt Katz: Great, thanks for calling in.

Veda: Hi. I'm not a resident of the city, but somewhere I like to frequent whenever I am in the city, in Manhattan, Chinatown specifically, is Yi Zhang Fishball. They have $3 wheat peanut noodles and a slew of other really cheap options. It's super filling and it pretty much lasts me the whole day.

Matt Katz: Fantastic, give us the name one more time.

Veda: Yi Zhang Fishball, it's on Eldridge Street.

Matt Katz: Great, thank you very much Veda, appreciate it. Marty in Yonkers, hi Marty.

Marty: Hi. We have been going to Mamoun's on MacDougal for, I don't know, 30 years. You can get a falafel and a cup of lentil soup for $10 cash.

Matt Katz: Wow, I have been going to Mamoun's for about 25 years back when I was visiting friends at NYU, so that is great to know. I didn't know it was still that cheap. Thank you Marty, appreciate it.

Marty: It's only the one that's downtown. The one uptown, the ones that aren't there, that aren't MacDougal, they cost more.

Matt Katz: Wow, it's good to know. Appreciate that. Excellent. Jefferson in Brooklyn, hi Jefferson.

Jefferson: Hi there, I want to plug Princess Pizzeria in Park Slope on 5th Avenue and 14th Street. It says it's a pizzeria but it's actually a Dominican restaurant. You can get a huge plate of food for $10, chicken, rice and beans, vegetables, plantains, and it's really like it's $10 but it's really two meals, they give you so much food. It's delicious.

Matt Katz: How cool. I love that it's a pizzeria but it's really a Dominican restaurant. That's perfect.

Jefferson: I've never gotten a pizza yet.

Matt Katz: Good to know. Excellent, thank you very much. Let's stay in Brooklyn, John in Brooklyn, hi John.

John: Hey, how you doing Matt?

Matt Katz: Doing great, thanks.

John: I've got this amazing new Mexican restaurant in Williamsburg called Santa Fe BK and they do a green chili cheeseburger where they import the hatch green chilies from the hatch valley in New Mexico. It's $9, it's fantastic. The meat is made with the meat from Paisano's butcher shop in Carroll Garden and you just can't beat it. It's one of the only ones in the city.

Matt Katz: Fantastic, John. Literally, my stomach just rumbled, I hope that did not go on over the air. One last caller, Regina in Inwood, hi Regina.

Regina: Hi, I want to plug the lunch menu of the Inwood Bar and Grill on Broadway across from the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum. They have nine choices, all of them $5. You can get an Inwood burger, stroganoff skirt steak, sliced and sautéed in a mushroom pickle and onion sauce, roasted chicken, chicken fillet, grouper, fried fish fillet, chow-fun de pollo, classic Caesar salad and salmon meatballs.

Matt Katz: Fantastic, thank you Regina. Well, I am going to go eat lunch now. That was fantastic, appreciate all the calls. This has been The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Matt Katz, reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, filling in for Brian today and tomorrow. Thanks to the team at The Brian Lehrer Show. I'm going to try to read these names. Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, Esperanza Rosenbaum, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, intern is Sasha Linden Cohen, Juliana Fonda, Milton Ruiz are at the audio controls. I'm Matt Katz, this is The Brian Lehrer Show. Thank you so much for listening.

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