You haven't lived until you've been to Crif Dogs. Minimize the calorie bomb and conquer breakfast AND lunch with the Morning Jersey: a deep-fried frank wrapped in Taylor ham, topped w/ a fried egg.
This place is nothing fancy, but it's one of the the best falafel sandwiches in town. Crisp nutty falafel jammed into a split pit, lathered with tahini and topped with the works. Hot sauce optional.
While most of the food here is every bit as spicy as you'd want it to be, the tea-smoked duck is the exception. It's a cooling oasis of rich, smoky, flavorful meat with bronze, crackling skin.
Obscured by stalls selling hats, piercings, and all the things you don't really need, pop in to Gem Spa for the chocolate egg cream; no egg, just a drink of frothy seltzer, milk, and chocolate syrup.
Show up between 5 and 7 p.m. and you'll be in time to get the $14 early bird special, which includes a cup of miso soup or salad, a dozen pieces of perfect sushi and beer or sake. The perfect deal.
This place boasts a vast assortment of cheap vegetarian eats, like the creamiest and most lemony lentil soup on earth, a phyllo-dough spinach pie, and cracked wheat topped with caramelized onions.
St. Marks is paved with pizza, most of it mediocre. Not here. Head to Stromboli's where the sauce is herbal and slightly sweet, cheese liberal but not too dense, and the crust one of the city's best.
Crowds may line up at Ippudo, but the ramen here is just as delicious. We love the astonishingly hot “spicy miso ramen," but the tender-tongued should be spared and go with the shio ramen instead.
Served with puffy homemade pitas, you can easily make a meal for two from five of the appetizers. Our favorites: fried eggplant with tahini, yogurt with olive oil, and spicy cumin-scented carrots.
