Cheap Eats

As the New York summer continues to look more and more like an extended, wet Spring, I was thrilled to have my brother come visit for several days. The agenda was packed:

• Off-off Broadway show with the dated, but still funny, Altar Boyz.
• Just-to-Broadway show with 9-to-5 at the Marquis Theater. Very good show. Amazing sets, good singing. The only thing was it was almost a direct pick up of the movie. That can be good and bad.
• Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, explored DUMBO, and visited lots of mid-century modern antique stores (a favorite of my brother's)

Overall, it was a wonderful visit. For the big dinner night, we went to Double Crown, a restaurant I had visited before with happy results. This time, it was AWFUL. Tiny, tiny portions, even for New York. High prices. Odd menu combination, and poor meat quality.

After that dinner, costing us $78 per person, my brother said: let's explore the low cost NY eating options. He had seen some places on the Food Network he wanted to try.

The agenda then included:

• Empire Diner
• Shake Shack
• S'mac
• Crif Dogs

I must admit, we had a great time eating New York's cheap eats. Granted, I wavered far from any sort of diet, but we got most meals in at under $15, and they all tasted really great.

Now that, as they say, was worth it.