Wish we lived in NYC to try these out not here where there in a plethora of "Tex Mex" style food.
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There’s no way the Mexican food in NYC compares with your in Texas despite these super delicious looking places. Trust me. Not possible.
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Maybe drop the "cheap" or find another title? Otherwise the article just perpetuates the expectation that ethnic food has to be cheap. Otherwise I enjoy the article.
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Hungry Ciry is hands down the best reviewer in the paper. Pete Wells might write about cheaper food to try and catch a breeze from her sail but it falls far in the wake!
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Buncha things:
--These are all solid picks, but a little more diversity would be great. No African or Carribean venues? And, as an Astorian, no Greek places?
--To the flyby haters saying "where's the American food?" Check your map. All venues listed are in the 5 Boros, which for better or worse are still part of the USA. Unless the comment is being posted by a Native American, it's a dogwhistle and mark of boorishness. OTOH if anyone can make a real First Nations eatery work in NYC, please give it a go, I'll show up with a hungry crowd!!
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@Jen in Astoria There is an African venue. It says the owners of Bab Marrakech are from Morocco.
These look wonderful but all seem super meat heavy. Any recommendations for those who aren't so into meat in every dish?
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My guess is that any Asian place would have veggie options.
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Thank you! I love unpretentious, small, hole-in-the-wall, family-run places! the hardest thing is giving them well-deserved business without them growing too big and then declining in food or service quality
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Best Restaurant in the world? Your home kitchen.
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I love reading Hungry City cheap eats reviews, why the reviews are not the same as the New York Times restaurant reviews is passé and is, well, cheap.
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Good choices but most are Asian restaurants. What about Latin restaurants? Are cuisine is much more than Dominican and Mexican. Why not a Honduran or a Colombian restaurant. Only two restaurants on this list were not Asian.
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@Manuel "Only two restaurants on this list were not Asian." Uh, really? Not sure what you characterize as "Asian."
Did we read the same article? Five of the ten aren’t Asian (six if you count Lagman House, which is Asian food by way of Kazakhstan).
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What a beautiful way to remind us that we are a nation of immigrants by highlighting these industrious, hardworking souls who've brought their best recipes to America. And by golly, they'll proudly share their best foods with those of us adventurous enough to hop a subway and seek them out.
There's a guy down in D.C. who could probably learn a lot about his fellow New Yorkers and new Americans if he visited one of these restaurants. And he'd have a scrumptious meal at the same time.
Thank you, Ligaya Mishan, for putting your spotlight on these tireless, energetic folks. Interesting photography, too. That bolon mixto is calling out to me -- Long Island City, here I come.
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Lovely writing and thoroughly enjoyable, even if I may never make it into these restaurants.
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This is what it is all about - small family run operations and a variety of cuisines. Thank you.
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Tediously ethnic choices. No good places to eat in the five boroughs where the food has American roots? Where’s Guy Fieribwhen we really need him?
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As Not Seen on TV https://nyti.ms/SZCqjJ?smid=nytcore-ios-share
@Norman Dale One man's tedious is another (100) men's terrific!
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@Norman Dale: do you mean Native American roots? What are we supposed to eat? Just turkey, rhubarb and potatoes?
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In response to the reader who criticized the reviewer for not choosing restaurants in the Manhattan....well, I guess it is hard to find small mom and pop restaurants showcasing the food of their homeland because Manhattan is just to expensive. The suburbs are the life force, and the communities are vibrant! My grandmother lived in Elmhurst her entire life. The first time I had Thai food, she and I walked up Broadway to a new small restaurant to try it out - that was in 1985. I eat at the truck that sells the Tibetan momos in Jackson Heights written about in this article - I can't wait to go out of my way next time I am on the LIE and hungry, to find one of these wonderful places. There are enough reviews of NYC restaurants - but this is the kind of article I look for when I travel to foreign cities - how nice to have one about my own city!
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Please please for someone writing about Latinx and Latin American food: 1 tamal, 2 tamales! Thank you!
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@Spanish it’s so hard to get any media for Latin restaurant. I agree with you!
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How trendy. Nine out of ten restaurants in this article are not in Manhattan. I'm sure their food is excellent but to get there you would need to spend considerable time on the subway. Is the Times overcompensating for all those years they reviewed primarily restaurants in Manhattan? Get real. Tourists don't go to Sheepshead Bay. Manhattan is still the destination of choice and the place most readers would appreciate hearing about an excellent but cheap place to eat. Surely you could have recommended more than one.
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@DS What a strange critique. This article isn't titled "Top 10 Cheap Eats for Tourists Who Don't Want to Spend Considerable Time on the Subway"; it's Top 10 Cheap Eats, period. It's okay if someone doesn't want to travel for food, but why denigrate an effort meant to encourage those who will? Why not support increasing business for immigrant-owned restaurants whose owners are working hard to preserve and share their culture with us? Besides, the outer boroughs aren't suburban wastelands- there are real, thriving communities. The idea that calling them out is merely "trendy" is offensive. Are a Queens resident's restaurant options not as important as a Manhattan resident's?
The fact that we can all reach these places on a subway ride, short or long, is incredible and part of what makes up the beautiful cultural melting pot of NYC. Rest assured there are PLENTY of people more than willing to take advantage of this.
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@ DS new york city
"... an excellent but cheap place to eat" -- Alas, this may be wishful thinking and contradiction in terms. All good thinks cost money. If one eats out only occasionally, then it is best not to think of money, but only of the pleasure of the repast.
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@DS This is a cheap eats article. Manhattan isn't cheap eats - in a recent article, they talk of a cocktail lounge closing because the rent was hiked to $30,000.00 a month. What do you suppose one has to charge to make that rent, and salaries, and equipment, and ingredients, and everything else that's needed? Get out of your comfort zone and take a measly 20-30 minute ride on the subway. Read some reviews while you're on the train.
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Ligaya, it’s my first time reading your review but not my last. Delicioso!
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I would pick Ligaya’s job over Pete Wells. It’s like going to a new country- a mini travel séjour meeting interesting people and trying exotic flavors minus the blow to your wallet.
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@Pb
Agreed. This was my childhood, flying up from Texas for the summers to see my grandmother in Elmhurst and trying out the bounty I couldn't fathom in my small town.
Arepas lady, fufu and goat pepper stew, Taiwanese three cup chicken, beef tongue sandwiches from Ben's in Rego Park... even having eaten in San Sebastian, Paris, London, and Tokyo, oh how I miss Queens.
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What can be better than to read Ligaya Mishan's beautifully written reviews and go in search of the restaurants she writes of, to immerse myself in a space of the world that I can only dream of one day visiting.
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Sometimes I go to fancy restaurants and spend more than I really need to on a fine meal. Enjoy it a lot but I have never had a fancy meal and then wanted it again the next night. These kinds of places are different. The kinds of places I'd want to go regularly, maybe daily. So thank you for sharing them. Can't wait to try next time I'm in NYC, luckily I go a few times a year.
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For whatever it may be worth, my two favorties, based on the photos and text, are Bab Marrakech and Davelle, despite that the latter's spelling in Japanese would probably be "da-oo-e-re".
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Ligaya, have enjoyed your reviews immensely. In a climate of hostility towards immigrants (we're all immigrants aren't we?) continue to reveal the people behind the food and their enticing cuisines. These ten are now on my food crawl list of New Years resolutions.
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My goodness, how beautiful -- sublime.
Seriously, who needs the Four Seasons?
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@ ADH3 Santa Barbara, CA
The likes of Four Seasons will always be sought by astronomical snobs.
On this article, I wrote a comment that was either lost in cyberspace or not approved. In a gist, New York is a great place of ethnic cuisines, many run on shoe-string budgets and facing uncertain longevity. Of the ten on the latest Ms. Mishan's list, I like most Bab Marrakech and Davelle, although the latter's name in Japanese would probably spelled "da-oo-eh-re".
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@Tuvw Xyz
There will always be velvet dungeon restaurants for the tres cher -- we actually need the Four Seasons, Nello's, and Fred's. so we don't have to dine with those people. Stick with Ligaya -- much better plan!
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This is a fantastic list by a great writer who is also a nonpareil seeker of amazing, genuine food.
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These restaurants serve unique, delicious, filing and affordable meals and they are a prime example of the realization of American Dream. Glad to see that two of the profiled eateries are owned by the former residents of the collapsed Soviet Union.
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