Good cheap eats in NYC during Unifieds?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>We'll be in New York for a couple of days this week for Unified auditions and are looking for advice about inexpensive restaurants that have good food.</p>

<p>If there are old threads on this, I haven't succeeded in finding them and could use a hand. Recent info would probably be best because restaurants do come and go and change ownership, although I guess most of the best ones stay... :-) </p>

<p>We are particularly interested in: </p>

<ul>
<li>The theatre district and environs.</li>
<li>The area around the Empire State Building (our hotel's on 31st St).</li>
<li>The area around NYU.</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Maybe this was an inappropriate topic (if so, I apologize), or maybe it's just a really hard question. :-)</p>

<p>Anyway, I asked a Philadelphia theatre person who goes to NYC a lot, and here are her suggestions:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Our fave theater district place is MONT BLANC, 48th St. between 8th and 9th Sts., a very simple but lovely and old fashioned Swiss French place, not flashy but a popular hangout for theater crew guys and actors. Prices fantastic for beautiful food, full meals with salad, veg, potatoes, homemade bread and entree all included, not ala carte. Maria, the owner is lovely.</p></li>
<li><p>A standard college gathering spot for NYU Tisch students is: DOJO. LOVE their Hijiki burgers, tofu burgers with salad and ginger dressing and brown rice. It is unbelievably cheap. Meat too, burgers and stuff, but just a real funky, bare bones college hangout and very vegetarian friendly. 14 W. 4th St ar Mercer St.</p></li>
</ul>

3

<p>Depends what you mean by inexpensive. :) There isn't much in Manhattan that could be classified as inexpensive, compared to other cities.</p>

<p>Having said that, you can get a decent meal that is reasonably priced at Cafe Edison, which is the coffee shop at the Edison Hotel, 228 W. 47th. </p>

<p>Midtown</a> Manhattan Hotels - Hotel Edison - Hotels in Midtown Manhattan, NYC</p>

<p>The Westway Diner at 614 9th Ave. between 43rd and 44th is a reliable spot for diner type food. It's where Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David actually conceived the Seinfeld show.</p>

<p>Westway</a> Diner New York | Diner in Hell's Kitchen | Restaurant menus, reviews and maps on urbanspoon.com</p>

<p>Ellen's Stardust Diner at the corner of Broadway and 51st is a fun place to go. The food is good but not great. The fun part is the staff who are all unemployed actors who perform while you eat. Be prepared to add a donation when they pass the bucket. If you're going late at night, after a show, be prepared to wait for a table.</p>

<p>Ellen's</a> Stardust Diner</p>

<p>If you want something a little nicer, and to be ensured of a good meal and good service, try Angus McIndoe at 248 W. 44th, </p>

<p>Angus</a> McIndoe Restaurant, New York City</p>

<p>or even more convenient to the Unifieds, Brasserie 1605 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (same building as the Unifieds). Brasserie has delicious food and excellent service, and a stunning view of Times Square.</p>

<p>Our favorite restaurant for a casual meal in midtown is The Playwright at 202 W. 49th, between 7th and Broadway. Great food, great service, reasonable prices.</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.playwrighttavern.com/index.html%5DWelcome%5B/url"&gt;http://www.playwrighttavern.com/index.html]Welcome[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>One word of warning that can probably be true no matter where you are, be careful about having your student eating at street vendors or at many of the small 'offbeat' restaurants in the city. Same can be said for the fast food places. Stomach trouble is not what you want during a busy audition schedule. Not the best time to be experimenting with new foods, or trying to save a few extra dollars.</p>

4

<p>You generally can't go wrong with any diner in New York City ... the AppleJack Diner on 57th & B'dway is great, as is the Olympic Diner on 49th and 8th Avenue. Diners offer good, quick, cheap food, a huge selection, 24 hour availability and they're generally clean (otherwise they'd never have any repeat customers). Same comments generally for most delis in New York City, although we've found that the delis around Rockefeller Center and some in Time Square (i.e., the tourist traps) tend not to be as good as the ones that are a little "off the beaten path".</p>

<p>IMO, Ellen's Stardust Diner, while a fun tourist-y kind of place, is a little loud and over-priced, and it's not really a 'typical' NYC diner, although it's a fun experience. </p>

<p>If you want to treat your student to a special dinner regardless of cost, try any one of NYC's great steakhouses, or head over to Restaurant Row (46th between 8th and 9th) for a huge selection of pre-dinner restaurants. I believe there is a website for "Restaurant Row" in New York City. Fine dining in NYC doesn't have to be uber-expensive if you just stick to ordering entrees without appetizers, drinks or desert. </p>

<p>Best of luck to you this weekend!</p>

5

<p>Thank you very much for your suggestions and best wishes. And for the good advice, alwaysamom, about avoiding street vendors and small offbeat places so as to prevent stomach trouble. We'll keep that in mind!</p>

<p>I must admit that I am quite tempted by a place recommended on a "cheap eats" thread that I started over in the musical theatre forum because of an initial lack of responses here....a Ukrainian restaurant, apparently very reasonable price-wise, called Veselka.</p>

<p>"Veselka - a major hipster/neighborhood hangout with the best Ukrainian comfort food in town, good prices, pleasant atmosphere. Try; borscht, pirogi, kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, ANY soup (all homemade and amazing), great breakfasts, great burgers."</p>

<p>Veslka has many glowing reviews on the internet. And I've always wanted my son to try borscht. Good borsht is so yummy. Surely.....it would not disturb his tummy?! :-)</p>

6

<p>My D really likes John's Pizza in the theater district. It is Zagat-rated and in an old church so kind of unusual surroudings. It's at 260 W. 44th Street.</p>

7

<p>I just received an email that Millenium Hotels (Millenium Broadway) is offering a 40% discount off lowest published rates plus free upgrade. In case of any last minute plans to NYC, this may be something to check out.</p>

8

<p>40% off of Millenium's rates would still, I believe, be considerably more than we paid for a hotel room. We stayed at the Wolcott on 31st St just east of Broadway....walking distance from two of my son's auditions. </p>

<p>The Wolcott offers rooms with two single beds or one queen bed for $150 a night. We were more than satisfied with our room. </p>

<p>The only thing that might bother some people is that the bathrooms are small and old fashioned, with no counter space. (You have to cram toiletries onto the lid of the toilet tank). In addition, the furniture in the rooms is skimpy.....one desk chair plus one partially upholstered sitting chair, and no tabletop space other than the desk and the nightstand. The space for hanging clothes is also rather small, and the hangers are not the best....best to bring a few of your own.</p>

<p>It was fine for us though, as a mom and a son, neither of whom brought very much in the way of wardrobe or bathroom items.</p>

<p>The best thing about the Wolcott is the lobby. The hotel was built in 1904 and the eye-popping beaux arts ornamentation on the ground floor has been preserved. Pics on the website can give you an idea, but experiencing it is definitely fun and amazing. </p>

<p>Two other things we appreciated were the muffins and coffee in the lobby in the morning, and the little coin laundromat in the basement.</p>